Rongovian Embassy reboots menu with Julie Jordan’s help

Since the early 1970s, Trumansburg’s Rongovian Embassy has been known for its down-to-earth vibe, great music and Mexican food. Though the venue’s fortunes have waxed and waned over the years, the Rongo has continued to rebound since reopening in November 2014 after a lengthy closure.

Like many restaurants, the Rongo has continued to evolve to meet changing tastes. But when Meredith Rogers took over as head chef earlier this year, she knew she wanted to fine-tune the menu and refocus on Mexican food. Luckily, that was about the same time Julie Jordan, former owner of Collegetown’s legendary Cabbagetown Café, was looking for a new opportunity.

Jordan, the author of three popular vegetarian cookbooks — “Wings of Life,” “Cabbagetown Café Cookbook” and “A Taste of Julie Jordan” — retired from Wegmans last year after 16 years at the company.

“Before I left, people were asking me what I would so next, and I said, ‘What I’d really like to do is work three days a week at the Rongo,’” said Jordan, who grew up in Trumansburg. “But I didn’t tell anyone else outside of Wegmans. I tried being retired for a while, and went to Arizona, Texas and New York, but I realized I really liked to work.”

She mentioned her interest in the Rongo to her friend Peter Hoover, who promptly passed along the message to then-Rongo manager Jessica Giles.

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“The next morning at 9 a.m. Jess called me and said ‘Get in here!’” Jordan said. “She asked me to help and I said, ‘That’s exactly what I would like to do.’”

Rogers was grateful for the assistance. “I wanted some pointers on where to go,” she said. “I wanted to keep a Mexican menu, but I wasn’t familiar with all the flavors.”

Since arriving in March, Jordan and Rogers have tweaked and simplified the Rongo’s menu.

“The first week I worked, the menu was bigger and I was confused by it,” Jordan said. “I asked if we needed such a big menu. Jess said, ‘Come in Monday and we’re going to cut back the menu and open Tuesday serving exactly what we want to serve.’ And we did that.”

“It was almost freeing in a sense,” Rogers added. “What you see now is everything we want to cook — it’s our comfort food. We want to eat it, and we want you to eat it, too. It’s nice to have a menu of solid, really tasty items that we’re all behind and feel really passionate about.”

One notable addition is the vegetarian enchilada del dia, which is straight from Cabbagetown Café’s menu.

“I just wanted to make sure there was a really dynamite vegetarian dish every day,” Jordan said. “And people have been unanimously excited about this. It’s even better than I’ve made before, because we have a red sauce and a green one, so we can stripe the enchiladas. We make different fillings — from organic brown rice, Tony Potenza’s organic black beans and other really great ingredients.”

Jordan also worked on improving the salsas, the rice and the beans, “just to get all the vegetarian staple Mexican building blocks of the meal to have the flavors I was used to from living in the Southwest.”

The menu also includes non-Mexican specials, which allows for creativity in the kitchen. “This menu really works for us,” Jordan said. “And the kitchen can crank it out at night, because when there’s a good band, the place really fills up.”

“We need to have a menu with 10-minute ticket times,” Rogers added. “A lot of food comes out of the kitchen, so it’s nice to have a great menu that’s also easy to execute for us.”

Jordan emphasizes that she’s at the Rongo to help Rogers and not run the kitchen herself. In fact, she only works in the afternoon to prep the ingredients, leaving the line to Rogers and her staff: line cook Sam Farnham, prep cook James Hollis and dishwasher R.J. Duerr.

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"It’s been very nice because I’ve been able to fit in and help right where it’s needed,” she said. “Anything I come up with, I trust them to execute and serve the food. It’s been a great experience for me.”

Jordan said Rogers has a promising future ahead of her. “This is the first kitchen she’s run and she’s going to be recognized for it,” Jordan said.

Rogers, who was trained as a pastry chef at the Culinary Institute of America (she graduated in 2012), credits Jeremy Personius, the Rongo’s previous head chef, and Jordan with generously passing along their experience.

“I’m really blessed,” she said. “Ever since coming here I’ve had such incredible opportunities, first with Jeremy and now with the world-renowned Julie Jordan — she’s basically my mentor. I get to work with my husband-to-be (Farnham), and our best friend is the dishwasher. This is the best place and I have a wonderful job and I want that to be reflected in the food that we make.”

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•Where: Rongovian Embassy, 1 West Main St., TrumansburgIF YOU GO

•Kitchen hours: 4-9:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 4-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday; Bar hours: 4-11 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday-Saturday (closed Sunday-Monday, except for special events)

•More info: 387-3140; www.rongovianembassy.com