Monte Vista’s new menu should wow eaters

Bar hoppers and brunch eaters will find a new and delectable food menu at the Monte Vista Fire Station in Nob Hill. The burgers may wow them.

Chef John Chacon has a dream: micro Wowza Burgers on corners in neighborhoods all over Albuquerque, with thatched portals and walk-up outdoor dining service. That dream is in the distance — right now Chacon has brought his mouth-watering burgers to Monte Vista, a bar that has been operating on Central Avenue since the 1980s.

Chacon is not the kind of entrepreneur who puts all his dreams in one basket. He’s quick to grab opportunity when it arises, and not scared to close up shop if a restaurant falls into the red. Eaters and readers may know Chacon from his past projects: Chef Chacon’s Pancake House, and the Wowza Burger food truck, not to mention the Wowza Burger location in Nativo Lodge.

Chacon closed the Pancake House when he couldn’t find cooks and the restaurant stopped making a profit, but the popularity of his popularity of his food there secured him a new him a new location in the Nativo Lodge. However, The Nativo Lodge location didn’t have enough foot traffic, but Heritage Hotels and Resorts offered him a spot in another property: the historic Monte Vista Fire Station Restaurant and Bar. Chacon thought about the offer for a week before he decided to go for it.

Wowza Burger is going with him.

The menu has been elevated with more brunch options to cater to the Sunday Nob Hill brunch crowd: a New York steak and eggs platter, Chef Chacon style; a toasted brioche with eggs, cheddar cheese, bacon or sausage; and eggs benedict with green chile hollandaise. perfect example of why menu items shouldn’t be capped, because then we cap regular words

Chacon’s famous pancakes are back too, buttermilk or blue corn with triple berry maple syrup.

The dinner menu — the kitchen is open for dinner from 4 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday — launches a new item: the sopapilla style pizza.

If you ask Chacon his favorite menu item, he’ll name three or four (crème brulee, which he’s been making for years, the Spanish bocadillo with its so-frito chicken, and the sweet sopapilla served with cinnamon chantilly cream) before he finally settles on the sopapilla style pizza.

The fry-bread-inspired pizza was something Chacon dreamed up when he was turning out 100 pizzas an hour with another chef for an event in San Francisco, California. Fluffy and savory, diners can order a classic margherita or a Wowza combo with lots of meat and a trio of peppers and onions.

Chacon spent almost 16 years in California honing his cooking skills and his entrepreneurial sense. He offered burrito delivery out of a pickup truck, worked as a private chef, started a catering company, fed private jet riders, and he got New Mexico chile added to the menus of restaurants in the Bay peninsula.

COVID convinced him it was finally time to come home to New Mexico. As of early June, Chacon was running the iconic Monte Vista Fire Station kitchen, a bar he’d frequent with friends in the 90s when he was just beginning his training to become a cook.

“I used to tell my friends, ‘One day I’ll have a restaurant. I’ll be able to cook for you again.’ Guess what? My friends are coming to this day to my restaurants and eating,” Chacon said.

The Monte Vista bar is open 4 p.m. to midnight Wednesday through Sunday. The kitchen is open 4 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Late night bites after 10 p.m. will be phased in. Located at 3201 Central NE.