We might be inclined to call Blacksmith Italian “farm-to-table” but Cory and Stephen Dragone certainly wouldn’t, because let’s face it, it’s Montana. There isn’t always a farm growing anything that can go straight to a table (can you say: winter is cold and long in these northern climates?).
They take pride in using local ingredients and building long-term relationships with local purveyors. Their weekly egg delivery arrives in a secretive fashion that sounds rather clandestine when - or if - they tell you about it. When they run out of local, seasonal produce, they’ll switch up the menu before resorting to grocery-store produce. And their beef is sourced from one of the only ranches stateside breeding Piedmontese cattle (anyone who’s driven around the countryside in Italy knows these cows – they’re leaner and sort of graceful if you can imagine ever using that word to describe a cow). The meat is naturally tender and has an unforgettable flavor. All of this is to say that the Dragones are meticulous and extremely picky about what they will put on the table, but they’re too pragmatic to sugar-coat their language. They’d rather impress you with their food.
Cory always wanted to own a restaurant. After being raised in upstate New York, he’d come out west and attended culinary school, then worked in several restaurants and owned a popular food cart in Portland. His father had also moved west and was living in the Bay Area. But they both had a thing for Bozeman. So, when they decided to open a restaurant together, they quickly secured a lease on the south side of Bozeman, where there was a dearth of good restaurants to serve the surrounding community. They named the restaurant as an homage to Cory’s great grandfather, who’d been a blacksmith in Rochester, traveling to his customers via horse and carriage.
“Blacksmiths and cooks both make their living with their hands,” Cory says. “And they’re both essential trades. It’s like a family tradition.”
Since they opened in November of 2013, father and son work side-by-side daily. Stephen does all the front of house duties while Cory covers the back, including prepping, menu planning, and training new cooks. They’ve gone from 44 seats when they opened to almost 100 today.
“We wanted to create a place with approachable dining and better food than anyone is going to make at home,” Cory says, “so we always cook with the seasons and support local ranches and farms.
Three Hearts Farm is a perfect partner – a family-run farm specializing in organic, seasonal vegetables, grown sustainably. Cory plans his menus around the produce that Rachael promises him. They work in tandem. She will call him early in the growing season to let him know if there will be enough of a crop (like chard) for him to order it every week through a season, and he will build his recipes around that.
A few other favorite purveyors: Wild West Local Foods (for Hutterite eggs and pork shoulder, bone marrow, and wild boar shoulder), Grotto Meats (for hand-crafted, Montana-made charcuterie made with the highest quality ingredients), Piedmontese Beef from Omaha, Nebraska (we already got you salivating over this, remember?), and Butte Produce (ordered directly from the owner rather than a national brand).
Though the menu changes a bit every three to four weeks, some of Cory’s personal favorites are:
• The Anchovies + Butter starter – On the Rise Sourdough, grilled with grass-fed whipped butter and an anchovy. “It’s the perfect blend of textures and flavors,” he says.
• The Arancini (risotto balls) – “In Italy, people don’t waste, so there’s this rich history of saving leftover risotto and turning it into something new. We add the ‘Nduja, which is this soft, spreadable, fermented salami with a kick of Calabrian chilis!”
• The Piedmontese Beef Tenderloin – “This dish is a crowd pleaser, and it signifies exactly what this restaurant is about. We use Kimm’s Organic local potatoes and kale from Three Hearts Farm, then we make a three-day bone marrow gravy that just melts in your mouth. Almost no one in Bozeman is going to make a three-day bone marrow at home.”
The house-made pastas, crafted from organic Montana wheat and Hutterite eggs, are favorites among customers. One of the most popular is the Squid Ink Tagliatelle, which has been on the menu in some form since day one. With white wine, crab, shrimp, Calabrian chili, and breadcrumbs, this dish has become their number one pasta.
We won’t call it farm-to-table, but if we had to sum up Blacksmith Italian, it would be something in the realm of Local-meets-Foodie-meets-Realist. You can eat foods you can’t pronounce that were picked yesterday, and you can even pick the brain of the chef himself if you need advice. It’s both elevated and down-to-earth at the same time. And a bonus: no one cares if you’re wearing mud-caked boots to dinner.
