About Us

Welcome to Pepperhead!

Pepperhead opened in the fall of 2009, owned and managed by Tess Montaño and her father, Pete. Our restaurant features Northern New Mexico-style Mexican food and other Southwestern dishes. Local produce and meats are featured on the menu whenever possible, and we aim to be as environmentally friendly as possible, carrying only draft beers and fountain drinks to eliminate bottle waste.  The restaurant’s food waste goes to feed local 4-H chickens, which deliver amazing eggs!

Pepperhead’s foods are all made fresh and from scratch, with many recipes from the Montaño family’s four generations of restaurant owners and operators. Our margaritas are made from citrus liquors made from fresh oranges, lemons and limes in-house, in a process similar to limoncello, giving them a flavor different from any other you’ve tasted!

Our specials always include at least one local ingredient, and you’ll notice all of our wine specials benefit a local non-profit group, ranging from the Women’s Cancer Coalition to Habitat for Humanity to the Four Corner’s Child Advocacy Center.

Pete and his wife, Laurie, have lived in Cortez since 1981 and raised their three children just outside of Dolores. Tess graduated from Montezuma-Cortez High School and left Colorado to attend the University of Kansas for her undergraduate studies. She received her master’s degree in business administration from the University of Iowa’s Tippie School of Business in partnership with Consortium
 Institute of Management and Business Analysis in Asolo, Italy.