Meet Josh Monopoli | Private Chef & Caterer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Josh Monopoli and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Josh, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Two things are as true today as when I started cooking professionally 22 years ago: I love to feed people, and I love express my creativity through food. Working for myself allows me the freedom to be true to my purpose, and cook the way I love to, for as many people as possible. Stepping away from the traditional restaurant Chef role allows me to make personal connections and relationships with my clients, while maintaining maximum professional satisfaction. Running my own business allows cooking to remain a joy, and not just a job!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
There are lots of private chefs in our resort community, but what sets me apart is the breadth of my hospitality experience. I started out as a cook, and then worked for a caterer through culinary school. Over the next 20 years I rose through various restaurant kitchens, and after over a decade as a head Chef, I decided to switch gears entirely and work front-of-house, seeking more flexibility and shorter hours after our first child, Ronin, was born.

This experience was invaluable, it allowed me to see a side of hospitality I hadn’t been nearly as hands-on with before: guest interaction, sales, and beverage pairings. Learning to read my guests table-side, to get to know them and get a feel for what they were looking for, translated to realizing my passion is for more than just cooking for people: I wanted to provide them a world class, full-service dining experience.

Something else that sets me apart from many chefs and caterers is my pantry: I make as many of my components from scratch as I possibly can. Vinegars, ferments, hot sauces, jams, pickles, you name it…if you can buy it, I’d rather make it myself! I also love to use preservation techniques to utilize as much local produce is possible over the course of the year. The growing season in Colorado is shorter than in many places, and cooking from my own pantry allows me to showcase unique ingredients for the maximum amount of guests.

The thing that excites me the most about my business is that I get to do what I love, in the way I love to do it. Cooking in a restaurant can be very fun and rewarding, but there are obviously certain practical constraints that aren’t as big of a factor when cooking on a smaller scale. Restaurant menu development is absolutely a creative process, but for me, it doesn’t compare to the thrill of creating a new menu in collaboration with your clients, and being able to watch their delight in real time as they bite into each dish. This venture has allowed me to be more creative than ever before in my career , while also allowing me a more flexible schedule. I’m really looking forward to scaling my business by moving into event catering in addition to private dinners, so I can bring my food and the guest experience I’ve refined to even more people!

If I had to sum up how I got to where I am today business-wise, it all comes back to my passion: I got here by dedication to the craft of cooking, and the desire to master the art of the guest experience. I push forward by being proud of what I do while never being satisfied, by having the drive to chase perfection, while understanding I’ll forever be a student of my craft.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My family and I are fortunate enough to live in the mountains of Vail, CO, and over the course of the year we host lots of family and friends who like to visit. It doesn’t get much better than Vail if you like outdoor adventure and scenic beauty, and while we don’t have quite as many options for dining as Denver, we are lucky to have some incredible local spots that that we always bring out-of-towners to.

In the winter, an ideal day would be spent taking some laps on the mountain, we have one of the largest (and we think the best!) ski resorts in North America in our backyard and we love to take full advantage. We’ll start out with a coffee or matcha from Two Arrows and breakfast sandwich from Big Bear Bistro, make some turns until lunch time, and then come down for a killer burger and a margarita at Mountain Standard (shameless plug, I was the Chef de Cuisine there for years, and it is consistently one of the best spots in town).

If we’re not too full, we might head back on the mountain until it’s time for Apres, when we’ll grab a whiskey and listen to some live music at 10th Mountain Whiskey & Spirit, our favorite bar in the village. I tell people it’s like the “Friends” coffee house, but rugged, and with booze! The staff there are some of our favorite people in town, and the room is cozy, with a big leather couch, armchairs, and huge windows overlooking Bridge Street…amazing when it’s snowing. They make all their own spirits, all of which are fantastic (you’ve gotta try the rye) and they also do lots of philanthropic work with local and national branches of the armed services.

Dinner would have to be at Sweet Basil, the 43-year-old “older sibling” to Mountain Standard. The atmosphere, quality, service and wine list are phenomenal and rival anything in the state (in fact, they were recently added to the Michelin guide). If our guests are still game for more, we’d head back to Two Arrows, which turns into a cocktail bar at night, for a Carajillo (my favorite ‘pick me up’ cocktail…espresso and Licor 43, shaken like crazy) and then head to Shakedown Bar for live music and dancing.

We might be in rough shape the next day (careful, drinking at altitude will get you) so we’d probably grab a hearty breakfast at The Little Diner in Lionshead, where our favorite waitress Miriam keeps the coffee and the laughs flowing. Once we have shaken off the night before, we’d call up Vail Backcountry Tours to ride some snowmobiles, they are the only guide service in Vail itself and do an awesome job. After tearing it up on some sleds, we would make our way down from Vail pass and head over to Apres Cafe, our friends’ spot in East Vail, for a hearty sandwich, some truffle fries, and maybe have Tommy make us his famous margarita while we sat by the fire!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I believe there’s no such thing as a “self-made” person, we are all an aggregate of the people who inspired, nurtured, and pushed us.

My dad, Tony, showed me what hard work looked like from a young age, frequently working as many as 3 jobs to provide for his family. He is also where my love of feeding people started: to this day, he can be found in the kitchen more often than not, and his “Sunday Sauce” is legend in our family (and their whole town!)

My best friend, Jason Brown, has been by my side my whole career: we started cooking together as teenagers in rural Georgia, attending culinary school together and moving to Colorado, where we both moved up in the kitchen ranks and eventually even started a business together. He continues to push himself as a Chef in Alaska, where he is gaining acclaim working for the Lodge at 58 North, a luxury guided fly-fishing resort in King Salmon.

My former employers at Mountain Standard/Sweet Basil, Paul Anders and Matt Morgan, took me to the next level as a professional in my tenure with them. I learned an incredible amount about what it takes to run a successful business, as well as what it takes to be a leader. They held me to a very high standard, and for that I will always be grateful.

Website: www.joshmonopolicooks.com

Instagram: @joshmonopoli