Will’s Fargo Dining House and Saloon seethes with incongruity. It’s a steak house with a weakness for vegetables. The chef is French and the customers are cowboys. It still wears its original 1959 décor, yet is as popular as any modern local restaurant in the most design-conscious era the US has ever witnessed.

The décor is the offspring of that odd collaboration that decorated the frontier for 100 years: Victorian England and the American Wild West. And only some customers are cowboys; most are local residents who appreciate a good meal, good wine, and a bit of Valley nostalgia.

Many customers have attachments. Some have been dining at Will’s all of their lives, some have a family member who has been an employee, others have a memorable Will’s story to tell. As a rule, the patrons don’t like change.

Will’s was a decent steak house, appreciated more for its atmosphere than its food, when the owners of Bernardus Lodge bought it in 2002. Chef/Culinary Director Cal Stamenov supervised several chefs de cuisine at Will’s until Jerome Viel was promoted to the position in 2003. The food has steadily improved since.

With old world oils, cow skulls, and such one-offs as a collage of cards and poker chips, it’s as if the energy conserved by the laissez-faire policy in the front of the house has been given some reign in the back of the house. The essential dishes have not evolved so much as the quality, but there are modern signposts like mango salsa, ahi tuna sashimi, and vegetarian entrées. There simply isn’t another area restaurant that combines the highbrow and the lowbrow so successfully.

All dinners begin with a relish tray of radishes, celery, cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, olives (not canned), pepperoncinis and ranch dressing. This endearing throwback to the 1950s has remained at Will’s for decades while the competition forged ahead with artisanal breads, heirloom olive oil, and more. It sat by while theories raged: high-protein, low-carb, raw food—and there it remains: the perfect, nutritious, incontestable pre-meal freebie.

Beefeaters choose from seven cuts of Nebraska corn-fed cattle, “hand-selected and aged to our specifications,” according to the menu. It’s the same impeccable product served at Bernardus’ celebrated restaurant, Marinus. Will’s manager, Stanley Rogalsky, who graciously attends to a room of nearly 100 diners as if conducting a great symphony, tells me he’s in the corn-fed camp, and can not only taste the difference but can smell it on a raw cut.

I am not a red meat expert, but I talk to chefs, I taste, and I do know there is a lot of quality around. Even when tender, it isn’t always flavorful. The cut of filet mignon I tried by reaching across the table to my man’s plate was both ($23.95/5-ounce; $27.95/8-ounce). And diners might up the flavor of any dish with a side of sauce for $1.50—Béarnaise, shallot, mushroom, or blue cheese.

Viel’s wife is a vegetarian, and Will’s menu showcases his sensitivity to this subcategory. There are vegetarian sides, appetizers and three entrees: Goat Cheese Ravioli, a housemade Garden Burger, and the Chef’s Vegetable Plate. The Garden Burger ($10.95) is moist, satisfying and fresh. Sides include potatoes (four ways), creamy garlic spinach, sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, and tomato Provençale ($2-$5).

Will’s usually offers six seafood specials, plus seafood ravioli. I tried the petrale sole, grilled, and it was well-prepared, though I recommend the mango salsa or one of the sauces to add zing.  

The spinach salad is notable for the extra step taken of chopping all ingredients into a delicious mélange. It’s so good that, despite my love of shortcuts, I’ve been chopping my salads at home.

Bernardus restaurants can be counted on for strong wine lists with local emphasis. We had a glass each of Chateau Joullian Cabernet Sauvignon (Carmel Valley, 2002, $8) and Graff Family Mourvedre (Chalone, 2004, $8). The uncommon Mourvedre is a medium-bodied red with soft tannins and an earthy, berry, hint-of-vanilla taste.

I was a bit suspicious of the meek-sounding Fondant au Chocolate ($6.50, like all the desserts), but it was recommended. There are few disappointments greater than a dry, light, or, heaven forbid, healthy chocolate dessert, but the fondant proved gooey, rich and assertive.

Viel has suggested updates—to the garlic bread, the chocolate mints, even the relish tray—but the staff’s warnings prevented him from risking public outcry by tampering with such institutionalized items. Besides, his improvements have already re-cemented Will’s Fargo’s status on the short list of area restaurants where locals should pay regular homage.

WILL’S FARGO DINING HOUSE AND SALOON

16 East Carmel Valley Rd., Carmel Valley • 11:30am-9pm daily; until 10pm Fri-Sat • 659-2774.