Erin Crobar-Executive Chef
Finn & Porter, Missoula, MT

Seared hunks of medium-rare beef rise like islands from a swirling eddy of pale yellow Bernaise sauce. Crispy French-fried potatoes lie pell-mell, like children's Pick Up Stix dropped atop the caramelized surface of each fist-sized steak. A last-minute steal on Kobe beef shoulder tenders spurred Finn & Porter executive chef Erin Crobar to feature the coveted beef as part of a distinctly French bistro favorite: steak frites on a recent weekend at summer's end. At $19.95, diners raved over the dish. Within hours, 60 plates flew off the grill, and by 7 each night, the feature sold out. Steak frites is just one of several experiments the 30-year-old chef has undertaken since grabbing the kitchen reins three years ago at corporate hotel hotspot Finn & Porter, along the Clark Fork River in Missoula. With instinct and artistry his favorite paramours, the self-taught culinary boss makes a Bernaise sauce even noted French chef Eric Ripert would be pleased to sample. And he skipped culinary school in order to perfect it.

Sleeves of ink wind their way from the armholes of a short-cropped black chef's kit. They encircle beefy forearms, then stop abruptly at wrists fit with neatly folded hands. "It started with a tribal tattoo years ago," says Crobar, extending and rolling limbs to illumine the details of artwork covering them. "It's just grown from there - as these things tend to do." A vivid terrestrial galaxy of undiscovered planets merge into a depot of kelp-dwelling deep sea creatures - a la "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." Not all dark, there is also a smidgen of whimsy redolent of Alice in Wonderland or a vignette from a Candyland board game. All original designs, Crobar considers himself an artist first. He only came to cooking by chance, he says, when he recognized creative parallels and found the art in cooking. Like the dishes found on his menus, he created this sprawling skin-scape fantasy to embody the concepts that fascinate him most. Namely, all things vast and limitless. The brilliant custom scheme parallels the way Crobar lives in the realm of the edible: Like oceans and galaxies, food presents endless possibility, he says. "The way a dish is accented, plated and presented to diners can happen one of a hundred different ways, and that's what keeps life in the kitchen fresh and interesting."

His quest at Finn & Porter has been to balance artistry with quality.Crobar will tell you there are fancier foodie undertakings in Missoula - particularly those of restaurants that have both time and resource to motivate the creation of unique, highly specialized dishes in smaller, more intimate spaces. But with the volume the riverside restaurant runs, he says matching that is a challenge he's always chasing. "A challenge from the standpoint that it's sometimes difficult to be artistic on the plate, while still serving good food to a high-volume room," he says. "But it's a goal I think we're meeting." Much of Crobar's success at pairing artistry with quality owes to his understanding of Missoula diners. But it's also been a push for freedom and autonomy. Despite Finn & Porter being part of Hilton Hotels' restaurant group - with locations in Alexandria, Va., Washington D.C., and Austin, Texas - Crobar maintains a unique level of autonomy and freedom that allows him to serve diners with the foods they desire from the sources they trust. Those have included the ability to personalize ordering with fare from local farmers, with Pacific Coast seafood flown in fresh, and with meats from Double R Ranch and Snake River Farms. "They have been fairly hands-off, but at a certain point, I did push to diversify ordering, and slowly but surely have been granted that ability," says Crobar. Some diners just won't stand for change to a menu. At Finn & Porter, longtime favorites such as the calamari starter or beet salad are untouchable. But in other important ways, the eatery's menu has steadily evolved for the artistry and savvy the 30-year-old chef has taken.

When it comes time to freshen menus, or experiment with food features throughout the year, Crobar says kitchen staff is encouraged to contribute. Part of a large team, staff shares ideas freely in an environment vastly different from years past. Proposed dishes are composed, sampled and critiqued by all staff members, and first run as features. If popular, they find permanent homes on menu placards. Three years ago, words like "cohesion" and "participation" might as well have been part of a foreign language dictionary for the sense they made to kitchen staffers. But since Crobar's promotion to executive chef in 2007 (and executive corporate chef in charge of banquets) the behind-the-scenes group is tight and works well as a team, he says. "I really like to ask people to do things, rather than tell them, and I think that goes a long way," says Crobar, who calls himself a "natural leader."

Wearing multiple hats throughout his career has also endeared him to staff. At points along the scale he's been bartender, server, host, prep cook and dishwasher in various establishments, and he says it's given him a better understanding of what it takes for a restaurant to run smoothly as a team. He also regularly works stations throughout the restaurant to keep abreast of quality control. Crobar still heads dinner menu crafting, and recently wrapped up a successful summer season with signature starters such a strawberry, basil and buffalo mozzarella salad, and juicy smoked pork tenderloin sliders with caramelized onion-bacon jam, chipotle aioli and micro-greens. Entrees such as his passion-fruit glazed sea scallops with toasted coconut sticky rice, accompanied by Asian slaw, and topped with cayenne roasted pineapple were wildly popular. He recently put finishing touches on the restaurant's fall dinner menu, which debuted in October, and handed lunch menu creation to sous-chef John Falch, who replaced the eatery's arsenal of sandwiches with lively summer and fall deck fare.

For as wild and unruly as the swirls of ink on his arms may appear, the poker-faced chef exudes order, and a quiet calm that is something of an anomaly in today's frenetic kitchens. For all the blustery Anthony Bourdains and blistery Gordon Ramsays of this world, quiet may well be the new loud. But quiet is all a matter of thought and reflection, he says - on food, on the local scene, and on his own place in it. A few years ago, the married father of three was grilling chicken, beef, pork and assorted vegetables and sauces on a red-hot cast-iron mega-wok at Hu Hot. Now he plates fine-dining fare for everyone from alumni to businessmen to Missoula's social elite. "Everyone has to start somewhere," Crobar says. "I got my chance along the way, and now I try hard to pass that chance on to others."

Missoula free-lance writer Lori Grannis may be reached at 360-8788 or llgrannis@gmail.com.Copyright 2011 missoulian.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.