It is in keeping with Scott’s philosophy of treating customers graciously, wanting to make their night out feel as though he’s cooking for them in his home. And that is perhaps as it should be, because Scott was brought up in a home where food and cooking were central to life.
While in high school in Redding, Calif., his family opened a cafe that served lunch and dinner. In his spare time, Scott worked there and did whatever was needed: doing prep work, making sandwiches and helping with catering. He learned cooking basics by watching his mom, and cooking became such a natural part of his life at the restaurant he did the opposite of what one might expect: He never considered it as something he might do professionally.
But while working with Rudolfo for two years, Scott became fascinated with the hows and whys of cooking, things Rudolfo seemed to know all about. Scott peppered Rudolfo with questions, and Rudolfo said that Scott had "the knack" for cooking. And Scott began to believe it.
He devoured books on food and food chemistry. To learn more about how cooking worked, he enrolled for a weeklong class at Tante Marie’s Cooking School in San Francisco, taught by food chemist Shirley Corriher, author of the classic food reference, "Cookwise." Scott did not know it, but by then he was well on his way to becoming a chef. Back in his family’s restaurant, Scott kept his own notes on the "why" issues of cooking. He saw himself as a teacher, someone who could show people how to make food and how to present it well.
Then fate intervened. In 1988, Abe Ghadar, general manager at the Holiday Inn in Redding, tasted Scott’s food and hired him to come to Missoula to open his new cafe, the Greenleaf (a space now occupied by El Cazador downtown). Scott had always wanted to see Montana, and so he accepted Abe’s offer to devise a menu and train a staff, something that was expected to take six to eight weeks.
The weeks turned into six months, and by then Scott was hooked on Missoula and the lifestyle it offered. But instead of staying, he returned to California and became a food stylist in San Francisco, a lucrative job for someone who prepares food for the camera. It was a job he ultimately became disenchanted with because of the tremendous amount of food wasted.
When he left Missoula, Scott knew he would return someday to become re-involved in the restaurant business. In 1990, he returned for a consulting job and soon after began working at Food for Thought, a restaurant still in operation across the street from the University of Montana. He eventually bought in as a partner, with Jim Conkle and Layne Rolston, and later helped set up Second Thought, an establishment that sold books and magazines and served breakfast, lunch and light dinners.
During his nine years of cooking at these two businesses, Scott decided he wanted to open his own restaurant. He realized that "the knack" Rudolfo said he had was real, and he enjoyed seeing the pleasure his food brought to people.
After so many years of cooking for Missoulians, he also knew what kind of foods people liked and the sort of restaurant they were likely to support. He decided to concentrate on Mediterranean food because he loves the earthiness of it, and because he ate lots of it on location during lengthy travels to Italy, France, Greece, Turkey and Spain. Because Scott is informal, he decided on a bistro-style atmosphere. Nothing fancy. The food would be the attraction.
Scotty’s Table opened in March 2001, on Higgins Avenue at the location previously occupied by Second Thought, to an immediate positive reception. In the more than six years since, a few of Missoula’s chefs who currently own their own restaurants have worked there, including Paul Myers of 515 and Bob Marshall of Biga Pizza.
As a chef, Scott knows he can’t do everything. Family is as important to him as his business, and he attributes a great deal of his success to his staff. Scotty’s Table supports 20 personnel. Although Scott is at the restaurant most of the time and cooks several nights a week, Austin Smith is chef de cuisine and works with two other cooks during the dinner service.
In addition to the regular menu, on any given night you’re likely to be offered three specials: a bruschetta, a protein salad (perhaps with wild-caught seafood such as scallops or shrimp), and a fish or meat entree. The menu is revamped three times a year, but many of the dishes on Scott’s first menu survive today because diners demand them, including: Cioppino, the San Francisco fish and seafood stew; Pasta Abruzzi, a hearty Italian tomato-based pasta sauce flavored with morsels of pork, beef, Italian sausage, and smoky ham atop a bed of penne; and Moroccan Lamb Shank, braised in white wine and served with olives and preserved lemons.
Scott strives to buy organically grown local foods as much as possible. Blue Willows Farms, Clark Fork Organics and the Western Montana Growers Cooperative are regular suppliers. He offers bison flank steak, which comes from South Dakota, and he serves no farmed fish. One other dish regularly on the menu is Coq au Vin, made with Hutterite chickens, and I am certain they understand and appreciate, on some level, Scott’s concern for not causing them undue angst.
About Scotty’s Table
Scotty’s Table, located at 529 S. Higgins Ave. between 3rd and 4th streets, serves lunch Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and dinner 7 nights a week from 5 p.m. to closing. For reservations, call 549-2790. The restaurant offers beer and wine.Greg Patent is a food writer and columnist for the Missoulian and Missoula.com magazine. He also co-hosts a weekly show about food with Jon Jackson on KUFM Sundays at 11:10a.m. His cookbook, “Baking in America,” won the 2003 James Beard Award.
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