Life took us in a different direction,” says Elise Montgomery, co-owner, along with husband and chef, Brian Montgomery, of Texas Farm to Table Café (www.texasfarmtotable.com), referring to the serendipitous conversation they had with a friend in 2005. Aware of Brian’s love of cooking, the friend mentioned that the developers of the historic Pearl Brewery complex wanted to open “some sort of little, bitty, deli-type place,” as Elise remembers it. She and Brian seized the opportunity. It wasn’t the first time the couple, who met at Texas Culinary Academy in Austin, where they trained in French cooking, had made a decision that changed the course of their future. Before the restaurant venture, Brian, a San Antonio native, entertained the idea of going to law school and Elise, a 13th-generation Texan from Amarillo and direct descendent of Amy White, one of the “Old 300,” was an aspiring artist.
The Montgomerys were eager to become part of the revitalization of the 22-acre site that in 1883 saw the establishment of City Brewery (renamed Pearl Brewery in 1952), which continued to operate successfully, even during Prohibition, by manufacturing non-alcoholic beverages, until 2001. The following year, Silver Ventures, Inc., a San Antonio investment firm, purchased the property and began plans for a mixed-use redevelopment, while preserving the site’s heritage.
Confessing that he is not sure exactly what his original inspiration for the café was, Brian says, “I’m a proud Texan, like everyone else. I was fortunate enough to meet people like Susan and Ed Auler, who have Fall Creek Vineyards (www.fcv.com), and other local producers. They’re such interesting and unique and nice people, and they’re all very independent and doing high-quality things. There are people doing similar things with food, especially on the West Coast, and I thought, ‘Why couldn’t we do it here in Texas?’”
To that end, he started learning more about the local producers. “The idea was, not only to showcase and highlight those people and—I’m still not to this point yet—tell their stories, but to incorporate them into what we do,” Brian explains.
He also was inspired by regionalism—food and a particular region seem to go well together as long as you have a basic understanding of flavor profiles, he says. This led to the creation of a Ham Chipotle Panini, for instance, which couples New Braunfels smokehouse peppered ham and smoked cheddar with caramelized Texas-sweet onions and smoked raspberry chipotle sauce. Or, the Pork Loin Panini, which melds thinly sliced pork loin, smoked baby-Swiss, fire-roasted red peppers, and shaved red onion with mango-ginger habanero sauce.
“It seems fundamental to have things be fresh and local and try to pair them together as best as possible. When we first opened, we wanted to do all organic and all local, but then we realized there was no infrastructure in place in San Antonio.”
That’s when Brian began to talk to the property developers about the possibility of having a farmer’s market on the premises. “We’re striving to move more in that direction. Our goals were a little bit naïve originally, but that’s what drives innovation,” he says philosophically.
While Brian was instrumental in getting some of the interested parties together to talk about a common goal—the farmer’s market—he then stepped back and let the relationships develop.
 “It wasn’t just about us and our restaurant—I already order from the people who will be in the market—it was something San Antonio desperately needed,” he says earnestly. “It’s a producers-only market, which is special and unique, at least as far as San Antonio is concerned. It’s a way to bring local food to me instead of the other way around. It enables the restaurant to develop and grow over time as we strive to go more toward the whole farm-to-table concept.”
When asked if he was heavily involved in the green movement prior to opening the restaurant, Brian responds candidly, “Not incredibly. That should be a natural part of it, but my primary focus is on the quality of the food and personal relationships. It’s nice when relationships evolve over time.”
Having said that, the Montgomerys aspire to be as environmentally responsible as possible in their business practices, even going so far as to use forks made from potatoes (SpudWare®) and cups made from cornstarch when they’re available.
The focus, of course, remains on the food. “It’s always best to use fresh foods; that’s a no-brainer,” Elise says. “It just made sense having a restaurant with that theme.” In addition to the café, the company specializes in catering. “When we first opened, we were in the middle of nowhere and very hard to find,” Brian says, but that didn’t stop the customers from coming. “Our catering business has been almost all word-of-mouth. When we do catering, I try to go all out farm-to-table. I won’t accept things that I don’t feel I can do with excellence.”
Traffic will soon increase with the completion of the San Antonio River Improvements Project. River taxis will transport visitors along Museum Reach, a 1.3-mile stretch of river that includes 1100 feet of riverfront that run in front of Pearl. “We can’t wait to see people getting off the boats and milling around,” says Elise enthusiastically.
While Brian has been growing the business, Elise has been “growing the baby,” as Brian puts it. Now that their daughter is 16 months old, Elise is slowly easing back into the cooking world by taking classes at the nearby branch of the internationally renowned Culinary Institute of America (CIA), also located in the Pearl complex.
“We exceeded everyone’s expectations,” Elise says. “We’ve been very busy having fun and cooking and creating. We just got lucky. Life took us in a different direction and we’re having a lot of fun with it.”