Mercato brings Italian style to Norton Commons

[Robin Garr]

Mercato brings Italian style to Norton Commons

LEO's Eats with Robin Garr

Pollo Arrosto, the half roast chicken at Mercato.


Some of Louisville’s top chefs, such as Anoosh Shariat and Bim Deitrich, have built their reputation on a string of restaurants spread over decades, making every one a success.

And then there’s Fernando Martinez, who does restaurant entrepreneurship a whole ‘nother way. With his wife, Cristina, and cousin Yaniel Martinez, Fernando keeps adding more and more restaurants to a growing squadron of fine eateries that all run simultaneously. This is no cookie-cutter chain either, but a variety of excellent restaurants, all different in style and even national origin.

From Havana Rumba in 2004 to Red Barn Kitchen last month, I count 10 restaurants from the Martinez’ creative outfit, and they still have six operating to public and critical acclaim under the umbrella of their Olé Restaurant Group.

The other night, we finally got out to Norton Commons for a visit to Mercato Italiano, and I’m glad we did. It runs a close second to my Martinez favorite, Artesano, putting out good to excellent Italian-style fare.

Its red-brick storefront with striped awnings looks a lot like a corner grocery in Little Italy. Inside, there’s a long, U-shaped bar, and plenty of closely spaced wood-look tables furnished with hard red-metal chairs. Walls are bold white with red and black accents, and large window walls afford a good view of the shops on Meeting Street in Norton Commons’ village center. ...


Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/?p=5678

You'll also find this review in LEO Weekly’s Food & Drink section today.
http://www.leoweekly.com/category/food-drink/

Mercato Italiano Trattoria and Market  
10640 Meeting St.
Norton Commons
690-3200
https://facebook.com/MarcatoItalianoTrattoriaandMarket
Robin Garr’s rating: 86 points

Robin, I generally agree with your review, but I think I can unequivocally say you and I have very different taste when it comes to red sauce because I found the red sauce at Mercato to be overly sweet, watery and under seasoned. More akin in your comparison to tomato soup than to a hearty Italian sauce.

Also, on my visit the gnocchi were light and fluffy to the point of being non existent. Flavorless even. The bucatini was a total disaster. Mashed and overcooked into nothingness.

Admittedly I went in the spring, maybe a solid harvest of fresh summer tomatoes has improved their sauce situation? Still, get the pasta right. Job #1.

The pork chop was outstanding, as was the prosciutto salad, and the pizza was good (but not good enough that I would pass on Coal's to go to Mercato) but when I think Italian I expect good pasta and sauce and I didn't get anything close to it.

Overall I would call my experience decent, but coming from an Italian family I am admittedly very tough on Italian cooking. Blame my Mom for that.

[Robin Garr]

Chris, I learned after publishing this that Mercato has a new chef (don't know his or her name) who had just started on the occasion of our visit.

I can tell you that the sauce on the gnocchi was not a classic Calabrese red sauce, thick and long-simmered, but it was startlingly good in its own right, refined and delicate and something completely different.

I think my only Italian ancestor was a soldier named Tagliaferro who moved to England in the 11th century (seriously!), but I've been lucky enough to travel in Italy quite a lot, but mostly in the north, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, the Veneto, Tuscany, Piemonte and Liguria. I love the food of that region, but it's very different from the Calabrese/Siciliano that gave birth to Italian-American comfort food. I love that stuff, too, and lived in NYC long enough to get to know it.

Anyway, I'm rambling, but I can testify that the dinner I had at Mercato was very good - the dense gnocchi was really about the only rap, and the sauce pretty much made up for that. But I respect that your mileage varied and don't doubt your report.

We were there on the first Homarama weekend. I had the gnocchi and found them spot on. I lurve gnocchi. I would not describe my portion as generous, the tomato sauce wasn't sweet, but was good. But hey, I'm pretty deep into sugar, so something would need to be pretty dang sweet for me to notice. With the attention to detail and freshness, I found it quite odd that the iced tea comes from the fountain and is not brewed in house, according to our server. He warned us ahead of time, and indicated it was a deal breaker for most customers.

It was a good meal,but not so fabulous that we'd drive back out there for another.

Meatballs. I would drive out there again for the meatballs.

Also, the Frutti di Mare was delicious. Most notably, the pasta was crazy good. The perfectly cooked seafood and flavor filled sauce was the icing.

Did I mention the meatballs?

[Robin Garr]

Did I mention the meatballs?

I always respect your opinion Robin and based on your review I will have to give them another try (especially knowing they have a new chef). Ole has never let me down before.

My family comes from central Italy (Abruzzo). Thick, hearty, long simmered red sauce made from fresh tomatoes with liberal applications of garlic and crushed red pepper, lamb meatballs that literally melt in your mouth, homemade pasta and a light sprinkling of a fresh grated pecorino is my happy place. What I got at Mercato wasn't even close to that. I can appreciate variances in Italian cuisine, but I don't need to pay someone to over cook pasta or simmer some tomatoes for 15 minutes and call it sauce. I can do that. Especially that over cooked pasta thing. I've got that nailed!

My biggest complaint was that if you are going to call something bucatini all'amatriciana then the pasta needs a hole in it, the guanciale needs to have some bite to it (or any flavor at all) and I should be able to taste garlic. On my visit theirs had none of those things.

Like I said, EVERYTHING else I had was very good to outstanding, it was just the pasta and sauce that left me wanting.

I'll give em another try. Everybody has an off night. Maybe I got an off night.

My wife and I love Mercato. We've had the campanelle, cappellacci, gnocchi, and ravioli so far, and all have been oustanding. I really want to try that insane pork chop, I just need to find someone to share it with. My wife's too much of a pasta lover to pass over the pasta in favor of anything else.

[Robin Garr]

if you are going to call something bucatini all'amatriciana then the pasta needs a hole in it,

Well, yeah! That's what the "buca" in "bucatini" means.

It actually did cross my mind that looking for strict authenticity in Italian regional cuisines would probably not be the best thing to do here.

I had the bucatini last Saturday night. They were hollow and definitely not overcooked, for what that's worth. On the whole we really liked the place. My personal favorite dish was the Caesar salad, somewhat unexpectedly, mainly because the anchovies were so good.