Tiny Pine Bistro
Owners Leslie Lamont & Charles Ford. From “The Tiny Pine Bistro: Simple is a big word” in the Sopris Sun.
Where does the name come from?
My fiancé Charles and I met working in restaurants in Chicago. We started dating and our first trip together was to Madison, WI for a friend's wedding. At the end of the weekend on our way out of Wisconsin we stopped at a cute little park along the lake in Madison. The park was beautiful and surrounded by pine trees and covered in tiny little pine cones. That's where we first told each other "I love you" and as a momento I (Leslie) picked up one of the pine cones and took it with me. It has always been our dream to open our own restaurant and we wanted the name to remind us where our story started.
Who are you + tell us a little bit about your team?
Leslie Lamont and Charles Ford, engaged couple and co-owners. Charles runs the kitchen and Leslie runs the front of the house. We have an amazing team of talented and passionate people who we've met living and working in the valley. Charles and I (Leslie) have combined over 30 years experience working in the restaurant industry and know first hand how challenging this business can be. Restaurant work requires giving a lot of yourself for the enjoyment of others and it is incredibly important to us to create a positive, supportive environment for our team.
What do you want people to experience when dining at Tiny Pine?
We truly want to create a cozy neighborhood bar and restaurant where our team and our guests feel at home. We hope to offer genuine and kind hospitality alongside simple and delicious food and drinks. We couldn't be happier to be a part of the Carbondale community and we look forward to taking care of the great folks of the Roaring Fork Valley!
What's your favorite thing on the menu right now? What would you order to drink?
One of my favorite dishes on the menu is our fried chicken biscuit. We hand bread our chicken, make our biscuits from scratch and the green chile gravy and corn and poblano salsa are both so flavorful! We wanted our cocktail menu to be short and sweet and rotate often giving Courtney, our bartender an opportunity to experiment with different ingredients and techniques. The Pine Spritz from our "Aprés All Day'' section of our drink menu which highlights low ABV drinks (alcohol by volume) is refreshing with a pretty, herbal backbone. One of my favs! Charles and I both have a background in wine so creating a dynamic wine list was really important to us. We highlight some well known grape varieties along with some off the beaten path selections, both by the glass and on our bottle list. Fried chicken and Champagne are a perfect pairing so don't miss the Louis Nicaise Champagne we are serving by the glass!