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Chatting with Guillermo Tellez of Hotel Monaco
Guillermo Tellez is upping the hotel restaurant game at the soon to open Hotel Monaco.
Chatting with Guillermo Tellez of Hotel Monaco
The corner of Fifth and Chestnut Street’s one-time Lafayette Building is quiet no more. While its gilded new inhabitant, Hotel Monaco, preps for a champagne bottle-smashing toast next Thursday morning, this weekend found its restaurants and lounges ready to serve. Under the command of Executive Chef Guillermo Tellez, the reclaimed industrialism of the Red Owl Tavern and its sorta-skylit cousin eleven floors above, Stratus, promise regionally sourced American fare from a man who knows his hotel food. He’s the chef at Kimpton’s Hotel Palomar’s hot spot, Square 1682.
Tellez likes the feel of hotels and hotel dining. With two hotels under his belt is looking to challenge the preconceived notion of what restaurants in such a setting can be. “Hotel restaurants always get a bad rap. Lousy food, lousy service. Not this place. We run the restaurants independently. We don’t have a chain in front of us or anyone to answer to. These places are my challenge and Kimpton allows us to shine in that regard.”
Most shining is Red Owl Tavern’s opening menu – a sophisticated comfort food one filled with casseroles, pot pies, a variety of clean cut steak and pork filets and soft pretzel appetizers albeit with raclette cheese. “That’s a nice way of putting it,” says Tellez. “Red Owl is a modern American tavern and I wanted to showcase the purity of American flavors.” Tellez is keeping things “minimalist” and locally sourced. “I like meat on the bone – lamb shanks on the bone, beef short rib on the rib. We’re not playing with things too much.” The comfort food aspect – what could be nicer than to travel far from home and get a chicken pot pie – an early crowd pleaser - like your mom used to make. “They’re whole fresh Lancaster chickens brined for several days, slow roasted and just a few simple herbs. It’s pure. We let that shine.”
Shinier still is Stratus Rooftop Lounge, the avant-modern lounge with the garage door-hooded bar with a smaller menu of finger foods like thin crust pizza (shrimp and spicy sausage) skewers (pork meatballs) and tartlets. “I want to see what moves and doesn’t and how people gravitate the sharable element of it all.”
“Grab and go” breakfasts and dinner are currently part of Red Owl’s opening week with brunch starting in late October and lunches set for an October 15 introduction. Mostly though, you have to wonder how Tellez is doing going back and forth between Old City and Uptown.
“I feel great,” says Tellez after running several days of soft-opening dinners on Fifth and Chestnut and attending to his 17th and Sansom Square 1682. “I have a good time and fantastic new talent. It’s been rough but I’m happy.”
The Red Owl Tavern’s opening menu:
Appetizers
Roasted Garlic and Bell Pepper Hummus
bagel chips
$9
Pickled Vegetables
toasted bread, eggplant spread
$8
Philly Soft Pretzels
raclette cheese, spicy mustard
$6
Sea Salt and Sour Pennsylvania Farm Potato Chips
spring onion-garlic dip
$7
Smashed Fingerling Potatoes
Melted cheddar, garlic, chives
$8
Charcuterie
from our butcher shop
$13
Marrow Bones
parsley, pickled lamb’s tongue, preserved shallot, capers, grilled toast
$9
Housemade Sausage of the Day
white beans, arugula, spicy pickled fennel marmalade
$11
Crispy Sweetbreads Casserole
caramelized squashes, pomegranate reduction, apples
$12
Oysters on the Half Shell
housemade sauces
$2.5 each
Red Owl Tavern Mussels — $18
Garlic
white wine, mustard, cream, herbs, fingerling potato chips
Curry-Coconut
tomato, cilantro, oven-roasted purple potatoes
Spicy Pork Shoulder
tomatillo, crispy fries
Housemade Chorizo
caramelized onions, sweet peppers, cilantro
Tavern Cuts
Butter Blade Steak
parmesan fries, garlic aioli
$19
Denver Cut Steak
tomato-almond sauce, crispy zuchini
$21
Beef Short Ribs on the Bone
roasted bell peppers, Indian-spiced ketchup
$20
Tri-Tip Loin
creamy spinach, housemade cheese
$23
Flatiron Steak
roasted cippolini onions, local greens, herb sauce
$21
Top Sirloin Filet
blue cheese butter, preserved onion sauce
$24
20oz Red Owl Tavern Prime Cut
onion marmalade, housemade steak sauce, balsamic glaze
$45
A La Carte Entrees
Slow Roasted Herbed Chicken Pot Pie
$12
Pork Confit
papardelle pasta, sweet peas, roasted pearl onions, tomatillo sauce, parmesan
$16
Slow Roasted Chicken
white beans, spinach, housemade smoked bacon, red owl tavern barbecue sauce
$16
Fresh Beet Pasta
house cured pork belly, sweet peas, kennett square mushrooms, parmesan
$19
St. Louis Baby Back Pork Ribs
ginger-peach BBQ sauce
$23
Braised and Roasted Lamb Shank
spicy tomato chutney, yellow lentils
$24
Crispy Black Striped Bass
roasted eggplant, turkey tail mushrooms, shallot and thyme vinaigrette
$25
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