MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village, especially the blocks between Bleecker and West Third, is one of the city’s greatest restaurant rows. Around 3 p.m. or so, it begins to crowd with eager diners who patronize dozens of dining establishments and honky tonk bars, and as you stand in their midst you’ll see falafels, smash burgers, banh mi, slices of pizza, kati rolls, doner kebab sandwiches, and cones of double-cooked Belgian fries sail by.

Even as far back as 1971 — the year Mamoun’s Falafel was founded — Malcolm Forbes referred to the street as the “Mardi-Gras bacchanalian swarm of MacDougal Street.”But in the midst of these blocks stands Monte’s Trattoria (97 MacDougal Street), a soot-covered townhouse obscured by neon signage (much like the more recent Carbone) and the busy balconied cafes around it.