Boulder – Don Monette regales visitors with tale after tale about about the evolution of Flagstaff House, his near-legendary mountainside restaurant. But, in a reflective moment, he shares how happy he is to have two of his sons, Mark and Scott, working with him.
“They’re my business partners and my best friends,” he says. Turning avuncular again, he adds with a laugh: “And they’re the reason I can take days off after 30- some years.”
Sure enough, this Father’s Day, Scott, the general manager, will probably greet those coming to pay tribute to their dads while Don Monette is off on yet another wine-buying expedition.
Holidays are different for people in the restaurant business in that they rarely have them. Still, there are now three generations of Monettes involved in Flagstaff House.
Scott and his brother, executive chef Mark, have already introduced their sons to the business.
The younger Monette boys are well- versed in proper table setting and equally skilled at busing tables and peeling potatoes. Both are poised and articulate, with strong, unequivocal handshakes. They don’t even roll their eyes when asked what they want to be when they grow up.
Jordan, Scott’s 10-year-old son, snowboards and plays tennis when not doing kitchen duty. He already appreciates the restaurant’s impact on diners.
“Sometimes my friends come with their parents,” Jordan says. “When they see what we do here, they think it’s cool.”
Note the “we.”
Mark’s son, 15-year-old Adam, is a more independent sort. He prefers to plan his own future, but concedes working at his grandfather’s restaurant is a good start.
“When I was Jordan’s age I did all the things he’s doing now, so I am learning the business from the ground up,” Adam says. “Still, I’m keeping my options open.”
Like father, like son.
Scott returned to Flagstaff House after crisscrossing the country, from New York to Hawaii. Mark honed his culinary skills in New York City, travels across the Pacific Rim, stints in Michelin three-star restaurants, and at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry in Napa Valley, Calif. A sort of renaissance man, he loves his craft, grows herbs, runs daily with his middle son, Phillip, and chose to run his first marathon in Greece last year.
Sure, other fathers and sons have continued family restaurant traditions, but surviving three decades in such a demanding business is unusual, especially when a meal with wine and tip averages out to roughly $100 per person.
“When you charge what we charge, you gotta give people what they want and more,” Don Monette says. “They come here expecting the best, and, not to brag, but I think we give them the best food, wines, ambiance and service.”
And fine service springs from loyalty. Consider: wine steward Paige Bodine has been with Flagstaff House 17 years; head server Michelle Weins, 14; server Amy Supik, 10. Server Michele Eastman and cellar master Neyah Margolis each have nine years. Manager Martin Hammer has eight years. Such collective tenure is increasingly rare in the restaurant world.
“Most people want to move on to the next new thing,” Weins says as she inspects wine glasses for water spots. “I’m content where I am.”
Where she is was once a 1920s cabin, then a restaurant with two windows and brothel-like red flocked wallpaper. It’s now a Mobil Four-Star restaurant with a glass-enclosed, panoramic view of Boulder and beyond.
Don Monette and Carole, his wife of 46 years, live nearby. Together that have raised five children. At one time all of them worked at the restaurant.
Today, the two daughters, Cheryl and Cathy, have businesses of their own in Boulder; Greg is a chef in Seattle; Mark’s wife, Linda, a former pastry chef, makes wedding cakes for the restaurant. Scott’s wife, Lisa, has her hands full with four children.
The restaurant, of necessity, is their life.
Dining room display cases house Lalique and antique European goblets. Amuses bouches are delivered to the table on tiny trays built into a foot-tall bronze rabbit sculpture.
Yet for all its dark wood, impeccably set tables and a menu that boasts organic, natural and Colorado-based produce, there is nothing snooty about the feel of the place.
“We treat graduating seniors who have saved up all year the same way we’d treat a Fortune 500 CEO,” says Don Monette.
Steel magnolia Michelle Miller of Huntsville, Ala., rearranged travel plans so she could attend one of Mark’s recent cooking demonstrations. Miller was among those who sipped champagne while Mark whipped up a three-course meal of corn and mussel chowder; pan-roasted salmon on a bed of barley and spring vegetables; and a cloud-light lemon pudding cake.
“I read about these demonstrations in Sunset magazine, and since I had already planned to visit my daughter and son-in-law, I just moved my trip up a week,” Miller says. “This was one of those things that transcends generational differences.”
Before Don Monette bought Flagstaff House in 1971, it was only opened summers. He discovered why one winter evening as he drove down Flagstaff Mountain to pick up diners. Because of snow and ice, their car literally could not make the grade.
“I had a Jeep Wagoneer, and we got down OK, but on the way back up, the Jeep lost traction on an ice patch,” he says. “I could feel what was happening, but there was nothing I could do. It was before four-wheel drive and before guardrails. The jeep did at least one 360-turn, then came to a stop in the middle of the road.
“I tried to keep the passengers from seeing how white my knuckles were. I still wonder if they knew how close they came to not having dinner that night, or probably any night again, ever.”
Such stories – at least the printable ones – have been conversation fodder for many Monette family gatherings.
Hardly a decade goes by that there isn’t some memorable event, whether it’s the Valentine’s Day power outage that closed the restaurant, or the Mother’s Day rainstorms that washed out the road.
“The sheriff’s department told us to evacuate,” Don Monette says. “So not only did we comp everybody’s meal, again, we later found out that we didn’t have insurance to cover rebuilding the road.”
And let’s not forget the time he was so worried about woodland critters scaring the bejeebers out of terrace diners that he decided to line the restaurant’s perimeter with mothballs.
“Well, it also drove customers nuts. They would book an outside table, looking forward to a romantic candlelight dinner under the stars, but couldn’t taste their food for the damned mothballs.”
With a third generation of Monette males working at this landmark restaurant, it is altogether possible that a fourth generation will tend the dining rooms too.
What a Father’s Day gift that would be.
Flagstaff House is at 1138 Flagstaff Road in Boulder. Call 303-442-4640, e-mail info@flagstaffhouse.com or go to flagstaffhouse.com.
Staff writer Ellen Sweets can be reached at 303-820-1284 or esweets@denverpost.com.
This Recipe courtesy of Flagstaff House chef Mark Monette is a perfect light summer dessert. All it needs is a scattering of fresh fruit of your choice and guests will think you’re a genius. Serves 4.
Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 lemons (juice and zest)
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
4 egg whites
Raspberries, blueberries or strawberries for garnish
Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
Cream sugar and butter. Stir in lemon juice, zest, egg yolks and flour. Add milk and mix thoroughly. Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form then fold into mixture. Pour into four 3/4-cup soufflé molds and bake at 350 degrees in a hot water bath for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, let sit approximately 10 minutes. Remove from soufflé mold onto plate and serve.
Wine ideas: “Some things are just good on their own,” says Neyah Margolis of this ethereal lemon cake. If anything, try a glass of cold milk. -Tara Q. Thomas
