100 South Mill Avenue

Posted by Kim L. at that location:
Monti’s Fall Harvest Wine Dinner
Nov 04, 2007 (Sun)

Monti’s La Casa Vieja
100 S. Mill Avenue
Tempe, Arizona 85281

Cost: $50.00 plus tax & gratuity, $64.05 inclusive
Time: 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Phone: 480-967-7594
Email: banquet@montis.com

Details:
Join us for a spectacular evening of food and wine pairings. Our Fall Harvest Wine Dinner will include the following delectable creations from our own Chef G. Begin with an Autumn Bisque - a combination of pumpkin, parsnips, carrots, honey, cinnamon & apricots served with roasted chestnuts. Followed by a Sweet Potato Salad tossed in a Vermont Maple vinaigrette and topped with chili cornbread croutons. Next up, Pan Roasted Scallops with butternut squash ravioli, roasted beets, broccoli rabe with brown butter and red beet espuma. Veal Funghi is sure to please, made with Shitake, Mitake, Cremini & Oyster mushrooms with lobster & truffle butter, celery root puree & micro celery. Next course…

Here is the video of us (on Channel 3) during the fleeting food segment last Wednesday on Good Day Arizona: http://www.azfamily.com/video/cooking-index.html?nvid=178477

You can find his Veal Funghi recipe here.

Chef G and Robert Mata–off stage–did a great job and made us look good.

I suppose that I should be uneasy about the obvious glee that Woody, Stu and Roy take in first having re-christened the Rio Salado Room as ‘Monti’s Back Door’ and then continually referring to it in their emails. Nonetheless, even if there is a bit of humor going on here at my personal expense, I am thrilled for them that their relentless effort to incubate Jazz on Mill is bearing fruit. Ergo, here is the latest email from Woody:

“Subject: JAMN Jazz-O-Gram — Oct/Nov
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:32:06 -0700
Hi, JAMN Jazz Fans:
If you missed Carmela Y Mas and her smokin’ salsa jazz show on Sept. 17th, you missed one of our most exciting events to date. Live music doesn’t get any better. We are so fortunate in the Valley to have such talented and versatile musicians to draw on. Our sincere thanks to Latin diva Carmela Ramirez and band members, Rebecca Kennell, trumpet/musical director, vocalist Susan Phelan, drummer, Mark Winans, Claudia Bloom on keyboards, and conga master, Tony Valenzuela for an incredible and exhilarating show.
And thanks to keyboardist Rachel Ekroth and her quartet for some outstanding straight-ahead jazz on Sept. 24th. For true jazz aficionados, this was the real McCoy Tyner with Dowell Davis on drums, Eric Rasmussen on sax and bassist Justin Brotman. You can catch Rachel’s group again at Nello’s Pizza, 7213 E 1st Ave., Scottsdale, AZ 85251 (Downtown Scottsdale) on Oct. 16th, 7-10 p.m.
As many of you know, our JAMN summer pilot series on Monday nights has now become a fall/winter fixture on Mill Avenue. Monti’s has extended us in the Back Door cabaret until the first of the year, and all but December has been booked. We will NOT have shows on Christmas and New Year’s Eve, but we will be cooking up a Christmas jazz happening on Monday, December 17th. Bring your Scrooge (or Scroogess) and join us for some great holiday jazz, some “spirited” eggnog and a very special visit from the rotund red one.
Here’s our schedule to date.

Oct. 1 — Danielle Cooke Quartet
Featuring Danielle Cook on keyboards, Jeff Gutierrez on sax, John Sims on bass and drummer Shaun Lowecki. Second set will be a jam session featuring local emerging artists from ASU and around town. Many enjoyed her recent concert at the Kerr Cultural Center. She is also young protege of Valley jazz icon, Armand Boatman.

Oct. 8 — Margo Reed and the Joel Robin Quartet
Valley diva Margo Reed is back by popular request. She is backed by one of the finest jazz quartets anywhere featuring Jerry Donato on sax, Joel Robin on keyboards, Todd Chuba on drums and bassist Mike King. Always a SRO show.

Oct. 15 — Carole Pellatt Quintet
A colorful blend of music that allows Carole’s groups to play many different venues from The Phoenix Art Museum to the blues/rock of the The Rhythm Room. Joining her will be Dom Moio on drums, Joe Garcia, percussionist, Bob Lashier on bass and Jerry Donato on reeds.

Oct. 22 — The Charles Lewis Quintet
A jazz pianist extraordinaire. Charles and his quintet have been recipients of many grants to perform throughout Arizona and the United States. He has served on the Musical Advisory Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the Arizona Commission on the arts.

Oct. 29 — CD Release Party for the Jeff Libman Trio
This will be a fabulous show featuring Jeff Libman on guitar, Shaun Lowecki on drums, Mike Kocour on Hammond B-3 and Jeff Gutierrez on tenor sax.

Nov. 5 — Armand Boatman & The Bebop Revolution
What an amazing group this is! Their last show was the buzz on Mill Avenue for days afterwards. The Bebop Revolution is Fred Forney on trumpet, Jerry Donato, tenor sax, and drummer Dom Moio. Simply world class jazz…don’t miss it.

Nov. 12 — The Sherry Roberson Trio
Well-known Valley chanteuse Sherry Roberson will appear with her acclaimed trio. This is her first appearance at the Back Door and we expect SRO. Sherry, along with Margo Reed, Delphine Cortez and Nancy Gee, are the Valley’s Famous Four Divas of Jazz.

Nov. 19 — To Be Announced

Nov. 26 — Nancy Gee Trio
If you missed Nancy’s appearance this summer, here’s your chance to catch her again. She packed the house last time and gave a truly inspiring performance. Arrive a little early; this is an SRO show.

Once again, we want to thank everyone who has contributed to the success of our JAMN Jazz Series at Monti’s Back Door. Monti’s has been more than generous by providing happy hour “appetizers” for the duration of our shows. We want to remind our customers, following the appetizers, you can order from the special light dinner menu available in the room. Everything you order from the menu goes to keeping live jazz at Monti’s Back Door a going concern. As ever, cover is only $5 and music starts at 5:30 p.m. Monti’s Back Door is in the rear of Monti’s Casa Vieja, 100 South Mill Ave. in Tempe. Just follow the music….

Best Regards,
Stu, Roy and Woody
JAMN Productions

Sometimes I get some really strange misdirected email. There is a stool and chair company in Holland called Montis Design. Their customers used to mistype the address, ending with montis.com instead of montis.nl The result was that I would receive orders for seating in Flemish a few times a week. Today I received this query for a product that I most certainly do not traffic in:

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From: Trade House Company Incorporated [mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 10:04 AM
To: montis@montis.com
Subject: Frozen Pig Head

Dear Jessy,

I need the following questions answered in regards to the frozen pig heads:

-What is the average weight?
-Packaging details?
-how many peices are in a 40' container.
-Does the head have tounges?
-What is the quantity you can ship on a regular basis?
-Also can you provide frozen pig stomach and pig tails?

Please send photos of the frozen pig head as well as detailed specs to zodiacf1@aol.com
Thank you.

Trade House Co., Inc
www.Tradehouseco.com
Goran Pecotic

Sometimes it is hard for the consumer to understand that even a busy restaurant may not be making money:

    Sales growth to slow in ’08, with pressure on profits, IFMA says
By Sarah E. Lockyer

CHICAGO (Sep. 20) Despite a general economic slowdown, foodservice sales are expected to continue to grow during 2008, albeit at a slower pace than in recent years, according the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association and Technomic Inc.

[...] the higher costs of fuel, commodities and labor will likely put increasing pressure on margins.

The nominal or unadjusted sales increases for both years would be significantly higher because of inflation, which IFMA and Technomic pegged at 4 percent for both 2007 and 2008.

[...]

The forecast shows that 2008 is expected to be the fourth consecutive year of declining real growth rates for the foodservice industry as a whole, following the 2.3-percent real growth rate clocked for the trade in 2004.

Technomic presented data highlighting today’s volatile economic state, including the credit crunch[...]Still, there are signs of weakening overall job growth, soft consumer confidence and increased home foreclosures, which have intensified a broad housing downturn.[...]Cameron Mitchell, the Columbus, Ohio-based independent-group operator said that fuel prices are his largest concern. “It causes less people to come in the front door and it’s more expensive at the back door,” he said.

This is bad news for the US economy, but GREAT news for the Valley’s hospitality industry this season. We should have a bumper crop of Canadian tourists this winter:

Canadians cheered Friday for their beloved loonie, reaching parity this week with the US greenback for the first time in 31 years, but consumers are not yet benefiting, and manufacturers are reeling.
The loonie, a sobriquet given to the Canadian dollar, worth a mere 62 US cents five years ago, reached parity with the US greenback in morning trading Thursday, amid soaring commodity prices and fears of a slumping US economy.

Here are  couple of great photos, taken and posted by a photographer/customer, of our youthful kitchen mastermind, Gerald “Chef G” Allen.

BTW, he has a superlative wine dinner planned for the evening of Sunday, September 22.

“This is G, the chef at Monti’s on Mill in Tempe, AZ.

A (very) quick editorial photo from a recent outing with some photography friends of mine from Refocus Phoenix.

We had dinner and photographed some food ( just for the fun of it) Because G let us have our own special room I decided to create a super fast portrait of him. Setting up the lights, metering AND the photo shoot happened in 10 minutes.

3 light setup. 1 small soft box for the keylight, 30deg gridspot for an edge light.& 1 background light.

© Adam Nollmeyer - AcmePhotography.net
Phoenix Arizona Editorial Photographer “

Here is more on the industry trend away from middle-class, full service dining. Note that people are either moving up to high end establishments or down to quick service. This is not a good time for the mushy middle:

http://www.rimag.com/web-exclusives/articles/sluggish-economy-restaurants.asp?nid=3D3458September

“September 19, 2007
Report: Sluggish Economy Equals Consumer Restaurant Cutbacks

By Allison Perlik, Senior Editor

Nearly 40% of Americans are eating out less frequently than they did just six months ago, and 54% plan to cut back restaurant visits even further in the next three months, analysts from New York City-based RBC Capital Markets told an audience of institutional investors and media at the investment banking firm’s Annual Consumer Conference today in Naples, Fla., citing consumers’ negative views on the economy as a key culprit behind the slowdown.

The just-released data from RBC’s CASH Index (Consumer Attitudes toward Spending by Household), a consumer confidence index based on regular surveys of 1,000 U.S. households that historically has had a high correlation with restaurant same-store sales performance, highlights several more industry challenges and opportunities worth noting:

• Males, Gen Y fueling QSR’s strength. While four in 10 Americans are eating out less frequently today than six months ago, 11% are dining out more. These consumers are primarily males, diners aged 18-29, and singles, all typical quick-service customers.

• Diners are looking to spend less, too. 40% of consumers say they’re less willing to order a higher-price entrée, appetizer or dessert than they were six months ago, compared with 18% who are somewhat more willing and 8% who are much more willing to do so. Demographically, the groups most unlikely to trade up include low-income, female and Generation X diners.

• Casual Dining on the upswing? Households with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 and older age groups including pre-boomers and baby boomers—all core casual-dining users—were among the 26% of consumers who say they are willing to spend more on restaurant meals, suggesting positive results to come for the segment, says RBC analyst Larry Miller.

• Quality first. Though consumers’ actions may often seem to contradict the finding, food quality far outpaced price and convenience as the most-cited driver of restaurant choice, 55% to 12%. Menu offerings ranked second at 18%, with convenience next at 10%.”