Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Gary and Vicki Messick are the husband-and-wife culinary team at Tapestry, a California Bistro. They are partners with Joe and Carol Hargett.

Chefs will weave culinary skills into a rich tapestry

By Suzanne Cristallo

With a sigh of relief that the inherent delays associated with construction and the permitting of a new restaurant are over, the owners opened Tapestry, a California Bistro, to the public last Thursday.

Prior to the opening, the owners--Los Gatans Joe and Carol Hargett and Campbell residents Gary and Vickie Messick--invited investors and several friends in for "practice dinners." The new bistro is located in the rebuilt 100-year-old Puccinelli house behind the Soda Works Plaza on E. Main Street. The dinners were served on new tableware in the indoor dining area.

"We were practicing," jokes Gary Messick, 40, who is dinner chef; wife Vickie, 38, handles lunch and pastries.

Practice is unnecessary, however. The two have been cooking together professionally since they met and married at UCLA in the early 1980s, he an economics major and she in anthropology.

"After graduation, we took a trip to Europe and were convinced that the food part was the best," Gary says. Ignoring their degreed fields, they followed their instincts, gaining hands-on experience with some of the best Los Angeles chefs of the time. Gary won awards and Vickie, sandwiching her chefing around the care of an infant daughter, made gains as the first woman to serve as saucier under famed chef Jean Francois Meteinger. Eventually she became pastry chef, a position allowing the flexible hours so important to a mother.

For the past four years, Gary served as chef for the California Cafe in Los Gatos' Old Town. When it closed for remodeling, the opportunity arose to create a business relationship with the Hargetts, owners of two Los Gatos eateries: 2wenty 9ine E. Main Cafe and Dolce Spazio Gelato, the latter supplying Gary with the ice cream he served.

Tapestry is the happy outcome. "We call it a California bistro because it's not fancy, yet it's not a hamburger place either, and we serve food indigenous to the state's population, which comes from all over," Gary explains. While food styles are borrowed from a variety of cultures, he uses the fresh products of local vendors.

His signature dish, Mongolian beef, won him the Kikkoman Grand Masters award and a trip to Tokyo. Diners can also enjoy a taste trip via his New Zealand lamb with curry and pomegranate. Most entree prices are less than $19. A three-course meal with wine runs from $26 to $32.

Vickie creates French-based pastries with an American twist. For example, she uses pastry dough instead of pie crust in her individual apple pie dishes and builds a light and airy chocolate cake by eliminating flour, achieving a souffle effect with her warm Molten Chocolate cake. The cake is her signature dessert and her daughter's favorite. Her twin boys, born three years ago, favor her chocolate cookies, which are also on the menu.

An outdoor dining area next to a large brick fireplace under a towering tree can accommodate additional diners. A small wine bar and an open kitchen add to the homey environment.

Tapestry, a California Bistro, 11 College Ave., Los Gatos. Open for lunch Tue.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Dinner Mon.-Sat., 5:30-10 p.m. Closed Sun. 395-2808.

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