Chef Alex Montiel is full of surprises, on the plate and off. This Mexico City native and heretofore highly urban man has settled into the genteel Virginia countryside quite nicely. Brought on board of the lovely Boar's Head Inn in Charlottesville in 1998, Montiel quickly moved to the forefront of what is sometimes termed New Virginia Cuisine. In the kitchens of the inn's Old Mill Room, he updates Southern classics using locally grown ingredients, including herbs and vegetables grown in a garden he established on the grounds of the inn. Montiel, who has become a passionate gardener, has fish on the brain too. One day in the not too distant future, he hopes to farm trout in one of the many ponds scattered throughout the 573 rolling acres of groves and gardens that comprise the property. Virginia wines, hams, and sausages also enjoy star billing on Montiel's menu.

Montiel is known for his elegant cuisine and his imaginative touch. He shapes edible spoons from puff pastry, for instance, and flavors them with a hint of garlic. A tiny door carved into a brandy-poached apple opens to reveal a medley of autumn root vegetables. A scoop of raspberry-jalapeño ice cream sits atop a pool of red-wine poached fruits that is crossed by a spun-sugar bridge. People travel from far and wide to taste his earthy game dishes and delicate summer terrines, but Montiel also understands the value of the classics: his sweet corn and lobster chowder, corn sticks, fruit cobbler, and bread pudding are perennial favorites at Boar's Head Inn.

Montiel's sophistication and polish result from years of training under some of the top names in the business, including Alain Ducasse, Gunther Seeger, and Joël Robuchon. Montiel has worked at a number of celebrated hotel properties-the Four Seasons Inn on the Park in Houston, the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, the Hilton at Short Hills in New Jersey, and the Grove Isle Club and Resort in Coconut Grove, Florida. At The Old Mill Room within the Boar's Head Inn, he offers the best of new American food and style: formal yet casual, elegant yet unpretentious, unashamedly local yet assuredly international, and unquestionably delicious.