Down-to-earth tastes
Last month, Cy Yontz got two small tattoos to complement the 25 or 30 others he can’t exactly count, including the sacred heart and the zodiac symbols representing his four kids’ birthdays.
The fresh tattoos appear on the heel of his hands, most visible when he sets his elbows on a table and folds his formidable knuckles over one another. One is a chef ’s knife, the other a fork. As if a reminder that he’s into food is necessary. He was born in Los Angeles and raised in Denver, then took his kitchen vision quest to Santa Fe.
That’s where working with dean of Southwestern cuisine Jimmy Schmidt (Rattlesnake Club) and spicy national tastemaker Mark Miller (Coyote Cafe) inspired Yontz’s abiding affection for modern remakes of fiery border-bred flavors.
He has earned one of the largest and most loyal followings in Monterey County at Rio Grill with edgy and intuitive Southwest dishes like cayennepotato yam cakes, duck confit chilaquiles, red chile beer-braised short rib and candied pork “Jolly Rancheros.”
In the spring, he was voted the American Culinary Federation’s 2015 Monterey County Celebrated Chef of the Year by his peers for both exemplary craft and community outreach.
The new tattoos stand out as he settles in with a blood-red sangria at a Carmel-by-the-Sea spot, Mundaka, where he quietly celebrates being celebrated.
He’s talking about his friend and Mundaka executive chef Brandon Miller when he says what could as easily describe himself: “He’s a diamond in the rough. He doesn’t need fame or fortune. He wants to cook.” Rio Grill: 101 Crossroads Blvd., the Crossroads, Carmel-by-the-Sea, (831) 625-5436, www.riogrill.com.