I walked into Cafe Monarch and knew instantly how my dream kitchen would look, how my dream restaurant would be laid out and how my dream clientele would be. We had called in advance to see if Chris could prepare a vegan meal, a request he gladly obliged, and we were welcomed warmly in various ways: 1) A lovely greeting from Chris, excited to meet the vegan with additional questions about how food can be prepared, 2) prompt opening of our bottle of red to get us started, 3) a cozy seat by the fire outside while he prepared appetizers.
The food was fresh and delicious, though I think he may have been timid and slightly insecure about not being able to cover anything on my plate with cheese. After an hour long post-dinner chat about vegan cooking secrets, he was (dare I say) excited about the idea of trying something completely new in the kitchen. So regardless of the food, which sounds odd because that's the main component of many of our reviews here, his contagiously friendly personality, openness and fervor for food were worth many more stars than this rating system will allow. Bravo and I can't wait to go again.