The mocktails send a message, one that’s stowed by the salt pig, sizzling in the bacon-and-egg salad and wildly alive in the oxtail risotto. It’s even in the water.

The message: Montrio, long one of the area’s favorite restaurants – pulling in repeated Best of Monterey County awards from Weekly readers – has been reborn: As it celebrated its 15th anniversary last month, its Tony Tollner-led team didn’t make the milestone a self-congratulation session, but an occasion to reexamine fundamentals and fine tune everything from sourcing to seasoning.

“It’s been a big change,” says longtime GM Kathy Solley. “It’s a new place – and kinda tough to get your head around.”

Take the “Wahine Caliente” mocktail: crushed pineapple, chipotle, lime, orange, organic agave nectar and a splash of Sprite, designed by barman Anthony Vitacca. The wider drink menu and bar itself have undergone a similar revolution. The espresso machine was shipped to the kitchen to provide more space for small-batch hand crafted spirits and room for Vitacca to take his mixology to higher degrees, mixing his own housemade bitters, maraschino cherries and “shrubs,” a fruit syrup often made with a vinegar base, into marvels like the Braveheart (Dewars White Label scotch, blackberry and plum shrub, Angostura bitters and organic agave nectar, $9).

But it doesn’t get more fundamental than water. And Montrio’s new water system is the sexiest thing since sliced San Francisco sourdough.

Montrio no longer ships hundreds of heavy bottles of water in from suppliers an ocean away (or to recycling centers), but customers can enjoy bottles of pure still or sparkling tableside, chilled or room temperature. For free.

A new UV-treated filter that upstages comparatively wasteful reverse osmosis set-ups makes that possible. Not only do customers get deliciously pure (and unlimited) agua, staff stays better hydrated. And the little blue latching corks are just cool.

Less obvious adjustments abound. Gone are salt and peppershakers; in are cute salt pigs with kosher contents and a personal pepper grinder. New flatware adds grace. Sleeker stemware feels more appropriate for a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence list that Solley still steers. Slick menus with leather spines offer new appetizers (wild salmon flatbread) and entrees (wood-roasted brick chicken). The servers look sharp in new burgundy shirts, but none are new – a key accomplishment in maintaining quality. “We haven’t hired a server in five years,” Tollner says.

Baker has long pursued excellent ingredients, he’s just doing it more publicly now. Some favorite growers and ranchers appear on a tribute collage near the kitchen; their best beets and meats appear on the menu. Earlier this month, Baker took Tollner, Weekly CEO Bradley Zeve and I through a taste tour of many of his new creations.

The first bite might’ve been the best: a lavish oxtail risotto ($10.50), fortified with fava beans from Swank Farms, melted brie and tender lengths of slow-cooked beef in rice expertly evolved after Baker’s years of making baby artichoke risotto (still on the menu). A must for meat eaters.

The salad that followed is somehow indulgent yet light and healthy. The bacon and egg salad ($10.50) wears an egg poached in bacon grease as a layer of flavor over local greens and sun-dried tomatoes just touched with sherry vinaigrette. Maybe a morsel survived on my plate. Maybe.

Next quail flew out of the kitchen two ways; the best was an apricot-stuffed breast on a bed of warm, smokey bacon-walnut salad ($11.50). The simpler grilled quail suffered from an overly enthusiastic vinegar gastrique.

A wise chef once said: “You can judge a kitchen by its chicken.” Baker has a winner here with the wood roasted brick chicken ($23). Many a kitchen would love to be judged by the right bite of brick-sizzled skin sealing in sweet preserved lemon, Monterey Bay Salt Company sea salt, fresh oregano and black pepper. Baker, who serves it with dynamite Asian-influenced spiced green beans, says the brick allows him to whip out juicy plates in a fraction of the time.

Roast duck breast in a cherry port reduction ($25) didn’t work for me, partly because the sweet onion-potato gallette was hard to negotiate, partly because I was distracted by the powerhouse pork-trio ($23.50) – pork tenderloin stuffed with sweet dates and shredded pork sealed tightly in thinly sliced ribbons of bacon and nestled into a maple parsnip puree with a smoky-sweet taste that whoops the pants off mashed potatoes.

By the time the playful lemon curd with a scorched sugar brulee-style lid arrived, the tasting had evolved into an epic afternoon.

I returned the next Monday with out-of-town friends to find the place stuffed like the pork tenderloin – and my allies enchanted by the 1910 firehouse ambiance and ceiling potato-clouds as much as by the new ratatouille-risotto fritters and white anchovies on garlic toast ($5.50 each).

I shared the feeling, finding my own romance with both new and old offerings. The new included highly recommended Beta Vulgaris 2.0 ($9, with St. Germain elderflower, green chantreuse, roasted beet juice and lemon) and a wild king salmon ($24) that enjoys a lively dijon-, caper – and taragon-spiked sauce gribiche. The old reliables aren’t to be underestimated, though, particularly the oatmeal-crusted brie with cumberland sauce and the crayons on the table for scribbles, hangman and, this time around, a stray and humble happy birthday wish.

MONTRIO BISTRO 414 Calle Principal, Monterey • 4:30-10pm daily, until 11pm Friday-Saturday. • 648-8880.