Montrio Bistro is a New American restaurant in Monterey, California in the United States.

History

Montrio Bistro was started in 1995 and is located in a brick

firehouse __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...

, the first in Monterey, built in 1910. The first chef was Brian Whitmore. That opening year, the restaurant was named "Restaurant of the Year" by '' Esquire''. Tony Baker serves as head chef and Anthony Vitacca is the bar manager. In 2010, the restaurant became one of the first in Monterey County to install an ultraviolet-treated water filter system, ending the restaurant's reliance on filtered bottled water. The restaurant installed a new sidewalk patio in 2015. Justin Robarge, former sous chef of Deetjen's Big Sur Inn and Cannery Row Brewing Company, became sous chef de cuisine in 2018, replacing Bryan Copp. That same year, the restaurant introduced a tipping program enabling guests to send staff an alcoholic beverage to drink after their work shift is over. The bistro is listed as a two-star green restaurant by the Green Restaurant Association.

Design and ambiance

The bistro comprises a dining room, bar and sidewalk patio. Sculptures of clouds hang from the ceiling with pipes twisting between them.

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calls Montrio Bistro's decor "downright odd" and looking "like a space created by a designer with "Cirque du Soleil" ambitions." Each table at the restaurant is lined with craft paper and has crayons for children. The restaurant has a display kitchen.

Cuisine and cocktails

The menu at Montrio Bistro is New American. Ingredients include seasonal, locally sourced herbs, salts, vegetables and fruits, and housemade English-style bacon. The restaurant is a member of the

Seafood Watch __NOTOC__ Seafood Watch is a sustainable seafood advisory list, and has influenced similar programs around the world. It is best known for developing science-based seafood recommendations that consumers, chefs, and business professionals use to i ...

program. The menu changes frequently based on available ingredients. Small dishes have included white

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oxtail Oxtail (occasionally spelled ox tail or ox-tail) is the culinary name for the tail of cattle. While the word once meant only the tail of an ox, today it can also refer to the tails of other cattle. An oxtail typically weighs around and is ski ...

risotto with fava beans, bacon and egg salad, and oatmeal-crusted brie. Medium and large dishes have included roast duck breast,

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ravioli, grilled quail, grilled peaches and burrata, wood roasted brick chicken with spiced green beans, a bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin with shredded pork ("Pork Trio") and herb-crusted

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes and arctic and subarctic coastal waters. Its distribution is Circumpolar North. It spawns in freshwater and populat ...

. Desserts have included carrot cake with coconut cream cheese ice cream and

lemon curd Fruit curd is a dessert spread and topping usually made with citrus fruit, such as lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit or tangerine. Other flavor variations include passion fruit, mango, and berries such as raspberries, cranberries or blackberries ...

brulee. The restaurant's cocktail menu also uses seasonal ingredients. Bar manager Anthony Vitacca makes classic and "farm-to-glass" cocktails. He visits local farmers markets weekly to purchase ingredients, many which he uses to infuse simple syrups, vodkas and gins. He makes his own

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from local orchards. "Beta Vulgaris" is a

beet The beetroot is the taproot portion of a beet plant, usually known in North America as beets while the vegetable is referred to as beetroot in British English, and also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet, dinner beet or golden beet ...

juice-based drink, comprising beet, St-Germain, Chartreuse, and lemon. The whiskey-based "Saving Private Ryan" comprises brown butter bourbon, walnut liqeur, chicory pecan bitters, and smoked ice. The "Corazon Valiente" is made with Del Maguey

mezcal Mezcal (, ), sometimes spelled mescal, is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from any type of agave. The word ''mezcal'' comes from Nahuatl , which means "oven-cooked agave", from and .What is MezcalElmezcal.org Traditionally the word " ...

, blackberry-plum shrub and organic agave. The bistro also has a

mocktail A non-alcoholic mixed drink (also known as virgin cocktail, temperance drink, or mocktail) is a cocktail-style beverage made without alcoholic ingredients. Also called "zero proof" drinks, the non-alcoholic drink dates back to the earliest days ...

menu.

Reception

Frommers praises the friendliness of the staff and the restaurant's focus on using unique and fresh ingredients. They described the interior as "odd" and describe the food as "hit or miss of late." In 2012, Montrio Bistro was named best restaurant in Monterey in the ''Monterey County Weekly''. In 2018, the restaurant was named the fourth "greenest" restaurant in Monterey by the ''San Francisco Chronicle''.

References

External links

"Tony Baker carries on Montrio's tradition of new American regional cuisine."
from ''Monterey County Weekly'' {{authority control 1995 establishments in California Buildings and structures in Monterey, California Restaurants in Monterey County, California