If he can think it, he’ll serve it

Tony Monaco made sandwiches with unlikely ingredients in high school.

Salami and cream cheese? Delicious.

Spaghetti sauce between two slices of bread? Yummy.

Barbecue sauce and cheese rolled up into a grilled tortilla? That was called the Tonilla.

Monaco, 27, didn’t know the same creations would make him a successful restaurateur nearly a decade later.

Last year, he opened his second restaurant, The Trough Sandwich Kitchen, in Rancho Santa Margarita. He opened his first, The Blind Pig Kitchen, a gastropub speakeasy, also in Rancho, in 2013.

He had just left the family business, a printing company.

“I was at a crossroads,” he said. “In the process of looking, a couple beers and a conversation in a backyard one day, I thought up this crazy idea of opening a restaurant. So we opened The Blind Pig, and from there, we opened The Trough, which was more casual.”

Monaco opened a second Trough location on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach last month.

He opened The Trough because The Blind Pig served only dinner — it now also serves lunch — and he considered himself the “hungriest restaurant owner come lunch time.”

“There was nothing really to eat for lunch in the area,” he said. “We had such a small kitchen at The Blind Pig that we saw an opportunity across the way to do some stuff over there if we opened up a lunch spot. We were able to kill two birds with one stone with The Trough.”

The Trough’s menu boasts over a dozen sandwiches and seven breakfast options ranging in price from $5 to $12.

To celebrate the new location, at 705 E. Balboa Blvd., the eatery added a few more sandwiches to the mix, including Da Guido, which combines salami, cream cheese and pickled peppers on sourdough bread.

One of The Trough’s most popular sandwiches is The Rachel — turkey breast, Swiss cheese, coleslaw and Russian dressing on a cornmeal roll.

Monaco was inspired by his crazy high school dishes to create entrees like the Spaghetti Sandwich, which is Bolognese sauce, Parmesan cheese and garlic herb butter on a cornmeal roll.

He said Newport Beach is the right location for The Trough.

“With the sandwiches, we’re perfect for people on the go who are going to the beach,” he said. “We have a friendly, fun and light atmosphere, which I think attributes to why we’re successful. We have a great feel, delicious food and yummy drinks, but it doesn’t feel like a fancy restaurant. It’s very laid-back and come-as-you-are.”

The restaurant plans to start offering deliveries by electric bike around the Balboa Peninsula within the next few months.

And Monaco has more ideas for future restaurants, including opening a speakeasy in a beach city.

“Two years ago, I couldn’t have told you I’d own three restaurants,” he said. “So, two years from now, it’s tough to tell you what’s going to happen. It’s so surreal and really cool.”