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Adam’s Mountain Cafe Honored as Cornell University Cross Country Gourmet
Program Participant
For owner Farley Kaminer McDonough, weighing decisions at Adam’s
Mountain Cafe is akin to most people’s shuffling in front of a mirror
in the morning, deciding if their shirts and pants match. She’s precise,
meticulous, and tastefully particular with minute details. McDonough’s
introspective mantra “Is this Adam’s?” refines the most
subtle qualities of her restaurant and has garnered it local fame and recent
national recognition.
So how did a couple guys from Ithaca, New York, stumble upon a demure
mountain town cafe in Manitou Springs, Colorado? And what occurred upon their
palates that caused them to recall their visit two years later, when an east
coast university sought a model restaurant for the unique Cross Country Gourmet
(CCG) guest restaurant series?
The answers: good fortune and the same phenomena that has generated
hour-plus waitlists every Sunday morning and enough faithful regulars to embarrass
any Cheers-bar. As in the classic “Soup Nazi” episode of Seinfeld,
the mountain cafe commands customer devotion and borderline-obsessive loyalty.
Adam’s name leaves people’s lips with reverence and longing.
In 1977, Cornell University had the bright idea to entice nationally
renowned chefs and their menus into Cornell’s dining halls for a special
culinary series, in which they would recreate their respective restaurants
inside the college. This palatable affair has since grown into one of Cornell’s
most anticipated on-campus events each semester.
Earlier this year, Farley McDonough received an invitation to participate
in this esteemed series. “I flat-out said no,” she explains. “I
assumed that surely they didn’t know what kind of place we are.”
Richard Anderson, general manager of the Cornell dining board plan,
actually knew Adam’s style quite well – he’d eaten there
in 2003. “I thought Adam’s would be a good match for us,” he
said. “Manitou Springs feels a lot like Ithaca. We, too, have a lot of
health conscious people.”
Anderson pursued McDonough, assuring her that Adam’s would be
right at home in Cornell. “When they asked me to reconsider, I still
thought they were way out of our league,” said McDonough. “Then
I learned that Richard had already visited, and knew our food. I was surprised.”
Anderson went on to detail Adam’s memorable qualities and
the reasons they matched his program’s needs. “They have depth
in their menu,” he says, “which helps us translate the food for
large scale production. I love their fresh preparation and light ingredients,
which doesn’t detract from the food’s inherent flavor. Adam’s
is authentic, warm, and unique.”
“Still, for me to feel comfortable having our menu crafted for
a 300-person dinner,” McDonough adds, “I needed to know more. Like
how this program exists? Why bring our french toast or green chili recipes
across the country to these students - don’t they have cookbooks in New
York?”
Anderson clarifies that Cornell’s 20,000 students must compete
with other Ivy League schools in several respects, one of them being the university’s
dining experience. For Cornell, the cafeterias demand a large focus of resources.
Anderson wants to broaden his students’ horizons with food, not just
feed them.
“I realized their goals and philosophy closely relate to some
of our deepest beliefs of food service,” says McDonough. “These
kids are often homesick, stressed, and depressed. They were once top of their
high school classes and they’re used to being the best. Then they live
amongst 5,000 other bests and the competition gets tough. Everyone is suddenly
smarter, better, and more talented.”
McDonough realized the potential for her food to provide that sense
of belonging, of home. “It’s a very Adam’s thing to do: to
nurture through food. This is a big part of why I decided to participate in
CCG, something that I initially thought sounded a little impractical.”
Cornell further impresses McDonough in that they house a dairy, as well
as their own orchards and farms; but what she finds most intriguing is Cornell’s
insistence to use as many of Adam’s local purveyors as possible when
they mimic the recipes. “They’re not just shooting for something
that looks and tastes like the real thing,” she says. “They’re
bringing in the real thing and the talented people behind the recipes.”
The CCG will import Adam’s Shawn's sunflower Wheat Bread, their locally
famous Pike’s Perk coffee blend, and such goods as gourmet pea shoots
from the cafe’s sprout grower to capture the true essence of Adam’s
Mountain Cafe.
When asked what sets her restaurant apart, McDonough doesn’t
hesitate before offering reply. She has no need to scratch her head to cite
reasons for Adam’s success, as she has been long in tune with the Manitou
Springs community. She sits on the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce and
Central Business Improvement District boards, and acts as liaison to the
Economic Development Council. She’s neither arrogant nor hypnotized
with corporate rhetoric; she’s simply conscious of the little things
that amount to big differences. From outside judgment, though, some of these
little things aren’t so insignificant - they’re astounding.
Anyone who has donned the all-blacks - restaurant speak for an all-black
uniform code - or a chef’s coat and houndstooth pants knows that restaurant
staffs are as elusive as Bin Laden in the Afghan desert. Common turnover rates
are like flapjacks at IHOP, or pigs in mud on a hot day. While most restaurants
boast if they manage to keep a few aprons or spatulas past a few years, Adam's
defies the industry norm with a dedicated staff of five, ten, even nineteen-year
veterans.
McDonough started waiting tables at age 18. Like everyone else, she
promised she’d do it until she got a real job. Then she turned 30. “I
started to question what I was doing,” she says, “but I loved the
restaurant business. I didn’t have any other job experience and I sure
didn’t want to manage a chain.” She found her way to Adam’s
in 1990, eventually asking the cafe’s owner to sell her the place 2001. “To
this day, I wake up every morning and can honestly say ‘I love this,
I adore this place and these people. I respect them all.’ ”
McDonough touches upon her own experience; moreover, she passionately
depicts the bleachbucket of restaurant subculture. “Restaurant workers
don’t fit into the other parts of society. We aren’t nine-to-fivers
and we don’t relate to the world the same. We’re always in touch
with the underbelly - it keeps us real.”
Much like the scenes portrayed in Anthony Bourdain’s novel, Kitchen
Confidential, McDonough concedes that drugs and alcohol provide the lubrication
for almost every restaurant staff in the country. “That’s simply
a reality of this business, but it’s nothing to be afraid of. I just
have to keep the boundaries very clear."
McDonough describes the inevitable stress that stems from disorganized
situations in which workers don’t know what they are walking into, whether
their coworkers will be on time or if the previous crew did their sidework.
“I call it the ‘Zen Factor,’ she says. “You
have to give in order to get. Be clean, focused, and ready to work hard.” McDonough
makes sure her staff is well equipped for the job and demands a lot from them. “I
have high expectations for them to take pride in their work. This is why Adam’s
succeeds. We don’t have the usual high turnover here because our people
know that they’re important and respected. It may sound trite, but we’re
truly a family.”
Uncle Frog and Aunt Jo
McDonough rules with empathy and compassion. The Adam’s Mountain
Cafe staff has grown accustomed to calling her ‘Mom’, and her husband
David, who oversees the kitchen, ‘Dad.’ Someone then took to calling
Frog, the line cook of 19 years, ‘Uncle.’ So it followed that Jo,
the seasoned 15-year waitress, became ‘aunt.’ In any other restaurant,
they would be Chef, Sous-Chef, and Head Waitress. But when McDonough started
running the show four years ago, she and David McDonough agreed that there’d
be no ego or hierarchy at Adam’s. The chef’s name appears nowhere
on the menu. That’s because there isn’t a chef at all.
“When I visit with tables,” says McDonough, “people
ask me, ‘Your food is fantastic, who’s the chef?’ I always
reply, ‘We don’t have a chef - we have awesome line cooks.’ ”
McDonough explains that a lot of issues tend to come with a chef. “Too
many chefs have the sensitive-artist personality. Their food is laced with
ego. Even though David is a certified chef, we just say he manages the kitchen.
He’s fast on the line, leads by example, never cuts corners in a rush,
and can be loud and scary when he needs to.” 
McDonough trains her servers for nearly three weeks, where most restaurants
require only four days. She prefers to work her staff through a variety of
scenarios, like hostess’s seating a tall gentleman at the table with
ample leg room. These small considerations make quite an impression on customers.
A composed look sweeps over McDonough’s face as she discusses
the upcoming loss of Aunt Jo, who retires the restaurant gig this fall to pursue
an art business. Jo’s departure will devastate many of the regulars and
Farley depicts it as nothing less than a tremendous loss for Adam’s.
“Jo will arrive at an incensed table that’s had an
hour wait with screaming children,” describes McDonough, “and rather
than get defensive with their attitude, she’ll diffuse it immediately
by meeting their initial needs. She’ll grab Dad coffee and Mom a cut-up
banana for the baby without stopping to pour other drinks or ring up another
check. She’s always in control.”
An eavesdropper on McDonough’s portrayal of Jo may think she just
described the world’s greatest tactical bomb squad unit. But that’s
exactly the caliber of soldiers she puts on her frontlines, the ones who’d
make for interesting trading cards if million-dollar smiles and stacked plates
equated to homeruns and RBIs.
Good Food takes time
Adam’s specializes in unique vegetarian entrees while accommodating
vegans, carb-counters, as well as chicken, turkey, and fish-eaters. No heavy
red meats are served, and Adam’s kitchen promotes their willingness to
work with any dietary restrictions. An example of the cafe fare are the famed
Harvest Crepes, consisting of Roasted butternut squash, mixed grains, caramelized
onions, white cheddar and roasted corn in an egg-batter crepe with vegetarian
red chili, pepitas, fresh tomato, and lime – for $8.50.
Whenever possible, David McDonough selects organic and local farmed products,
while the kitchen creates each dish to order without the assistance of heat
lamps or microwaves. Server’s tickets are still handwritten, as Farley
McDonough prefers open communication between her cooks and floor staff.
“Everyone butchers this slogan, but what separates Adam’s
is that we really do make each dish fresh per order,” she insists. “We
place a lot of emphasis on our prep cooks, who make every recipe daily, from
the salad dressings to the salsas. We know we run longer ticket times than
most places. But good food takes time.”
There’s not an ounce of shame in McDonough’s voice as she
details the deliberation of her operation. She knows that even though customers
sometimes grumble if they wait nearly half an hour, those same customers come
back again and again. It’s as if the whining and clockwatching are as
inherent to an Adam’s visit to them as drinking beer and swearing loudly
are to an evening in Fenway Park. Just like a good mother who interprets her
baby’s cries, McDonough knows that the tables’ gripes really translate
to something like, “We love this place and the exquisite food, hurry
and get it to our bellies.”
“Most of our clientele knows our process and understands
the virtue of slow food,” she says. “They simply know that the
food taste different here than anywhere else.” McDonough’s customers
often tell her about trying to recreate Adam’s dishes at home. But there
is always something missing. McDonough believes that it’s the live element
and Adam’s lengthy prep and assembly process. She will not sacrifice
Adam’s principles for faster food, because she’d be giving up the
very thing that people truly want. It’s what sets her restaurant apart.
In summer 2005, Adam’s Mountain Cafe allied with the Slow Food
organization, citing the decision as ‘a no-brainer’ since they
have always respected the movement’s precepts in their own style. The
core of Adam’s menu looks the same as it did between 1986-1995, before
the previous owner went through a small identity crisis and series of chefs
prior to David McDonough’s arrival in 1998.
“When I took over, I wanted to take the menu back to the start
- where it was clean, simple, and beloved,” says Farley McDonough. “Our
faithful customers wanted that back.” No hoity-toity truffle-garnished
exotic game dishes with exhaustive, unpronounceable French sauces. “That’s
not Adam’s. We were always different from that.”
The man in the kitchen
During an average-paced Wednesday morning, I stand unobstructively
in the cafe’s kitchen, between the hotline and service table. A dishwasher,
prep cook, and line cook bustle with intention around David McDonough as
he labors at the sauté station. Waiters pour in and out from swinging
double doors, which sweep away sensuous aromas and colorful plates to the
dining room.
I ask David his opinion on Adam’s popularity. “Well, we
actually make stuff from the beginning to cater to peoples’ real or imagined
food issues,” he jokes, before being interrupted by the arrival of local
farmer Glen Austin with the fresh peach delivery. The brisk, friendly chit-chat
reveals the next level of food appreciation at Adam’s - that there are
personal relationships with the growers, and a small-town sense of community.
“We have the ability to meet our customer-specific needs in a
way that makes them feel like their mom is back here cooking for them. They
know we aren’t an inflexible chain,” continues David McDonough.
Then he breaks off again to ask, “Hey, what the hell just happened to
that wall over there?” to no one in particular. I look over to see a
splatter of red bursting from a prep-sink as if someone violently decimated
a handful of raspberries or sucker-punched the Kool-Aid Man against the wall.
David’s response time to the impending clean-up illustrates the omniscient
eyes in the kitchen at work, and within moments a bleach rag tends to the culprit.
“Because of the consistency in our staff, we’ve benefited
from the longevity of personal relationships with each other and the customers,” says
David McDonough. “This is a very comfortable atmosphere in which to relax.” Perfectly
on point, he then looks over to remind Dustin, one of the servers, to trim
up his beard a bit. Relaxing is good, but relaxing too much earns employees
an implicitly polite reminder to shave, iron, or pay attention.
When asked to recount the black-dotted lines that lead him to Adam’s
and subsequently his partnering with Farley, David speaks with humility about
his education.
“My mom was an excellent cook,” he says. “I learned
a lot from her.” As a child, David ran his own restaurant in his home.
His father would slide him a couple bucks if he’d prep, cook and clean
the kitchen. He lived all over the world when he was young, so he and his mother
studied various cuisines. He majored in accounting and finance, but quickly
figured out that he didn’t quite fit in an office setting.
“I finally said, ‘Let’s do what I enjoy.’ So
I enrolled in a culinary school in D.C.,” he says. “It was a waste
of time and money, but the diploma helped open doors. I always learned more
on the job. I did it all - private country clubs, RFK stadium, hotels, convention
centers, even small mom-and-pops.”
Icing on the cake
In addition to the cuisine, philosophy, and faces that make Adam’s
special, the cafe also delights through live music, a quaint decor, and a proficient
wine list. Adam’s hosts a variety of local musicians who play on select
days in the restaurant’s front foyer. Classical guitarist Wayne Hammerstadt
has been serenading weekly at Adam’s since 1993. To Farley McDonough,
Adam’s would not be complete without Wayne’s music, nor would a
visit to Cornell – the musician will string along for the ride.
Adam’s dining room tables consist of immaculate antique wood tables
and chairs adorned with B&B-esque doilies, miniature Succulent plants and
handcrafted pottery honey pots. An acclaimed artist, known simply as ‘Rockey’,
lives two doors down on Cañon Avenue from Adam’s, and a significant
portion of his family’s art collection resides on the cafe’s walls.
Rockey, a beautifully grizzled old mountain man, eats breakfast at Adam’s
at least twice a week and the staff named a popular menu item after him in
tribute – Rockey’s Special - seasonal fruit, two scrambled eggs
and two slices of buttered Shawn's Wheat toast. Rockey is also an inseparable
part of Adam’s; the cafe just wouldn’t look the same without his
work.
As for the wine list, McDonough opts for close association with only
a couple of wine reps, rather than the normal army that many restaurants employ.
She’s insistent upon this duo to recognize her special pairing and seasonal
needs to fit the west coast style cuisine.
The secret revealed
It’s no single spice or mystery bottle on the kitchen shelf that
has Colorado and Manitou Springs denizens - as well as tourists nationwide
- paying repeat pilgrimage to Adam’s Mountain Cafe. One may argue instead
that the secret to Adam’s prosperity lies in the overall commitment to
the trivial details that act as glue in the system of efficient production.
Adam’s works because when one of the antique tables develops a
wobble, it is fixed immediately so that the hostess and servers won’t
waste effort stressing about seating customers there. The restaurant also succeeds
because workers are held accountable for their actions; beware the hangover
that impedes the well-oiled machine. Adam’s tends to impress because
a knowledgeable server will guide each meal with sincerity. But most of all,
Adam’s keeps seats warm from open to close because customers taste the
difference that ten extra minutes makes in their food’s quality.
Adam’s is slow, deliberate food made with love, distinctly memorable enough to requite a long-distance relationship with two guys from Ithaca and a revolutionary program. Cheers to the talented men and women who dwell in the underbelly, like coal miners who power our cities. There is magic behind the swinging doors, and our stomachs can’t live without it.
Cross Country Gourmet Series Commences November 5
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, October 18, 2005 – Flavors from around the world come to the Finger Lakes this semester as Cornell proudly welcomes Adam’s Mountain Café of Manitou Springs, CO, for the Fall 2005 Cross Country Gourmet Series.
Beginning with a reserved-seating dinner on Saturday, November 5, at Cornell’s Trillium Dining Room, the culinary event continues the following week with Adam’s signature dishes being served at five dining facilities on campus. All dinners are open to the public, but reservations are required for the November 5 dinner (see instructions below).
Cuisine straight from Adam’s eclectic menu, which Cornell Dining chefs will faithfully recreate, includes choices such as Caribbean jerked chicken, peanut crusted salmon, rural Italian lasagna, and Senegalese vegetables. Adam’s dessert options include chocolate hazelnut toffee tart, apple almond streusel pie, rice pudding, and Adam’s carrot cake. With the signature dishes of Adam’s recreated right on campus, the entire Cornell Community can enjoy the cuisine of this nationally famous restaurant without leaving Ithaca.
The Cross Country Gourmet Series spotlights the expertise of Cornell Dining’s skilled chefs and is one of the most eagerly awaited on-campus events. Continuing a 30-year tradition, once each semester CCG combines the talents of our culinary staff with the distinctive menus of America’s most influential restaurants.
“Among higher education institutions, only Cornell features a dining
program with anything like the Cross Country Gourmet Series,” said
LeNorman J. Strong, Assistant Vice President of Student and Academic Services
and Director of Campus Life. “By bringing the cuisine of 5-star restaurants
right to our students each semester, we prove once more that Cornell is committed
to providing only the very best, and we’re passionate about delivering
it.”
Saturday, November 5 – Members of the Cornell and Ithaca communities are invited to attend the reservations-only dinner at the Trillium Dining Room in Kennedy Hall. Seatings are at 5:30, 6:15, 7, 7:45 and 8:30 p.m. The cost is $27.75 plus tax (cash, check, credit cards accepted). Alcoholic beverages will be served at an additional charge with proof of age required. Seating is limited and reservations are required. For reservations, call 607-255-5555 before 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 2, 2005.
Week of November 7 – Cornell students enrolled in a meal plan with meals remaining may enjoy one Cross Country Gourmet meal at no additional charge at any of the following all you care to eat dining facilities. Students, faculty, and staff can use their Big Red Bucks and MealChoice accounts for the special price of $19.95 plus applicable tax. For all others, the cash price is $24.95 plus tax. Reservations are not necessary at these events, which are held during normal dinner hours. Schedule:
About Adam’s Mountain Café
Since 1984, Adam’s Mountain Café of Manitou Springs, CO, has
been a favorite destination for locals and tourists. Nestled in the foothills
of the Rockies, Adam’s restaurant is situated at the base of Colorado’s
Pike’s Peak. Featuring a mostly vegetarian and eclectic cuisine from
around the world, Adam's has become a benchmark for consistency and attention
to detail while remaining fresh and current in Colorado’s restaurant
scene.
Campus Life serves students and the greater Cornell University community through housing, community center, and award-winning dining operations that provide rich learning opportunities, foster an engaged community, and promote a sense of personal connection to Cornell. Through its exceptional programs, services, and facilities, Campus Life enhances the learning and growth of students to reach their full potential. For more information, visit campuslife.cornell.edu.