As the name implies, everything is done with Gusto at this find, on a side street in Manhattan’s West Village. The eatery is a “must stop” for either lunch or dinner. The proprietors focus on sustainable ingredients from local and family farms and vendors.
Gusto chefs prepare affordable, quality-driven dishes. Each preparation is evident of the extra love and respect for flavor that goes into each plate served. Shrewd and enthusiastic chef-partner Saul Montiel manages the kitchen.
Both Montiel’s mother, his idol, and his grandmother, restaurateurs themselves, were his best mentors. Montiel’s first New York mentor-teachers were two well-respected chefs: Amanda Freitag and Jody Williams.
Montiel reminisced how he would hang around his mother’s kitchen but never once imagined to become a chef, adding, “Cooking was for women. When I came to America, I started as a dishwasher. I realized then I knew I had it in me and was very good at cooking.”
One of four children, two of the men are chefs. Montiel recalled his mother teaching him to select produce and commenting, “Cooking is not for the money; it is about everything—an experience that has to be enjoyed,” of which I constantly remind my staff, adding, “because we are dealing with human beings and want to be the ones to make their enjoyment of food possible.”
