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| - 3.5-4 stars.
I first dined at Café Monarch over a year and a half ago, and was swept off my feet. It was a beautiful weekend afternoon, and Chef Christopher charmed our minds and our bellies into utter heaven. I went two subsequent times each with less star-power than the former. I have not yelped it because on that first occasion Christopher brought up in conversation his aversion to reviews, even mentioning "Yelp," because he was trying to keep things quiet, organic, special, unique, which I can respect. But it seems that has changed based on all these reviews and his yelper shout-out regarding potential employees, so I'd like to add my experiences.
First time:
* Salmon cakes bursting with fresh fish, capers, bright lemon. Plump and amazing. Sitting on a bed of dijon-laced frisee.
* French Toast made with this thick, amazing brioche, perfectly drenched is real maple syrup. Sugary crust on the outside, warm soft deliciousness inside.
* A gigantic, gigantic, gigantic, plate of perfect bacon cooked in a high-heat cast iron skillet. I still fantasize about this bacon.
It was a perfect day.
$50 pp and worth it.
Second Time:
* Thanksgiving. It was a buffet. The amount of work and care that went into each dish was evident. The turkey was smoked, the potatoes sweet with hints of tumeric & cinnamon, lovely local organic veggies, chunky sausage stuffing- basically all the fixin's gourmet-syle. Unfortunately they seemed to have been sitting out for a long while, because the temperature of the food was cool and it was on its very last leg. It was droopy food. We chalked it up to it being a Holiday.
$50 pp and semi-worth it.
Third time:
* If this had been the only time I went I would not go back. We raved about it to some friends and brought them one Saturday night to share the heaven. Brought some amazing grapes and sat back to let this chef work his magic. No starters, apps, or salads, just one small dish of gorgonzola pasta for 4 people to share. The pasta was good, fairly well-executed but all 4 of us were still very hungry. We were embarrassed at how much had we glorified it to our friends.
$50 pp and not worth it.
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