PHOTOS: A look at reborn Jacks Monterey as it opens (and menus).

The other day I told a foodie friend about the farm-fresh fare I had just had from one of my favorite chefs, Danny Abbruzzese, during the final throes of the ambitious build out of Jacks Monterey's old bar.

"Oh," my friend replied, sounding pleasantly surprised. "I forgot that place was there."

That's an understandable outcome given the low-key way the bar-lounge went about its barrel-aged business, catering to a lot of hotel guests.

But that's about to change, as I explain with more depth via a print piece out tomorrow (April 27).

The biggest reason why: That bar now has seen several big walls knocked down. It now pours into the lobby. A brand-new cocktail menu and remixed food menus pair well with the slick new design and layout, and help entertain people across a wealth of new seating options in the glowing atrium.

(Check out the those menus at left.)

"I didn't write the menus," Abbruzzese says. "The farmers and fishermen 'wrote' the menus with what they get me."

As my taste test and those menus indicate, the new items are eye-catching, the quality clear and the price point modest for what you're getting.

Food and beverage pointman Brian Hein says affordability was a primary objective.

"We want to get locals back, to inspire them to go for share plates at a lower price per person," he says, "We want to be inviting and expand upon a good thing."

It's done with a sustainable ethic that extends from paper straws to compost management to conscious (and relentless) sourcing to bulk jelly buying (no individual plastic containers!). When I was there, chef was pounding the phones, trying to talk an artisan mozzarella maker to give him a bulk deal. (The main challenge being whether the purveyor could make enough on a tight time table; the immaculate new pizza oven can finish a pizza in 90 seconds.)

"We want people to get out and dine, not break the bank, and be enticed with things you're not going to see in many restaurants around here," Abbruzzese says. "We're going to see where this takes us. We've got a nice path to go on."