It is a common sight for regulars of Montana City’s beloved Hardware Cafe to see its new owner washing dishes.
Chris Abrego spent a bulk of his teenage years washing dishes in Spokane, Washington, a professional career that began when Abrego’s older brother secured him that first job.
“I was so afraid of doing a bad job; I wanted to prove to my brother I could it,” he said. “I got there that first day and tore up that kitchen.”
Two regular customers enjoy breakfast at the Hardware Cafe in Montana City.
Abrego began climbing the industry ranks, later moving into kitchens in New York’s Finger Lakes wine country.
“I was exposed to lots of cuisine and wine and culture,” he said.
He said he soon set his sights even higher, moved to Chicago to attend a culinary school and worked in Michelin Star kitchens.
People are also reading…
“I gained experience in high-level environments, competitive kitchens,” he said.
He moved to Helena about five years ago and started over with the dream of soon running his own restaurant or two.
He said he washed dishes at Silver Star Steak Co., spent time “flippin’ eggs” at Shellie’s Country Cafe, before he earned the rank of head chef at Silver Star.
The Hardware Cafe offers creatively crafted dishes such as the French dip sandwiches, salads and deep-fried French toast.
He met his wife, Jenna Abrego, during those days. They have since had two children, a boy and a girl, now 3 months and 3 years old, respectively.
His future father-in-law, a steel magnate from Southern California, at about the same time, moved to Montana City, fell in love with Hardware Cafe, bought it when the pandemic forced it to close, and gave the business to Abrego as a birthday gift about two years ago.
“This is great,” Abrego said. “I always wanted to do restaurants.”
Considering what he referred to as his “colorful past” of breaking his back in high-pressure kitchens, it should come as no surprise. Abrego has spent the past two years as Hardware Cafe owner in the trenches with his employees, sleeves rolled up.
Chris Abrego, the owner, and chef of Hardware Cafe, prepares and cooks meals for customers who place their orders.
“I’m a dish washer first and foremost,” he said. “My place is in the kitchen.”
He said while it may look like he and his staff are “just cooking bacon and eggs,” there is a skill to it.
He said the average diner who orders a high-brow dish probably would not notice if the meal is not quite right, but when serving up meals every American is keenly familiar with like bacon and eggs, “it better be perfect.”
So Abrego applies the high-stakes mentality he marinated in for years while working in ultra-competitive kitchens to what the uninitiated might mistakenly consider as mundane.
“This food brings people joy,” he said. “It’s our mission to provide as good a meal to as many people as we can.”
A group of young men enjoy a meal at the Hardware Cafe in Montana City.
Not long after taking the helm at Hardware Cafe, Abrego purchased Copperline, previously a coffee and pastries drive-thru on Helena’s Custer Avenue, that he has since converted into a burger joint with patio seating.
“Copperline is also not glamorous,” he said, referring to it as a “means to an end.”
That end being a “food-centric approach” to providing high-quality meals to at least 2,500 people a day.
Abrego goes to great lengths to secure those high-quality ingredients. The restaurant sources locally raised meats with plans to eventually do its own butchering.
Abrego transports the apple wood he needs to smoke the meat from Yakima, Washington, and that smoker runs near daily.
“I’m proud of that because its hard. There aren’t many doing it like that here,” he said.
And the multiple operations are vertically integrated. The fresh potatoes are smashed, the meats are smoked in the Montana City cafe and trucked to Copperline every morning.
He said Copperline within four months began outpacing the Hardware Cafe, but that both locations continue to turn a profit.
He credits the success to his staff of about 30 fulltime employees across both locations, calling them a “crew of misfits.”
“It’s been tough, but they show up every day and provide a stellar product every day,” he said. “We have to for it to be worth the 10-minute drive from Helena.”
He said “I’d put my team up against any one.”
Wife, Jenna Abrego, is among that team.
A former fastpitch softball pitcher at the University California San Diego, Chris said Jenna has the right temperament, “the perfect swagger,” for the work.
She mostly runs the front of the house.
The couple is not done yet. Chris said he is contemplating opening up Hardware Cafe for dinner service and, further in the future, maybe one of those kinds of restaurants associated with words like “cuisine,” “culinary” and “culture.”
“I know what that looks like; I know what it takes,” he said. “I would like to provide Helena that experience.”
But, Abrego said, “you gotta give the market what the market wants.”
He said he and his staff are “gaining trust” at the moment. They are building a clientele.
He compared it to a restaurant immediately trying to break into a market like Helena with the purees and micro greens and gelatins. It likely wouldn’t fly.
But when a trusted business that puts out consistent products says “we’re offering something new and different we think you might like,” that clientele is more likely to try it.
Abrego said ultimately he wants to offer “simple, elevated products that resemble something you would consider fine dining, but with a regional touch.”
Nolan Lister is a reporter at the Helena Independent Record with an emphasis on local government.
"cafe" - Google News
June 12, 2023 at 12:34AM
https://ift.tt/w3SC0c7
New owner brings Michelin Star mentality to Montana City cafe - Independent Record
"cafe" - Google News
https://ift.tt/wsbCDIa
https://ift.tt/sHFdiZU
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25244079/4.png)
No comments:
Post a Comment