"We like to joke it's our neighborhood bar," she said of the restaurant, which is perched on Flagstaff Mountain and offers commanding views of the city of Boulder below. An admirer of the restaurant and its beautiful tablework, Carringan was glad to see the Flagstaff House launch a Web site to sell some of its wares to the general public. She ordered a set of the Bohemia crystal martini glasses. But she also has her eye on one of the bronze rabbit butlers — an 11-inch-high bronze sculpture of a tuxedo-wearing hare holding a tray. The wait staff uses the bunny to bring customers an amuse-bouche, an appetizer or chocolates.

"I think I was their first customer [on the Web site]," Carringan said.

General manager Scott Monette, left, his brother, executive chef Mark Monette, and their father, Don Monette, not pictured, are co-owners of the four-star Flagstaff House.

The Web site, www.flagstaffhouse.com, is one example of the way this 32-year-old fine-dining restaurant has stayed current with customers and weathered slow economic times.

"Business is up this year from last year," said executive chef Mark Monette, who, with his brother, general manager Scott Monette, and their father, Don Monette, owns the restaurant.

"I remember when I was growing up how our father always said, Give the customers what they want," Mark Monette continued. "We've continued on that mind-set, and it works. It's not always easy, but we do the best we can."

The Web site was started not as much to make a profit as it was to fulfill a customer demand, Scott Monette said.

Over the years they've had people ask if they could buy the bronze bunny or the decorative crystal Champagne flutes, lamps, vases or fine china, he said. The Flagstaff House has a reputation as a destination restaurant and a place for special occasions, like anniversaries, birthdays and marriage proposals. Customers often want a souvenir by which to remember the experience.

"These are things we're already buying, and we have a supply, so it's just as easy to sell them to customers," Scott Monette said.

The Web site also offers several gourmet food items from the menu, including buffalo filet mignon, foie gras and the restaurant's specialty sauces.

"It comes ready to cook — just put it in the oven," Mark Monette said. "The buffalo and foie gras are wrapped in brioche. You can put them in the oven for over 15 minutes, reheat the sauce and serve. It's ready to go."

Also offered on the Web site are cooking demonstrations with chef Mark Monette for $135. There is a discount if more than three demonstrations are bought at one time. Mark Monette used to do cooking demonstrations a few years ago in the restaurant's kitchen on Saturdays. But it became too hectic and inconvenient to finish the demonstration in time to get the kitchen prepared for the Saturday evening service, he recalled. The restaurant serves an average of 700 people per weekend.

The demonstrations are now on Friday afternoons. He started offering them in November 2003 but took a break over the holiday season. The demonstrations will resume this month.

"We have some customers who've been coming here for years, and they just love it," the chef said. "It gives us a chance to talk to customers one on one, and it's just this great community feeling."

Although the brothers grew up working in the restaurant, both left for a time as young adults. Scott Monette went off to hospitality management school at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, and then worked in resort and hotel restaurants. Mark Monette left for Europe, where he learned to cook at several Michelin three-star restaurants. He worked in New York and Asia before returning in 1985 to take over the kitchen. His younger brother came back in 1993 to run the front-of-the-house.

The brothers picked up where their father had left off when it came to listening to customers. They traded the dining room's former dark decor and red-leather swivel chairs for an open and airy design with floor-to-ceiling windows. Outdoor seating was added for the summer. The restaurant now promotes itself as a location for business meetings, large group celebrations and weddings.

Mark Monette created the most stir as he changed the restaurant's classic menu of shrimp cocktails, Chateaubriand, lobster tails and French onion soup to a more contemporary menu featuring the freshest ingredients possible. He introduced truffles, foie gras, Kobe beef and poached Maine lobster. But it wasn't easy. The French soup came off the menu only three years ago.

"Mark was cutting edge 15 years ago," Scott Monette said. "He was bringing in foie gras, and the distributor didn't even know what it was. Now everyone is asking where they can get it. Now we can source out stuff that's fun and exciting to have available."