A Taste of Elegance
Monte Cristo offers peaceful ambiance with a hookah bar
By TASHA GALLEGOS
A LITTLE DRIVE DOWN Friant Road can lead you to a Mediterranean-style
restaurant that has already been discovered by some Fresnans, but has
yet to be discovered by others.
Monte Cristo Café sits in a corner of the Riverview shopping center
on Fort Washington and Friant roads.
A fountain that sits directly in front sets a relaxing and elegant feel
even before stepping into the restaurant.
An outdoor patio surrounded by a small rod iron fence appears inviting
for those nice spring and summer days. And if customers are intent on
sitting outside on cooler days, there are a few heat lamps for their added
comfort.
One of the restaurant’s walls is made of window panels that slide
open to create an open, outdoor café feel inside.
As soon as customers open the door, there’s a strong sweet aroma
that lingers in the air. Usually there are one or two waitresses, with
a friendly smile, standing behind the bar. If it’s not too busy,
customers are welcomed to take any seat they wish.
As patrons make their way across the aggregate floor, they’ll not
only notice the granite tables but also what’s sitting in the middle
of them — a small protruding circle with a picture of a waiter on
it. All you need to do to get service is push on the circular pager.
Tiko Pogosyan, who owns Monte Cristo Café with his brother Aramis,
said this paging feature is one of a kind in Fresno. The 23-year-old Tiko
said it is a feature seen mostly in Europe.
The ambiance the owners created for this restaurant is truly elegant;
decorative and modern light fixtures add color and keep the café
dimly lit for a more relaxed, romantic feel.
Along the walls close to the ceiling are statues that sit in tiny niches
within the walls, and the restaurant showcases three 42-inch and two 20-inch
plasma televisions. Toward the back of the restaurant is the special room
and a VIP room.
Another unique feature about the restaurant is that it is also a hookah
lounge. Tiko said hookah is fruit pulp mixed with molasses and tobacco.
He said it contains about .05 percent nicotine. Monte Cristo Café
allows customers to smoke inside. It costs anywhere from $10 to $20, depending
on what flavor customers want to smoke. Flavors offered include apricot,
peach, vanilla and blueberry. Customers can also mix and match flavors
according to their liking. Be prepared to show ID. To smoke hookah, customers
must be at least 18 years old.
And those 21 and older, can get alcohol.
The menu includes a wide array of dishes from Armenia, Russia and Greece
to America. The most expensive plate is the Monte Cristo steak for $13.99.
The cheapest dish is $5.99 for a good old-fashioned cheeseburger. And
if customers are up for trying new things, there is yalanchi (stuffed
grape leaves), hommus (chick-pea dip), tabuleh (cracked wheat salad),
baba ghannoush (eggplant dip), and baklava (phyllo dough filled with nuts
and layered in a syrup). There’s also much more to choose from.
And for an added bonus, Monte Cristo Café will take 15 percent
off the tab if the customer shows a Fresno State or Fresno City College
ID.
The restaurant, which Pogosyan said he named after the 2002 movie The
Count of Monte Cristo, is already a favorite for some.
“I love it. I think it’s awesome,” said Dustin Topoozian,
a senior at Fresno State majoring in business finance. Topoozian said
he heard about Monte Cristo Café from his stepsister. He said it
was the kind of place he’d come back to.
Jeanette Ensom, a waitress at the café, also said she likes working
there, noting that she makes good tips and would like to see more college-aged
students come to the restaurant.
|
