Sky City chef cooks up plans for diners

By Jim Tiffin
Staff Writer

Mohammed Monowar is the executive chef at the Sky City Casino. He has 25 years of cooking experience. [Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent]

PUEBLO OF ACOMA — A new executive chef is now overseeing the food service at Sky City Casino Hotel, except for one thing, he is not new.

Mohammed Monawar has been preparing food in various restaurants, hotels and casinos for the past 25 years and in that time has developed a philosophy of what to bring to those he serves.

"We want to satisfy the guests by finding out what the guests want, what they are looking for, and then we can offer them good food, food prepared for their tastes," he said.

"On the other hand, I believe that when we look at food, it has to be eye appealing, you eat with your eyes first.

"If the food doesn't look good you won't be happy eating it," he said.

Monawar is working on a new menu for the Huwak'a Restaurant, the main restaurant for the hotel and casino, and he also oversees room service for the hotel, the 24 hour deli and a gourmet sandwich and coffee shop.

One of the first things he did when he took over a few weeks ago is to add a chef's special not on the menu, a ribeye steak dinner.

It proved to be so popular with diners instead of being the special for a few days it is still the daily special with no plans to change it or remove it for the foreseeable future.

He spent 12 years as the regional corporate executive chef for a major hotel in Denver.

He also was the executive chef for the another major hotel in Denver where he supervised seven restaurants in three states from 1989 to 1994.

"Most of the time I was a trouble shooter there," he said.

As an executive chef, Monawar is in charge of the entire food operation.

He is responsible for training the employees in the proper way to prepare food and as well as the safe handling of food.

When he takes over as executive chef, no matter where it is, he said he likes to go out into the community and find out what kinds of foods the people like, what kinds of tastes they have and what seasonings they prefer.

"The meats are all basically the same. The difference is how you prepare them and what seasonings you use," he said.

"I like to try different types of foods and spices," he said.

The restaurant already has a seafood buffet on Fridays, an Asian buffet on Wednesdays and soon will have an Italian buffet, probably on Mondays, he said.

On the Asian buffet, the line is mostly Japanese or Chinese, and occasionally Indian food. Monawar is from Pakistan so his understanding of Asian and Indian cooking comes naturally.

"We rotate the menu on the buffets so it is never the same," he said.

On the Italian buffet, there will, of course, be a pasta special with a variety of sauces.

Monawar also oversees the banquet functions for the hotel when it hosts small to large types of groups who come for meetings or training sessions.

The largest group his staff has served so far is 800.

There are about 15-20 of these groups who meet at the hotel each month and they almost all have either lunch or dinner, he said.

On May 27, when the grand opening of the Acoma Cultural Center and Haaku Museum happens, he is planning to feed 1,000 people during the grand opening.

There are also plans to open a steakhouse in the northeast portion of the current restaurant, he said.

At first it will be open only for lunch and dinner, but depending on the business, may eventually be open 24 hours a day.

It will serve a line of gourmet steaks, including T-bones, porterhouses, filet mignons and sirloins.

The steakhouse's name has not yet been selected. It will have seating for about 45 people, he said, and it will have its own kitchen.

The volume of business Huwak'a is doing has created a need to expand the size of the current kitchen, Monawar said.

Additional grills, ovens and work space will be added, as well as another 10 kitchen employees. Currently there are about 70 employees, excluding the serving staff.

Huwak'a Restaurant is open from 6 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 24 hours Friday through Sunday.

Monawar, 52, and Josephine, his wife of 15 years, have three children, Khalid, Earnest and Santiago, all attending San Rafael Elementary School.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 287-2197 or e-mail: tiffin.independent@yahoo.com