Montrio Bistro: Keeping it Fresh November 2006

by Daniel G. Shafer
Images by R. Byrne

Executive Chef Tony Baker of downtown Monterey’s famed Montrio Bistro loves combining the local bounty with fresh seafood and meat to create rustic meals with an American-European flair.

You sense when you walk into the front door of Montrio Bistro in downtown Monterey that this is not your ordinary restaurant. From the sweeping staircase that recalls the fire pole and spiral stairway of its origins to intriguing cloud-shaped ceiling hangings, the décor and the ambiance combine to create a special kind of reception.

That Montrio Bistro uniqueness carries over to the menu, which features intriguing dishes you’re not likely to encounter anywhere else. From such tantalizing appetizers as Fire-Roasted Artichoke with apple-balsamic vinaigrette and Mediterranean relish to the sassy Braised Veal Cheeks with mustard-whipped potatoes and braised red cabbage on the main-dish portion of the menu, very few of Montrio’s offerings can be characterized as ordinary or expected.

Executive Chef, Tony Baker, who has served in his position for more than nine of the 11 years the restaurant has been open for business, brings his penchant for slow-cooked “comfort food” to the fore in choosing not only the daily menu, but also the special dishes he adds every day as well.

“I tend to favor braised dishes,” the affable and youthful Baker says. At 35, he’s one of the youngest Executive Chefs in the area. To realize that he’s been in that position for almost 10 years speaks volumes of his training and expertise.

Raised in England, Baker completed the rugged and renowned Bristol Culinary School’s four-year program in two years by testing out of half of the program. “Thanks to lots of outside studying and hours of work and observation,” Baker says, “I was able to zip through the course.” That was in 1989, when Baker had reached the ripe, old age of 18.

Baker subsequently worked at several high-end restaurants in England, cooking for parties of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and doing Princess Diana’s stepmother’s wedding, among other celebrity events.

In 1994, he came to the United States, lived briefly with his uncle in Carmel Valley, and looked around for a good local opportunity in the culinary arts. “My uncle said the best restaurant around was the Rio Grill,” Baker recalls with a chuckle, “so I made myself an absolute pest there, showing up every couple of days to ask for a job. One day, they had a small opening and I took it. My idea was to find the best restaurant I could and not settle for a job anywhere less.”

The Rio Grill is part of the local Downtown Dining group that also owns and operates Montrio and the equally famous Tarpy’s Roadhouse in Del Rey Oaks. At this writing, the organization is on the verge of opening a fourth establishment, Willy’s Smokehouse and American Grill on Cannery Row.

“When the sous chef at the Rio Grill left, Tony Tollner and Bill Cox (Downtown Dining founders and principals) opened the spot to competition. I wasn’t well-versed in the style of cuisine at the Rio Grill, so I figured I’d better do what I already knew best, what I call ‘French-influenced British,’” Baker recalls. He put on a private dinner for the owners and their friends, and gave each diner a full portfolio of his work, including recipes for all the dishes he fixed that night. “Tony T hired me on the spot.”

Two years later, Downtown Dining’s highly touted Montrio Bistro, which had earned Esquire Magazine’s coveted “Best Restaurant of the Year” award in 1995, faced a huge problem when its opening chef, Brian Witmer, left for the larger landscape of San Francisco. The restaurant was called upon to recover from the loss. 

“That was a pretty big blow because Brian was really well-known locally and had built quite a reputation here,” Baker says. “It was an honor that Tony T asked me to take over the Executive Chef position at Montrio, but it was a tough task at first. The restaurant went through the natural loss of audience that goes with a popular chef leaving and we were reluctant to change the menu very much.”

In the intervening nine years, though, Tony has put his stamp on the menu and earned a reputation of his own. During the past two years, in particular, Montrio has regained most if not all of its old buzz and has become an “in” place for locals, who often recommend it to conventioneers attending events at the nearby Monterey Convention Center.

Baker’s one regret is the difficulty of obtaining fresh, whole-carcass meat products. “We do very well with what we can buy, but I really enjoy butchering. It opens up lots of creative opportunities. But I’m a real stickler for quality; I prefer prime cuts, which is one reason we don’t have a 100% organic meat menu even though the rest of the menu mainly features such products.” °