MISSOULA (LEE) -- When Peter Lambros set out to build his new restaurant, Caffe Dolce, he knew that one day the cows would come home.

And not long ago, when the restaurant opened, they did. They appear all over his constantly evolving menu in sauces and sandwiches and salads, lean strips of meat taken from the hairy, horned cattle from just down the road that have earned a place in the Caffe Dolce kitchen.

"We find that the more you know the source, the more you have confidence in the product you're serving," said Lambros last week, as his restaurant on Brooks Street buzzed with a lunch crowd.

Lambros knows the sources quite well, in a circular sort of way.

One is Wally Congdon, owner of Big Sky Natural Beef near the small town of Lima, and of the Congdon family that Lambros purchased his land from.

And the others are these heads of cattle, hairy, robust cattle raised by Congdon that stick out of the landscape south of Dillon like a Clydesdale at a horse race.

"They look more like wild animals than cows," said Lambros, who has sent his entire staff to the ranch to see these remarkable animals.

They are Scottish highland cattle, and they are rare in Montana. Their lineage stems directly from the old country, where constant wind and rain were the evolutionary progenitors of their thick, hairy coats and sturdy dispositions.

"Bald guys like me will tell you a lot about the efficiency of hair," said Congdon, sitting at Caffe Dolce, which is kitty-corner from his parents' house across the street.

It is the hair of the Scottish highland that keeps it warm, unlike most American cows, which have developed a thick layer of body fat. And these cows don't just eat anything they're finicky and patient, browsing for plants to keep them lean and healthy.

That's the kind of meat that Lambros wanted for Caffe Dolce, from locally grown cattle processed to the least extent possible.

"Being inspired by Greek and Italian food, we think that good food is good because it draws on fresh ingredients," he said. "Above all, Italian cooking is combining quality ingredients well. And that means most often things that are in season and in proximity to you."

That's the sort of sustainable business practice that Caffe Dolce wants to be known for.

So when Lambros went looking around for a supplier of lean, healthy and local beef, he already knew a man who could provide it.

Congdon has been raising such cattle for the last 14 years, even before "sustainability" was a buzzword.

"It was a picture we saw coming," said Congdon, who graduated from the UM law school. "We knew that there would be a time when people will want to know where their food comes from, and what it is. That was a radical thing to do 14 years ago."

Congdon said Caffe Dolce is purchasing about a cow a month right now, but that will likely increase as the restaurant changes its menu and begins to offer things like steaks.

Caffe Dolce head chef Abe Risho said cooking the meat of Scottish highland cattle requires its own set of skills.

"It doesn't like to be cooked quickly," he said. "It likes slow heat. That's really the key to cooking it. There's not a lot of fat, but you're still going to have all that flavor. It's a matter of how you cook it. It's very similar to wild game it cooks slowly."

All good things take time when it comes to fine dining, apparently. It took Lambros more than six years to get his restaurant built, to buy the land from the man who would sell him his beef, to get the permits, to get the artwork painted, and to develop his menu.

And it takes years for the cattle to grow from calves into fully adult animals in an industry where the average cow is slaughtered by the time it's two years old.

"The humanity of how an animal is treated, if you look at today's cattle industry, it's a pretty tough world," said Lambros. "The maturity span (for Scottish highland cattle) is at least double, and they're allowed to grow into adult cows. Basically, they have a good life."

Reporter Jamie Kelly:

523-5254 or at jkelly@missoulian.com