Food News: September 12, 2007

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

By Richard Anderson

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-The key to the restaurant business – maybe any business, for that matter – is, in addition to great food and service, personality. And the key to imbuing a restaurant with personality is a face (or faces) to associate with the dining experience.
In the case of the Old Yellowstone Garage, a Center Street favorite for eight years, those faces belong to owners David and Cinzia Gilbert.

They greet guests at the door, visit them at their tables during their meals, and wish them well as they exit.

Next Wednesday the Gilberts will welcome their last guests, serve their last meals and say their last good-byes. The 25-plus-year veterans of the restaurant biz are retiring and moving to about as green a pasture as you can find in the Piedmont region of Italy.
“We’ve had a home there for 19 years,” said Cinzia, in one of the 30-second pauses between phone calls to take reservations for their final week of business. “And now we’re going to go live in it. We have a whole life there: friends and generations of friends.”

It is, in fact, the region from which they have assembled their singular wine list.
“It’s north of Genoa, south of Milano and east of France,” she continued, “in the hills where the vines grow and a half an hour from the sea.”

The Gilberts came into food service through a side door, starting out by designing restaurants and hotels. They were working on a restaurant in the early ’80s in the Caribbean when the managers who were supposed to take it over unexpectedly bailed.
“So we took over,” said David.

A decade later or so, they were called to Wyoming by Jeffrey Sussman of Four Seasons Resort fame, who had a vacant building in the tiny town of Dubois he wanted to turn into a restaurant. It was an old garage, the old Yellowstone Garage, no less.

“We knew they’d call it the Old Yellowstone Garage no matter what we called it,” said Cinzia, so that’s what it stayed. It was an immediate hit, with authentic, creative and crafted Italian fare using the freshest ingredients they could lay their hands on. They even had their signature pizza night over there.

“A lot of people drove over the [Togwotee] Pass just for pizza night,” Cinzia said, “and  the rest of the week, too.”

Eight years ago, the Gilberts moved the business to Jackson Hole – “To make it easy for them,” Cinzia said of her guests – in a new building designed by architect Steven Dynia. At the time, Dynia’s boxy, contemporary style raised a few eyebrows. Now one takes its sharp angles for granted. David designed the interiors, and the couple lived in an apartment on the upper floor.

OYG came to be frequented by the valley’s famous residents and visitors as well as its workers when they celebrated a special occasion. “Many are celebrating early this year,” Cinzia noted.

David said they were ending on a high note. “It’s been very emotional,” he said. “I guess we were a little naïve not realizing what this restaurant means to people. We’re hearing it now, though.”

Cinzia denied that the decision to close was health-related. “It’s a grind,” David confessed, “a grunt. I’ll miss the guests,” but, he added, he probably won’t miss the 80-hour weeks.

The Gilberts said if they started thanking individuals who have been key to making the Old Yellowstone Garage a success, they’d have to list everyone on staff. They did, however, single out Paul O’Connor, their chef for the past six years.

“He’s going to be a superstar,” David said. “In five years, he’ll be recognized as one of the great chefs in the country.”

The Gilberts said their family-like staff has expressed a desire to stick together, to find some sort of opportunity where they could all continue to work with one another. They hinted that there were some possibilities afoot, but wouldn’t go into detail.
“We have no regrets,” David said.

“It’s been a great run,” Cinzia added.
To say good-bye – or, if you’re the luckiest person on Earth, get a reservation for one of these final days – call the Old Yellowstone Garage at 734-6161.
PERMALINK:
Food News: September 12, 2007 | Planet JH News Article: Restaurants And Dining

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