Late Summer 2019: Table for One

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MEMBER OF EDIBLE COMMUNITIES

NEW MEXICO THE STORY OF LOCAL FOOD, SEASON BY SEASON IN NEW MEXICO

Table For One ISSUE 63 · LATE SUMMER • AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2019

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NEW LOCATION: 505 CERRILLOS, SANTA FE AT THE LUNA CENTER

radi sh an dr ye.c o m 5 05 .9 3 0 .5 3 25

photos: doug merriam

FA RM I N SPI RED CUISINE

Member FDIC

MORE THAN A KITCHEN. A COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP. Together. That is how we build community. Kids Kitchen is a shinning example of how partnerships in northern New Mexico have come together to create positive and lasting impacts in our community.

Learn more about Kids Kitchen at more.enterprisebank.com

TABLE FOR ONE: AUGUST / SEPTEMBER DEPARTMENTS 2

GRIST FOR THE MILL

By Willy Carleton and Candolin Cook

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CONTRIBUTORS

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LOCAL HEROES Casa Rondeña Winery, Duran Central Pharmacy, Malagueña’s Latin Tapas, Mark Kiffin, Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown

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EDIBLE EATS

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AT THE CHEF'S TABLE

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WILD THING

A Small, Good Thing by Briana Olson What You're Hungry For by Gabriella Marks Backcountry Bounty by Katie DeLorenzo

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FORAGED

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COOKING FRESH

Alone, Together by Ellen Zachos

54 EIGHT AROUND THE STATE

Counter Service by Stephanie and Walt Cameron

74 EDIBLE NOTABLES Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta Winery Dinners

83 SOURCE GUIDE / EAT LOCAL GUIDE

ON THE COVER

edible

MEMBER OF EDIBLE COMMUNITIES

NEW MEXICO

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THE STORY OF LOCAL FOOD, SEASON BY SEASON IN NEW MEXICO

88 #EDIBLENM

FEATURES 60 IN GOOD COMPANY

The Pleasures of Dining Out Alone by Candolin Cook

Table For One ISSUE 63 · LATE SUMMER • AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2019

64 FACING THE KITCHEN

Eating After Loss by Candice C. Courtney

66 ON EATING ALONE

A Reflection by Deborah Madison

Fig Toast with brie, honey, and olive oil. Photo by Stephanie Cameron.

70 HOME IS WHERE THE GARDEN IS The Center for Ageless Living Brings Fresh Ideas for Elder Care by Nora Hickey

Cooking Solo by Stephanie Cameron

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MEMOIR A Hint of Sandwich by Joshua Johnson

WWW.EDIBLENM.COM

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GRIST FOR THE MILL PUBLISHERS Bite Size Media, LLC Stephanie and Walt Cameron

So much of the conversation around food revolves around its ability to create community, to bring people together over a shared meal. Indeed, few, if any, of us would argue against the many virtues of sharing a meal with others. Discussed less often is the reality that we eat many of our meals—close to half, according to recent studies—alone. Often, discussions and studies about solo dining concentrate on its pitfalls, such as correlations with higher instances of metabolic syndrome, loneliness, and, at least for men, obesity.

Without dismissing these concerns, this issue of edible approaches the solitary meal a little differently: as an opportunity. Throughout these pages, we embrace the ways eating alone can bring nourishment, creativity, and joy to the little moments, too often dismissed, that shape our days.

Catering to solo diners has grown in recent years, from meal kit companies offering single-serving portions to restaurants specializing in tables for one. In 2018, chef Anita Lo’s best-selling cookbook, Solo: A Modern Cookbook for a Party of One was heralded as the “Best Cookbook of the Year” by Eater and the Washington Post, among others. These trends suggest not only that Americans’ eating habits are becoming more solitary, but that there is also less of a stigma surrounding the practice.

In this issue, our writers reflect on the solo meal from many angles. From the wilderness sandwich to the urban happy hour, from the institutional grounds of senior living facilities to home kitchens, these essays highlight the many meanings of the solitary meal and its power to bring health and healing into our lives. We also offer recipes for cooks beginning to fend for themselves in the kitchen, and we hear from award-winning cookbook author—and New Mexican—Deborah Madison, who revisits her book, What We Eat When We Eat Alone, on its tenth anniversary.

As these stories show, eating alone can be less of a symptom and more of an experience.

It might be a good time to try out a new recipe or cooking technique, a chance to indulge in a guilty pleasure, or a stolen moment to savor an incredible meal without distraction.

We hope that by celebrating our solo meals we might better appreciate their worth and our own.

EDITORS Willy Carleton and Candolin Cook

COPY EDITORS Margaret Marti and Briana Olson

DESIGN AND LAYOUT Stephanie Cameron

PHOTO EDITOR Stephanie Cameron

EVENT COORDINATOR Natalie Donnelly

DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER Joshua Hinte

VIDEO PRODUCER Walt Cameron

SALES AND MARKETING Kate Collins, Melinda Esquibel, and Gina Riccobono

CONTACT US Mailing Address: 3301-R Coors Boulevard NW #152 Albuquerque, NM 87120 info@ediblenm.com www.ediblenm.com

SUBSCRIBE ∙ BUY AN AD ∙ LETTERS 505-375-1329 WWW.EDIBLENM.COM We welcome your letters. Write to us at the address above, or email us at INFO@EDIBLENM.COM Bite Size Media, LLC publishes edible New Mexico six times a year.

We distribute throughout New Mexico and

Willy Carleton and Candolin Cook, Editors

nationally by subscription.

Subscriptions are $32 annually.

Printed at Courier Graphics Corporation Phoenix, Arizona

Stephanie and Walt Cameron, Publishers

No part of this publication may be used without the written permission of the publisher. © 2019 All rights reserved.

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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

EUROPA. FOOD. FARM. FESTIVAL. FARM STAY. 2 rental properties. Rent together for larger parties.

FOOD. Coffeehouse, farm-to-table restaurant, caterering, market.

FARM. Vegetables, herbs, meat and poultry, fruit, and flowers.

FESTIVAL. Event venue up to 200 guests with our farm as the backdrop.

PASSION IN FOOD

LOS LUNAS ∙ FOODFARMFESTIVAL.COM

CONTRIBUTORS STEPHANIE CAMERON Stephanie Cameron was raised in Albuquerque and earned a degree in fine arts at the University of New Mexico. After photographing, testing, and designing a cookbook in 2011, she and her husband Walt began pursuing Edible Communities and they found edible in their backyard. Today Cameron is the art director, head photographer, marketing guru, publisher, and owner of edible New Mexico.

WILLY CARLETON Willy Carleton is editor of edible New Mexico.

He recently completed his PhD in history at the University of New Mexico, with a dissertation examining the cultural history of twentieth-century agriculture in the Southwest. He owns and manages Leafwater Farm, a small vegetable farm in northern New Mexico.

CANDOLIN COOK Candolin Cook is a history doctoral candidate at the University of New Mexico, an associate editor for the New Mexico Historical Review, and editor of edible New Mexico. On Saturdays, you can find her selling Vida Verde Farm produce at Albuquerque's Downtown Growers' Market. Follow her farm life on Instagram @vidaverdefarmabq and @candolin CANDICE C. COURTNEY In the years since her husband’s death, Candice Courtney has focused on supporting others who are struggling to cope with serious illness, end-of-life, and grief. Her articles have appeared in national publications, and her speaking engagements include professional conferences and webinars. She is the author of Healing Through Illness, Living Through Dying: Guidance and Rituals for Patients, Families and Friends. Currently, she is working on a book to help guide those moving through grief.

KATIE DELORENZO Katie DeLorenzo is a conservationist, passionate hunter, aspiring home cook, and the Southwest chapter coordinator for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, a nonprofit supporting wild public lands, waters, and wildlife. From hosting ladies nights at her local archery shop to helping novices harvest their first big game animal, her free time is spent mentoring new hunters and sharing the gospel of an outdoor lifestyle.

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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

NORA HICKEY Nora Hickey is a writer and teacher living in Albuquerque. Her work has appeared in Narrative, Guernica, DIAGRAM, and other journals. She podcasts with City on the Edge and teaches at the University of New Mexico.

JOSHUA JOHNSON Joshua Johnson practices landscape design and installation, specializing in environmental specificity and appropriateness. His love for gardens has inspired four years as a nurseryman at Albuquerque’s Plants of the Southwest, a lot of landscape maintenance, and various design-build projects in environments as different as New Mexico and the Netherlands.

DEBORAH MADISON Deborah Madison is the author of fifteen books, including What We Eat When We Eat Alone. She won James Beard Awards for Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdom in 2014, for Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets in 2002, and Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone in 1998.

GABRIELLA MARKS Gabriella Marks is a Santa Fe–based shooter, writer, and eater of food with passionate loyalty and gratitude for her local farmers, chefs, and eating companions.

BRIANA OLSON Briana Olson is a freelance writer and copy editor, and lead editor for the New Farmer’s Almanac, a miscellany of writings and art by farmers, ecologists, and other land-loving types. She enjoys long mountain walks, taking risks in the kitchen, and seeking out new and interesting things to eat, from Bangkok to Albuquerque.

ELLEN ZACHOS Ellen Zachos is the author of seven books, including Backyard Foraging and The Wildcrafted Cocktail. She teaches at foraging events, public gardens, and flower shows across the country, and shares tips on her website backyardforager.com Ellen also offers online foraging courses at backyard-forager.thinkific.com.

Wendy Red Star, Apsáalooke Feminist #1, 2016, pigment print. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Gift of Loren G. Lipson, M.D., 2016 (2016.13).

MUSEU M C O L L EC T I O NS are a source of inspiration, appreciation, and learning.

Bringing Together celebrates the ongoing process of building the New Mexico Museum of Art collection by sharing a portion of the artworks acquired over the past five years.

— THROUGH JANUARY 26, 2020 —

107 W. Palace Ave., Santa Fe, NM 87501 | · #nmartmuseum

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505-476-5072

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· @newmexicoartmuseum

nmartmuseum.org | |

· @nmmuseumofart

LOCAL HEROES An edible Local Hero is an exceptional individual, business, or organization making a positive impact on New Mexico's food systems. These honorees nurture our communities through food, service, and socially and environmentally sustainable business practices. Edible New Mexico readers nominate and vote for their favorite local chefs, growers, artisans, advocates, and other food professionals in two dozen categories—including this year's new Innovator award. In each issue of edible, we feature interviews with a handful of the winners, allowing us to get better acquainted with them and the important work they do. Please join us in thanking these Local Heroes for being at the forefront of New Mexico's local food movement.

Casa Rondeña Winery AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN CALVIN, OWNER / WINEMAKER BEST WINERY

Top: Aerial photography of Casa Rondeña. Bottom: Wellness & Wine on the lawn. Photos courtesy of Colibri Media House.

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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

WWW.EDIBLENM.COM

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John Calvin in the barrel room. Photo courtesy of Kim Jew.

Casa Rondeña Winery was lovingly established in 1995 as a family undertaking, with the first plantings in 1990 and 1995 at the hands of vintner John Calvin and his two young sons, Ross and Clayton.

The winery now boasts a tasting room, open daily; the 1629 Club, a private club with an outstanding pair of chefs and small restaurant operation; and an event space and wedding venue.

I started making wine from grapes I grew in the Rio Grande valley in 1990 and began building Casa Rondeña Winery in 1994.

We are about to turn twenty-five! Now in my late sixties, after a thirty-five-year career in design and building, that triad is still my platform and foundation—the heart and lungs—from which my passion lives and breathes.

How did you get to where you are now? What’s the backstory, and what was the moment that brought you to your current work?

What makes Casa Rondeña special?

Casa Rondeña Winery began in my imagination––a nanosecond of inspiration––somewhere in Andalusia, when I was a twenty-something musician in the early 1970s. As a native of the Rio Grande valley, I was always fascinated by the history of the first Europeans that arrived here in 1540. I grew up in a small adobe house that my father built.

I felt and saw all the influences of the Arabs and the Romans that the conquistadors brought from the Iberian peninsula.

Music also had a very powerful pull on my heart, harkening back to a simpler time, when beauty was created for its own sake, and was a driving force in all human cultures. As a young flamenco player, traveling throughout southern Spain, [I was influenced by] the music and architecture [of that area] and also by the ubiquitous wine barrels in the bodegas that dotted the countryside, along with the thousands of small vineyards and olive groves that dated back to Roman times. The wine was cheap, plentiful, and of course very local. So as an impressionable and entrepreneurial young American, the three strong columns of music, wine, and architecture became the pillars of my life dream.

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All the wine is made and bottled and aged on the property. I am dedicated to remaining a small boutique style winery, under ten thousand cases. I am interested in making small amounts of only the highest quality wines with which I remain intimately involved.

Likely expansion plans will be carried out by my descendants and their families. We are fortunate to have a beautiful place that has become a bit of a destination spot, so we are able to sell our wines at the winery, selling to just a handful of New Mexico restaurants and wine purveyors. Many thousands of wedding guests have attended weddings at the winery, and, closest to my heart, some of the world’s greatest musicians have played at the winery in a concert series we have put on over the last twenty-five years—ever enhancing the Casa Rondeña experience.

Casa Rondeña sits in a gorgeous area of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque. Tell us a bit about the winery property.

I have often heard that Casa Rondeña is among the most beautiful and hospitable places in our wonderful Land of Enchantment, for which I am immensely grateful. Our pleasant, professional staff is as

dedicated to creating a wonderful experience as I am to making wonderful wines. Our goal is and has always been to make the best red wines in the region and to maintain an environment that is second to none in hospitality.

D O L I N A CAFE

The four buildings [on Casa Rondeña’s property] are made of adobe, stone, and ancient timbers. They are of a style of my own, a reflection of my love for the Roman and Islamic influence in Andalusia, along with indigenous influences, which were precursors for the built environment here in my home land. They are not Tuscan, as many like to call them, although true Tuscan architecture (not the fake schlock that tract home builders call Tuscan) was derived from the same influences. These are rather more Iberian, with a particular influence on Andalusia.

What are you most proud of?

I set out thirty years ago to make the best wines I could, not really knowing what would happen. My goal was to make the finest dry red wines in the region. That is still my goal. Earning a living making wine was not a prerequisite, any more that creating buildings or making music. Rather, it has always been my way to simply create the finest products that I can, without compromise, and without concern for what is trendy or how the market might respond. Following this mantra, along with always telling the truth and conducting myself with humility and open-mindedness, these endeavors have had commercial success that provides jobs for the community, a good living for my extended family, and brings us all in close contact with thousands of customers that are loyal and ever-expanding in numbers. “Always do your best, always keep your word, and don’t let success cloud your vision and your goals” were the words of my father. I wish he were here today. All in all, I am most proud of hearing from visitors and customers that we have the most beautiful winery in the Southwest, and wines that are comparable to any in the world.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with edible readers?

Thank you all for our success. We are humbled by your patronage.

We are proud of being named by thousands of voters [in contests and polls] as best wine, best winery, or best vintner for eight years running, and now the edible Local Hero Award! I appreciate the Local Hero Award, but I am now only an ever smaller part of the great cultural experience that was but a flashing spark of inspiration forty-five years ago in Andalusia. Come join us, a wonderful inspired group of passionate people await you.

MODERN EASTERN

BAKERY

AMERICAN

EUROPEAN

BRUNCH

BAKED

GOODS

DOLINASANTAFE.COM OPEN

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DAYS

A

WEEK

505.982.9394

Fine Southwestern & French Cuisine

Beautiful Patio, Live Music on Friday!

Bar Menu and Happy Hour: Tuesday-Saturday 5-6:00PM Prix Fixe $37 Tuesday-Wednesday A la Carte Menu Everyday photo by Kitty Leaken

Our wine club, ever growing, is a testament to our efforts, thanks to wine club manager Hollie Stephens, with the 1629 Club as the pinnacle of the Casa Rondeña experience, thanks to club manager Ansel Lane. In our tasting room, manager Jesse Gallagher is the very definition of cheerfulness and accommodation. Josh Franco and Quin Hanrahan are indispensable help in the winery and vineyard. Paula Cox, our controller for the last fifteen years, is more of a spiritual advisor and sister than an employee.

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Open daily, 12pm–7pm. 733 Chavez NW, Albuquerque, 505-344-5911, casarondena.com WWW.EDIBLENM.COM

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LOCAL HEROES

Duran Central Pharmacy

AN INTERVIEW WITH MONA GHATTAS AND JAY GUTHRIE, OWNERS BEST CAFE, ALBUQUERQUE Photos by Stacey M. Adams

Husband and wife team, Mona Ghattas and Jay Guthrie, at Duran Central Pharmacy.

Pete Duran started Duran Central Pharmacy in 1942 as a very traditional pharmacy with a small soda fountain in the back. In 1965, Robert Ghattas purchased the pharmacy from Duran. Then Ghattas’ daughter, Mona Ghattas, bought the business in 2010 from her retiring father. Through the years, the pharmacy has evolved to meet the needs of the neighborhood and community, and its restaurant has become an Albuquerque institution and a destination for chile-lovers.

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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

How did you get to where you are now? What’s the backstory, and what was the moment that brought you to your current work?

In the late 1960s, pharmacies were starting to close their soda fountains because they were not profitable. Ghattas decided to try to drum up business by offering different specials each day of the week, such as spaghetti or sandwiches. Enchiladas were the Wednesday special, and soon Wednesday was the busiest day of the week!

1301 Cerrillos Rd ■ Santa Fe, NM 87505 ■ (505) 557-6654 ■ www.galleryethnica.com

Top left, clockwise: Huevos rancheros, biscochitos, and the dining room at Duran Central Pharmacy.

He started adding other New Mexican fare as specials and word got out about the great food at the soda fountain. Eventually, he had to hire more people to keep up with the increased business. Duran’s became the popular lunch spot for people living and working in the neighborhood. The recipes were originally formulated by Corrine Gallegos, one of the staff members, and Robert Ghattas. Everything was house-made with fresh ingredients. Duran’s has consistently used the same recipes and fresh ingredients while still maintaining the same friendly atmosphere and good service. The restaurant is an integral part of the business, working in tandem with the pharmacy and gift shop.

What makes Duran’s such an important cornerstone of New Mexican food in Albuquerque?

Duran’s has been and continues to be a neighborhood restaurant serving many generations of Albuquerque families. Locals have been coming to Duran’s since they were children. Now they are bringing their children and their grandchildren to Duran’s. Customers who have moved away make it their first stop when they come back to town. It still has that “neighborhood feel” where everyone knows each other. It is a home away from home.

How has the restaurant changed in its long history?

What hasn’t changed?

The restaurant hasn’t changed much at all. A patio was added about thirty years ago. There have been some slight cosmetic changes. The basic menu is the same as it was in the late 1960s. There have been some additions, but nothing drastic. We strive to keep our friendly service and delicious food consistent with each visit!

What is your favorite thing to eat at Duran’s?

Mona: The enchilada plate.

Jay: A bowl of red chile with carne adovada (Thursday special), beans and cheese.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a restaurant owner?

We have been in the same building since 1975. Our biggest challenge has been space and maintaining an aging facility.

Is there anything else you would like to share with edible readers?

Duran Central Pharmacy’s success is linked directly to the continued support of our extraordinary community and the spirit of our exceptional staff.

1815 Central Ave NW, Albuquerque, 505-247-4141 duransrx.com

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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

american cuisine inspired by local flavors PRE PERFORMANCE MENU 63rd Opera Season Performances through August 25 Pre Performance Tasting Menu 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. $65pp++ Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown July 1 thru September 7 Enjoy Chef Peter O’Brien’s Smackdown Burger Yellowfin Tuna Poke Slider $19 Tuscan Wine Dinner Thursday, August 22 6:00 p.m. Reception 6:30 p.m. Dinner $195pp Inclusive Merry Edwards Wine Dinner Wednesday, September 25 6:30 p.m. Reception 7:00 p.m. Dinner $195pp Inclusive Guest Chef Luncheon with Richard Chamberlain Thursday, September 26 12:00 p.m. $150pp Inclusive Duck Horn Wine Dinner Friday, September 28 6:30 p.m. Reception 7:00 p.m. Dinner $195pp Inclusive

ROSEWOOD INN OF THE ANASAZI 113 WASHINGTON AVENUE | SANTA FE, NM 87501 | (505)988-3030 Contemporary Southwestern Cuisine inspired by locally sourced seasonal ingredients.

Dining Room · Bar · Patio · Live Entertainment · Private Dining For reservations please call (505) 988-3236

A NA SAZ I RESTAURANT BAR & LOUNGE

LOCAL HEROES

Malagueña’s Latin Tapas AN INTERVIEW WITH MOLLY MONTAÑO, TASTING ROOM MANAGER, VARA WINES, AND JAVIER MONTAÑO, EXECUTIVE CHEF, VARA WINES BEST FOOD TRUCK Photos by Stephanie Cameron

Left: Molly and Javier Montaño at Vara Winery. Right: Paella.

Malagueña’s Latin Tapas was a Spanish and Latin American inspired food truck, owned and operated by husband-wife team Molly and Javier Montaño. The duo recently joined forces with Vara Wines to set up a food program at the winery’s lovely property in Albuquerque.

You can now find their Spanish-style tapas five days a week.

Although Malagueña’s won the Local Hero award for Best Food Truck, you’ve now transitioned into an exciting new food venture.

Tell us a bit about what you’re up to with Vara Wines.

For the last year, Malagueña's has teamed up with Vara Wines to do brunch and paella nights. Because Vara Wines is growing, they offered us a permanent home. They are making Spanish-style wines. We are making Spanish-inspired food. It was a natural fit.

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Why is sourcing locally important to you and what are some of your favorite local ingredients?

We started as a very small business. We believe in what other small businesses are doing locally and want to support the local economy and fellow business folk. We work with producers such as Lone Mountain Wagyu Beef, M'Tucci’s, Vida Verde Farm, and Krepfl Orchard.

What’s the best part about working with your spouse? And the worst?

Getting to spend time together. In our past we worked opposite schedules and had very little time. Sometimes (very rarely) we get on each other’s nerves.

ROASTERY | TASTING ROOM | COFFEE BAR

Agua es Vida café es amor

1208 RIO GRANDE BLVD NW, ALBUQUERQUE • CUTBOWCOFFEE.COM • OPEN DAILY UNTIL 3PM

Left, clockwise: Charcuterie board with Garnacha Rosado; Ceviche Mixto; and watermelon salad.

What’s your food philosophy?

Ceviche Mixto and Garnacha Rosado

We believe in no fuss, all flavor; cooking from scratch; and making

Steak ‘n Eggs and Tinto Especial Lot #13

people happy.

Spanish French Toast with Cava Silverhead Brut

If you could throw a dinner party with anyone, living or dead,

What’s next?

who would you invite and what would you serve?

Vara is working on exciting expansion plans and we will keep you posted. We are thrilled to be a part of this growth.

The late Anthony Bourdain. Chef Suzette Gresham (of Acquerello in San Francisco). We would invite our two dads (both deceased). We

Is there anything else you would like to share with edible readers?

would serve gazpacho, ceviche, and buckwheat crusted sweetbreads in a saffron cava butter sauce with caviar.

Come see us at Vara—we are serving up hot food Wednesday through Saturday from 5pm to 8pm and Sunday from 12pm to 3pm.

What are some of your favorite Vara wine/Malagueña’s food pairings?

315 Alameda NE, Albuquerque, 505-898-6280, varawines.com

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A TASTE OF AUTHENTICITY RED CHILE MADE FROM SCRATCH SINCE 1922

a creative take on classic cuisine 100 E. SAN FRANCISCO STREET, SANTA FE 505.995.2334 | LAFONDASANTAFE.COM OPEN DAILY 7AM10PM

LOCAL HEROES

Mark Kiffin,

The Compound Restaurant BEST CHEF, SANTA FE

Photos by Douglas Merriam

Left: Mark Kiffin. Right: Guajillo-Honey Lacquered Pork Belly with pea farro, apricot mostarda di frutta, and smoked ham hock jus.

This May, Chef Mark Kiffin celebrated his nineteenth anniversary as owner of The Compound Restaurant, a cornerstone of the culinary landscape in Santa Fe, located in the Arts District on Canyon Road.

The restaurant, renowned for its distinctive style and elegance, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2016. Kiffin’s signature contemporary American menu combines New World influences with the culinary style and flavors of the Mediterranean. The chef also focuses his 18

edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

seasonally evolving menu on available regional ingredients and local sourcing, making the restaurant truly farm to table.

Beginning in 1990, Chef Kiffin partnered with owner Mark Miller at the famed Santa Fe–based flagship Coyote Café and, later, at the Coyote Café MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where he was the corporate executive chef and owner. Since his tenure with Miller, Kiffin has gone onto work with other notable chefs and has opened twenty restaurants.

photo courtesy: Sergio Salvador

SuMmEr’S SpLeNdOr. After months of careful tending, the bountiful summer fields of the Rio Grande River Valley will reach peak flavor, making it the ideal time for harvesting these long-awaited flavors. With the warm weather upon us, we eagerly anticipate this special time of year, yielding tomatoes at their peak, tart and inky blackberries and bright, subtle goldbar squash - flavors that beckon memories of this magical season and beg to be showcased. With a menu informed by the September harvest, the culinary team at Campo is excited to present Summer’s Splendor, where thoughtfully selected proteins and crafted pastas will serve as vehicles to showcase seasonal Rio Grande flavors, culminating in elevated, comforting dishes that come together in the ultimate celebration of summer. Join us in Campo’s Cellar Room for this complex, multi-course experience, with magnificent wine pairings and stunning, summer twilight views.

SePtEmBeR 12 | 6Pm Visit lospoblanos.com for more information

Left: Alaskan Halibut with saffron-butter seared mussels, baby onion and tomato confit, and beurre rouge. Right: Organic little gem salad.

Twenty-eight years in Santa Fe have strengthened Kiffin’s love and passion for New Mexico. He recognizes not only his responsibility for taking care of one of Santa Fe’s true treasures, The Compound Restaurant, but also the importance of taking care of his community.

What local food issue is most important to you?

How did you get to where you are now? What’s the backstory?

What is the best piece of advice you have received as a chef?

I grew up in a house with parents in the travel business, both working for the airlines, then eventually owning a travel agency. Travel is the way to see the world, to see the world’s foods. My mom didn't like to cook that much, so she kept it pretty simple, but my dad would come home from trips overseas and talk about all the different foods. I took a dishwasher job at fifteen—back then it was that or sacking groceries. The work is hard, and soon I realized if I could learn to cook (or show interest) that I could get out of the dish station! That took me to my first few jobs in restaurants, which then took me to the Culinary Institute of America in 1980 . . . then I was on my way!

Great ingredients = great food, period. There are no substitutions for quality.

Was there a turning point that brought you to your current work?

Opening up The Inn & Links at Spanish Bay as a sous chef in 1987 was the early accomplishment for sure, that led me to Mark Miller, that led me to owning The Compound and to my James Beard Award.

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Working with the growers to expand their growing season, trying to get them to not just provide local food in the summer months only.

More greenhouses will help provide more products in the winter.

What is your favorite meal to cook at home?

My wife and I do a lot of protein/salad combos. We eat very healthy.

We love to cook Sunday breakfast with green chile, the works!

Do you have a favorite meal to cook when you are eating solo?

Solo . . . a great steak!

Is there anything else you would like to share with edible readers?

Edible’s readers understand good food, the markets, cooking for their families. They are very supportive in Santa Fe and we, as restaurateurs, appreciate it.

653 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, 505-982-4353 compoundrestaurant.com

nadelbachphoto.com

Located in Eldorado Hotel & Spa | 309 W. San Francisco St., Santa Fe | 505.988.4455 | EldoradoHotel.com

Located at Inn and Spa at Loretto | 211 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe | 505.988.5531 | HotelLoretto.com

LOCAL HEROES

Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown AN INTERVIEW WITH STEPHANIE AND WALT CAMERON BEST EVENT Photos by Simply Social

2018 Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown at Santa Fe Brewing.

The Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown (GCCS) spotlights New Mexico’s most notorious burger, the green chile cheeseburger, and many of the state’s world-class chefs. Each year, fifteen local restaurants vie for seven spots at the GCCS, where they cook for Smackdown judges and the public—and one is selected as the Green Chile Cheeseburger Reigning Chomp.

A secret panel of judges travels the state to determine which seven restaurants move up to the Smackdown. Attendees at the tasting event have the chance to taste and vote from an impressive, curated bracket of independently owned restaurants from across New Mexico. This year, the GCCS and judging for the Reigning Chomp (Judge’s Award) and People’s Choice Award will be held at The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing on Saturday, September 7.

2015, they were ready to pass the reins. Edible was the perfect partner to take it over.

What is the mission of the event?

The underlying mission for us is to connect both chefs and attendees to local farmers, producers, and ranchers. We match each competing chef with at least one ingredient from a local vendor, which helps to offset their costs, but we also encourage them to work with more vendors. A green chile cheeseburger can be sourced one hundred percent locally. We pride ourselves on making long-lasting connections to our local foodshed for both the restaurants competing and the attendees judging the burgers.

How did the Smackdown begin?

This September marks edible’s seventh Smackdown. How has it changed over the years and what is something new we can expect this year?

Tourism Santa Fe started the event in 2013 at the Santa Fe Farmers Market. The next year they grew it to be an independent event, and in

The event has grown into a sold-out event. We outgrew the Santa Fe Farmers Market Pavilion and moved to The Bridge at Santa Fe

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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

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Top left, clockwise: Marc Quiñones and David Sellers take home the 2018 trophies; local producers supporting participating restaurants; attendees sampling burgers; and Beck & Bulow showing off their bison.

Brewing last year. Every year we add more local producers to the mix, donating products and samples to the public. New this year is the VIP experience, which will include a burger valet to retrieve all your samples while you sip on a beer in the shade.

Throwing the Smackdown is a logistical feat. What are your biggest challenges?

The event goes up, on, and down in one day. It takes a well-organized team of volunteers to pull it off—we wouldn’t be able to do it without them. It also takes a tremendous amount of effort to ensure our chefs are well prepared for all aspects of the event, which also gives us time to build and strengthen our relationships in the chef community.

What are some of the most memorable burgers?

Walt: My favorite burger was four years ago when Marc Quiñones (then at Luminara) made his green chile cheeseburger with a green chile fondue and served it on an English muffin. But that could change . . . there are a lot of great burgers this year!

Stephanie: My favorite burger was “the life changer,” which Rocky Durham won the Judge’s Award for in 2017. And I have to agree with Walt, there are some seriously great burgers on the menu this year.

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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

Do you have any pro tips for attendees?

Come hungry and pace yourself. Seven tastings equal close to two and a half pounds of food. Sorry for the meat sweats, but we know you’ll want to try every burger before casting your votes. Oh, and wear your stretchy pants!

Who would be your dream Smackdown judge?

Walt: José Andrés, founder of the World Kitchen.

Stephanie: David Chang, founder of the Momofuku restaurant group, creator of Ugly Delicious on Netflix, and former editor of Lucky Peach.

Is there anything else you would like to share with edible readers?

We get lots of comments and questions wondering why specific burger joints around the state don’t compete. There are two reasons for this— first, it is a huge commitment to show up and cook samples for eight hundred attendees; and second, many burger joints tell us that the way their kitchens are set up makes it impossible for them to create the same burger at an event. The Smackdown is really meant to celebrate New Mexico's quintessential food, the green chile cheeseburger, in the spirit of camaraderie and competition amongst the chefs.

September 7, 2019 at Santa Fe Brewing, ediblesmackdown.com

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EDIBLE EATS

A Small, Good Thing BREAKFAST AT HARTFORD SQUARE

By Briana Olson · Photos by Stephanie Cameron

Left: Sarah Hartford. Right: Carrot cake muffins.

Walking to the Downtown Growers’ Market, I stumbled onto Hartford Square. My boyfriend and I noticed people eating at tables in front of the former Gold Street Caffe, and I said, “Didn’t that close forever ago?” I was out of state for most of Gold Street’s time, but I had fond memories of the place, and had always loved the location, which Hartford Square moved into last August. It’s one of those downtown Albuquerque blocks that feels distinctly urban—the building is one hundred twenty years old, the train station is just around the corner—and that makes it a fitting new home for Sarah Hartford’s restaurant, which grew out of a gourmet-to-go concept inspired by venues she’d fallen for back east.

In a glance, I liked everything about the restaurant at 218 Gold: the menu (small and affordable, with simple, light options like the Baked Egg in Avocado as well as classic two-egg breakfasts); the cozy, open atmosphere; the promise of excellent coffee; the names of familiar local growers; the smile on the face of the woman taking our order. I noticed a predominance of women behind the counter and 26

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in the kitchen, and black-and-white portraits of Albuquerque women with their daughters covered the walls. A glass case displayed the day’s savory tart, a kale salad, biscuits and sweets, and a chrome bar stretched around an open prep area, offering a glimpse into the kitchen.

Settling into one of the front tables, I took stock of the seats at the bar, the street-side tables, and the tables tucked privately in the back, and observed that on top of being a nice place for intimate, shared meals, Hartford Square would be a great place to dine alone.

Hartford didn’t design it for that purpose, but she did conceive the restaurant as a gourmet-to-go food shop with enough space for those inclined to sit down and eat their breakfasts and lunches. She was inspired by shops she’d frequented back east and by a love for farm stands and farmers markets that was also born along the Eastern Seaboard, when she was a kid. Her mother was an influence—she’d been a dietician, and given cooking classes—and Hartford cooked and entertained often while raising her own children. Opening a restaurant, she tells me while sitting at the bar one afternoon in June, was

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Left: Apricot tarts. Right: Chicken salad with potatoes and green beans.

“something I always wanted to do but never thought I would.” Before she opened at the original location on East Broadway, she spent a year working for a woman running a food service business out of a commercial kitchen. She ignored people who told her that gourmet-to-go wouldn’t work in Albuquerque. And she drove herself crazy with a menu that changed every single week. “I’ve never liked out-of-season food,” she says, and on top of what she calls “all the usual reasons” for sourcing local (fresher, healthier food; a smaller carbon footprint; keeping profits in the community), she liked the idea of planning a menu around whatever growers were selling that week.

“I still like it when people get things to-go,” Hartford says, and she hopes to continue to build the take-out dinner service, an appealing option for individuals who want a well-rounded meal but aren’t up for sitting down at a public table for one. Smiling, she adds, “I like it when people come in here, too.”

Over time, Hartford has adapted her vision. Rotating the menu weekly, she realized, was not only exhausting, but disappointing to customers. She tells me about a former city council member who used to come in, and one day firmly ordered her, “Don't ever take this deviled egg off the menu.” Now, she strikes a balance between consistency and seasonality. Some of that is achieved with standard menu items, like a frittata and a savory tart, whose ingredients change according to what’s available. Also, she points out, “Farmers here have gotten a lot more sophisticated.” Kale is available year-round, and farmers are regularly in touch, so she doesn’t have to wait for the market to know what’s available. And the Gold Street location, with a bigger kitchen and a gas range, allows for more cooking to order.

I like to think of myself as less than predictable, but when Hartford talks about customers wanting to know they can order their one favorite thing, my mind goes to the Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuit Sand28

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wich I had on my first visit, and I have to practice a little restraint to let her finish what she’s saying instead of interrupting her to demand that she keep that sandwich on the menu forever. (It involves an excellent biscuit, green chile jam, a poached egg, and, in my case, bacon.

Hefty enough to feel decadent but not so heavy that it will put you to sleep.) The bagel sandwich is also a keeper—not half because the bagels are house-made in a town where house-made bagels are increasingly hard to come by.

It’s satisfying to trace the connections between local growers and producers, and it’s right to acknowledge that every meal depends on the labor of many. That’s probably one reason food, amongst locavores, tends to be celebrated as something communal. “When I was younger,” Hartford admits, “I thought there was a stigma attached to dining alone.” Some people still seem to think so. With Americans eating alone more and more frequently, critics of the trend periodically step in to analyze the reasons and risks. But many of the negatives hinge on where people are eating (at their desks) and what they’re eating (nuts or candy or chips), not who they’re eating with. And aren’t there some perks, I ask Hartford, to dining alone?

“Oh, yes,” she says without hesitation, recounting how she used to have a Thursday ritual of going to The Grove, alone, with a copy of the New York Times. “It was just ‘me’ time,” she says. Since my last visit, abstract paintings inspired by Pablo Neruda’s love sonnets have replaced the women’s portraits on the walls, and the frittata is a different flavor, but the biscuit sandwich is still on the menu, and whether it’s a weekly ritual, a one-time fling, or a way of life, Hartford Square is a spot where I can envisage anyone settling in for a little “me” time.

218 Gold SW, Albuquerque, 505-265-4933, hartfordsq.com

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edible New Mexico | EARLY SUMMER 2019

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AT THE CHEF'S TABLE

What You’re Hungry For A CHEF COMES FULL CIRCLE ON CANYON ROAD Story and Photos by Gabriella Marks

Chef Sllin Cruz at Geronimo's.

A chef ’s journey is shaped by many appetites. There is the elemental hunger in the human stomach, there’s the craving to ascend through the regimented hierarchy of a kitchen, and there’s the insatiable curiosity to master new techniques and tastes. Most significantly, there also exists a hunger to express one’s deeply held dreams, beliefs, and values through the shared experience of one person cooking for another. Sllin Cruz, executive chef and partner at Santa Fe’s iconic Geronimo, knows each of these appetites well. On a break from a busy night’s service, poised and relaxed in the upper pastry kitchen, he tells me his story in a soft voice and with a glint in his eyes.

When Cruz made his way to Canyon Road nearly a decade ago, it was his first time in Santa Fe. His travels had taken him from kitchens in Oregon to Taos, and back to his native Mexico, where he helped open and became sous chef at an Italian restaurant in Jalisco. His nomadic appetite unsatiated, he came to Santa Fe, not knowing a soul. Within twenty-four hours of his arrival, he talked his way into a stage (the culinary equivalent of an audition or internship) at The Compound. By the end of the night, he was officially on the line.

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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

Within a year, Cruz was recruited to Las Campanas, where he rose through the ranks from banquet to sous chef, then chef de cuisine to interim executive chef. During that time, he met and interviewed with Charles Dale, then executive chef of Terra at Encantado Resort.

Cruz impressed Dale, who extended him offers to join Terra, but the timing and circumstances hadn’t yet aligned.

At Las Campanas, Cruz gained valuable skills necessary to be a successful chef. With the title of executive chef comes the responsibility of running the business side of a kitchen—the symbiotic art of management and math. As Cruz attests, being a chef is perhaps thirty percent culinary technique, creativity, and inspiration, and seventy percent numbers and leadership.

Dale departed Terra in 2013 to launch his own French fine dining establishment, Bouche. He asked Cruz to join him as his chef de cuisine, and this time he accepted. As Chef Dale describes, “Sllin and I joined forces to open Bouche Bistro. His dedication and steadfastness proved to be the rock on which the restaurant was built.”

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AT THE CHEF'S TABLE

Left: Maple-Balsamic Glazed Pork Shank. Right: Grilled Center-Cut Ribeye Steak.

That kind of expertise rarely goes unnoticed, especially in the competitive world of fine dining. In 2014, Chef Eric DiStefano came calling, in need of a chef de cuisine for Geronimo. There, back on Canyon Road, Cruz met perhaps his greatest challenge yet: to step in and hold the reins of a renowned kitchen running more than a little wild.

His first day was met with disarray: cooks clamoring for out-of-stock ingredients and direction. Cruz transformed the crew into a welltuned team that exceeds the expectations of diners on a nightly basis.

The foundation upon which Cruz has built this success is informed by two steadfast imperatives: relentless attention to detail—he inspects every plate before it leaves the kitchen—and a passionate belief that the best food, no matter how elegant, must remain simple and heartfelt. In his own words, “The best food that you can eat is the food made with real love. It can be really simple, but it’s made for you.

It’s personal: I cook for you. I care for you. I’m going to make this for you to enjoy. It just comes from the heart.”

To this day, when he returns to the remote village La Huacana in the western state of Michoacan, Mexico, his mother rises early to prepare a meal for his arrival. These types of experiences, along with the memories, inform Cruz’s dishes at Geronimo.

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Eidetic memory is the ability to recall vividly a sensory experience with high precision. Visually, we call it photographic memory, but this phenomenon can apply to other senses as well. As Cruz describes it, he “remembers” new dishes into existence. With a high degree of accuracy, he knows how a specific combination of ingredients, prepared with certain techniques, will look and taste. “It’s all in here, and you feel it. Obviously, it’s all connected—your heart, your brain— because you know the flavors. That’s how I approach plates when I put something together.”

Where will Cruz’s appetite take Geronimo next? “I think we’re ready for a new evolution. Everything needs to keep moving forward.” And what will that direction be? That, dear reader, is for you to discover, the next time your travels take you up the languid curves of Canyon Road, to the historic Borrego House, built in 1756 by namesake Geronimo Lopez, home of one of Santa Fe’s very finest restaurants, and this very special chef.

724 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, 505-982-1500 geronimorestaurant.com

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WILD THING

Backcountry Bounty HUNTING ELK ON NEW MEXICO PUBLIC LAND Story and Photos by Katie DeLorenzo

Katie DeLorenzo and her dad, Donald DeLorenzo, on their annual turkey trek.

Bunches of purple flowers have grown around the elk skeleton, framing its shape.

I walk briskly but cautiously, traversing the rugged desert mountain.

I listen for the hair-raising sound of rattles as my boots land, knowing this mountain’s grassy slopes and scree piles hold their fair share of banded rock rattlesnakes. Although beautifully marked with grey and black bands, I don’t care to see this venomous native today, especially since I am hiking alone.

The vast landscape is expansive and humbling. Mountains transition into wide open plains that stretch nearly to the horizon. I’m a visitor in a wild and remote place, and slight unease gives way to heightened awareness. Out here, there are no cell phone notifications, no apps to tell you where the cliffs, cacti, or lions are.

Strongholds like this BLM wilderness study area provide wildlife and humans a welcome respite from the frenzy of a world fraught with 34

edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

ceaseless development. Food, water, shelter, and space are crucial factors of habitat suitable for our native deer, pronghorn, and elk. In addition, limited road access means less traffic and disruption for these animals, and more solace and challenge for hunters like me.

Today, though, I am not hunting. The pilgrimage I’m making now has a different purpose. I am returning to the place where, last September, after six days of hunting from dawn to dusk, the arrow from my compound bow found its mark. I had prepared for this hunt for months to make the most ethical and lethal shot possible. I studied elk anatomy and shot placement, ensured my bow and broadheads were perfectly tuned, knew my maximum range, and shot hundreds of arrows at various distances from various positions. It’s not easy to describe my feelings in that moment. A wave of triumph, heartache, and rever-

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WILD THING

Left: Recovered broadhead arrow. Right: Katie DeLorenzo packing out her elk.

ence washed over me and tears streamed down my face as I walked up to my first bull elk, lying in the grass.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for hunters is to explain how we can pursue wild animals with lethal intent while also having great respect for them. Being a hunter and loving wildlife are not mutually exclusive traits. The most dedicated and knowledgeable conservationists I know are hunters, many of whom, like my father and sister, have dedicated their entire lives to stewardship and responsible use of our natural resources.

The evening I shot my bull, my boyfriend and I field dressed it and placed the quarters, backstrap, tenderloins, neck, and rib meat in game bags. We carried out half the load that night and returned early the next morning for the rest, which was carefully nestled in a tree on the canyon’s edge to cool. The weight of our packs that night was substantial, but we transported hundreds of pounds of wild harvested meat on our backs, one strenuous step at a time.

I waited months for scavengers and other animals to pick the bull’s carcass clean. Returning, I find that bunches of purple flowers have grown around the skeleton, framing its shape. The sight is oddly beautiful, and I feel reassured that the remnants we left behind have provided sustenance for many other lifeforms. Then I locate the token I’ve come for. My broadhead is lodged in a piece of bone, and I find the arrow shaft just a few feet away. For me, this arrow is a symbol of perseverance, and of one of my greatest personal accomplishments.

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We humans often eat meat mindlessly, with no regard for where the animal came from or what type of life it lived. I’ve discovered that being sustained by hundreds of pounds of meat from one animal with whom I share a story is a richer and more meaningful alternative. This bull’s sacrifice is not lost on me. He no longer roams wild, but instead provides my family with lean hormone-free meat that has sustained us for nearly a year. With the broadhead and arrow carefully stowed in my pack, I start hiking back to my truck in the heat of the day and stop under a large juniper to rest, put together my meal, and eat. For the journey, I prepped ingredients for a hearty bowl of ramen with wild game bone broth and backstrap from my elk, and I could not be more satisfied or grateful as I eat this meal.

The boyfriend who helped me harvest that bull is now my fiancé, and we will serve the last meat from this bull at our wedding in just a few weeks. We will recount stories of this hunt for years to come, reminiscing about the moments of wonderment and resolve that solidified our bond as hunters and partners.

To me, pursuing and harvesting wild game means an evolving connection to our wealth of public lands, natural resources, and the meat I consume. My story with the Luera Mountains is still being written.

In September, I will once again be afforded the opportunity to hunt elk here. I will return, bow in hand, with hopes of experiencing even a fraction of the adventure of the hunt I just relived.

Get DeLorenzo's recipe for Wild Game Ramen on ediblenm.com.

FORAGED

Alone, Together

By Ellen Zachos

Ellen Zachos in the field. Photo by Mark Hardy.

How much do I want those locust flowers? How delicious is that cattail pollen? Will that branch hold my weight while I reach for those oyster mushrooms? Am I going to run into a mama bear and her cubs in the berry patch? Do I really need those buffalo berries?

Maybe you don’t ask yourself these questions on a regular basis, but I do. And the answers are almost always: a lot, very, I don’t know but I’m going to try it anyway, I hope not, and yes.

By nature, I am not a daring person. I run away from bees (I tell people I’m allergic, but I’m really just afraid), I cringe every time I pull a tick off me (I get a lot of ticks), and I fear the blisters of poison ivy as much as the next person does. But certain things are worth the risk.

Foraging has made me bolder, and I can taste that boldness in every bite of my harvest. Wild foods are rare, ephemeral, and made more 38

edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

precious by the commitment that brought them to the table. It’s impossible to separate the experience of gathering from the wild flavors themselves. I can’t taste wild grape sorbet without remembering the park ranger who argued that I couldn’t pick them in the National Forest. (You can; he didn’t know the rules.) What could make a food more precious, more delicious, than risking something, be it a bee sting or your dignity, to claim it?

Desire is an excellent motivator. When presented with the choice between venturing into the woods alone (because I know the porcini are popping) and possibly running into a hungry bear, or waiting until another wild foods forager can join me, the path is clear. The fleeting nature of wild edibles means that foragers can’t postpone the harvest. We get out there and gather when the gathering is good, which means we often forage alone.

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FORAGED There’s more than one downside to being alone in the woods. Twist an ankle or fall out of a tree, and with no one to help, an inconvenience can become a threat. Run into an aggressive mammal on the trail and I’d be happy to have the protection of a larger gathering party. As a forager, I decide every day if the reward is worth the risk. I ask myself, “How much do I want it?” It’s an individual decision, and becomes part of my individual relationship to my food.

When I see heavy, perfect clusters of chokecherries, then notice they’re surrounded by poison ivy, I step in carefully, and wash my pants of the poison ivy as soon as I get home. When the cattails with the best pollen are in the middle of a pond that’s deeper than my boots, I shrug and wade in anyway. And when the linden flowers I plan to macerate in vodka are being probed by more species of bee than I knew existed, I gently reach in among the insects to collect what I need. These are choices I can only make for myself. I won’t urge you to hop a fence, ford a stream, or risk a rash. Those decisions are up to you. Alone.

We humans are social animals. It’s natural to feel uncomfortable being alone in the wild, just as it’s natural to want to avoid the itch of poison ivy and the sting of a bee. I feel small and vulnerable, surrounded by a natural world that is so much more powerful than I am, but I also feel exhilarated. The lure of wild foods is too strong to resist.

They call to me and I must go. I set aside my trepidation and venture out to gather what very few can gather. That’s what foragers do.

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GREEN BAY'S EVER-CHANGING GARDEN IF KIDS MAKE IT, THEY'LL EAT IT! SPRING 2017 Issue No. 16

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late summer/early fall 2012

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Here, foraging is usually a solitary occupation. Maybe because there aren’t a lot of us, or because we don’t want to share our special places, or because we want to fly under the radar. Personally, I prefer foraging with friends. I love the camaraderie of walking through the forest with a like-minded gatherer, eyes to the ground, talking about what we’re seeing and what we hope to find. We teach each other as we walk, and the excitement of discovery increases exponentially when there’s someone to share it with.

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easy, seasonal recipes

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S M A L L B AT C H . B E A N T O B A R . C H O C O L AT E

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COOKING FRESH

Cooking Solo

BUILDING A REPERTOIRE TO COOK FOR YOURSELF

By Stephanie Cameron

Kelli Cameron sampling radish sprouts from Logan Romero of Happy Hippies Urban Farm at the Corrales Growers’ Market.

I find catharsis in cooking solo. In my years between high school and marriage, I almost always cooked alone, and spent the majority of those meals dining alone. My roommates were frequently in awe of my ability to shop for a week’s worth of food with twenty dollars, while they spent the same money on two or three fast food meals. I could almost smell their envy as they walked to their rooms with their same old burgers and fries while the aroma of garlic and onions emanated from the kitchen. I loved entertaining and cooking meals for friends, but it was the practice of cooking for myself that made me a good cook.

Experimentation, finding what I liked and didn’t like, and enjoying the fruits of my labor when I sat down to savor my creations alone brought me little moments of joy.

In my first years as a wife and a mother, I lost my joy for cooking solo. It all became so chaotic, a race to the finish to get everyone fed— and I was never really alone anymore. Cooking became a team sport with everyone lending a hand to make holiday cookies, birthday cakes, spaghetti, and mac’n cheese. Fascinated by the kitchen, my daughter 42

edible New Mexico | SPRING 2019

Kelli, especially, made sure she always got her moment to shine during celebrations: cherry pie for a summer picnic, homemade ice cream for the Fourth of July, and pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. But as my children grew older, school, activities, and life didn’t give us a whole lot of everyday opportunities in the kitchen together. Now, nineteen years old and preparing to be on her own, Kelli has expressed that she wants to be ready to fend for herself in the kitchen and not rely on takeout.

Using her goal as my inspiration for this issue’s Cooking Fresh, we set off for the farmers markets with a new lens—what didn’t Kelli know how to cook and how could we build her repertoire? What should every beginner cook master?

As Kelli discovered radishes, kohlrabi, pea shoots, sprouts, mushrooms, pork, chicken, and more, we built a list of things she would like to cook for herself. We had discussions about how to buy ingredients and maximize them, food waste, and how learning some simple techniques could open up opportunities to try new things. Below are the building blocks for her—or anyone—to cook solo.

Step-by-step pasta dough.

Mound the flour onto work surface and make a large well in the center.

Crack eggs into well, add olive oil.

Cut the ball of dough into quarters, keeping remainder covered with a towel while working on each piece.

Fold the pasta sheet a few times over itself (as if folding a letter in thirds) and cut it to the desired width.

To store uncooked noodles, lay out flat and gather into nests on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

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COOKING FRESH

Pasta

Homemade pasta can be fun for a new cook (or anyone, really) to up their game. In 30–45 minutes, a solo cook can make enough pasta for several recipes. The basic ratio is 2 cups flour to 3/4 cup liquid for 1 pound of pasta, or 4 servings. The primary liquid consists of eggs and olive oil, but vegetable juice, lemon juice, or fresh herbs can be used to add color and flavor.

To store uncooked noodles, lay out flat and gather into nests on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Freeze on cookie sheet for 1 hour, then place into freezer bags and return to freezer until needed. Pasta will last up to 6 months in the freezer.

PASTA DOUGH 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling and dusting 1 cup semolina flour 3 large eggs 2 tablespoons olive oil

Makes 4 servings Mound the flour onto work surface and make a large well in the center.

Crack eggs into well, add olive oil. Using a fork, beat the eggs and oil until well combined.

In small mounts, add flour to egg mixture and beat with the fork until all is incorporated. Mix until it begins to take shape and can be gathered into a loose ball. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until the dough firms up. Shape into a ball and cover with a kitchen towel to keep it from drying out. Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour.

Cut the ball of dough into quarters, keeping remainder covered with a towel while working on each piece. On a floured surface, roll out the dough as thinly as possible. Dust liberally with more flour to prevent sticking. Fold the pasta sheet a few times over itself (as if folding a letter in thirds) and cut it to the desired width. Shake noodles out, toss with a little flour, and let them rest in loose mounds on a towel while rolling out the remaining dough.

BLT PASTA Kosher salt 2 strips of bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 serving of pasta from recipe above 3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved 1 ounce (handful) of watercress, arugula, or other greens Freshly ground pepper and Parmesan for serving

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Serves 1 Boil water for pasta. Add 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt, add pasta, and cook for 2–5 minutes, depending on thickness.

Meanwhile, place bacon and olive oil in a medium-size skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cook bacon until crisp, about 5 minutes.

Remove bacon and set aside. Pour off all except 1 tablespoon of bacon fat.

Add tomatoes to the skillet, coating with bacon fat, and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until tomatoes almost melt—about 5 minutes. Add half of the bacon and combine with tomatoes. Add pasta directly to skillet, pour in 1/8 cup pasta water, and toss to coat. Add greens and toss with pasta until wilted. Add more pasta water, a tablespoon at a time, as needed to loosen up the sauce. Season with more salt, pepper, remaining bacon, and Parmesan.

BLT Pasta.

CREAMY MUSHROOM SAUCE 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 pound mushrooms, thinly sliced 1/3 cup heavy cream 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan 1 tablespoon parsley leaves, chopped

2 Servings Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and mushrooms, stirring occasionally, until tender and browned, about 5–6 minutes. Stir in heavy cream, thyme, and oregano. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly reduced and thickened, about 5–6 minutes. Stir in Parmesan. Toss with pasta and garnish with parsley.

Reheat the second serving for lunch within 3 days.

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COOKING FRESH

Meat

Roasting a ham or a chicken on a weekend can provide several meals for the coming week. With a little seasoning and an understanding of cooking times and temperatures, roasting meat is one of the simplest cooking techniques.

HAM ROAST 1 3–5-pound fresh ham roast (an uncured ham was sourced from Polk’s Folly Farm) 2–3 cups of water Salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste

ROASTED CHICKEN 1 3-pound whole chicken, giblets removed Salt and black pepper to taste 1 tablespoon onion powder 1/2 cup butter, divided 2 celery stalks, leaves removed

CHICKEN BROTH Bones from a whole chicken (with some meat attached) 2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped 2 large carrots, roughly chopped 3 cloves of garlic, smashed and peeled 1 onion, quartered 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar Fresh herbs (sourced parsley and thyme from the garden) Salt and pepper to taste Water to cover the chicken carcass by about 3–4 inches 2 bay leaves 46

edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place ham in a 13x9-inch pan or glass baking dish. Generously sprinkle salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper over both sides of ham. Pour 2–3 cups of water into the pan (the water level should come about 1 inch up the side of the roast). Cover the pan tightly with foil and place in the oven for 2 hours. Do not let the water cook all the way out.

After cooking for 2 hours, increase the oven to 450°F and remove foil from pan. Place roast back in oven for another 20 minutes. Turn the roast after 10 minutes to make sure both sides brown evenly. The water will mostly evaporate, but not completely. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Spoon juices from bottom of the pan over finished roast and serve. Save bone for pinto bean recipe that follows.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place chicken in a roasting pan, and season generously inside and out with salt, pepper, and onion powder. Place 3 tablespoons butter in the chicken cavity. Arrange pats of the remaining butter around the chicken's exterior. Cut celery into 4 pieces and place in the chicken cavity.

Bake uncovered for 1 hour 15 minutes, to a minimum internal temperature of 180°F. Remove from oven and baste with melted butter and drippings. Cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest about 30 minutes before serving. Save bones for chicken broth to be used in the pinto bean recipe that follows.

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker, and fill with water. Cook on low for at least 12 hours, and up to 24 hours. Use a strainer to separate the solids from the liquids.

Ham Roast.

PINTO BEANS AND HAM 2 cups uncooked pinto beans 1 large leftover ham bone (with meat attached) 1 medium brown onion, chopped 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1/4 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 5 cups chicken broth Salt and pepper to taste

Cover pinto beans with water in a large bowl and soak overnight.

The next day, place beans, ham bone, onion, garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper in a slow cooker. Pour enough chicken broth into slow cooker to cover other ingredients. Cook on high until beans are tender, 5 to 6 hours. Season with salt and pepper.

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COOKING FRESH

Salad

After visiting the farmers market, a solo cook can prepare salad lunches for the whole work week in about 45 minutes.

All that’s needed—in addition to the fresh bounty—are five quart-size jars and enough space in the refrigerator. Start with 2–3 tablespoons of dressing on the bottom of the jar and layer various ingredients like chopped greens, sliced or grated veggies, grains, seeds, and cheese on top. When ready to eat, shake the jar gently to coat all the ingredients with the dressing.

GREEN GODDESS DRESSING 2 teaspoons anchovy paste or 2–4 canned anchovies 1 small garlic clove, minced 3/4 cup mayonnaise 3/4 cup sour cream 1/2 cup chopped parsley 1/4 cup chopped tarragon 3 tablespoons chopped chives 2 tablespoons lemon juice Salt and pepper to taste Makes 2 cups Put all ingredients in a blender and blend at medium/high speed until even and smooth, about 30–45 seconds. The dressing will last a week in the refrigerator and can also be used as a dip.

LEMON VINAIGRETTE 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest 6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 3 teaspoons sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 3/4 teaspoons fine sea salt 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil Freshly ground black pepper to taste Makes 1 cup Place all ingredients in a pint jar and shake vigorously until dressing emulsifies. The dressing will last a week in the refrigerator.

Let refrigerated dressing come to room temperature and shake before serving.

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Salad in a jar with lemon vinaigrette.

Santa Fe

321 San Francisco

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10701 Corrales Rd. NW

899-7500

11225 Montgomery NE

271-0882

3403 Central NE

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Edible Mag - 7.5” x 4.75”

MEMOIR

A Hint of Sandwich ON FOOD'S PLACE IN THE PROCESS OF SEARCHING

By Joshua Johnson

Photo by Valerie Stilina.

I have found that great meals usually require a little excitement to spur them on. Often, that edge comes from being in some remote canyon, alone and far from any roads. The open sky, the sounds of hawk screams and creaking ponderosas, and the hunger from hiking can all elevate my meal from being simple sustenance to becoming a small, momentary treasure.

canes. Weekends were often spent idling like a desert tortoise over the West Mesa, looking out the window for evidence of rock dumps and artifacts while we drove. When we spotted something that looked intriguing, we’d get out and poke around. He’d flip rocks and rusted pieces of metal over with the tip of his cane; if one looked interesting, he’d ask me to pick it up for him.

My childhood was spent looking for things. It’s a tradition in my family. I often stared at the spine of the old book on my grandparents’ shelf titled Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver, which captured my imagination with lore that only a few tight-lipped treasure hunters ever dared recount, of lost mines and gold-rich placer creeks, scalp hunters and ghosts. My grandfather was always a Jeep man. As his legs were weakened by the polio he had contracted during World War II, he had fashioned a hand-operated brake lever, which he attached to the pedal of his Wagoneer so he could drive, and he walked with

We’d jeep up and down the Rio Puerco valley from Los Lunas to Cabezon, the smell of muffler-singed chamisa bound to the dust. For our lunch breaks, it was almost always chicken salad, stored for the drive in an old sardine can, spread on white bread. The memory of it is so strong I can almost reach out and touch that nose-turner now.

It was a truly great meal, and all that treasure seemed like it was also right there, just around the next corner—just after lunch.

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Twenty-five years later, my radar for treasure hunting blipped again when I caught wind of the infamous chest of riches stashed

SANDWICHES & SALADS Open Tuesday through Saturday 8am-5pm | Serving Menu Items till 4 LOCAL BEEF, PORK, LAMB, AND GOAT Executive Chef Owned and Operated 2860 CERRILLOS RD, SANTA FE • 505-471-0043 • DRFIELDGOODS.COM

Posa's Tamales - Our New Mexican Tradition Since 1955 - SANTA FE Posa's Tamale Factory & Restaurant 1514 Rodeo Rd. 505-820-7672 santafetamales.com

Posas on Zafarano 3538 Zafarano Drive 505-473-3454 Posaszafarano.com

MEMOIR

Left and top right: Hiking the Chama river valley. Bottom right: Joshua Johnson with with his father and grandfather.

somewhere in the Rocky Mountains north of Santa Fe by local art collector Forrest Fenn. Over the duration of a few years I logged hundreds of miles off trail, memorizing landforms, discovering cowboy graveyards, picking through vestiges of homesteads. Every time I went out, I followed one of Fenn’s suggestions to a T: “Bring a sandwich.” Part good luck charm and part sustenance, I began to hold myself to a self-imposed superstition that each iteration should be a little different than the last one. This time I’ll put half as much lettuce on it as last time. This time I’m traveling cheap and there’s no shame in PB and J, nor is there in sardine-can chicken. Perhaps if I can crack the code of sandwich lottery, the chest will be revealed! So, with my dog, water, small pack, and sandwich I’d embark each time 52

edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

on a journey anew. And many times we’d perch atop a cliff overlooking a river and take in everything—the view, the sounds and smells, and the good-luck sandwich.

Over time, my treasure hunts became more a practice of being still in the woods with my sandwich at that pivotal moment between going out and coming back. I would sit and eat and wonder how long it had been since another human had been in the same spot.

For me these sojourns gradually became about getting close to something I had once shared with my grandfather. I would eat my sandwich in that transcendent moment and feel a mysterious closeness shared again, like it was all just waiting for me—the treasure, my grandfather, just around the next corner, just after lunch.

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Saturday, October 19, 2019

10am - 4pm at the GutiĂŠrrez-Hubbell House

Join us at the fourth annual New Mexico Fermentation Festival to explore cider, wine, pickels, kraut, salami, beer, cheese, spirits, kombucha, kefir, sourdough, mead, hot sauce, sake, kimchi, koji, coffee, chocolate, and more.

nmfermentationfest.com

EIGHT AROUND THE STATE

Counter Service

By Stephanie and Walt Cameron

Publishers Stephanie and Walt Cameron are sharing some of their favorite finds around New Mexico in edible’s newest department, Eight Around the State. For this issue, they searched for establishments with great counter service.

Though the Camerons traveled together to find these gems, they wanted to document places where they would feel comfortable dining alone—as they, and all of us at edible, often travel solo.

We would love to hear about our readers’ favorite eats around the state. Drop us an email at info@ediblenm.com with your best finds from anywhere in the Land of Enchantment.

Placitas BLADES BISTRO What we are eating: Horseradish-crusted New York strip finished with balsamic glaze and demi sauce.

Atmosphere: Warm and inviting, with friendly bartenders and patrons. Definitely a locals hang out.

Worth noting: Lots of great daily specials with a mix of European and American cuisine and a focus on seasonality. They have a full bar with specialty cocktails—we tried the prickly pear margarita, and it was the perfect blend of sweet and tart. Dinner is served Tuesday through Saturday and brunch on Sundays.

Find: 221 NM-165, Placitas

Ruidoso HUNT & HARVEST AT THE MERCANTILE What we are eating: Oh My, Candied Bacon; Flyin’ Pig Pork Wings; and Green Chile and Bacon Mac. Atmosphere: Open and inviting counter bar where you can enjoy pastries with coffee or dinner with a cocktail.

Worth noting: From scratch cooking with an emphasis on wild, organic, and local. Open Monday through Thursday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; lunch and dinner served Friday through Sunday.

Find: 2408 Sudderth Drive, Ruidoso

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LAS VEGAS, NM

6th & University 8am to 12 noon Wednesday & Saturday May to October

Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance Supporting and promoting grassfed production and consumption across the Southwest.

Learn more about your local ranchers at

grassfedlivestock.org

SNAP Double Up Food Bucks More information 505-718-2110 or 575-421-0100

EIGHT AROUND THE STATE

Tesuque EL NIDO What we are eating: Filetto Cotta alla Cenere—Black Angus beef tenderloin cooked on coals and served with chimichurri sauce and house-made flatbread.

Atmosphere: With a wood-fired oven, rotisserie, and grill all within view of the dining counter, diners get a full sensory experience.

Worth noting: With a new chef on board, Randy Tapia, El Nido is pushing the envelope and embracing Argentinian asado.

Happy hour 3–5 daily and dinner every night of the week.

Find: 1577 Bishops Lodge, Santa Fe

Eldorado ARABLE What we are eating: Grilled Moroccan-spiced chicken thighs with minted cauliflower purée, and arugula and artichoke salad served with a lemon gastrique.

Atmosphere: Warm and welcoming with very friendly staff.

Worth noting: Farm to table dining with a focus on seasonality and produce sourced from local farmers— comfort food with creative twists on Southern and Midwestern dishes. Dinner Tuesday through Saturday, brunch on Saturday and Sunday.

Find: 7 Ave Vista Grande, Santa Fe

Silver City REVEL What we are eating: Corn fritters with oyster mushrooms, blue cheese, and red chile.

Atmosphere: Small restaurant bar where you can get the lowdown on all the local happenings from the very friendly staff.

Worth noting: We also tried the house-made pecan pasta with chèvre, chard, cauliflower, asparagus, and a hard-boiled egg, which was divine. Their elevated comfort food is made from scratch and with seasonal ingredients. Open for lunch and dinner on weekdays and brunch and dinner on weekends.

Closed Wednesdays.

Find: 304 N Bullard Street, Silver City

New Mexican & American Classics Margaritas, Cold Drafts, Full Bar Patio Dining on the Taos Plaza

Open for Lunch Tuesday-Sunday. Open for Dinner Everyday.

Happy Hour Tuesday-Sunday 2-5 PM. 30 craft beers on tap.

614 Trinity Drive, Los Alamos • 505-662-8877 pajaritobrewpubandgrill.com

Full Retail Bottle Shop + Wine Bar Craft Beer + Small Bites

Visit us on the Taos Plaza thegorgebarandgrill.com (575) 758-8866

parcht.com (575) 758-1994

103 East Plaza | Taos, New Mexico

730 St Michaels Dr, Santa Fe, 505.471.0440, loyalhoundpub.com

EIGHT AROUND THE STATE

Las Vegas DICK’S PUB & RESTAURANT What we are eating: Spicy wings and green chile mac and cheese.

Atmosphere: The pub has a rustic charm with a very long bar that fills up quickly at happy hour.

Worth noting: A long-time staple of Las Vegas’ historic district, Dick’s originated as a liquor store in 1940. Dick’s is serving elevated bar food with an emphasis on northern New Mexican classics and contemporary American cuisine. Food served Monday through Saturday 11am–9pm, closed on Sundays.

Find: 705 Douglas Avenue, Las Vegas

Albuquerque SAVOY BAR & GRILL What we are eating: Crispy Eggplant Napoleon with heirloom tomatoes, creamy goat cheese, tomato coulis, and basil oil.

Atmosphere: For a more elegant choice, we opted to sit at the bar in the restaurant versus the bar in the patio lounge. The conversation was great with very attentive staff.

Worth noting: Innovative plates that incorporate local and high-quality ingredients. Open daily for dinner at 5pm and for happy hour at 3pm in the patio lounge. They often have live music on the patio, which is open year-round.

Find: 10601 Montgomery NE, Albuquerque

Mesilla LA POSTA What we are eating: Tostadas Compuestas with Mexican slaw, a New Mexican dish that originated at La Posta in 1939.

Atmosphere: There are two upbeat and lively cantina bars.

Dinner comes with a show as you watch the bartenders make more than twenty different margaritas.

Worth noting: La Posta, built in 1939, occupies a large compound that consists of several shops, two cantinas, private rooms, and a beautiful courtyard in addition to the many dining rooms. Open for lunch and dinner on weekdays, and for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on weekends.

Find: 2410 Calle De San Albino, Mesilla

CHILE FESTIVAL A celebration of food, art, and culture on the Rio Grande

SATURDAY AUGUST 17, 2019 national hispanic cultural center

$5 Admission

1 0 A.M.

-

1701 4 th

6 P. M . street sw

Children 5 & under are free

www . bernco . gov / bosquechilefestival

In Good Company THE PLEASURES OF DINING OUT ALONE

By Candolin Cook

Bar Campo. Photo by Stephanie Cameron.

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I

was never a huge Sex and the@TravelNewMexico City fan, but one episode I caught years ago has stayed with me, strangely. In a scene from “They Shoot Single People Don’t They?” Samantha finds herself alone at a fancy restaurant after being stood up by her dinner date. The usually self-assured character is humiliated to be seen dining solo without a “book or a project or any of her dining-out-alone armor,” Carrie narrates. By the end of the episode, Carrie, defiant of perceived social norms, takes herself out to lunch—“No books, no man, no friends, no armor, no faking.” I remember being amused by the notion that dining out alone, especially as a single woman, was somehow a brave act.

At the time, I was also living in New York City, one of the greatest food cities in the world. I was in a relationship but ended up eating most of my meals in restaurants alone, because my boyfriend wasn’t “a food person”—we are no longer together, for obvious reasons. In New York, a dinner enjoyed solo, even at nicer restaurants, is quite common—busy schedules, tiny kitchens, and an abundance of eateries to try out are just a few reasons the city lends itself to this practice.

Once I moved to Albuquerque, however, I better understood the insecurities intrinsic to eating out alone. For starters, in New Mexico, you simply don’t see that many people doing it. Sure, on a Wednesday afternoon at the Frontier there are plenty of lone lobos noshing on a burrito while scrolling through their phones; but it is far more rare to see parties of one during dinner service at an elegant restaurant. Without a strong solo dining culture, going stag to a restaurant—especially a more upscale one—can feel intimidating: Is the hostess judging me? Am I taking space from a two-top? Is that creepy guy who keeps looking at me going to come over here?

New York restaurants also tend to feel more welcoming to unaccompanied diners because of the ubiquity of space-saving seating options—counters, bars, bistro and communal tables—which lend themselves to both solitary eating and to meeting new people. Such single-friendly accommodations are less prevalent in Albuquerque establishments. There are, however, notable exceptions where the counter or bar has the best seats in the house, including some of my favorite dinner spots—Farina, Frenchish, The Feel Good, and Magokoro.

On a recent Tuesday evening, I stopped into Campo, located at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm, and snatched the last empty stool at the bar. Unlike the main dining room at the James

Beard Award-nominated restaurant, the bar area at Campo does not require dinner reservations. The space is bright and rustic, with an easy elegance and impressive collection of well-curated spirits on display. Bar Campo’s food menu offers the same small plates available in the restaurant, along with a Chef ’s Special entrée, available on Mondays and Tuesdays when the dining room is closed. Tonight’s special, my bartender Gabriel informs me, is a grilled chicken salad with asparagus, cherries, and toasted pumpkin seeds, tossed with a cherry-dijon vinaigrette.

I love chatting up bartenders when I dine alone. They tend to be more attentive than table servers, and their conversation offers a pleasant break from people-watching or relying on my own “diningout-alone armor”—which this evening is a well-worn notepad and a copy of the New Yorker.

“Are you staying at the inn?” Gabriel asks, sliding over my cocktail, A Definite Maybe (Del Maguey Vida mezcal, Gran Classico, Palo Santo Sweet Vermouth, and Aperitivo Cappelletti served in an old-fashioned glass with one large, crystal clear ice cube—classy). I explain that I’m a local and writing a story about dining out alone. “This is a great place for it,” he says. “Probably half the bar’s customers on weeknights come by themselves.” That estimate appears accurate this evening. Small groups are huddled together in the lounge areas set up near the entrance, but seated next to me at the long wood-top bar are five nicely-dressed women, all seemingly enjoying food, drink, and their own company.

Dining alone has become far more commonplace in the years since the women of Sex and the City helped glamorize a modern single lifestyle. A 2015 study by OpenTable found that reservations for one had increased by sixty-two percent in just two years, making it the fastest growing table size in the United States. A more recent report from a market research organization found that solo diners at fast-casual restaurants (think Chipotle) and coffee shops account for thirty-eight to fifty percent of sales, respectively; though at full-service restaurants that percentage is relatively “insignificant.” Interestingly, another study, cited in the Washington Post in 2015, suggested that nearly half of all meals (dining in and out) are consumed alone. Industry experts say these numbers are increasing, in part, due to the fact that American households are getting smaller. The number of never-married Americans has never been higher, and about twenty-eight percent of households are made up of one individual.

“O

“Oh, the pleasure of eating my dinner alone!”

—Charles Lamb, nineteenth-century English critic and essayist

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Other recent articles and alarmist op-eds have purported that there is a correlation between the rise of solo dining and a national epidemic of loneliness, as well as a deterioration of family values. Think pieces on the “death of the family dinner” and the “snackification of meals” suggest we are a society too absorbed in our own busy lives to appreciate how communal eating is “crucial to civilization,” as Michael Pollan has said. What I think these hand-wringers are missing, however, is that perhaps more people are discovering the pleasures of eating alone. Whether it is out of necessity or by choice, consuming a meal alone, in public or private, contains its own unique joys.

Digging into my wonderfully smokey and spicy ash-roasted vegetable tostada, I survey the scene at Bar Campo, paying particular attention to my fellow solo patrons. One has earbuds in and I decide she’s likely listening to a comedy podcast since she’s chuckling softly to herself while picking at an artisanal cheese plate. Another is an inn guest having a conversation with her bartender, Autumn, who is giving thoughtful recommendations on what to do in Santa Fe tomorrow (“Forget the plaza for shopping. Try Kitchenality for incredible second-hand kitchenware,” she suggests). Others appear to half-read a paperback or check Facebook or are concentrating on eating their Alaskan halibut and green chile ceviche—piled high on a bed of local greens and topped with crispy tortilla strips.

Not one looks lonely or sad or out of place.

As the evening goes on, many of the singles are replaced by couples out for a date night. Gabriel places my dessert on the counter before me—a wedge of multi-layered honey cake with a large, delicate piece of honey brittle arranged atop. It tastes homey, like my grandmother’s baking, if my grandma had studied for a couple semesters at the Culinary Institute of America.

My thoughts drift to a Food52 article I read recently about “loner culture” becoming trendy in some Asian countries. In South Korea, for instance, there is a word for eating alone: honbap—a portmanteau of honja (alone) and bap (meal). The practice has been made cool in recent years, the article explains, thanks to K-pop stars who share their honbap meals on social media and television. In Tokyo, ramen restaurants with cubicle seating have become very popular, and the human element is even further removed because orders are placed with a button system, then slid discreetly under a slightly raised partition, like an edible peepshow. (This trend also reached the States in 2018 with the opening of Ichiran in New York City.)

However, for many of us, going out to eat alone is not about isolation—that’s what Postmates is for. It’s about savoring a delicious meal, thoughtfully prepared, plated, and served, in a nice ambiance, amid others, just not with others. Dining alone allows you to eat exactly what you want, where and when you want. To decompress from a long day, with good food, without having to make small talk (but allowing for the possibility of an interesting conversation with a new acquaintance). It’s about partaking in one of life’s great pleasures on your own terms. So bring your armor, or just yourself, because if you’re eating alone, you’re sure to be in good company.

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Facing the Kitchen EATING AFTER LOSS

By Candice C. Courtney

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Photo by Monika Grabkowska.

Emptying the contents of my shopping bag onto the counter at home, I was struck by how beautiful the Green Zebra and Black Krim tomatoes looked next to the rich brown of crimini mushrooms and the deep green of basil leaves.

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lived alone for many years before I met my husband. More often than not, I ate alone, traveled alone, went to cafés and restaurants alone, and thought nothing of it. But loss changes everything.

After two years of battling a brain tumor, my husband, Tony, died just after midnight. Suddenly the familiar streets, our home, even my body, seemed surreal. Still, the following day I took care of phone calls and making arrangements, doing the things that needed to be done, just as I had throughout my husband’s illness. When I noticed through my fog that it was starting to get dark, I stood up from the piles of paper on the dining room table to head into the kitchen and see what there was to fix for dinner. I took two steps and froze. I could not face the kitchen.

I had loved cooking meals for and with Tony before he got sick.

After his diagnosis, I dedicated myself to preparing healthy, delicious meals for dinner. Part of me believed that my love and these meals could help heal him. The prospect of facing the cupboards and refrigerator to fix something only for myself filled me with dread to the point of nausea. I tried to reason with myself, “You haven’t eaten properly for weeks, and you need to eat. Besides, you promised Tony you would eat well.” But my feet would not move. There was no longer a purpose to drive me past the fatigue and trauma.

I must have stood in the middle of the dining room arguing with myself in slow motion for fifteen minutes. Then the phone rang. My friend Loraine called to say she had heard about Tony and wondered if she might come over. It was as if she had thrown a lifeline to a drowning woman, and any sense of decorum was flung to the winds.

Without hesitating, I responded, “Yes! And bring food.” She told me the soup she was preparing would be ready in about ten minutes and then she would be over. Relief and gratitude flooded through me.

Shortly after Loraine arrived with a big pot of homemade soup, another friend called saying she had just heard about Tony and asked if she could come and take me out to dinner. I told her, “Loraine just got here with dinner, but tomorrow would be great.” Right before she was due to arrive the next evening, a couple we had been friends with called to invite me to dinner. Once again, I didn’t hesitate to say, “Tomorrow night would be wonderful.” I didn’t mind being rude if it meant I could avoid the kitchen.

Over the next few days, others brought food, I heated up leftovers, and by the time I had to cook for myself again I was able to walk into the kitchen and put together some semblance of a meal. For months, though, I had no interest in food and had to force myself to eat. Rarely did I manage much more than a frozen entrée and a fresh vegetable.

To distract myself from the fact that I was eating dinner alone, I read art books—Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Renoir, anything that was interesting, but neutral enough to help me avoid painful emotion.

On the few occasions I prepared something a little bit special from scratch, the process fed me, and it was an affirmation of trying to take

care of myself for Tony. But it was hard to muster the energy. Part of the problem was that I had no appetite—everything tasted like ash.

I understand now that grief somewhat deadens our taste buds. Eating foods with a bit of bite—pickled beets, dill pickles, Thai food, a Bloody Mary—can help reawaken the sense of taste. So can trying something new. The “different” alerts our senses.

Going to a farmers market and buying fresh local produce can bring a fresh perspective. One evening the summer after Tony died, my only options for dinner were opening a can of soup or fixing a cheese sandwich. It was too hot for soup, so I really just had one option. As I ate a piece of bread with a slice of cheese slapped on it, I vowed that I would go to the grocery store the next day, no matter how much I now hated walking down those aisles. Picking through the mail, I saw a flyer for a farmers market, and that seemed a preferable alternative.

Lured by the prospect of heirloom tomatoes—slices of those alone would have jazzed up the cheese sandwich—I wandered among the stalls and found myself entranced by the diverse colors and textures of the fruits and vegetables: carrots in bright orange and purple, ripe peaches with fuzz, shiny bell peppers in vivid shades, delicate leaves of thyme. It was a visual feast. Most of the vendors were friendly, and it was clear they truly cared about nourishing themselves and others with good food. It was contagious.

Emptying the contents of my shopping bag onto the counter at home, I was struck by how beautiful the Green Zebra and Black Krim tomatoes looked next to the rich brown of crimini mushrooms and the deep green of basil leaves. There was a vitality to them that packaged food lacks. The growers’ attentiveness to their crops invited me to be more attentive to their produce, and I found myself momentarily captivated by the different shapes and colors in the spring mix of lettuces.

That evening, as I was preparing a salad from my bounty, I felt as if I were truly honoring my promise to Tony. Goat cheese spread on a baguette was the perfect complement to my beautiful salad. For dessert, I marinated peach slices in a tiny splash of brandy with a dash of brown sugar, then topped them with plain yogurt. I felt nourished on so many levels. That meal was a reminder that the earth offers an abundance to feed and heal us. While grief sometimes feels like an out-of-body experience, cooking and consciously tasting food can help us reconnect to our senses, and to the earth. In the months that followed, I slowly and sporadically moved back into preparing better meals for myself. I became motivated to bake pies or make something special for those who had been kind as a personal way of expressing my gratitude.

While nothing in life is ever quite the same after a great loss, I became comfortable with eating alone, and even eating solo in restaurants on occasion. I still miss sharing meals with my husband, but I am able to face the kitchen without a trace of trauma.

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On Eating Alone A REFLECTION

By Deborah Madison · Illustrations by Patrick McFarlin

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The summer Patrick was ill was extreme, and I realized that I don’t always do so well at eating alone. But we all have to do it sometimes, and what I learned from the individuals in our book is that we can make it as meaningful and delicious as we want it to be.

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Editors’ Note: For the tenth anniversary of Deborah Madison’s What We Eat When We Eat Alone: Stories and 100 Recipes, we asked the renowned author and chef to reflect on how the book came about and why the subject remains important. The book, which was co-written and illustrated by her husband, Patrick McFarlin, details the varied habits and food choices of a wide range of solo eaters.

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y husband, Patrick McFarlin, and I conceived of the idea for What We Eat When We Eat Alone on an Oldways trip to Europe with fancy (that is, wellknown) food people. Patrick found that he couldn’t really ask what someone did (we already had everyone’s bios), so he asked our fellow travelers what they ate when alone. He took notes and later, when I found them, I was amused and intrigued.

Why not talk with lots of people and ask them what they liked to eat when alone? As Patrick, who designed and illustrated the book, says about these initial inquiries: “The research was entirely unscientific. I simply asked people about their closed-door food practices. Some were ordinary, some were quirky, and others credible and civilized.” But once we started to talk with a lot of people, chapters began to form by themselves.

While there are many books on the subject of eating alone, at the time Patrick and I set out to write What We Eat When We Eat Alone, most seemed to address people who were recently bereaved. We were saddened by what we found in our own research about the lackluster note in the voices of people who seemed to feel they weren’t worth a good home-cooked meal or a set table. They were reluctant to talk about what they ate because it was so minimal—a carton of yogurt, half a sandwich.

They were often women and often in low spirits, but as writing this book illustrated to us, plenty of people are upbeat about eating alone. Many of those people we spoke with enjoyed cooking for themselves, regardless of whether it was all the time or just on the occasion that they found themselves alone. Clearly eating alone wasn’t a subject of shame, but humor.

One thing I learned from those interviews is that eating alone is much more common than I’d thought. There were widows and widowers, of course, but also a lot of singles who had to figure out how

to feed themselves every day. There were moms who found that eating alone gave them some rare relief from their kids and husbands, or busy working people, like doctors, who suddenly had a chance to cook a meal for just themselves. There were kids, too, who ate alone, and we wrote a chapter for them titled, “What Every Boy and Girl Should Learn To Cook Before They’re Men and Women,” in hopes that more young people would experience the power of cooking. And for readers who hoped to not always eat alone, we included “Meals with a Motive”—a chapter of recipes for meals for seduction.

As a former editor of mine put it, “Solo meals can be all corn and tomatoes if that’s what you like.” And often they are that simple. We also found that some dishes are solo meals because they consist of foods that are unshareable—meaning they are personal, and sometimes gross. Examples included a baked potato covered with cottage cheese and smashed hard-boiled egg, potato bread with margarita mix, a mustard sandwich with reworked coffee, fried Spam with grape jelly, and hot dogs boiled in cheap beer. Such personal favorites may not be for sharing, but that doesn't mean they’re not enjoyed by more than just one or two odd souls.

Were men and women different? Yes! (And no.) We found that men were generally more predictable, having the same breakfast five times a week, the same hamburger for lunch, and dinner themes that were a lot like lunch—in short, many identical meals. Women were less predictable, but one consistent observation was that women who regularly cooked for their families or customers were not too inclined to get out the pots and pans for just themselves. When such women were alone at last, they could be happy eating Frito pie or a Creole tomato salad with black pepper and hard cheese, or even having oatmeal with coarse salt for dinner.

“Basically,” said writer Amelia Saltsman, “it’s about comforting carbs and good salt.” Saltsman’s go-to solo meal?

A baked potato, dressed with butter and salt.

Other women reported enjoying foods from their past, such as Kate Manchester’s Johnny cakes or writer Rae Paris’s tater tots. For Manchester, making Johnny cakes became a stolen moment when she could cook for her own palate. Paris wrote that tater tots reminded her of fourth-grade crushes, lunch lines, and that oddly warm and comfortable cafeteria smell—like wet concrete in a warm Los Angeles rain.

Joanne Neft said that when she’s alone she gets the urge to make bread and then take a two-hour bath while listening to opera. Loud.

Sometimes it was sentiment that drove a menu—a grandmother’s favorite frying pan for cooking eggs, or a grandmother’s recipe for salmon, noodles, and Russian salad eaten on her dishes from a Duz detergent box. Other times it was about cooking the foods their spouses didn’t care for—like kidneys.

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We also found that men often preferred meat and lots of it. A bartender in Santa Fe gave us his recipe for a flank steak, stuffed with cheese and bacon, rolled up like a football, secured with toothpicks, and grilled. We made his dish (adding some mushrooms and spinach for some vegetables) and it served seven people, yet he made it just for himself and ate it all week. We also interviewed ranchers and artists and chefs, some of whom added a salad, but all of whom liked large quantities of meat.

Women tended to prefer the simple egg, prepared in all kinds of ways, to large pieces of meat, though not just women recognized that eggs are a friendly food. Mas Masumoto, a peach farmer and writer, talked about eggs as signifying the beginning of the day, regardless of the time—and as a writer and a farmer, he had several beginnings to his day. He also said that eggs were simple, warm, and fairly quick, which indeed they are.

Sometimes people were saved from hunger by pantry staples, featured in the chapter called “Saved by Sardines, Rescued by Pasta,” which includes some rather sophisticated recipes for both sardines and pasta. Others staved off the wolf at the door with grilled cheese sandwiches, panini with mustard greens and roasted peppers, and “meat and toast”—that is, peanut butter, bacon, and pepper on toast. In the chapter with those recipes, “Getting a Body Fed with Rough and Ready Foods,” we also included a wonderful rustic asparagus salad from a cook in Santa Monica. Foods people admitted to eating were varied and often refined and delicious—as well as strange from time to time.

I loved interviewing kids. Those whose parents had insisted that they cook at least once a week before they were overbooked with school activities really benefited from that experience. When they get older they might be able to feed themselves well or to share a home-cooked meal with someone else—a friend, a colleague, a potential lover, or even their parents. One very shy eight-year-old told us he liked to cook for his sister. Said his mother, “Being in the kitchen has given him his own area of expertise that he’s very happy to have. When he’s cutting up broccoli he feels in charge, and he feels creative as he tries cutting it one way then another.” Another mom said that though her kid’s cooking forays lasted only a year, they made a lasting impression: they’re not scared of the kitchen.

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One young man told me that he started cooking partially because his parents insisted, but also because they told him he could cook whatever he wanted to eat. He began tweaking their meals so that he could end up with something tasty, avoiding those parts of their recipes that he didn’t like. One of my favorites was a medical student who, when he realized that he simply could not eat one more jumbo meatball sandwich over a period of four days, called his mom for a tutorial. Soon he had three friends over for dinner and served a complex risotto, a green salad with homemade dressing, and chocolate-peppermint ice cream cake.

He said it wasn’t hard to pull off. “Working in labs isn’t that different from kitchen work. It’s all recipes. So the multiple things going on in the kitchen were never overwhelming. At one point I was tending all three dishes at once—no big deal!”

We decided the recipe section for younger cooks and eaters needed certain parameters: ingredients that were relatively inexpensive, meals that provided something to eat on for a while, and foods that weren’t super involved to make. In particular, a green salad, a roast chicken, a frittata, a confidence building pot of rice, a tofu curry, mashed potatoes and variations.

It was so interesting to hear what people had to say about food and eating solo. Some ideas were quite good and we made them into recipes. (Others were quite strange, and we did not.) We experienced some sadness, too, in the notion that some people felt they weren’t worth the effort it takes, however small, to set the table, cook a meal, and sit down and enjoy it. Although we also found that others, in fact, did value themselves and their solitary meals, and always set a table and cooked, however simply.

Some years after writing this book, Patrick had a painful tonsil cancer that prevented him from eating at all. After what felt like a summer of solitary dog walks and gin-and-tonic dinners, he finally announced that he thought he could join me at the table. I was overjoyed! I cooked a big meal and we sat down together for dinner. He was done after two bites. I was disappointed, but still crazy-happy that we had been able to sit down at all. The summer Patrick was ill was extreme, and I realized that I don’t always do so well at eating alone. But we all have to do it sometimes, and what I learned from the individuals in our book is that we can make it as meaningful and delicious as we want it to be.

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Home Is Where the Garden Is THE CENTER FOR AGELESS LIVING BRINGS FRESH IDEAS FOR ELDER CARE

By Nora Hickey · Photos by Stephanie Cameron

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Enjoying the gardens at the Center for Ageless Living.

With growing older comes an increased potential for unhealthy (and unpleasant) eating. This can be related to the food itself (a lack of nutrient-rich foods), the costs (seniors are increasingly unable to afford and access quality food), and basic difficulties surrounding shopping and preparing meals independently. @TravelNewMexico

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butterfly the size of an outstretched hand, light yellow and marked with brown, moves in and out of red roses at the end of their time—spent blooms still perfuming the air. To the east, through a rowdy arch of prolific bamboo, sits a bistro that serves up meals using vegetables grown in nearby organic gardens. A close walk from that is a spa, complete with pool, hot tub, medical marijuana dispensary, and rooms full of soothing music and scent.

This oasis isn’t the latest day spa du jour to grace our state. It is instead a unique home for the elderly, replete with offerings not typically associated with the clients it seeks to serve, who are largely from lower-income, rural homes from the surrounding area. Nestled near Los Lunas, twenty-three miles south of Albuquerque, sits the Center for Ageless Living. Since founder Suzette Lindemuth opened the doors in 1990 with her distinctive vision of care, the center has become a source of community for a population that can often feel isolated. The forty-five residents are seniors in need of varying degrees of care, ranging from independent living, enhanced monitoring and assistance, to full twenty-four-hour attention.

The scene at the Center for Ageless Living is one that is expansive yet cocooned by beautiful old cottonwood trees, with a campus that unfolds over six acres next to a flowing acequia. It boasts many amenities for its residents, and also offers its services to everyone in the communities that surround the lush property. “We have people from Valencia and Albuquerque who come here for the spa, the salon, our wellness center, the Green House Bistro, and our park for music theater and performances,” Lindemuth explains. “We’re very fortunate we have this community around aging well and reducing the isolation around aging.”

With growing older comes an increased potential for unhealthy (and unpleasant) eating. This can be related to the food itself (a lack of nutrient-rich foods), the costs (seniors are increasingly unable to afford and access quality food), and basic difficulties surrounding shopping and preparing meals independently. On top of these issues, recent research suggests that our general population is increasingly eating alone more often, which can correlate with loneliness and depression, especially for seniors, as well as increased risk for heart disease and diabetes.

Lindemuth witnessed the effects of senior seclusion as a recreational therapist in the 1980s, when her vision for the center began to take shape. “I was working a lot with seniors, who were suffering from falls and memory loss, and I saw how there weren’t many choices for care,” she explains. “I have pretty strong compassion about people’s choices—how choices can impact the quality of lives.” In looking to expand options for seniors, Lindemuth became interested in community-based alternatives to the standard (and often highly regimented) clinical-style nursing home.

The Center for Ageless Living stands out distinctly in the history of elder care in the United States—one full of changes in regulations, culture, and population. The question of how to best care for elders demands new answers as society evolves, and there are few simple solutions. Since the 1960s, when the then-new model

of nursing homes exploded, elder care has witnessed a number of evolutions—the introduction of hospice, the popularity of assisted living institutions that allow for more freedom, and now a postretirement population numbering in the seventy millions. Among all these changes, an unfortunate theme has stayed consistent—one of neglect and lack of compassion. Warranted or not, the reputation of elder care has not been helped by reports of subpar facilities and abuse. The Center for Ageless Living is among a growing number of places that actively work against this damaging stereotype.

For Lindemuth, to minimize isolation one must cultivate community, and she has nurtured a natural path toward this through gardening and food. “I’ve always felt that when people have a good meal, everyone’s happy, and seniors are just like everybody else—a good meal makes their day special,” she says. “In these [elder care facilities] mealtime is a critical part of the day-to-day function of lives.” Lindemuth points to the act of eating as an antidote to the loneliness that many seniors experience as they age. “One of the things we know is that isolation is such a huge issue, and with that, mealtime can become tedious and not enjoyable. Eating is a social fiber, and the table can be a place where we come to make community, as Alice Waters says,” Lindemuth notes.

A main focus of the center is on the positive possibilities of mealtime. At the center, residents can help with any part of the food service, from setup to cooking to cleaning. As Lindemuth walks among the family style tables that are a centerpiece of the community kitchen and dining room, she greets residents and caretakers, each of whom she knows by name, working on hair or enjoying a cup of tea. “It’s a very communal kind of setup.”

Another notorious aspect of elder nutrition that Lindemuth is determined to revolutionize is the bland, overcooked mush that we tend to associate with getting older. At the center, residents benefit from onsite organic gardens and a culinary team dedicated to making mealtime delicious and enjoyable. The grounds hold 372 different plants and the edible ones include almond, quince, cabbages, chards, tomatoes, beets, melons, and more. There is a “fabulous baker,” Lindemuth tells me, who creates pies and cakes to go along with the changing Green House Bistro menu, which outside diners and residents alike can enjoy. On my recent trip, the bistro menu offered a variety of sandwiches and an impressive number of pasta and salads, which feature the compound’s own greens.

In the welcoming bistro, a mouthwatering coconut lime cake beckons in a glass display case and a chalked sign implores diners to “Support Your Local Farm!” Over a plate of Tuscan Golden Cheese Ravioli and the salad du jour (the spicy and fragrant mesclun harvested that day), head chef Keiten Johnson explains how working with the fresh produce from the gardens affects his culinary creations: “I often don’t know what’s an option until the gardener comes in with the produce. Last week, we were getting a lot of baby romaine, so I was doing braised romaine. Another time, we had lots of turnips, so I made a turnip soup. We try to incorporate freshness into each meal, and be as creative as possible, whether it’s for a resident or bistro diner.”

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Lindemuth and Johnson both note that the residents are sometimes hesitant to try new foods, but that with a little thoughtfulness, they can expand their comfort zone. “When we try to introduce new things—like a couple of years ago we did couscous—it’s hard for them to embrace it because they don’t know what it is. So, we do an educational part—talk about where it’s from—and it’s that part that makes food fun. It’s through experiencing new spices, new tastes that we keep interested in life, so we try really hard to introduce new flavors,” Lindemuth says. And residents at the center benefit from the nourishing and novel food. “We do have a much higher length of stay than the industry overall, and I think if the residents have good food, they are happier.”

have taken flight through lifelong friendships and longstanding invitations to holiday gatherings. “It’s all about building community,” McCarty says.

The gardens offer more than fresh, tasty provisions; the many natural areas on the campus provide opportunities for residents to get their hands dirty. Lindemuth realized her communal gardening dream when she found enough space. “I was fortunate to buy land around this facility,” she explains, “I was able to expand and really incorporate an organic garden and places where we could keep growing.” She points to the ways in which gardening facilitates cooperation and interaction as a distinctive benefit for residents.

“Community gardens are all about socialization. And people, particularly the women, love to come together and plant and garden and tell stories. Physically it gets more challenging but the social aspect remains pretty strong.”

“Everything we have done is to try and make a place where everyone can come—families, community, residents—and access good food and aging services,” Lindemuth notes. As the sun filters through the plum and pear trees, residents meet in the courtyard, dining areas, and pool. It’s clear that Lindemuth’s efforts have borne fruit.

Other spaces in the state offer older adults opportunities for community and food. The Barelas Senior Center in Albuquerque has space and opportunities for growing produce in their El Camino Real Garden. Increasingly, privately owned facilities are focusing on improving food quality and sourcing, and incorporating gardens for residents to take part in. Lindemuth notes, “As president of the Assisted Living Services organization for many, many years, I advocated for everybody, no matter where you were, to at least put in an herb garden. There are so many benefits from fresh herbs.”

3216 Hwy 47, Los Lunas, 505-865-8813, nmagelessliving.com 1222 Siler, Santa Fe, 505-471-7780, kitchenangels.org

For one resident, eighty-four-year-old Alda, working with plants has become a happy pastime, a time to “play in the dirt,” she says from her room. Behind her on a windowsill, herbs in terracotta pots light up green, illuminated by the sun. Alda was an avid gardener at her home in Albuquerque and brought her skills to the center, quickly becoming a regular in the dirt. She recalls a recent project, when residents grew herbs from seeds in individual pots to give away to visitors over Earth Day weekend. “The basil started from seed and we took the tiny seedlings and it was wonderful when they came out as well as they did—they’re so tiny, you don’t know whether you’re getting them in the pot or if it’s the right spot!” she recalls. She also laughingly notes that none of her clothes fit her anymore. “I’ve got to get some new outfits soon, because of the three meals a day here.”

The Center for Ageless Living isn’t the only organization in New Mexico with innovative solutions for assisting elders. Since 1992, Kitchen Angels in Santa Fe has prepared and delivered homecooked, healthy meals to those who are homebound and don’t qualify for other meal delivery services. “They are isolated people, so part of our service is that our volunteers are encouraged to visit to alleviate some of that loneliness associated with chronic illness,” explains Tony McCarty, executive director. “You add chronic illness to aging and [for our clients] making a meal just becomes an enormous task, so we provide a day’s worth of food as well as attention and companionship.” McCarty sees food as the ideal way to assist: “I think food is the most powerful way to build community.

Sitting down at the table is both intimate and necessary.” Many of the relationships that began under the wings of the Kitchen Angels 72

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Raised vegetable gardens at the Center for Ageless Living.

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Eloisa

The Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta is an annual five-day weekend of events featuring the culinary artistry found in Santa Fe’s many excellent restaurants and coupled with wines from international wineries. By bringing ninety international wineries to Santa Fe to partner with seventy-five of Santa Fe’s best restaurants, the fiesta features cooking demos, wine seminars, winery luncheons, and dinners. The weekend culminates with the Grand Tasting at the Santa Fe Opera, where all participating restaurants and wineries serve samples of their best food and wine.

This year, edible is shining a spotlight on the winery dinners, where restaurants pair up with visiting wineries from around the world to create extraordinary one-of-a-kind meals. In the following pages, chefs talk about their philosophies around creating food and wine pairings.

Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta, September 22–29, santafewineandchile.org 74

edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

Arable Chef Renée Fox · Sokol Blosser Winery For a wine dinner to be a success, the pairing is everything! Each dish and wine may be spectacular individually, but it’s the marriage of the two that elevates the experience to the next level. I always consider the place: Where were the grapes grown, what is the soil and climate there? If you consider the origin of the wine, choosing the food is much easier. I also consider the weight of the wine, the color, and the perceived dryness, or acidity, when I put together the complimentary dish.

Arable is pairing up with Sokol Blosser Winery from Oregon. Not only are the quality and diversity of the wines incredible, but I also have a connection to the winery representative who has been a friend in the wine business for nearly ten years, Don Weston. It’s important to me to have an additional connection to the winery beyond just liking the wine. He will provide samples for me to taste as I put the menu together.

I’m proud to be one of the few chefs who is also a certified sommelier. I have devoted many years to learning about wine, visiting wineries, and cultivating a body of knowledge that is especially helpful when it comes to creating the magic of a beautifully prepared wine dinner. The elevation of the right combination of food and wine is a truly magical experience!

Renée Fox

September 26, 6:30pm 505-303-3816, arablesantafe.com

TerraCotta Chef Catherine O’Brien · Hahn Family Wines We at TerraCotta encompass a number of considerations when we create a wine dinner. Obviously, we want the food to enhance the wines. If we are featuring a chardonnay, we want to pair it with rich, fatty food such as foie gras, which helps to balance that aspect. Pinot noir pairs very nicely with earthy foods, such as mushrooms. Beyond that, we also take into account, as much as possible, various food sensitivities such as gluten-free and vegetarian.

For the Hahn dinner, we are taking these things into consideration along with the fact that we are going into autumn and want the menu to reflect the season. In addition to the wine dinner on September 25, we will feature Hahn Family Wines throughout the month of September with our Wine of the Week page, offered by the bottle, glass, and flight. Our prix fixe menu throughout the week of the Wine & Chile Fiesta showcases these wines for anyone unable to attend the Wednesday night dinner.

Catherine O’Brien

TerraCotta will also feature the wine of Brewer-Clifton with several of our standing menu selections.

September 25, 6:00pm 505-989-1166, terracottawinebistro.com

Arable

Arable

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El Nido Chef Randy Tapia · Allegrini Winery and Planeta Winery I decide whether I should contrast or compare the flavors of the wine and food, says Chris Banks, general manager and sommelier at El Nido. If it is a richer meal, sometimes I contrast the flavors by choosing a wine with bright acidity and some complementing flavors that are not in the dish.

If we want to compare, I look to continue to add layers of the same flavor to the dish. However, at El Nido, it’s even a little more complicated as our asado style of cooking offers more variables that we need to consider. We grill with local hardwoods and often cook not just on the grill but on the ashes as well. So, I need to recognize the flavor of the fruitwood and the heat source that will complement both food and wine. In the end, either philosophy will work. Most importantly, you just need to set the mood and then sip and swirl!

For the Embers and Ashes Wine and Chile Dinner featuring Allegrini Winery, Chef Randy Tapia will prepare a four-course prix fixe meal utilizing old-world cooking techniques for an outstanding selection of meats and wine pairings. Experience our rustic cuisine while enjoying interesting varietals like ribolla gialla, nebbiolo, and corvina.

Randy Tapia

For the Sicily & the Sea Wine and Chile Dinner featuring Planeta Winery, Chef Tapia will assemble a four-course prix fixe menu prepared from the bounty of our seas and local farmers’ produce. These pairings draw inspiration from the flavors of our wood-burning horno and Argentinean grill. We will showcase some amazing Sicilian wines from Planeta.

It’s very important for us to keep these dinners interesting and fun with varying styles of winemaking and alternative grape varietals. Chef Tapia will be creating the dishes to perfectly harmonize with the vino and embrace Argentinian asado cooking techniques, which will surely engage your senses.

September 25, 6:30pm, Allegrini Winery September 26, 6:30pm, Sicily & the Sea Wine and Chile Dinner 505-954-1272, elnidosantafe.com

Red Sage at Hilton Buffalo Thunder Chef Klaus Happel · Schug Winery I look at pairing food and wine as if I were building a great cocktail. The most important thing is to pick a varietal and style of wine that is balanced with the intensity and weight of the food.

I then decide if I want to match the main flavor in the dish with the flavors in the wine in order to take it over the top, or to use the flavors in the wine to add a new element to the dish and take the diner’s taste buds on a rollercoaster ride. As long as I avoid harsh flavor combinations, such as spicy food with a wine high in alcohol, I can take some chances and have fun with it.

El Nido

We are partnering with Schug Winery and featuring them as our Winery of the Week. For the entire week leading up to the Grand Tasting, we are offering a special pairing menu that will have choices for each course so guests can customize their dining experience. The wines will also be available by the glass and by the bottle.

On Friday, September 27, Axel Schug will join us at Red Sage to talk about California’s Schug Winery, the featured wines, and the history of the winery, which has been family-owned and operated since 1980.

Pairing menu is available September 22–28 Axel Schug joins us on September 27 505-819-2056, redsage-sf.com Klaus Happel

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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

29TH ANNUAL

SANTA FE WINE & CHILE FIESTA SEPTEMBER 22 - 29, 2019

GRAND TASTING Saturday, September 28th at the Santa Fe Opera $175 Early Bird Special $195 After August 31st

FEATURED EVENTS September 22 - 29, 2019 Reserve Tasting & Auction Auction Luncheon with Tablas Creek Rosé All Day Guest Chef Walkaround Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Brunch Guest Chef Luncheons & Demos Daily Wine Seminars Nightly Wine Dinners SFW&C Film Fiesta Gruet Golf Classic SFW&C Gran Fondo

THEREʼS A GOLD RUSH IN SANTA FE FOR THE BEST WINES OF THE WEEK AT THE SFW&C FIESTA RESERVE TASTING & SILENT AUCTION

The top reserve wine from each of the 100 participating wineries is poured with delectable tastes from 10 Santa Fe restaurants. A silent auction of 75 rare wine lots benefits SFW&C education programs. The Gold Pass (limited to only 150 guests) gets you in a half-hour early. Wines so good you will want to start tasting earlier.

Gold Pass 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm $150 | Reserve Pass 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm $110

THE SANTA FE WINE & CHILE FIESTA WINEMAKER DINNER SERIES 100 World-Class Wineries partnering with 75 great Santa Fe Restaurants Every night for Winemaker Dinners (Schedule on Website)

SANTAFEWINEANDCHILE.ORG FOR WINEMAKER DINNER SCHEDULE

77 SANTAFEWINEANDCHILE.ORGWWW.EDIBLENM.COM 505-438-8060

Agave Restaurant & Lounge at Eldorado Hotel & Spa Chef Colton Johnson · Frank Family Vineyards Taste is most important when pairing wine and food. I learned from a mentor that there are seven parts of memory required to recognize one taste, and you’re pulling information from all these systems to create one unified pattern in order to recognize one simple taste.

Taste, memory, and technique allow us to make decisions and connect the flavors of wine and food. I like to use my palate to guide me through the decisions of what ingredients would work with a wine. Really understanding the grower and winery pushes your menu to become more connected—knowing the story, the soil, the varieties of grapes used allows you to compose the correct menu pairings.

We are extremely happy to pair with Frank Family Vineyards for this unique dining experience.

The amazing fruit they grow on some of the finest lands in Napa Valley rivals any vineyard.

The wines are full-bodied, rich, and go hand-in-hand with our style of New Mexico cuisine.

This is our first Wine & Chile Festival, and we will create a menu centered on six chiles from around the region. It is the perfect time of the year to celebrate the changing of the seasons and the bounty of the autumn harvest. We have dreamed of being part of this legendary festival.

And want to show people that even though chiles play a very important role in the state’s identity, New Mexico has a lot more to offer. This will be a memorable experience that will continue the festival’s great traditions.

Colton Johnson

September 27, 6:30pm 505-995-4570, eldoradohotel.com/agave-lounge

Luminaria Restaurant and Patio at Inn and Spa Loretto Chef Jason Stewart · Rombauer Vineyards When I think about food, I like to look at it from its individual parts. I see how [a flavor] can add complexity to both the food and the wine and tie them together. I believe wine and food can elevate one another. When analyzing flavors I break them down into top notes, mid-notes, and bottom notes and compare this to which flavors are perceived upon the first bite of the food compared to that first sip of wine. I am looking to pull nuances from the production of the wine into the food and vice versa. Rombauer is certainly a well-respected winemaker, and they want to showcase their top wines as well as introduce people to varietals with which they may be less familiar.

Agave

The Rombauer family has a long history with both food and wine. Irma S. Rombauer privately published Joy of Cooking in 1931 before it went into mass production in 1936. Her Missouri ties connect to my Midwestern roots. I have memories of my mother’s copy of Joy of Cooking sitting in the kitchen and have gone back to it to reinterpret some of the classic dishes by bringing them up to the current times as well as incorporating some New Mexican ingredients and techniques.

I am very excited to be a part of this collaboration. We hope that we can tell a story of both the food and wine that we will be serving. This will be an exciting take on classic dishes paired with equally exceptional wines.

September 26, 6:30pm 505-984-7915, hotelloretto.com

Jason Stewart

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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

Eloisa

Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi

Red Sage

Red Sage

El Nido

L’Olivier Chef Xavier Grenet · Orin Swift, Delas Frères, and Louis Roederer Our method for pairing wine with food is simple: we taste the wine first. With white wine, we check the acidity, the sweetness, off-dry or not, and the fruitiness. For reds, we check the body, fruitiness, and alcohol content. It is often then that we get inspired. When we taste Old World wine (France, Italy, or Spain) we think more about classical culinary experience and the regional cuisines where the wine originates. When it comes to New World wine, mostly American, we are thinking more modern cuisine.

We will offer two very different wine dinners, one with Orin Swift and the other with Delas Frères and Louis Roederer, representing two very different philosophies of wine pairing. Swift is very modern and we will feature a cabernet sauvignon, Mercury Head, and pair this with Beef Wellington, which is a classic dish and needs such a powerful wine to reveal all its flavor and to complement the red wine sauce. For this dinner, we will also serve shrimp, avocado, and jicama tacos; sea scallops; and The Abstract, a grenache, syrah, and petite sirah blend that reveals all the flavors of the chocolate from the black forest terrine.

Xavier Grenet

Frères and Roederer will feature a Croze-Hermitage served with lamb saddle and a fig dessert with Louis Roederer Champagne. Champagne is great with everything and it is definitely a note of celebration—what better way to finish such a beautiful dinner than with this Champagne!

September 25, first seating at 5:00pm, Delas Frères and Louis Roederer September 26, first seating at 5:00pm, Orin Swift Wines 505-989-1919, loliviersantafe.com

La Fonda Chef Lane Warner · Silver Oak Winery Our philosophy behind pairing is simple. Each should complement without overpowering the flavors of the food or wine. We believe in keeping it simple so that each pairing reveals elements that the dish or wine alone may not. Creating a delightful balance is our ultimate goal.

Our partner for the wine dinner this year is Silver Oak Winery from California. We will begin the dinner with a local sparkling wine created in the traditional méthode champenoise, accompanied by passed appetizers, such as diver scallop with truffle honey, and a roasted cauliflower mousse. From there, we will move into the Twomey Sauvignon Blanc paired with a lobster quenelle with shellfish consommé. Next, we pair the Twomey Pinot Noir with pomegranate glazed duck. For the primary, we will pair the Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with braised elk short rib. To finish the evening we will serve an “Interpretation of Chocolate” or Chocolate Three Ways. The final pairing will feature a house-crafted digestif and local espresso. Our guests will be able to experience the classic wines of Silver Oak with unique local food pairings and highly-sourced ingredients, sure to make this dinner a night to remember, all while sitting in the most desirable space in Santa Fe!

L'Olivier

September 25, 6:00pm 505-995-2334, lafondasantafe.com

Lane Warner

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Market Steer Steakhouse Chef Kathleen Crook · Stag's Leap Wine Cellars When navigating the connection of flavors between food and wine, the number one thing I think about is balance. Pairing wine with food is like attempting to create the perfect dish balanced with salt, heat, and acid. However, with wine, you use acidity, tannins, and terroir. The combination of the two, if done right, can change a dish completely.

We are working with Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. They have some amazing bold cabernets which naturally pair well with steak, but we are also excited about showcasing the wide range of their portfolio. For this particular dinner we are going to focus on showcasing the whole steer. Partnering with as many local farmers as possible, this will be a true farm to fork experience.

September 25, 6:00pm 505-992-6354, marketsteersteakhouse.com

Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi Chef Peter O’Brien · Duckhorn Vineyards and Merry Edwards Winery

Kathleen Crook

Most importantly, I believe that food should be paired to wine, and not the other way around.

It’s important to study the viscosity, aromas, and flavors of the wine in order to find the flavors that enhance those elements. Also, I try to understand the origins of the wine, from the winemaker to its geographical source, to understand how the food pairs with similar wines. These factors all come into consideration when I create the menu.

The culinary team will taste the wines and begin brainstorming different ways to create food pairings. It’s very creative, and occasionally pretty crazy! We compile all our ideas on a notepad that I review later, and then I prepare several variations of each dish before I land on a final menu.

The culinary team at Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi is incredibly eager to share our passion for cooking with our guests. It’s an amazing, collaborative, and educational experience, and our shared love of food and drink will definitely shine through at these events.

September 25, 6:30pm, Merry Edwards Pairing September 28, 6:30pm, Duckhorn Vineyards Pairing 505-988-3236, innoftheanasazi.com

Peter O'Brien

Eloisa Restaurant Chef John Sedler · Michael David Winery We [at Eloisa] are very particular about pairing wine with food or the other way around. It’s important to remember wine is basically another form of food. It’s just food that has been elevated by investing years of labor, blessings, and preparations to produce a liquid masterpiece that you sip and enjoy. My road map to navigating the connections of flavors starts with the wine. [I] taste and smell the wine, see the notes it hits, and then enhance what comes across—like adding an instrument to a band and trying to improve the sound.

We have partnered with Michael David Winery this year, and the owner, Dave Phillips, will be joining us. Our resident sommelier, Kyle Brower, is coordinating and conducting the sequence of service. We introduced some amazing changes to our dinner menu last month by aligning our menu with the historical progression of food in Santa Fe kitchens. We plan to pair the wines with some of these new dishes to create a beautiful melody of food and wine that will be memorable for all of our guests.

September 26, 6:30pm 505-982-0883, eloisasantafe.com

John Sedler

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Saturday, October 19, 2019 10am - 4pm at the GutiĂŠrrez-Hubbell House

Join us at the fourth annual Fermentation Fest to explore cider, wine, pickels, kraut, salami, beer, cheese, spirits, kombucha, kefir, sourdough, mead, hot sauce, sake, kimchi, koji, coffee, chocolate, and more.

Proceeds benefit the Hubbell House Alliance and the Bernco Quality of Life Community Fund.

edible

nmfermentationfest.com

Thank you to our Chefs Collaborative members who are

OWL PEAK FARM

Dolina chefscollaborative.org

Interested in becoming a member, contact stephanie@ediblenm.com.

MARKET PLACE • LOCAL FINDS Your support for the advertisers listed here allows us to offer this magazine free of charge to readers.

CreativeCultureABQ

LAWN SPRINKLER EXPERTS

Creative Home Décor & Gifts 428 SANDOVAL ST, SANTA FE AMPERSANDOLDANDNEW.COM

Repairs/Installations Landscape Remodeling Fruit Tree Pruning and Removal

505-319-5730

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Creative Culture ABQ Great Gifts & Cards Handmade Paper Inspired Craft Supplies

3001 Monte Vista NE . ABQ 505-200-2785

Locally Produced!

TIN-NEE-ANN Trading Co. Family Operated - Family Friendly Since 1973

EAT LOCAL

Loyal locals love us. come see why!

Santa Fe Local Food Subscription Service

Taste the Best of Every Season!

Products change weekly based on availability from over 25 New Mexico farms.

ENJOY $5 OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER CODE: EDIBLE-SUMMER

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923 Cerrillos Road at St. Francis Drive 505-988-1630 ∙ tinneeann2@gmail.com

139 W San Francisco St, Santa Fe, NM 87501 (505) 795-7075 │ LescombesWinery.com

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Y O U R LO C A L S O URCE G UID E FOOD ARTISANS / RETAILER AlbuKirky Seasonings

AlbuKirky Seasonings specializes in finely crafted rubs, sauces, and jellies featuring red and green chile and other Southwest flavors.

Albuquerque, albukirkyseasonings.com

Barrio Brinery

Bringing fine fermented foods to Santa Fe. We make our products by handcrafting small batches of flavorful goodness using only the finest ingredients.1413-B W Alameda, Santa Fe, 505-699-9812, barriobrinery.com

Bountiful Cow Cheese Company Purveyors of fine cheese, meats, and provisions from around the world.

505-473-7911, B-cow.com

Eldora Chocolate

Eldora crafts chocolate using natural, organic, and fair trade ingredients.

8114 Edith NE, Albuquerque, 505-433-4076, eldorachocolate.com

Heidi's Raspberry Farm

Sumptuous, organic raspberry jams available throughout New Mexico and online!

600 Andrews, Corrales, 505-898-1784, heidisraspberryfarm.com

La Montañita Coop

La Montañita Co-op is New Mexico's largest community-owned natural and organic food market. Locations in Albuquerque, Gallup, and Santa Fe, lamontanita.coop

New Mexico Ferments

Local, fresh, probiotic kombucha. Find us on tap at Albuquerque farmers markets as well as breweries and distilleries in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos. newmexicoferments.com

Santa Fe Olive Oil & Balsamic Co

This local interactive tasting room offers the finest quality extra virgin olive oils, balsamic vinegars, gourmet salts, and specialty foods.

Shop in-store or online. santafeoliveoil.com

Savory Spice Shop

Spice specialist with a variety of blends as well as extracts, sauces, and specialty foods.

225 Galisteo, Santa Fe, 505-819-5659, savoryspiceshop.com/santafe

Skarsgard Farms

Delivering fresh, local, and organically grown produce and natural groceries to doorsteps across New Mexico. 505-681-4060, skarsgardfarms.com

Squash Blossom Local Food Inc.

Santa Fe local food subscription service.

Products from over twenty-five New Mexico farms. squashblossomlocalfood.com

Tri County Farmers Market

May thru October, Wednesdays & Saturdays, 8am–12pm. Sixth Street & University, Las Vegas, 505-718-2110 or 575-421-0100

LODGING

Buffalo Thunder, Hilton Santa Fe

Relaxing ambiance and luxurious amenities.

20 Buffalo Thunder Trail, Santa Fe, 505-455-5555, buffalothunderresort.com

Hotel Andaluz

Andaluz, short for Andalusian, evokes the passion and pride of the region of Spain that has inspired the hotel’s decor and architectural style. 125 Second Street NW, Albuquerque, 505-388-0088, hotelandaluz.com

Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm

4803 Rio Grande NW, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, 505-344-9297, lospoblanos.com

Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi

Sophisticated modern aesthetic celebrating the southwestern spirit. 113 Washington, Santa Fe, 505-988-3030, rosewoodhotels. com/en/inn-of-the-anasazi-santa-fe

Sarabande B & B

Comfort, elegance, and simplicity.

5637 Rio Grande NW, Albuquerque, 505-348-5593, sarabandebnb.com

The Parador

Our 200-year-old farmhouse, Santa Fe's oldest inn, is located in historic downtown Santa Fe. 220 West Manhattan, Santa Fe, 505-988-1177, elparadero.com

NURSERIES & SERVICES Alameda Greenhouse

Dedicated to growing and maintaining all manner of outdoor plants—veggies, fruit trees, flowers, shrubs, and perennials. 9515 Fourth Street NW, Albuquerque, 505-898-3562, alamedagreenhouseabq.com

deerBrooke

Irrigation and backflow prevention specialists. Repairs, installations, and consulting.

505-319-5730, NMLawnsprinklerexperts.com

Osuna Nursery

A family-owned and operated nursery, gardening center, and landscaping company. 501 Osuna NE, Albuquerque, 505345-6644, osunanursery.com

Payne’s Nursery

Payne's North, 304 Camino Alire, 505-9888011, Payne's South, 715 St. Michael's, 505988-9626, Payne's Organic Soil Yard, 6037 Agua Fria, 505-424-0336 Paynes.com

ORGANIZATIONS, EVENTS, & EDUCATION Bosque Chile Festival

August 17, 2019, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. 1701 Fourth Street SW, Albuquerque, NM, 505-468-1418

El Rancho de las Golondrinas

334 Los Pinos, Santa Fe, 505-471-2261, golondrinas.org

New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs

505-827-6364, newmexicoculture.org

New Mexico Museum Foundation

116 Lincoln, Santa Fe, 505-982-6366 ext.100, museumfoundation.org

New Mexico Wine

winecountrynm.com

OTHER SERVICES

Enterprise Bank & Trust

Los Alamos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, enterprisebank.com

Garcia Auto Group

8449 Lomas NE, Albuquerque, garciacars.com

Sparky's

3216 Los Arboles NE, Albuquerque, 505750-3740, sparkysabq.com

RETAILERS

Ampersand Old & New

Vintage goods, furniture, old and new homewares, and fun, affordable gifts.

428 Sandoval, Santa Fe, ampersandoldandnew.com

Blue Moon Market Place

An ever-changing, unique array of quality products to enrich & adorn body & home.

400 San Felipe NW, Albuquerque, 505-350-0412, facebook.com/BlueMoonNM

Creative Culture

Specializing in exotic paper, greeting cards, art supplies, and unique gifts. A makers’ paradise. 3001 Monte Vista NE, Albuquerque, 505-200-2785

Gallery Ethnica

Live globally! 1301 Cerrillos, Santa Fe, 505-557-6654, galleryethnica.com

Kitchenality

Irresistible and gently used gourmet cooking and entertaining ware. All store profits go to Kitchen Angels. 1222 Siler, Santa Fe, 505471-7780, kitchenangels.org

Next Best Thing to Being There

An eclectic shop for handmade products.

1315 Mountain NW, Albuquerque, 505-433-3204, beingthereabq.com

Sarabande Home

We have a passion for finding the perfect gift. 4022 Rio Grande NW, Albuquerque, 505-344-1253, sarabandehome.com

Tin-Nee-Ann Trading Co.

Family operated and family friendly since 1973. 923 Cerrillos, Santa Fe, 505-988-1630 facebook.com/TinNeeAnn

WINE STORES Arroyo Vino

218 Camino La Tierra, Santa Fe, 505-9832100, arroyovino.com

Susan's Fine Wine and Spirits

1005 S St. Francis, Santa Fe, 505-984-1582, sfwineandspirits.com

CafĂŠ & Bakery

505-204-7869 1291 San Felipe Ave, Santa Fe

Est. 1984

Wholesale Specialty Cheese/Meats/Provisions 300+ Cheeses from around the World www.b-cow.com · 505-473-7911

TRIFECTA COFFEE COMPANY

colombian bistro

now open

tuesday-saturday 11am-8pm

Ajiaco’s varied Colombian cuisine is influenced by a diverse flora and fauna found around Colombia. Cultural traditions of different Colombian ethnic groups play a role in our choice of ingredients.

AN

S

3216 Silver SE, Albuquerque 505-266-2305, www.ajiacobistro.com

Barrio Brinery co

 �

413 Montano NE, Albuquerque 505-803-7579, trifectacoffeecompany.com We roast coffee, and brew it in unique ways utilizing some of the best methods available. All of our baked goods, sweet, and savory are made in house.

Genuine Food & Drink Enchanting, Dusty...

Wild West Style 28 MAIN STREET LOS CERRILLOS 505.438.1821 Thursday - Sunday blackbirdsaloon.com

i TA ex FE z New M

Santa Fe's source for ďŹ ne fermented foods. Our lacto-fermented pickles, sauerkraut, and escabeche are hand-crafted in small batches.

1413-B West Alameda, Santa Fe www.barriobrinery.com ∙ 505-699-9812

FERMEN TS

KOMBUCHA

. Local . Fresh . Probiotic .

newmexicoferments.com

E A T & DRI N K LOCAL G UID E

seasonal • local • organic 218 Gold Ave SW, ABQ 505-265-4933 hartfordsq.com

ALBUQUERQUE

Ajiaco Colombian Bistro

Ajiaco’s varied Colombian cuisine is influenced by the diverse flora and fauna found around Colombia. 3216 Silver SE, 505-2662305, ajiacobistro.com

Artichoke Café

Fresh, local, seasonal ingredients, classic French techniques, extensive wine list, private dining, catering, and great atmosphere. 424 Central SE, 505-243-0200, artichokecafe.com

Campo at Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm

Rio Grande Valley cuisine rooted in seasonal organic ingredients from our own farm. 4803 Rio Grande NW, 505-344-9297, lospoblanos.com

Cutbow Coffee

The culmination of more than 25 years' experience by one of the nation's most accomplished artisan coffee roasters, Paul Gallegos.

1208 Rio Grande NW, 505-355-5563, cutbowcoffee.com

11225 Montgomery and 5600 Coors NW, eatgrassburger.com

413 Montano NE, 505-803-7579, trifectacoffeecompany.com

Cozy, downtown eatery; local, organic, and seasonal menu. Breakfast, brunch, lunch, & dinner-to-go. 218 Gold SW, 505-265-4933, hartfordsq.com

A three-level bistro featuring contemporary cuisine and late night bar bites.

3009 Central NE, 505-254-9462, zincabq.com

Serving authentic wood oven pizza in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Multiple locations in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. ilvicino.com

SANTA FE

Hartford Square

Il Vicino

MAS Tapas y Vino

MÁS is a full-service restaurant and tapas bar located in the Hotel Andaluz, 125 Second Street NW, 505-388-0088, hotelandaluz.com/mas-tapas-y-vino

Salt and Board

Salt and Board, a charcuterie-based cork and tap room in the heart of the Brick Light District. 115 Harvard SE, 505-219-2001, saltandboard.com

Zinc Restaurant & Wine Bar

Anasazi Restaurant & Bar

Contemporary American cuisine inspired by locally sourced seasonal ingredients.

113 Washington, 505-988-3030, innoftheanasazi.com

Arable

Inspired by the bounty of New Mexico, and the small community of Eldorado, Arable was born. 7 Avenida Vista Grande, 505-303-3816, arablesantafe.com

Savoy Bar & Grill

Arroyo Vino

Starting with the finest organic flour, our pizza crusts are made by hand and topped with the freshest ingredients, including artisan cured meats. 510 Central SE, 505243-0130, farinapizzeria.com

Seasons Rotisserie & Grill

Dinner for Two

Farina Alto

The Grove Cafe & Market

Dolina

The Shop Breakfast & Lunch

Dr. Field Goods Kitchen / Butcher Shop & Bakery

Farina

Farina Alto offers fresh, creative fare. Gather over a glass of wine, a good story, and a phenomenal plate of food.

10721 Montgomery NE, 505-298-0035, farinaalto.com

Farm & Table

Enjoy delectable seasonal dishes created from scratch, sourced from local farmers and our beautiful on-site farm. 8917 Fourth Street NW, 505-503-7124, farmandtablenm.com

Grassburger

The feel-good, award-winning burger— 100% grassfed beef, vegan, or poultry!

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California wine country in the Northeast Heights. Farm-to-table dining and a casual patio. 10601 Montgomery NE, 505-294-9463, savoyabq.com

We serve progressive American fare inspired by our on-premise garden and local purveyors. 218 Camino La Tierra, 505-983-2100, arroyovino.com

Oak-fired grill, local and seasonal ingredients, and the best patio dining in Old Town.

2031 Mountain NW, 505-766-5100, seasonsabq.com

Elegant bistro known for tableside preparations, plus a menu of locally sourced fare, and global wines. 106 N Guadalupe, 505820-2075, dinnerfortwonm.com

The Grove features a bustling café experience serving breakfast, brunch, and lunch.

600 Central SE, 505-248-9800, thegrovecafemarket.com

We serve modern American brunch with Eastern European influences. Open 7 days a week. 402 N Guadalupe, 505-982-9394, dolinasantafe.com

Latin and creole influenced spin on American classics. Serving breakfast and lunch Tuesday through Saturday. 2933 Monte Vista NE, 505-433-2795

2860 Cerrillos, 505-471-0043 and 505-474-6081, drfieldgoods.com

Trifecta Coffee Company

We roast coffee and brew it in unique ways utilizing some of the best methods available.

All of our baked goods are made in house.

Eloisa

Creative, elevated takes on traditional New Mexican fare plus tasting menus and craft cocktails. 228 E Palace, 505-982-0883, eloisasantafe.com

E A T & DRI N K LOCAL G UID E

Creative Casual Cuisine 221 Highway 165, Placitas 505-771-0695, www.bladesbistro.com Chef and owner Kevin Bladergroen brings together fine and fresh ingredients, artistic vision, and European flair in every dish.

Sunday brunch, fabulous cocktails, and an award-winning wine list.

South Indian cuisine

Hervé Wine Bar

Enjoy a glass of of locally produced D.H. Lescombes wine with your meal in our spacious comfortable lounge.

139 W San Francisco, 505-795-7075, lescombeswinery.com/santa-fe-herve

Il Piatto

An authentic Italian farmhouse experience, sourcing its ingredients directly from local farms and ranches. 95 West Marcy, 505-984-1091, ilpiattosantafe.com

La Plazuela at La Fonda on the Plaza Authentic New Mexican cuisine, awardwinning wine list, and impeccable service.

100 E San Francisco, 505-995-2334, lafondasantafe.com/la-plazuela

L’Olivier

Serving classic French dishes made with local ingredients and Southwest influences.

229 Galisteo, 505-989-1919, loliviersantafe.com

Loyal Hound

Locally sourced modern comfort food paired with craft beer, cider, and wine. 730 St. Michaels, 505-471-0440, loyalhoundpub.com

Posa’s Restaurants

Europa

Radish & Rye

Michael's Kitchen Restaurant and Bakery

Posa’s tamales—our New Mexican tradition since 1995. 1514 Rodeo and 3538 Zafarano, 505-820-7672 or 505-473-3454, santafetamales.com Farm-inspired cuisine: simple yet innovative food and drinks sourced locally whenever possible. 548 Agua Fria, 505-930-5325, radishandrye.com

Red Sage

Red Sage at Buffalo Thunder is perfect for your next romantic night out. Fare rotates seasonally. 20 Buffalo Thunder Trail, 505-819-2056, buffalothunderresort.com

TerraCotta

Market Steer Steakhouse

Where refined dining meets fun dining.

210 Don Gaspar in the Hotel St. Francis, 505-992-6354, marketsteersteakhouse.com

Ohori's Coffee Roasters

The original source for locally roasted coffee beans, gifts, and gathering. 505 Cerrillos and 1098 St. Francis, 505-982-9692, 507 Old Santa Fe Trail, ohoriscoffee.com

Paper Dosa

Bringing fresh, authentic homestyle South Indian dishes to your table. These bright and exciting flavors will leave you wanting more.

551 W Cordova, 505-930-5521, paper-dosa.com

Regionally inspired eats with a tongue-incheek menu in a casual space decorated with knickknacks. 304-C N Pueblo, Taos, 575-758-4178, michaelskitchen.com

Pajarito Brewpub & Grill

Open for lunch Tuesday–Sunday. Open for dinner every day. Happy hour Tuesday– Sunday 2–5pm. 30 craft beers on tap.

614 Trinity, Los Alamos, 505-662-8877, pajaritobrewpubandgrill.com

Seasonally changing, globally inspired cuisine and an extensive, value-priced wine list.

304 Johnson, 505-989-1166, terracottawinebistro.com

Parcht

Chef Mark Kiffin preserves a landmark tradition of elegant food and service at his Canyon Road institution. 653 Canyon Road, 505-982-4353, compoundrestaurant.com

Revel

The Compound Restaurant

/pärCHt/= the physical condition resulting from the need to drink wine, eat good food, and shop…in Taos. 103 E Plaza, 575-758-1994, parcht.com Farm to table, elevated comfort food, in a fast-casual environment. 304 N Bullard, Silver City, 575-388-4920, eatdrinkrevel.com

The Gorge: Bar and Grill

Madame Matisse

A cafe and bakery with French specialties.

1291 San Felipe, 505-204-7869, madamematisse.com

A new concept by Peculiar Farms. 2105 Highway 314 NW, Los Lunas, 505-261-3605, facebook.com/europacafeandmarket

GREATER NEW MEXICO Black Bird Saloon

Genuine food and drink, wild west style.

28 Main Street, Los Cerrillos, 505-438-1821, blackbirdsaloon.com

Black Mesa Winery

Black Mesa Winery is an award-winning New Mexican winery using only New Mexican grapes. 1502 Highway 68, Velarde, 505-8522820, blackmesawinery.com

Our menu is straightforward, yet eclectic, and chock-full of favorites made from scratch using as many fresh and local ingredients as possible. 103 E Plaza, 575-758-8866, thegorgebarandgrill.com

The Skillet

American, southwest, vegetarian friendly.

619 12th Street, Las Vegas, 505-563-0477, giant-skillet.com

Blades’ Bistro

Chef and owner Kevin Bladergroen brings together fine and fresh ingredients, artistic vision, and European flair in every dish.

221 Highway 165, Placitas, 505-771-0695, bladesbistro.com

WWW.EDIBLENM.COM

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EdibleNewMexico TAG us or use #edibleNM and your pics could be featured here.

chaine_santafe. Meyer lemon lavender macarons. Gourmet cookie shop opening soon in downtown Santa Fe. #edibleNM

steelbenderbrewyard The Los Ranchos Four-Chile Burger is coming! Paprika, Padron, and Bird Peppers from our Bosque Farms friends at Thunderhead Farms plus good ole Bueno green chile. #ediblesmackdown #edibleNM

chefdanieljohn Spring vegetables = All Natural Rainbow Pasta. Working new things for some upcoming event menus. #edibleNM

themintchip Cool down with a Cucumber + Lime ice lolly today. We have some new creations on the menu too (hint : it involves KUMQUATS)! #edibleNM

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edible New Mexico | LATE SUMMER 2019

Fresh

it’s closer than you think..

Local ingredients, served locally. We seek out the freshest, seasonal organic produce, meats and fish. Then we serve it up with flair and attentive service right in your neighborhood.

Join locals supporting locals. Deliciously.

HISTORIC NOB HILL 505.254.ZINC(9462) ZincABQ.com

ALBUQUERQUE HEIGHTS 505.294.WINE(9463) SavoyABQ.com

OLD TOWN ALBUQUERQUE 505.766.5100 SeasonsABQ.com

ALBUQUERQUE, SANTA FE 505.850.2459 TasteABQ.com

Vida Verde Farm in Albuquerque, NM

✷ THE DESTINATION FOR THE BEST IN FOOD & WINE W E E K LY W I N E S E M I N A R S WINE DINNERS & MORE

ARROYOVINO.COM 505.983.2100 7 Y E A R S I N S A N TA F E