Edible Santa Fe Winter Issue - 2013 by edible New Mexico

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SANTA FE 庐路 ALBUQUERQUE 路 TAOS

The Story

Local Food, Season

Season

Local Heroes

Issue 30 路 Winter 2013

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WINTER 2013 - LOCAL HEROES DEPARTMENTS 2

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

EDIBLE NOTABLES

EAT LOCAL GUIDE

LAST BITE: LOCAL HERO NOMINEES

FEATURES 4

THE OLLA AWARD: HENRY RAEL By Amanda Rich

BEST CAFÉ: THE GROVE By Elizabeth Grant Thomas

BEST ORGANIZATION: DOWNTOWN GROWERS MARKET By Amy White

BEST FARMER: MATT ROMERO By Ari LeVaux

21 BEST RETAIL: SANTA FE FARMERS MARKET By Joseph Mora

O N T H E C OV E R

24 BEST BEVERAGE ARTISAN: GRUET By Valerie Ashe

28 BEST BEVERAGE ARTISAN: LA CUMBRE By Andrea Fueht

30 BEST FOOD ARTISAN: THE OLD WINDMILL DAIRY By Lisa Brown

34 BEST FOOD TRUCK: THE SUPPER TRUCK By Emily J. Beenen

36 BEST CHEF: JAYE WILKINSON By Gail Guengerich

The Olla Award

Photo by Stephanie Cameron

40 BEST FOOD WRITERS: DEBORAH MADISON, CHERYL ALTERS JAMISON, AND JOHNNY VEE By Sarah Wentzel-Fisher

BEST RESTAURANT: IL PIATTO By Ari LeVaux WWW.EDIBLESANTAFE.COM

letter from the editor As winter approaches I always think more about stories, and the resources—histroies, dreams, ideas—it takes to grow them. The cold months are a time for reflection and assessment—a time when our intellects and imaginations need cultivating. About a month ago, I sat in the conference room at the Mid-region Council of Governments and listened to Eric Griego, Michael Patrick, and John Garlisch talk about their recent research and planning work around food hub development. While their presentation conveyed important information, what really stood out was who was listening. Farmers, value-added producers, advocates, and interested consumers filled every seat at a large conference table, as well as an ample gallery. Hundreds of tuned-in ears gave their undivided attention to how we can do a better job producing local food, food security, agricultural jobs, and connections between growers, distributors, and eaters. While we may be a cash poor state, we have a rich brain trust. Further, we have built strong and lasting connections with each other—it takes more than a village to build a local food system. What ten years ago was a few individuals committed to re-imagining how and where our food comes from, has grown to a critical mass; stalwart advocates, through passion and perseverance, have inspired a league of local food champions. While the work we do gathers momentum, we must remember to be forward thinking. When there are so many weeds in a field or too many harvest festivals, it's hard to remember that through our work and commitment, we change New Mexico, and we change the world. How will our foodshed be in thirty years? Perhaps more important, how do we want our foodshed to be thirty years? How do we ensure that we will have both the resources and the knowledge to perpetuate what we have worked so hard to make today? In this issue we look to our local heroes—to Northern New Mexico’s boldest and brightest leaders who bring initiative, intention, and vision to building a strong local food economy. The connections between those recognized are notable. These heroes shine in their individual efforts, but when taken as a whole, our community is greater than the sum of its parts. When, in these cold months, I take the time to reflect on the work of the year and dream about the future, my musings begin with conversations with good friends over a supper of food we gleaned from our gardens and end with carrots and tomatoes blossoming in city alley ways; with small grocery store in every neighborhood, each with its own produce grown in adjacent lots; with fields along the Rio Grande a patchwork of greens, sunflowers, beets, potatoes, wheat, corn, and beans. This winter I encourage you to curl up in a sunny window or by your fire place, read this issue of edible Santa Fe, share your stories of local food, and dream of a local food future.

Sarah Wentzel-Fisher

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PUBLISHERS Bite Size Media, LLC Stephanie and Walt Cameron

EDITOR Sarah Wentzel-Fisher

COPY EDITORS Margaret Marti, Willy Carleton

CONTRIBUTORS Valerie Ashe, Emily J. Beenen, Lisa Brown, Andrrea Fuecht, Elizathbeth Grant Thomas, Gail Guengerich, Ari LeVaux, Joseph Mora, Amanda Rich, Amy White

DESIGN AND LAYOUT Stephanie Cameron

PHOTOGRAPHY Stephanie Cameron, Sergio Salvador, Rick Scebelli

WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA EDITORS Stephanie Cameron, Sarah Wentzel-Fisher

WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA CONTRIBUTORS Ashlie Hughes, Gail Guengerich, Lisa Masé, Joseph Mora, Nissa Patterson, Amy White

VIDEO PRODUCER D. Walt Cameron

OLLA ARTIST Jennifer DePaolo

ADVERTISING D. Walt Cameron, Jodi L. Vevoda

CONTACT US: 3301-R Coors Blvd NW #152 Albuquerque, NM 87120 info@ediblesantafe.com www.ediblesantafe.com Phone/Fax: 505-212-0791

SUBSCRIBE ∙ BUY AN AD ∙ LETTERS 505-212-0791 WWW.EDIBLESANTAFE.COM We welcome your letters. Write to us at the address above, or email us at INFO@EDIBLESANTAFE.COM edible Santa Fe takes pride in providing its subscribers with fast, friendly, small town service. Bite Size Media, LLC publishes edible Santa Fe four times a year: spring, summer, fall, and winter. We distribute throughout Central and Northern New Mexico and nationally by subscription. Subscriptions are $32 annually. No part of this publication may be used without the written permission of the publisher. © 2013 All rights reserved.

tan·gi·ble adjective 1. discernible by the touch; material or substantial. 2. real or actual, rather than imaginary.

Print is alive. Print resonates. Print is tangible. At edible Santa Fe, our business is telling stories. In every issue we introduce our 70,000 readers to the innovative people, places, businesses, and organizations that exemplify change and creativity in our local foods economy. Our advertisers are an essential part of that conversation. We value top-notch journalism, outstanding photography and design, quality paper stock, and a publication that conveys warmth and credibility. We craft every issue to be a collector’s item. The time and attention to detail in every issue means it costs more, but it's worth it. Readers can see and touch your ad in an environment that communicates your commitment to quality and to community. It simply works. We plan to change the world here in New Mexico; to grow a strong local foods economy that creates jobs, keeps the dollars here, and makes our communities more sustainable, healthy and prosperous.

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Henry Rael OLLA AWARD By Amanda Rich 路 Photo by Sergio Salvador

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

An olla is an unglazed clay pot, a simple tool with many purposes. Like the olla, Henry Rael, gives of himself in multiple capacities and nourishes the roots of the local food movement. An olla is an unglazed clay pot; a simple tool with many purposes. It can be used for cooking or storing seed, but the ollas I want to tell you about get buried in the ground. Like bones. Farmers have used ollas for hundreds of years, perhaps longer, in desert climates. Round and smooth, they place them at the base of plants with only a small opening to fill with water. Slowly, over time, ollas give water to the earth and roots of surrounding plants. Ollas, highly efficient, lose very little precious water to evaporation. Unlike modern drip irrigation made from plastic or petroleum, they are made of earth, by hand, and when they break they return to earth leaving no waste. Like the olla, Henry Rael, a program officer with the New Mexico McCune Foundation and a founding member of the Agri-Cultura Network in Albuquerque’s South Valley, serves in multiple capacities to nourish the roots of the local food movement. When I met with Henry to write this story, I went searching for poetry in the land of the pragmatic. In many ways, Henry's story is an oftentold New Mexican tale. His ancestors arrived many generations ago, farming and ranching until the 1960s, when his parents left rural New Mexico to raise their children in the South Valley. After graduating from the University of New Mexico, Henry spent several years in California working for a business that developed semi-conductors and the first bluetooth chip. Henry never felt at home living in California. Family, and something larger—something tugging at his bones—called him back to Albuquerque. I asked Henry about his memories of his grandparents’ ranch, his grandmother's garden, and his earliest memories of eating fresh vegetables. What he explained to me was that for him, his motivation for work in local food is about social and economic justice. When he returned to the South Valley in 2008, he began an oral history project designed partially to explore the economic roots of his community. The project led him to create a community-based organization dedicated to sustainable economic development, which he called Valle Encantado. Its primary operating principle was simple: economic development must be done in harmony with community identity. The stories his neighbors told him for the project made it clear that South Valley community identity was deeply entwined with agriculture. Economic development that could happen with community-owned resources and resonate with historical context would need to revolve around farming.

So Valle Encantado decided to start a farm, and Henry’s backyard became one of the first plots. Joseph Alfaro, Henry’s neighbor, became his partner and the project’s farmer. Joseph had no formal training in farm management, but Henry and Joseph worked with the American Friend Service Committee through their farmer-to-farmer training program to find instruction and mentorship. Even in its initial conception, Henry knew that a single small farm could not really build wealth in the community—it was an issue of scale. One small farm could not afford to purchase bulk seed, share tools, and sell to wholesale markets. However, many small farms linked together could offer a consistency and variety of produce that wholesale buyers might bite into. Together with two other community-based groups in the South Valley, La Plazita Institute and Emerging Communities, Henry and Valle Encantado formed the Agri-Cultura Network (ACN). Designed to bring together small growers and producers to be a model of cooperative farming, the ACN created a means for small farms to be profitable. As a result of the ACN's collective success, public school children savor South Valley salad greens in lunchrooms across Albuquerque and the farmers offer a box of produce every week during the summer growing season to almost one hundred families. Henry was at the root of creating the ACN. He volunteered hundreds of hours writing bylaws and operating agreements. He interpreted and obtained environmental health permits, secured a space for the ACN at the South Valley Economic Development Center, developed marketing and branding materials, and created spread sheets that coordinated crop planting among growers. Henry also recognized that many in the South Valley community, neighbors to the ACN farms, could not afford to purchase the organic vegetables they grew. He pushed for the creation of a community supported agriculture (CSA) program that could be subsidized for lowincome families. Henry identified fifty families in his neighborhood who wanted to participate and raised funds from a variety of sources to make it all possible. “If we are remaking the food system to make it more local, that is a huge thing,” Henry explains. “We can't serve just one small segment of the population.” Getting fresh, local produce into the hands of working and lowincome South Valley families is just one way Henry subverts the dom-

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inant local food paradigm. He urges us to think local and act local. According to Henry, humans the world around are overwhelmed with an overabundance of information and many of the problems we face come from a total disconnect from the earth. Food, in his opinion, is the most direct relationship that a person can have with a specific place, and with the earth. Each radish, tomato, and shiny leaf of chard that graces his backyard, and later, his family’s dinner table, grew with the same sunshine they feel on their skin, the same air they breath, and the same soil they feel underfoot. He believes this connection enables people to participate as citizens in their communities. He states, “It is impossible for an individual to have a relationship with an entire planet, but they can have a relationship with a single place.” When I asked Henry where he sees Valle Encantado in five or ten years, he painted a picture of a community working together to create its own economic base that could offer services and create jobs. Some of his visions include starting solar cooperatives and collecting and dealing with the neighborhood trash. He said this is something affluent neighborhoods do all the time—gather resources to better their community. He hopes Valle Encantado can demonstrate how community members can change their lives and earn an income by getting involved, and that this example will inspire other communities to do the same thing. In contrast to a corporate economic development model, which would mandate expansion forever and Valle Encantado franchises all over town, Henry goes for depth—like the olla.

After all this good work, Henry remains modest, and there are accomplishments still unearthed—like how he has two sweet and talented children to whom he reads The Hobbit at bedtime. Or how he finds time to steal away with his author, actress, and activist wife, Michelle Otero to celebrate their anniversary. His love and commitment to New Mexico will undoubtedly leave a legacy. His steady release of work into the roots of his community is both a gift to his children and a nod to the farmers and ranchers who worked in cooperation to survive in New Mexico generations ago. Despite the fact that some of the bones of his mother's ancestors are buried five hundred yards from where he lives now, Henry told me he is not one of the those people who screens family histories to decide whether or not someone is New Mexican. “I don't really care so much where you were born,” he laughed. “I care where you die. When you're in the ground, you're a New Mexican.” Agri-Cultura Network, 505-804-3397, www.agri-cultura.org Amanda Rich is a poet, community organizer, and farmer. These days she bounces between broad fork and laptop screen in an attempt to keep a community farm fully functional. Other super powers include weaving baskets out of drip tape, charming chickens, and milking a goat faster than you can say your ABC's.

photo by Sergio Salvador

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The Grove Café & Market BEST CAFÉ By Elizabeth Grant Thomas · Photos by Stephanie Cameron

During nine long months of pregnancy I yearned for many things: a full night of sleep, a glass of wine, a home with air conditioning. But what I often craved most was The Grove Café’s Farmers Salad—a delicious blend of greens and roasted seasonal vegetable studded with pillowy mounds of local goat cheese and marcona almonds—and a foamy latte with two perfectly pulled shots of Intelligentsia espresso. As the consummate worried pregnant woman, I had eliminated fresh cheeses and caffeine from my diet during pregnancy, clinging hard to the belief that if I could control these variables I could control motherhood. 8

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

The futility of this idea was conveyed poignantly just hours after I delivered my daughter. Absolutely famished, I sent my husband out to procure the long-awaited salad and coffee. As I lay in my hospital bed, thoroughly spent, I imagined how the creamy, tangy cheese would feel passing over my lips, how my body would respond after all these months to the electric shock of caffeine, hard and sweet, coursing through my veins, the experience made sweeter having gone without. The phone rang. It was my husband, calling to say that The Grove was closed for their annual one-week vacation. My first lesson in motherhood? Roll with the punches.

My disappointment did not stop me from returning the next week or the week after that to make good on my meal, which was just as delicious as I remembered and imagined. When I was pregnant, someone encouraged me to get out of the house as soon and as often as possible after the baby came, assuring me that taking a child to a restaurant would never be easier than in infancy. Although I felt like a newborn myself, a shaky foal just getting my footing in this thing called motherhood, I was determined to follow that advice. The Grove nearly always bustles with a crowd. I quickly discovered that the backdrop of clattering dishes, the constant whir of the espresso machine, and the crackle of conversations that soared through the airy space created the perfect soundtrack to lull a newborn to sleep, while I enjoyed a steaming cup of coffee and a chocolate-walnut cookie, impossibly soft on the inside, the surface a perfect crust scarred by deep valleys that cradled coarse sea salt. Happiness hinged on those cookies. On many tough days I felt like the luckiest person in the world when I snagged the last one from the broad glass jars that lined the pastry case. The Grove soon became a constant, a bright spot that marked an otherwise difficult first year of motherhood. When my daughter was a week old, I started attending a nursing support group at Presbyterian Hospital, just a few blocks east of the café. Getting out of the house to these weekly meetings was a major event, which I always began or ended with a trip to The Grove. Sitting at one of the sleek tables, sipping coffee, eating wholesome food, and engaging in small talk with other patrons made me feel human and civilized and in sync with the rest of the world, even when I had spent most of the previous night awake. It transported me out of my circumstances to another time and place. When I cradled my daughter’s car seat in the crook of my arm and gazed at the jewel box pastry case filled with coiffed cupcakes, I felt, for a brief moment, like myself again. The Grove became my gathering place. I took the out-of-town visitors who came to help during the ragged weeks after my daughter was born. My friend, Lauren, and I faithfully met each week, camping out in a cozy booth all morning while we debated sleep strategies over delicate French-style pancakes swimming in crème fraiche and local honey, our babies nestled in their car seats next to us. One afternoon I gently coerced a group of women from the nursing group to join me for lunch, commandeering an out-of-the-way corner of the café, our tables buttressed by a legion of infant car seats that the servers amiably picked their way around. By the end of the meal we had steamed up the windows with our laughter and conversation, and our plates were piled high with the remains of cupcakes and cookies and all of the things you don’t worry about when you are burning five hundred calories a day nursing a baby. As my daughter grew up and out her car seat and began to perch on my lap and make googly eyes at everyone who passed our table, visions of what I would someday feed her from their beautiful menu soon replaced my own dreams of salads and coffee. At The Grove we shared her first breakfast burrito, where I cut up bits of ochre egg and Tully’s sausage on a small plate, giving her a hunk of tortilla and a flap of bacon to gnaw on, and meticulously mined the green chile

from her portion. We fought over the little silver bowl of fresh fruit that accompanied my sandwiches and the house-made rosemary roll that came alongside my salads. On her first birthday I bought her a cupcake wearing a cap of rich chocolate icing, which she smeared over her bare chest, declaring it, in her primal way, the best thing she had ever eaten. Life has changed. My daughter is three now. She sleeps through the night and eats all sorts of foods. Meals out with her are quicker than I would like, and I do not often linger, like I used to in those earliest days, for hours over a cup of coffee. But every time I visit The Grove I cannot help but recall all the time I spent there during my daughter’s first year, a touchstone of some of the more tender parts of early motherhood. Something as simple as a good cup of coffee and a decadent cookie, enjoyed while holding a sweetly sleeping baby, helped me forget just how hard being a new mother was, and it still reminds me of the best of who we were during that time. As long as The Grove is there, we’ll be there, too. 600 Central Avenue SE, Albuquerque, 505-248-9800 www.thegrovecafemarket.com Elizabeth Grant Thomas is a nonfiction writer who contributes regularly to edible Santa Fe. She lives in Albuquerque. This January, Albuquerque should be proud to know that its muchloved Chef Jason Greene of The Grove Café and Market will represent our humble desert town at the second annual Indie Chefs Week, January 8 to 11, at Foreign & Domestic in Austin, Texas. This event, conceived by Foreign & Domestic’s chef and owner Ned Elliot, is a face-to-face meeting of the country’s best young, aspiring chefs doing great things in their corners of the industry. Every year Lauren and Jason Greene take several food-focused vacations to get inspired, learn about the practices of their peers, and enjoy what other cities have to offer in the way of boutique dining, which is where they met Ned. Both Jason and Lauren see themselves as master craftsmen in their trades. Meeting hardworking chefs and hospitality experts from other places has been essential in the evolution of their efforts to make The Grove Café and Market an outstanding dining experience, both in New Mexico, but also compared to any of their counterparts in other cities. Lauren and Jason Greene, the husband and wife team behind The Grove Café and Market, deserve all the accolades they get and then some, especially when it comes to raising the culinary culture bar in Albuquerque. Jason, a graduate of New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont, brings southern sensibilities to a meticulously curated menu of local and seasonal fare. Lauren masterminds the customer experience making sure even the smallest details fit a carefully cultivated ambiance in their bright and welcoming dining room. Since opening their doors in 2006, Lauren and Jason have created a space where the community comes together to enjoy superb culinary products and to relax with their friends and family.

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Downtown Growers Market BEST ORGANIZATION

By Amy White · Photos by Stephanie Cameron

On any given summer Saturday, several hundred of Albuquerque's citizens gather to shop for gorgeous local produce, meet up with friends for breakfast, relax on blankets in the grass, and watch kids dance ecstatically to music—some of life's greatest pleasures—all in one place. The green, shady oasis of Robinson Park invites people to linger and converse, to get to know the farmers who grow their food, and return every week to do it all over again. Going to market is a pleasant ritual for many families, rather than just another errand. This joyous spirit of community makes the Downtown Growers Market significant to many folks, and a driving force in the local food move10

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

ment for nearly two decades. It has helped city dwellers develop a sense of pride in Albuquerque as a unique place, and a connection to its land and seasons. Market manager Gina Meyers says one of the great things about the market is that it does not belong to any one person; it is a vibrant enterprise that brings together different facets of the community. A sort of mythology surrounds its origins. While no two stories about how the market started are exactly the same, it is clear that it was a collaborative effort by the Downtown Action Team, neighborhood

residents, and a dedicated group of growers and artisans. Many people still involved proudly claim a role in its inception, including a few of the farmers who have sold at the market since its very first day. Stalwart shoppers and vendors know that part of the beauty of the market is the evolution of the people involved. Many recount stories of couples dating, getting married, and having kids of their own who now run the family stand. Farmer Cecilia Rosacker McCord, like many others, feels strongly that the market has been good for her family, giving her sons a sense of community and responsibility. She says, “That sense of community perpetuates a different way of thinking about food, and a habit of buying from people you know. Kids who have grown up going to the market now look for that connection.” The Growers Market has given Downtown an identity beyond bars and nightlife. As one of the few routine, family-oriented, daytime events in the neighborhood, the market provides a positive, safe place for healthy fun and creativity. It brings people and business Downtown, and serves as an incubator for small food businesses. Still one of the only places to buy fresh produce Downtown, it is now the largest farmers market in Albuquerque, drawing over 2,500 shoppers each week. Totaling vendor receipts, the market takes in nearly a million dollars a year, but according to the 2012 Farmers Market Economic Impact Survey, the combined benefit to vendors, nearby businesses, and the local community is more than $2.5 million per year. The growth of the Downtown Growers Market, from just a handful of vendors in 1996 to more thanone hundred today, matches the momentum of the local food movement. The market provides consumers access to the freshest food possible, of superior quality to that of organic produce in any supermarket, and at comparable prices. The dizzying array of produce available has opened people's minds to trying new things, like heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, long beans, and okra. It has raised awareness that local food in New Mexico is more than just chile and pecans. Shopping there gives one a real sense of place, more than shopping at a supermarket or even at California farmers markets, where almost anything is available year-round. Everything here comes from within one hundred miles and is often picked the day of or the day before market, so it is truly seasonal. The experience of shopping here throughout a season fosters appreciation for what actually grows in the Albuquerque area at different times of the year, and the effort and skill it takes to grow food in this climate. The lively exchange of recipes and growing tips between farmers and customers generates a collaborative excitement about local food. Bobby and Debbie Bustamante of Crack Pot Herbs say that requests from customers have often encouraged them to try growing new things—like epazote, aniseed, and other herbs or vegetables that have cultural significance for people, but are not available at most grocery stores. For many shoppers, these interactions spark an interest in gardening or visiting farms because they realize these experts on growing food are regular folks who live and work nearby.

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The sense of community developed at the market takes the mystery out of where food comes from, but also sparks curiosity from comsumers about how they can produce their own food. As a conduit for small-scale commerce, the market has provided an opportunity for many young farmers to get started, especially urban growers working in small plots and market gardens. For them, the market provides the quickest and highest return on a small farm's labor, and for many, provides the majority of their income. Farmer Jesse Daves of Amyo Farms says that without this link many of the growers, himself included, would not be in business at all. The support of peers and a strong market sustain many of these growers through the uncertainties of operating a small farm business. Casual conversations create a natural opportunity to educate consumers about land conservation, regulatory concerns, and economic issues. McCord notes, “It's a strong community on many levels. All of us are constantly thinking and developing our niche, helping each other out, exchanging knowledge about growing, marketing, and programs that support farmers.” The Downtown Growers Market is a microcosm of the local food economy; as it has grown, vendors have expanded to bring prepared food such as cheese, bread, pies, jams, and pickles. Prepared food that uses local ingredients can connect the where-does-my-food-comefrom dots for consumers, and give farmers another type of customer. Locally raised meats have also made an appearance, and demand is growing. Nearly all grocery shopping (at lease for food) can be done

at the market, which means more money goes directly growers, ranchers, and artisans, making the local economy stronger. The Downtown Growers Market, as an organization, is remarkable in what it has done for consumers, farmers, and the heart of Albuquerque. Saturday mornings transform an ordinary-looking Downtown park into a gathering place where people really feel a part of the local food economy. The market provides an important economic opportunity as well as a support network for farmers and other small businesses. It creates space for consumers to learn more about the place they live and the food they eat through meaningful interactions. The atmosphere of enthusiasm is infectious, and it is like a second home to many who have come here regularly. In fact, the market has all the hallmarks of the third place—a gathering place other than home or work—that sociologists and urban planners feel is so important to civic engagement and sense of place. At the market you meet old friends and new. It is an inexpensive and practical ritual that encourages people to become regulars especially because it is highly accessible by foot, bike, or public transit. The Downtown Growers Market offers more than an alternative place to shop; it is the essence of vibrant community. www.downtowngrowers.com Blogger Amy White is totally obsessed with vegetables and fruits. Amy can be found on www.ediblesantafe.com and on her blog, www.veggieobsession.com.

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Matt Romero BEST FARMER

By Ari LeVaux · Photos by Rick Scibelli

Matt Romero stands beside his chile roaster, like a ship’s captain at the helm. Tall and barrel-chested, with smooth skin the color of leather and dirt, his vessel cruises, and Romero is full of remarkable humor and energy for someone who got up at 2:30 that Saturday morning. By the time he’s set up at the Santa Fe Farmers Market, he is running on fumes. Literally. “We call this an aromatherapy session,” Romero tells a crowd of onlookers gathered in front of his spinning cage of smoking chile. In front of the roaster an array of bushel baskets overflows with red and green chile, each waiting its turn in Romero’s fiery aromatherapy machine: Conchas de Toro, Italian Pimentas, Big Jims, Joe Parkers, poblanos, and a variety called Alcalde Improved.

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

When asked about the Alcalde Improved, he explains, “Forty-five years ago the seed was called Espanola Improved. It was the local chile crossed with a Sandia Hot. My uncle got a hold of some seeds and we started growing them in Alcalde. They’re meaty, with great flavor, and peel like a dream,” Romero says. From his spot by the roaster, the aromatherapist gazes straight ahead at the Santa Fe Farmers Market building, in which he sets up his booth during the winter months. Soon after he started farming, the community invited Romero to become a board member of the Santa Fe Farmers Market Institute. His tenure included a stint as president of the Institute when the organization raised capital for its new indoor home by the Railyard. “There were a lot of people that

The fact that chefs, who have some of the highest standards in the region, choose Romero’s produce is some of the most important recognition he could hope to receive. didn’t want the new building. They wanted to stay in the parking lot. It turns out that having a bathroom with lights, and heat in the winter, and a place to sell your products year-round is a good thing.” To the left of Romero’s chile roaster is a booth so big and busy it takes ten staff members to run it. They sauté and display samples for shoppers, like pan fried radishes and sweet turnips, shishito and padron peppers, sliced heirloom tomatoes, potatoes—and of course, the many varieties of roasted chile, all seeded, peeled, chopped, and served with crackers.

Then Romero wanted Il Piatto as a customer, but Yohalem was hard to get. He’d spend fifty or sixty dollars a market, but Romero knew he went through more food than that. Romero eventually convinced Yohalem and his wife to come out to the farm to see the operation firsthand. Yohalem was impressed—particularly by finding the quantity and quality he needed in his restaurant. Romero says, “It was an amazing visit, a pivotal moment in our relationship. After that, that fifty to sixty dollars a week became more like a thousand a week. Then we became personal friends, and we hang out outside of business.”

The produce with which his employees busily restock the shelves was all grown “culinary quality,” with chefs in mind as customers. The fact that chefs, who have some of the highest standards in the region, choose Romero’s produce is some of the most important recognition he could hope to receive. Romero’s previous life as a chef, first at Coyote Café and then the Ohkay Casino, gave him a good look into what chefs want, and he put this experience to use when he quit cheffing and began farming his grandmother-in-law’s land after she passed away. Her land was tied up in probate, and the family needed someone to water the orchard while they sorted through the legal process. Previously, Romero had never really lived or worked on a farm, and the stewardship experience proved rewarding. He tended an orchard and vineyard on the Rio Grande, and hunted ducks along the river. “We had peaches that fall. That was my first taste of farming. A couple of years in fruit made me wonder what else we could do.” Now he farms his grandparents’ land, which he purchased from a cousin, as well as land he acquired in Dixon. With about nine acres total under cultivation, Romero estimates he brings to market an average of six thousand pounds of produce per week over the twenty-two week summer season—including both Saturday and Tuesday Santa Fe markets, plus the Thursday market in Los Alamos. This doesn’t include the produce grown in the off season and sold all winter long: potatoes, carrots, onions, and squash, as well as winter greens grown in cold frames planted in late September. One of the ten staffers of his market booth, Sean Adams, has the job of dealing solely with restaurants and chefs. The biggest spender, Adams told me, is Matt Yohalem, owner of Il Piatto. Romero and Yohalem have seen their fortunes rise together, in part due to the magic of a farmer‐chef symbiosis. Both point to a pivotal moment in 2008 when Romero convinced Yohalem to visit his farm.

Today, a slew of other chefs keep Sean Adams busy in the back of the Romero Farm’s booth. Their wheeling and dealing creates additional energy. Eavesdropping shoppers want to know which restaurants the many chefs cook at, and what they will do with the peppers or eggplants they buy. “It’s like a family reunion,” Romero says.

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It is a relatively young family, as the vast agricultural and culinary potentials of northern New Mexico have only recently been tapped. “Historically nobody sold vegetables in New Mexico,” Romero told me. “Chile and apples were the only agricultural products from this valley.” This agricultural revolution has meant that modern, local farmers have had to figure out how to grow and store their crops in the fickle New Mexican climate. Romero constantly searches for elegant solutions to the challenges of farming in Northern New Mexico. For example, he brings ninety percent of his products to market unrefrigerated. To keep produce cool, he lines wax boxes with wet burlap. As the water evaporates from the burlap, it cools the vegetables, like a swamp cooler. When the produce arrives at market, it is naturally cool, and stays cool throughout the hottest part of the day. Romero’s many food-related endeavors could all be characterized by a quiet determination to do what he thinks is right. This, and supreme confidence in his product, make him a hard man to bargain with. A young woman is trying to talk him down on the price of quart bags of chile. Farmers get testy, understandably, in these situations, as shoppers try to save a few cents at the farmer’s expense. Romero tells her no, multiple times, as casually as if they were discussing the weather, with dispassionate softness in his voice. Asked if he ever loses his patience in moments like this, he replies, “It’s just part of the world. You just have to deal with it. Everyone wants it for less.” Noticing he had an audience, Romero pivots boisterously into a story about buying his pickup truck, and the hard bargain he drove to get it. When the market is over, Romero parks his truck around the corner from Il Piatto for an informal, evening market in which chefs come by looking for discounted prices on what’s left. Whatever remains, he gives away, thousands of pounds of food over the course of a season, to organizations like the Food Depot and Food Angels. Finally, a bit dazed and weary from the work of feeding Santa Fe, Romero sits down at the bar at Il Piatto for some food of his own. It’s a hero’s dinner, a meal in which he couldn’t avoid eating his own food if he tried. www.mattromerofarms.com Ari LeVaux writes Flash in the Pan, a syndicated weekly food column that has appeared in more than fifty newspapers in twentyfive states.

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Il Piatto BEST RESTAURANT

By Ari LeVaux 路 Photos by Rick Scibelli

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

A meal at Il Piatto is like a walk through the farmers market, but from a seated position with piped-in jazz and wine from a custom built cave. Chef Matt Yohalem, owner of Il Piatto, stands at the north end of the Santa Fe Farmers Market, ready to have some fun. His idea of a good time: bantering with the farmers that grow food for his restaurant. Since he began restaurateuring in Santa Fe, Yohalem has fostered this market through patronage, and a chef ’s brand of tough love. When he first started buying locally for his restaurants eighteen years ago, he wasn’t trying to save the world. He was out to get the best produce for his restaurants. Then he found himself in relationships with the farmers, and caring about what they care about.

Matt Romero eats at Il Piatto every Saturday, after a round of deliveries that follow the market. His favorite dish? “What I consider the most iconic and tasteful is Bolognese,” Romero says, after a moment’s consideration.

Classically trained, Yohalem cooked around the world, at thirtynine restaurants by his count, before arriving in Santa Fe to open his first, the French wine bar and restaurant 315, which he still owned when he opened Il Piatto in 1996. “I’m really a French chef. I just happened to open an Italian restaurant because I didn’t want to compete against myself.”

Yohalem likes to show up to market early, where he chats with farmers about what’s happening in the market and the fields. Sometimes Romero prepares him a VIP breakfast of fried eggs with sunsetred yolks, pigmented by the red chile scraps Romero feeds his hens.

Personality wise, the Italian restaurant is a better fit. Stocky, with a New York accent, tiny shades, and long sleeve V-neck to match, Yohalem puts his whole body into his gesticulations. From a distance he looks more like someone auditioning for "Jersey Shore" than one of the most highly acclaimed chefs in Santa Fe and a load-bearing member of the local culinary landscape. Yohalem estimates that he spends $100,000 over the course of a growing season on products from the Santa Fe Farmers Market, and other local farmers. “The biggest cut goes to this guy,” he says, jerking his head toward Matt Romero. Romero stands by his chile roaster, grinning, eager to take full credit for all of Yohalem’s accomplishments. One that he can lay claim to, with which Yohalem won’t argue, is the creeping presence of chile at Il Piatto. Six years ago, Yohalem wouldn’t hear of putting chile in his food, arguing that traditional Italian food does not include it. But he has come around. Northern New Mexico is where he cooks, so he uses what’s grown here. “What grows together goes together, whether it’s Provençal, Piedmont, Tuscany, or northern New Mexico,” he says. “We’ve been allowing the food to get a little more spicy as we embrace the flavors, and not just the products of the region.” This embrace includes an annual trip to South Mountain Dairy, where Yohalem and his wife make a year’s supply of goat pecorino for the restaurant.

“Really?” Yohalem asks, startled. “I thought it would be the duck pappardelle.” “I like that one, too,” Romero concedes.

When market is over, Yohalem explains, Romero will “…come park his truck in front of the restaurant and have a three-hour show up. I’ll play fight with the other chefs over who gets the Nardellos—I do.” Jimmy Nardello sweet peppers look similar to a Cayenne—long, thin, and bright red. That look makes you think trouble, and the capsicum whiff when you bite suggests serious heat is coming, though it never does. Just when you’re cringing, ready to be slapped, Jimmy Nardello kisses you instead with pure sweetness. Jimmy Nardellos have become popular with Romero’s retail customers, as well as chefs. Yohalem, Romero says, first liked them because the name sounded “gangster.” Yohalem points to his 2008 visit to Romero’s farm as a pivotal moment in both of their careers. Romero was new to the market, and had been pestering Yohalem for business. When Yohalem accepted Romero’s invitation to his farm, he did not believe the farmer could provide the steady and consistent supply of immaculate produce he demanded for his kitchen. Nor did he want to stifle direct retail sales at the farmers market, believing his restaurant’s demand could buy up all the supply a small farm like Romero’s had to offer. “We get out there, and he’s trying to convince me he can grow enough to meet my needs, and says, 'Let me show you my wife’s salad garden.' I kind of rolled my eyes behind my sunglasses, but he’s a nice guy, I figured I’d humor him.” When Yohalem saw the abundance in that salad garden, he had to give Romero a chance.

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Since then, the farmer and the chef have become business partners, civic co-conspirators, and even hunting buddies, though Yohalem says he’s more of a meat hauler and camp cook than hunter. “Growing up, hunting was what we did when some guy took my bike and I got my crew together to go find it.” Il Piatto is both high-end elegance and casual roughness, simultaneously, kind of like Santa Fe itself. A scruffy dude in muddy Carhartts sits at the bar, noshing pasta, while two well-dressed lovers steal a kiss at a corner table. The dim lighting encourages private moments, even within a boisterous dining room that fills up early for (half-price appetizers) happy hour. A meal at Il Piatto is like a walk through the farmers market, but from a seated position with piped-in jazz and wine from a custom built cave. The food is quietly sophisticated but understated, like you might dream about finding in some Italian village. Beautiful, but functional, it aims to fill your belly rather than tap dance on your plate with a feather boa. Plates emerge from the kitchen. A house-made lemon ricotta cheese complements heirloom tomatoes from market. Coarse, creamy, and partially curdled, the cheese is rustic, like an old stone barn. It is a simple and worthy complement to the tomatoes, as leaves of basil bridge the flavors, and wisps of mizuna garnish the plate. Romero’s golden cauliflower, slow roasted with brown butter, sage, and pine nuts, finds its way to a table. The duck pappardelle lives up to its reputation a as farmer Romero top-pick. A thin, red wine mascarpone jus lends a buttery coating to the house-made flat wide noodles. Yohalem makes the jus by braising shallots and local duck, including some off-cuts, until soft. Some duck bits hang onto enough texture to necessitate an actual chew, and a sip of red wine perfects the experience. Yohalem watches from the bar, by the door next to the kitchen, like the captain of a ship, as he does nearly every night, three hundred sixty-three days a year. “We’re only closed for Zozobra and Thanksgiving,” he says. “Nobody wants to eat Italian on Thanksgiving.” 95 West Marcy, Santa Fe, 505-984-1091, www. ilpiattosantafe.com

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

©Edible Pix

Santa Fe Farmers Market BEST RETAIL

By Joseph Mora · Photo by Rick Scibelli

Paolo Speirn, Market Manager Do not simply follow in the footsteps of the ancients; seek what they sought. - Basho. The Santa Fe Farmers Market bustled with business in the ripening hours of a recent Saturday morning amid garlic, squash, and several shades of peppers. Sporadic bursts of hot pink and deep, ruby-red dahlias occasionally punctuated the space, lending an exotic vibe to the occasion. As I walked the market with manager Paolo Speirn, we discussed the various vendors and the market's long-term plans. At a lull in the conversation, Paolo turned quietly inward, looking off in the direction of the freight trains parked along the market and added, "When I get here at about 4am, I really get a quality of timelessness to this place. It's like I can feel this connection with the past—a kind of continuity." Since 1610, La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís, or, Santa Fe, has served as the capital of New Mexico. The Spanish settled in an area originally inhabited by several smaller native pueblos, and they chose it because it fulfilled the Ordinances for the

Discovery and New Populations in the Indies, a set of laws instituted for the settling of the Americas developed in 1573 by Castilian King Don Felipe. Ordinance #35 of said document states, "New settlements should be in fertile areas with an abundance of fruits and fields, of good land to plant and harvest, or grasslands to grow livestock, of mountains and forests for wood and building material for homes and edifices, and of good and plentiful water supply for drinking and irrigation." The market's rows of neatly stacked produce serve as a reminder of centuries past, as well as example of a vibrant present still rooted in tradition. As the midday hour crept up, Paolo excused himself to deal with the day's business and I slowly meandered the market. Potatoes in every shade from blue, red, and gold, and in various shapes and sizes overflowed from stalls. Suddenly, I found myself in front of the Gemini Farms booth. From high up in the centuries-old community of Las Trampas, between Truchas and Jicarita Peaks, Gemini Farms’ Brett Ellison and Alexis Elton have coaxed treasures from the soil for several years

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now, as well as from a sister plot at Rancho Manzana, a stone's throw from the consecrated sanctuary of Chimayó. Young and vivacious, they have taken on the strenuous work of the farm, their intent vividly evident in their peppers, tomatoes, basil, carrots, and beets. "We're ambassadors of an old way of doing things," Alexis stated frankly from her seat on the open tailgate of a red truck. "I see farming as an ephemeral process." She quickly added, "A form of art." Their way of farming is part of a creative DIY culture that draws on the old and imagines something new. At the tidy and well-detailed Red Mountain Farm stall, Jeff Nitz and Clare Price patiently waited for their next customer as the market winds down. We talked about the challenges of farming their twenty acres in Abiquiu, which it turns out, are few. According to Nitz, the challenge isn't growing the produce, but selling it. Though they sell at Taos and Santa Fe farmers markets, as well as distributing through Beneficial Farms CSA, Nitz plaintively explained, "Our greatest challenge is in selling everything we grow." If just one person on every block in Santa Fe would join our CSA, then we'd be making money," Jeff bluntly states. He explained that going through a larger distributor neither pays as much as market retail prices, nor what he feels his vegetables are worth. While the farming is good, the future seems unclear. At another booth, Stanley Crawford momentarily idled under the shade of his El Bosque Garlic Farm tent. I asked him about the prospect of keeping tradition alive in agriculture, looking to the future. While

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

he acknowledged that time-honored localized knowledge helped him immensely upon his arrival to the Embudo Valley in 1969, he reflects, "Culture is what you do. It's not something from the past." He follows with talk of new paradigms and climate change. Stanley seems to have figured out long ago that in order to be able to usher old traditions into the future; it is good to consult those who have walked the path before us, and also to take that information and apply it to the situation at hand. The Santa Fe Farmers Market represents a beautiful merging of living tradition, innovation, and creativity. Later that day on the drive home to Taos, I weighed all the differing perspectives and approaches to agriculture I ran across that day. I was reminded of Basho's advice to follow in the footsteps of the ancients, but to seek what they sought. In other words, be guided by the past, but imagine a future that holds the fruits of what experience has proven to be valuable—and take action by incorporating them. By actively engaging as a consumer or producer of local food you manifest a future rooted in tradition and innovative in its own right—the proof of that is evident at Santa Fe Farmers Market. 1607 Paseo De Peralta, Santa Fe, www.santafefarmersmarket.com Joseph Mora's restaurant career has spanned twenty years in the front of the house as a waiter, manager, sommelier, and maître'd. He studied at the Culinary Institute of America's Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at Greystone, where he was awarded a Robert Parker Scholarship. In 2008 he was recognized as a Certified Wine Professional by the CIA, and has since gone on to specialize in biodynamic viticulture.

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Toasting the future, a third generation of local winemakers builds on a tradition.

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

Gruet

BEST BEVERAGE ARTISAN By Valerie Ashe · Photos by Stephanie Cameron

In the historical novel Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather tells the journey of French bishop Jean Marie LaTour (based on reallife bishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy) and his French friend, vicar Joseph Vaillant, as they establish the first Catholic diocese in New Mexico in the 1850s. In the story, the clergymen long for the fine wine of their homeland, so they bring back vine cuttings from France in an attempt to grow wine for the Eucharist—as well as their enjoyment—while enduring harsh conditions and cultural isolation during their time in New Mexico. Their vines eventually produce grapes and they are able to make a rudimentary wine to suit their needs. However, they lack the winemaking expertise to propagate the skill among their parishioners. In 1984, another remarkable Frenchman journeyed to New Mexico to make wine. Against all odds, and unlike his historic predecessors, he established an award-winning reputation for his wines in just two short decades. Gilbert Gruet, a rags-to-riches Champagne winemaker from the village of Bethon, France, fatefully stumbled upon fellow European winemakers while on vacation in New Mexico in the early eighties. Since then, the Gruet family has established a thriving local business that now distributes wine to almost every state in the United States. When Gilbert’s family moved from France to New Mexico, Sofian Himeur, his grandson, was three weeks old. Gilbert and his family lived in trailers as they literally started Gruet Winery from the ground up. Now a man of twenty-nine years, Sofian acts as the winery’s marketing director. His vision, shared with his young cousins Laura and Geoffrey, is to elevate Gruet’s—and New Mexico’s—profile internationally. According to Sofian, they want to create a brand identity that is internationally recognizable as New Mexican. When people see Gruet, they should know it’s from New Mexico. Sofian began working in the family business at age eighteen. He says, “My grandfather has been my inspiration and my idol in life. Since an early age I have wanted to follow his footsteps at the winery.”

He endearingly calls his twenty-one-year-old cousin Laura Gruet, “our little world traveler,” and the Gruet family member most poised to be the winery’s future business director. Laura attends the International Studies Program at the University of New Mexico and has studied and worked in France and Panama in recent years. International travel has opened her eyes to opportunities to grow the family business. Laura’s brother Geoffrey Gruet, nineteen, is the winemaker-in-training. He currently assists his father Laurent in making the winery’s portfolio of nine sparkling wines and three still wines, carefully following the rigorous traditions and standards of wine making developed in Champagne. Sofian, Laura, and Geoffrey all strive for excellence on a daily basis, and pride themselves on making quality wines locally. Not long ago, sparkling wine used to be a luxury item, available only to a privileged few. Now, Gruet produces a quality product and offers it at a great value to many. In the August 31, 2007, issue of Wine Spectator magazine, wine writer Matt Kramer gushed, “I'm willing to bet that you can put [Gruet sparkling wines] in a blind tasting with bubblies three times [the] price and they'll hold their own.” In 2014, Gruet will celebrate twentyfive years since the winery released its first vintage in New Mexico, a milestone that would make their grandfather—and those French clergymen from Willa Cather’s New Mexico—exceedingly proud. 8400 Pan American Freeway NE, Albuquerque, 505-821-0055, www.gruetwinery.com Valerie Ashe is a freelance writer and co-owner of Thunderhead Farms in Bosque Farms, New Mexico. She earned a Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 3 Award Certificate in Napa, California, in 2004, and has taught wine education classes in the San Francisco Bay Area. Valerie has visited and worked in many major wine producing regions of the world, including Champagne. WWW.EDIBLESANTAFE.COM

Sparkling Wine Cocktail Recipes for the Holidays

FRENCH 75

CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL

sparkling, lemony drink traditionally prepared with gin, but New Orleans mixologists prefer cognac. Ice 1 ½ ounces or gin or VSOP cognac (try local Wheeler’s Gin, by Santa Fe Spirits) ½ ounce simple syrup ½ ounce fresh lemon juice Gruet Extra Dry sparkling wine, chilled

ill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the gin or cognac, simple syrup and lemon juice and shake well. Strain into a martini glass, top with sparkling wine, and serve.

ften cited as one of the oldest “original” cocktails, unaltered through the generations, the champagne cocktail makes its appearance in many cinema classics such as Casablanca. This cocktail ranks high in the repertoire of most modern-day bartenders. 1 sugar cube 3 dashes of Angostura bitters Gruet Brut sparkling wine, chilled 1 lemon twist for garnish

lace the sugar cube in a Champagne glass. Sprinkle the sugar cube with the bitters and fill the glass with sparkling wine. Garnish with the lemon twist before serving.

POIRE WILLIAM CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL

oire William is an eau de vie (water of life), or double-distilled fruit brandy, made from the Williams pear, known as the Bartlett pear in the United States. It is generally served chilled as an after-dinner drink. Some producers of Poire William include an entire pear inside each bottle by attaching the bottle to a budding pear tree so the pear will grow inside. If Poire William is unavailable, try any pear or fruit brandy for this recipe. ¼ cup sugar ¼ cup plus 4 teaspoons Poire William (French pear brandy) Gruet Blanc de Noirs sparkling wine, chilled 1 small pear

n a small saucepan, heat sugar and quarter cup Poire William over medium heat until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and cool syrup. Spoon 1 ½ tablespoons syrup into each of four Champagne glasses and add 1 teaspoon Poire William brandy to each glass. Add sparkling wine to each glass until full and stir well. Slice pear lengthwise into thin slices, add a slice to each cocktail, and serve.

Recipes provided by Valerie Ashe

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

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La Cumbre BEST BEVERAGE ARTISAN

By Andrea Fuecht · Photo by Sergio Salvador

Jeff “El Jefe” Erway knows what he wants out of his three-year-old brewery, La Cumbre Brewing Company, but he is the first to admit that marketing know-how is best left to someone else. He says with a chuckle, “I’m a brewer, not a branding genius.” And yet, this unassuming guy has already built himself a niche and a loyal following in Albuquerque’s craft brewing scene, with more creativity emerging each brew cycle. Eighteen months after La Cumbre unleashed its award-winning Elevated IPA in lovely Zia-bedecked cans, the time had come to release a second canned beer. Jeff chose A Slice of Hefen as the perfect follow-up, because it is La Cumbre’s second most popular beer. This Belgian-style beer has personality fit for sunny skies and open-toed shoes, featuring aromas of banana and cloves.

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

Business plans, however, take time to implement, which means fans will drink cans of A Slice of Hefen under the clear blue heavens of...December. Jeff delivers a sheepish grin on cue, but it is backed confidence: he knows loyal customers will snap up those cans no matter what the season. True to his I’m-no-good-at-timing theory, he shares, “Our Malpais Stout will come out right at the heart of summer. Peak stout weather.” Timing issues are little-picture problems. The story of Jeff Erway and La Cumbre Brewing is full of big-picture wins and serendipitous adventures that led him inevitably to his current success. Before La Cumbre, Jeff simply appreciated beer. Like a snappy tune, one could say that a well-balanced sip of beer has musical elements: the hoppy chorus line, the bitter backbeat, the notes of spice

Like a snappy tune, one could say that a well-balanced sip of beer has musical elements: the hoppy chorus line, the bitter backbeat, the notes of spice or citrus that play on the tongue. or citrus that play on the tongue. Appropriately, before becoming a brewer Jeff taught elementary school music. He taught in the redhued scenery of Churchrock, New Mexico; he remembers those five years fondly, saying, “Life was so much quieter, so much less complicated. I’d walk three blocks to my classroom at 7:30, and at 3:30 I’d come home and brew beer.” During those years Jeff grew his beer palate by beer-hopping abroad, experimenting with what he learned in his homebrews. Jeff fell in love with the epicenter of craft beer, Belgium. His eyes still sparkle when he recalls his impressions, “Beer is to Belgium what wine is to France. There are a thousand brands of beer for a population of ten million. They make many unique beers, many of them beverages that for most folks are learned tastes. You’re not going to taste some of those potently sour brews the first time and say, ‘Mmmm.’ In some cases not even the tenth time!” With several years of homebrewing and travel under his belt, Jeff looked to take his craft to the next level. He spoke with Ted Rice, Chama River Brewery’s head brewer, who suggested that Jeff formally train at the American Brewers’ Guild. Ted hired Jeff immediately after his graduation because he wanted to groom his replacement, with plans to leave Chama River to found Marble Brewery. Jeff excelled as Chama’s head brewer, taking home several craft beer festival awards for IPA and stout beers before getting Rice-like thoughts of his own. He trained Justin Hamilton to take the head brewer helm, and near the end of 2010, La Cumbre was born. Initially, Jeff just wanted to brew beer under his own name. But his beer is magic: the first year he brewed and sold thirteen hundred barrels—that’s more than three hundred thousand pints—all in glasses or growlers. Concept proven, Jeff set his goal at a hundred percent growth for the following year. He produced three thousand barrels, and looks to follow suit in 2013 with six thousand. Proud of his numbers, Jeff repeats with awe, “That was not my goal when we opened! Looking back on things, I’m just ecstatic that I’m not bankrupt and destitute.” Far from it—his employees have health care, and he takes vacations when and if he can tear himself away from the shiny tanks of liquid bread. And growth is still on Jeff’s mind, with plans to maximize current space shooting for twenty thousand barrels annually.

As for recent tap endeavors, Jeff has created Project Dank, an enterprise to create intensely hop-forward beers, using untested-bybrewers hop varieties from the United States, New Zealand, and South Africa. Even the hop-acquisition was luck of the draw: a seller approached Jeff and La Cumbre with some unusual South African hops. Jeff bought up nearly the whole lot, with the remainder going to Marble Brewery and Il Vicino, although those breweries have not taken it to quite the “dank” level of La Cumbre. Jeff brewed Dunkelweizen at the end of September, and started pouring it near the end of October. Also in the works, Jeff happily divulged news of the first La Cumbre bottling—a Belgian-style quadruple with strong flavors and high alcohol by volume. Mug Club members get one as part of their membership, and everyone else has to line up for the honor of drinking the cacao-heavy, almost dessertlike beer. Even with all his projects, Jeff still finds time for travel. Every fall for the last ten years, he has made the trip to the Great American Beer Festival (www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com), to perform duties both as a judge and a competitor. This year Jeff took La Cumbre’s South Peak Pilsner, Second Anniversary, and a recent niche beer in Project Dank called Operation Pharaoh's Return, along with previous award winners, Elevated IPA and Malpais Stout. The Operation Pharaoh's Return earned a Bronze medal, making 2013 a success. Jeff Erway built La Cumbre and is proud of its quality and reputation. He notes that the La Cumbre system is a near perfect balance of supply and demand, “We are brewing as much beer as we possibly can right now, and selling all of it.” That is something on which to hang your hat. 3313 Grand NE, Albuquerque, 505-872-0225 www.lacumbrebrewingcompany.com Once upon a time, Andrea Feucht woke up to the realization that she was obsessed with food and was a decent writer to boot. For nearly a decade she has been writing freelance, crafting tales of food personalities and casting a critical eye on restaurants. Her work appears locally and nationally, and her first book was published in October by Globe Pequot Press: "The Food Lovers' Guide to Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Taos." Find Andrea and her book at fb.me/foodloversnm.

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Old Windmill Dairy BEST FOOD ARTISAN

By Lisa Brown 路 Photos by Stephanie Cameron

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

They handled their goats carefully, and the goats took care of people, in turn, by producing superior milk.

Though a taste of Old Windmill Dairy’s wasabi chevre may inspire you to want to know how they created that addictive creamy zest, it’s why Ed and Michael Lobaugh do what they do that makes the cheese so satisfying to mind and body. Ed spent summers on his grandparents small goat farm in Twentynine Palms, California, during elementary and middle school. Though work was hard, he learned that caring for his community through caring for the animals and the land provided him a connection to the world that he did not experience anywhere else. When Michael, Ed’s partner of twenty-five years, suggested they get back to the land by growing alfalfa, Ed proposed something else: goats and a dairy. Ed had just graduated from nursing school, and Michael was increasingly dissatisfied with his management job with Marriott. Michael sensed he did not control his destiny; he had lost respect for his work; he lacked a connection to the natural world; and he relied on medications to treat depression and high blood pressure. With getting healthy in mind, Ed recalled that his grandparents’ farm succeeded in nurturing its customers by providing them healthy products created from a healthy source. They handled their goats carefully, and the goats took care of people, in turn, by producing superior milk. Many of his grandparents’ customers had digestive problems and could not handle cow milk. Ed remembers one who shared, “This is what’s keeping me alive.” Now Old Windmill Dairy keeps Ed and Michael alive. At the end of a long day, Ed, who still works full-time as a nurse practitioner with youths and families experiencing mental health challenges, simply wants to sit with the goats. He can feel their warmth, he says. He tells the story of Franny, one of their first goats, who would not leave the stanchion after milking without giving them “kisses” before she stepped down. Even better, Michael no longer needs medication for his high blood pressure and his depression naturally melted away.

Ed and Michael’s mission for the farm is to provide a sense of community by sharing the satisfaction they find in caring for their livestock. In 2002 when they first bought their land, they had already begun by working with other farmers in Estancia. Early on, they fostered a relationship with Schwebach Farms. Ed and Michael soon reaped the benefits of their neighbors’ tractor. The rain collection pool Schwebach dug saved their land from becoming a bog during heavy monsoons this past summer. As they built fences and barns, Ed and Michael began to patronize the local hardware store. When they got their first goats, they went to the local feed store. Now feed for the whole herd is not only purchased, but also grown in Estancia. Old Windmill builds community by providing benefits to young people with mental health issues through its adopt-a-goat program. The farm is a natural playground, Ed says, and the goats give the youth unconditional love. These relationships help young people with mental health issues form bonds because they don’t need to articulate everything they’re feeling; they can express themselves through affection and fun. The young people learn to bottle feed kids, and give them names. They gain a sense of responsibility through caring for the animals. This kind of farm therapy doesn’t just stop with young people, Ed explains—a friend and DEA agent who needs relief from her stressful job finds it at Old Windmill when she visits her goat. For Ed and Michael, part of building community has been facing challenges as a gay couple. Ed recounts a story about someone who worked on the farm for a summer. Unaware that Ed and Michael were married, he was visibly enlightened, and a little red faced, when Ed sent anniversary roses to Michael at the dairy. Recent developments making gay marriage legal in more places, including New Mexico indicate progress, and make talking about their relationship with friends and neighbors easier. Ed and Michael were legally married in Ontario in 2005, though years earlier they had a church ceremony. Until now they have struggled to get insurance together through Ed’s work and other benefits that married couples enjoy. Changes in federal law assure that things will be different this year. WWW.EDIBLESANTAFE.COM

But some things are the same for Ed and Michael as for any married couple working together. “It’s hard not to always talk about work when we’re together,” Ed says, “and we needed to learn to critique each other gently.” Finally, after six years in the business, they have the time and capacity to take vacations together. For them, it is important to carefully differentiate their roles and responsibilities on the farm in pursuit of their mission. While Michael’s role is much more hands-on (until recently he was the primary cheese-maker), Ed actively shares his passion for the animals and the land. He builds community through a deep appreciation for a healthy and delicious artisan product. Ed loves that they offer something nutritious and locally made. He spends time educating the public, and imparts what he understands, from personal experience, about lactose intolerance. He claims that the source of a product makes a huge difference. “Artisan cheeses are something completely different from machine made. And goat milk to cow milk is entirely something else.” Harkening back to lessons from his grandparents’ farm, Ed believes the body can digest artisan products more easily, especially when made with goat milk. In this role, the dairy gives him a sense of being needed in his community.

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

In the past year they have taken on another cheese-maker and fulltime employee, making it easier for Ed and Michael to incorporate feedback from their patrons. When he sells at the Downtown Growers Market in Albuquerque, cheese-maker Miles Wilkes receives comments from customers and suggests new recipes based on what they want. Ed and Michael enjoy the challenge. Proof they are up for it is in their award-winning blue cheese, Manzano Blue Moon. Producing a bloomy rind cheese from goat milk is tricky because it tends to get soft and become acidic. In 2005, Ed sent Old Windmill's very first wheel of blue cheese off to an American Dairy Goat Association contest in Oklahoma. The cheese took a blue ribbon. “I didn’t even get to taste it,” sighs Ed. Find these other goat milk cheeses at La Montañita Co-op, the Downtown Growers Market, Santa Fe Famers Market, and Whole Foods. 505-384-0033, www.oldwindmilldairy.com Lisa Brown is a water rights lawyer-turned farmer who lives and works in Corrales, New Mexico. You can contact her at lisadb@q.com.

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The Supper Truck BEST FOOD TRUCK

By Emily J. Beenen · Photo by Sergio Salvador

Tucked into a café table by the window in the bustling Nob Hill Satellite, Amy Black, owner and founder of Supper Truck, sits about a foot across from me. Her face and body express an energetic juxtaposition I often see in teachers, chefs, mothers—those who work relentlessly because of an inexplicable dedication and passion. Amy is clearly tired, but exudes a vibrant energy. A twinkle in her eye confirms her kid-like yearning for fun, but at times disparagement tinges her voice—the sound of hope and reality crashing into each other. She checks her phone, shifts in her chair and smiles what I’ve come to recognize as her signature Supper smile that says, go ahead, try me, I’ve got this. “So,” she asks brightly, “what do you want to know?”

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

It was not always about owning a food truck. Amy’s dream of opening her own business grew from a dislike of authority and a corresponding desire to be in control of things. “I’ve had about a million ideas,” she responds when I inquire for examples, “I was going to open a climbing gym—I’m not a good climber at all, but I did really like it, and then we moved to the flattest place in the world [South Carolina], where my house was like fourteen feet above sea level. I’ve also thought about having a cool, swanky salon, a T-shirt company, a cooking store…oh and I have a blog that I’d like to turn into a book called Panda vs. Sloth that I hope might be a bestseller at Urban Outfitters.”

And so the bright yellow truck that resembles sunshine on wheels was born, with big, red-lipsticked letters spelling out Supper, not unlike the smile often seen on Amy’s face. After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta, Amy moved to Berkeley, California and for years she tried to make herself do “real jobs”. Mainly she worked in the outdoor industry (think stand-up paddleboarding, surfing, kayaking), which might sound adventurous, except she assisted the head buyer on the manufacturing side of things and sat at desk and looked at the clock about five thousand times a day. But in Berkeley the food truck seed was planted, and when Amy and her husband Craig moved to Charleston so he could attend medical school, she thought it was the place to make it happen—except when medical school and food truck dreams arm-wrestled, well, the need for a stable job won. She worked for Half-Moon Outfitters, which Amy refers to as the best specialty outdoor shop in the nation. It served as a beacon for management style and customer service: caring for and connecting with employees, making an effort to be above industry standards, and valuing good communication. So when Albuquerque welcomed Amy and Craig to its doorstep in 2011, Supper Truck was due for germination. After a year of delicious rejuvenation, freedom, and anonymity in New Mexico, Amy was antsy to get started and ready to see one of her ideas to fruition. Food excites Amy; she likes the dynamic nature of food, fast paced service and retail, and being hands on. “We get to create it, whereas in the outdoor industry other people are making things and I had to sell them,” she explains. And so the bright yellow truck that resembles sunshine on wheels was born, with big, red-lipsticked letters spelling out Supper, not unlike the smile often seen on Amy’s face. Supper features a variety of food previously unavailable in Albuquerque—Southern fusion, a nod to Amy’s familial roots as well as her time spent in South Carolina. Menu items like shrimp and grits are as ubiquitous in Southern cuisine as our breakfast burrito. “I realized after watching tons of Food Network, I should just cook what I know. Or conceptualize what I know…I should not be on the line cooking, but make it more modern and edgy. This is not Granny’s Southern kitchen.” Hence, her delectable menu includes Fried Chicken Bahn Mi Sandwich and the Croque Gagnet (Andouille sausage version of the croquet monsieur). Part of Amy’s vision includes more communal eating so she introduced Big Pot Wednesdays (every other week at Marble Brewery), featuring Southern culinary traditions like jambalaya, a low country boil (summer in South Carolina), a chicken bog, a fish fry, and this winter we can look forward to an oyster roast (winter in South Carolina).

Amy and the Supper Truck crew can never be accused of taking themselves too seriously. They weave as much goofiness into their daily routines as possible. In addition to Big Pot Wednesdays, she hosts Check Yo Self Thursdays, where checking in with a mobile device gets you a dollar off. You can also participate in Haiku Tuesdays; she gives social media followers a topic, they comment in haiku form, she picks a winner to the tune of a free entrée and haiku master status bragging rights. After a welcome but inordinate amount of rain this summer, this customer won those rights with the following: Are you kidding me?/I don’t own an umbrella./I’m from Burque. Tuesdays are also Tasty—an event that brings friends and neighbors together at Hyder Park. Amy recalls looking out at this slice of lush, green reprieve, watching little kids tumbling around and everyone eating, thinking this is exactly what I envisioned. Fortified by the success of Tasty, Amy, in partnership with another food truck, Boiler Monkey, created the grassroots event Films and Food Trucks at Bataan Memorial Park featuring kids-of-the-eighties films like Goonies and Ghostbusters. The kids of the eighties came, and brought their kids, and invited their friends, who brought their kids, making the whole thing a big community hit. When Supper’s not bringing folks to the food, you can find them cooking up grits for hungry beer drinkers outside three mainstays: La Cumbre, Tractor, and Marble breweries. “Food trucking is not for the faint of heart,” Amy confesses. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Being out in the elements all the time is wearing and psychologically difficult.” But she has proven herself, surviving a first long, cold winter last year, and working hard to be consistent for her customers. She would get up at 4:30am every morning, go out to the truck with a blow dryer to defrost pipes for two hours because everything froze. She explains how she struggled to be open every day. Despite demoralizing days she felt awesome when a regular told her, “I think it’s good you stayed and stuck it out, because people notice those things.” Her relentless spirit and great food mean, these days, Supper Truck gets noticed all over Albuquerque these days. www.ilovesupper.com Emily Beenen is a humanities teacher and instructional coach at The Native American Community Academy as well as mother to Nina and Sam.

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He taught her that her actions affect everyone around her for good or ill...

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

Jaye Wilkinson BEST CHEF

By Gail Guengerich · Photo by Stephanie Cameron “Life is like pachinko. You think you’re going in one direction and end up going another. You’re happiest if you try not to fight it…” Jaye Wilkinson tells me over a late summer breakfast. By the time this article goes to press, Jaye Wilkinson, executive chef at Farm & Table, will have left her job and moved back home with her father in Santa Fe. If this doesn’t quite hew to the popular concept of chef as cutthroat careerist, you should know that Jaye does not fit many of the stereotypes. To wit: she calls herself a “pacifist” in the kitchen, favoring a more collaborative leadership model; holds the utmost respect for line cooks; and acknowledges that fine farm-to-table dining is not affordable on a daily basis for most people. For those cynics who wonder how the underpinning values of the slow food and farm-to-table movements—quality, sustainability, community and connection—play out in one’s actual life beyond food, I offer the story of Jaye and her father, Joseph Earl Wilkinson, or Dr. Joe to his friends, probably as a love story, possibly as a familiar tale. It begins at her father’s house, his Thai garden in the backyard flush with chiles and Kaffir limes and a steaming kettle of gumbo on the stove. Here Jaye grew to love food and behold its miraculous properties. Jaye worked through high school bussing tables at restaurants around Santa Fe, Coyote Cafe, Julian’s, Carlos’ Gospel Café. While she labored, her dad was at home doing something very smart (Take heed, parents of teenagers)—he fed Jaye’s friends.

tumor and seven tumors in his brain. The former software developer has a PhD in experimental psychology. He once trained monkeys, chimps, and baboons to fly airplanes, now he no longer remembers any of the passwords to his software. Jaye talks wryly of how the smartest man she knows is still smart enough to understand that he does not know what he used to. So Jaye will return home, where she will care for her father and, she hopes, transform the garden, the standing fruit trees, and relics of raised beds into a miniature farm. When Jaye first entertained the idea of becoming a professional chef, those in the business admonished, “Don’t do that, go do something else.” Her father, however, supported her decision. “He wanted me to go to college but realized that wouldn’t be valuable unless it was valuable to me.” She took off for Seattle, finding work at the Annex Theatre as a professional set builder and technical director. Jaye recites part of Annex’s manifesto “. . . dedicated to creating bold new work in an environment of improbability, resourcefulness, and risk.” This vision could apply to a gourmet farm-to-table kitchen just as well. While in Seattle, the scales tipped in favor of food rather than theater, and she returned to New Mexico as an accomplished chef with a degree from the Seattle Culinary Academy. That experience was seminal to Jaye’s wrapping her head around the concepts of how sustainable local food and community building can be achieved on a small scale. The entire school threw away only one bag of garbage per day.

“I’d come home from Carlos’ at 3pm and all twelve friends were still there (at our house) sitting around giant bowls of gumbo. He knew all of my friends, where I was at all times…My friends trusted him and always wanted to hang out there because he made good food.” His only professional training came as a line cook in high school, a position that Jaye calls “the hardest frickin’ job in the world.”

Jaye learned to consider the impact of even small things, like choosing what chicken to buy: the chicken at sixty-nine cents per pound that had God-knows-what happen to it to make it that cheap, or the local organic chicken at six dollars a pound. While certain people may label her a snob for buying the expensive chicken, she will make that chicken last for two weeks.

Jaye’s dad built relationships around the table, encouraging and mentoring her peers, and helping several of Jaye’s buddies through high school and into college. He also exposed Jaye to the full glories of the Santa Fe restaurant scene, dining out with his daughter frequently.

Her father helped build the foundation for these values, subtly. “He never proselytized,” says Jaye. He taught her that her actions affect everyone around her for good or ill—lying, showing up late, the food you choose to buy—all of these seemingly minute choices ripple outward.

Now Jaye’s dad operates with three-quarters of one lung, and impaired balance and cognition, He has survived a grapefruit-sized lung

Along with her father, Jaye is grateful to Kevin Davis, whom she worked for as a sous chef at Steelhead Diner in Seattle (and later with

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whom she partnered to open Blueacre Seafood), for inspiring the ethic that all food should be delicious—whether it’s fish and chips or salmon at forty dollars a plate. She gives a nod to Jonathan Perno at Los Poblanos who taught her artisanal food production skills like hands-on butchering. Leaving Farm & Table is not without a sense of loss. Jaye enjoyed strong chemistry with coworkers such as wine director Amy Haas, a woman Jaye simply refers to as “bad ass,” and Tracy Johnson, the pastry chef who Jaye says has a gift for ice creams and sorbets. “We work very well together. Almost too well,” says Jaye. “I look at her and say, ‘Jalapeno ice cream?’ She’ll go ‘Lime?’ I’ll say ‘Yes!’ And it’s done.” Jaye is particularly proud of their churros and rosewater dipping chocolate with candied rose petals for Farm & Table’s Cacao Dinner as another collaborative coup de foudre. She’ll miss other small joys, like taste testing twelve beers from Stone Brewing Company at 10:30 am on a Thursday morning as part of the job. She says sometimes it is hard work to be a chef, but she tries not to feel guilty about the amazing moments of pleasure that the job also provides. The days of mid-morning beer tasting may be over temporarily, but Jaye looks forward to the next phase of life. She does not see quitting her job at the age of thirty-seven as a disruption or a loss, but as an

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

opportunity to take care of a person who once took care of her. And she’s not fretting about her career. Jaye has some ideas planted in the soil already—food education in the form of podcasts, freelance instruction or teaching in the school system. She dreams of opening an old- fashioned corner store with the classic sections of meat, deli, and produce, where the only thing you can buy in jars would be crafted in-house. In the meantime, between pie-inthe-sky dreams and her present reality, Jaye plans on operating a mobile processing truck to help farmers preserve their surplus and make money with value-added products in the off-season. “It’s not that your goals change—your goals develop,” says Jaye in another statement that confounds the chef-as-control-freak image. “I’ve been working since I was twelve…I’ll be the same person, no matter what happens to Dad, on the other side.” Gail lives in Albuquerque where she writes for the food page of the Weekly Alibi. She has a three-year-old daughter who is already pretty good at stirring. (Not so good at cracking eggs.) Gail loves idiosyncratic creativity and believes the best thing about writing Euforkia for her ediblesantfe.com blog is meeting her enthusiastic and community-minded, food-crafty neighbors. She keeps a non-food related blog at spartanholiday.wordpress.com.

OF PLANTS THE SOUTHWEST www.plantsofthesouthwest.com

Explore a celebration of sight, sound, and activity for visitors of all ages. Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

For gift giving we have local handmade soaps, salves & lip balms, beeswax candles & ornaments, honey, cards, books, hand tools, seeds, and the always perfect gift certificate! Los Ranchos de Albuquerque: 6680 4th St. NW | 505.344.8830 Santa Fe: 3095 Agua Fria | 505.438.8888

Museum Hill in Santa Fe 路 505.476.1250 路 www.IndianArtsandCulture.org Above: Drum (Cochiti Pueblo), ca. 1930. Gift of Drs. Norman C. and Gilda M. Greenberg. Photo by Blair Clark.

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edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

Best Food Writers

DEBORAH MADISON, CHERYL ALTERS JAMISON, JOHNNY VEE By Sarah Wentzel-Fisher · Photos by Stephanie Cameron

At edible Santa Fe, we believe telling stories about local food is our most important job, so this year we added a new category to our Local Hero Awards—Best Local Food Writer. Those who write for edible Santa Fe bring diverse experiences and perspectives to their stories. Very few of our writers are exclusively writers. Most find their passions and professions in art, education, farming, entrepreneurship, and other fields. Our readers know best, so it's no surprise they chose not one, but three best local food writers—Cheryl Jamison, Deborah Madison, and Johnny Vee. I asked each of our winners to talk about why writing about local food is important to them, as well as to share a few of their favorite recipes. In their own words, each author reveals how they came to write about local food, how this practice contributes to building community and bolstering the local food movement, and what excites them about telling these stories.

Writing about food is about connecting—to our landscape, to our history as humans, to other people, to the climate, economy, nourishment, pleasure, and basically everything. -Deborah Madison DEBORAH MADISON Bantam Books asked me to write The Greens Cookbook, and that's what got me started writing about food. Once I wrote The Greens Cookbook I realized I liked writing and food was what I knew, but I wanted to be able to write in a personal way—there is no first person pronoun in The Greens Cookbook. I went on to write The Savory Way and ten other books, each inspired by something different—the need for a big source book, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone; my interest in farmers markets, Local Flavors; the notion of seasonal fruits, Seasonal Fruit Desserts; and most recently, Vegetable Literacy. In l976 I was in rural Scotland with a writer friend. We drove through a rather bleak area, and were cold and hungry, so we stopped at an inn for lunch. Though it was not open, the cook agreed to feed us. As we sat in the dining room I looked out to the kitchen garden and saw potato plants, Brussels sprouts and cabbages, and beyond that a small lake. Our food arrived on an enormous platter—mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, cooked cabbage and roasted fish. This was long before we talked about eating locally or eating from our landscape, but there it was, the perfect mirroring of the land in the meal. That experience immediately became my North Star.

Writing about food is about connecting—to our landscape, to our history as humans, to other people, to the climate, economy, nourishment, pleasure, and basically everything. Here we live close to drought in good times, in drought in not so good times. For the moment local agriculture is vibrant. Food writing can make us pay attention to what we have, what we stand to lose if we don't make changes (and even if we do), and the need to rethink many of our habits surrounding food and farming: what to eat, and how to grow it and preserve it. In the end, local food is our best chance for eating well. By well I mean possibly free of GMOs and pesticides, as well as considerations of taste, flavor, texture, and overall deliciousness. Eating locally also connects us to the rural landscape and those who live there—human, animal, and botanical—it has the possibility of keeping wealth in our community, and allows us to become regional humans connected to a foodscape and a watershed. Those who write about local food from the perspective they have, whether it's about farming or cooking or protecting acequias or identifying ancient apple trees, contribute to our lives as dwellers in a particular locale. Writing informs us so that we can shift from general foods to particular foods, those foods of our region, where we live.

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CARROT ALMOND CAKE WITH RICOTTA CREAM Serves 8 Cake 4 tablespoons butter, plus more for the pan 1½ cups finely ground almonds, preferably blanched Finely grated zest of 2 lemons ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar 1¼ cups unbleached cake flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 4 large eggs (5 or 6 small farm eggs) ¼ teaspoon almond extract Scant 2 cups grated carrots Ricotta cream sauce 1 cup ricotta cheese 1 cup sour cream 2 tablespoons honey Grated zest of 1 lemon Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting Heat the oven to 375° F. Melt the 4 tablespoons butter and set it aside to cool. Pulse the almonds with the lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar in a food processor. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and then dust sides with some of the almond mixture. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Using an electric mixer, beat together eggs and remaining ¾ cup sugar on high speed until foamy and thick, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add remaining ground almond mixture, almond extract, and finally the flour mixture, incorporating it just until well mixed. Pour the cooled butter over the batter and then quickly fold it in, followed by the carrots. Scrape batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and put the cake in the center of the oven. Lower heat to 350° F and bake until the cake is springy to the touch in the center, lightly browned, and beginning to pull away from the sides, 40 – 45 minutes. Let cool completely in its pan, then release the spring and slide the cake onto a platter. To make the ricotta cream, work together the ricotta, sour cream, honey, and zest by hand or with a mixer until smooth. Taste and add more of any of the ingredients, if needed. The cream will thin out as it sits. Just before serving, dust the cake with the confectioners’ sugar. Serve the sauce alongside. 42

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

RYE-HONEY CAKE WITH FIVE-SPICE POWDER AND DATES

GRILLED OR GRIDDLED RADICCHIO WITH GORGONZOLA AND WALNUTS

Serves 8

Serves 6 – 8

5 tablespoons butter, melted 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan 1 cup rye flour ⅓ cup turbinado sugar 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 tablespoon five-spice powder ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg ½ to ⅔ cup honey 2 eggs ¼ cup kefir or buttermilk ⅔ cup chopped Medjool dates Bake this cake in an 8-inch fluted tart pan with removable 2-inch sides or in a round gratin dish of the same size. Heat the oven to 350° F. Brush the pan with some of the melted butter, then dust it with extra flour. Tap out any extra flour. Whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, five-spice powder, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together honey, eggs, remaining butter, and kefir. Pour the honey mixture into the flour mixture and combine them quickly using a rubber spatula and a light touch. Add the dates and fold it in. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. If you’ve used a tart pan with a removable bottom, gently push the cake, while still hot from the oven, upward to free it from the pan, as the honey can be sticky and cause it to adhere to the pan. Cool completely on a rack before serving. Note: Increase baking temperature by 25° F for high altitude. Generally, cakes are done when springy to the touch in the center.

2 medium-to-large heads Chioggia radicchio Olive oil, for brushing Walnut oil Salt and pepper 2 ounces Gorgonzola Dolcelatte or other blue cheese, crumbled 8 walnuts, shelled and broken into large pieces Aged balsamic vinegar, to finish Cut the radicchio into wedges about 2 inches thick at the widest point, keeping them joined at the base. Brush them with olive oil. Prepare a fire in a charcoal grill. When the coals are covered with ash, lay radicchio wedges on the grill rack several inches above them and grill until browned and tender, turning them several times as they cook. Alternatively, heat a ridged castiron griddle pan over medium-high heat and brush with olive oil. Add radicchio wedges to the pan and cook, turning them every 2 – 3 minutes, until they have wilted and are no longer red, about 5 minutes or longer. Loosely arrange radicchio on a platter, drizzle with walnut oil, and season with salt and pepper. Strew cheese and walnuts over the top, then finish with a few drops of balsamic vinegar. All recipes from Vegetable Literacy ©2013

Rasa Rasa is a modern juice bar and cafĂŠ, offering organic plant based foods and juices as well as innovative detox and cleansing programs that reflect the most current perspective from the Ayurveda, conscious eating and live food movements.

cold pressed juice super food smoothies vegan glutenfree desserts cookies & pies cultured vegan cheeses and yogurt raw breads and crackers plant based entreĂŠs soups and pizza ayurvedic consultations herbs and treatments cleanse and detox

505 989 1288

www.rasajuice.com

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815 Early Street

www.libertygym.com

Liberate You rse lf no initiation fees | new members receive free personal training orientation 505.884.8012 | 2401 Jefferson NE Albuquerque, NM 87110

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edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

Food is central to life. I want to be able to tell the stories of people who make good eating possible. -Cheryl Alter Jamison CHERYL ALTER JAMISON This may sound odd, but my first real writing was for grant applications and program reports when I worked with the Western States Arts Foundation in the 1980s. I found I had a real knack for engaging people with subjects I was excited about.

commercial smokers. We were dubious whether anyone at home could recreate the work of the best professional pitmasters. It turned out we could. Further, we could explain to other people in plain English how to do it.

As long as I can remember, I have been passionate about food. My grandmothers ignited my love for gardens and cooking, and my parents supported that too. As a college student in Europe and then in the early days of my arts management career, I became more and more intrigued by food, and the similarities and differences in what food is served where, and how meals are shared. I married my husband Bill in 1985 and began contributing to his travel writing. For both of us, travel writing always included a great deal about the food of a given place.

Food is central to life. I want to be able to tell the stories of people who make good eating possible. Preparing and sharing food with family and friends is one of the most meaningful things we do. I especially like writing about New Mexican food because few people understand this unique cuisine. Due to mingling of Pueblo and Spanish culinary influences, and northern New Mexico's long isolation, food here developed quite differently from the many cuisines of Mexico and other areas of the American Southwest.

I love to cook and have always wanted to try everything, to have a hands-on experience preparing a world of food. My enthusiasm has created some pretty funny circumstances. We had a big ol' country ham take over our bathtub when I discovered it was too large to soak in the sink. I used a fan and a bicycle pump—among other things—to make a Peking duck. When I moved to Santa Fe in August of 1980, I was so excited about being able to get fresh green chile that I went out and bought forty pounds before it occurred to me that I was single and probably did not have a freezer large enough to hold half of it. Bill and I became home barbecue experts because we were so frustrated with the poor information that was available on how to use

Writing about food helps us support each other. I want to help people understand why seasonal produce from the farmers market may cost more than it does at some huge chain supermarket—why it's better for all of us—not just in flavor but in how it helps build a strong local economy. My writing for New Mexico Magazine is specifically on the state's foods, growers, brewers, vintners, distillers, chefs, and restaurants. About 100,000 readers of just the print edition see that information. About two-thirds of the magazine's subscribers live out of state, but when they come to visit, they are looking for the kinds of authentic experiences I have been able to feature. Even in a small community like Santa Fe, we would never know of all the amazing resources here without good writers telling stories.

LAMB SHANKS ADOBO Serves 4 or more 4 pounds meaty lamb shanks ½ cup ground dried mild to medium red chile 2 cups lamb, chicken, or veal stock 15 ounces crushed, canned tomatoes with juice 1 medium onion, chopped 1 canned chipotle chile plus 1 teaspoon adobo sauce, optional 1 tablespoon sherry or cider vinegar 3 garlic cloves 1 teaspoon crumbled dried Mexican oregano, or marjoram 1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste 2 bay leaves Minced onion and cilantro, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 300° F. Mix together the lamb shanks and other ingredients in a Dutch oven or other heavy pan. Bake uncovered for 3 hours or until the meat is tender and pulls away easily from the bones. Stir up from the bottom after about 2 hours. If the sauce remains very thin, spoon out the lamb with a slotted spoon, place the pan over a stove burner and reduce the sauce until it is thick enough to coat a spoon heavily. Serve hot, garnished if you wish with onion and cilantro. From Tasting New Mexico, © 2012

Matt Yohalem, Il Piatto

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GREEN CHILE MACARONI AND CHEESE Serves 6 or more Bread Crumbs 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1 cup packed fresh bread crumbs or ¾ cup dried bread crumbs Cheese Sauce ¼ cup unsalted butter 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour 1 to 2 tablespoons onion, minced 1 cup roasted mild to medium green chile, chopped 1 cup whole milk ½ cup buttermilk or goat milk ¾ teaspoon salt, or more to taste 5 ounces fresh chevre 10 ounces aged cheddar cheese, grated ¾ pound elbow macaroni, cooked according to package directions Preheat oven to 375º F. Butter a shallow medium to large baking dish. To prepare the bread crumbs, first melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add in the bread crumbs and toast them until golden, stirring occasionally. Scrape bread crumbs out of skillet and reserve them. To prepare the cheese sauce, first melt ¼ cup butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir the flour into butter gradually. When the flour is incorporated, mix in the onion and cook an additional 2 – 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add green chile and any juice and cook until heated through. Raise heat to mediumhigh and gradually whisk in milk and buttermilk and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and continue to cooking until lightly thickened, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Stir in chevre until melted into sauce. Remove the sauce from heat and immediately mix in the remaining cheeses, stirring until melted. Toss macaroni with the cheese sauce and spoon into the prepared baking dish. Scatter bread crumbs over the macaroni and cheese sauce. Bake about 30 minutes, until heated through and golden brown and crunchy on top. From American Home Cooking, ©1999

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

PEAR CRISP Serves 8 – 10 Filling 3 pounds pears (about 7 – 8 medium), such as Bosc or Bartlett 3 tablespoons bourbon 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar ⅓ cup granulated sugar 1 tablespoon cornstarch ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg Pinch of salt 1 tablespoon unsalted butter Topping 1 cup old-fashioned oats 1 cup pecans, chopped 1 cup packed light brown sugar 1½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour Pinch of salt ¾ cup unsalted butter Preheat the oven to 375º F. Butter a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. To prepare the filling, first peel, core, and slice the pears into small chunks. Pile the pieces into the prepared dish. Mix the remaining filling ingredients into the pears. To prepare the topping, combine the oats, pecans, brown sugar, flour, and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse until the mixture becomes a crumbly meal. (There will be quite a bit of topping.) Spoon it over the pears evenly, packing it down lightly. Bake the crisp for 40 – 45 minutes, until the topping is crunchy and the pears are tender. Serve warm. From American Home Cooking, ©1999

Cooking is a form of love and love makes the world go around! -Johnny Vee JOHNNY VEE Food is a common denominator in our society. We all need to eat. By writing about food I connect with all people on some level. If I wrote about nuclear fission I would only reach a few scientists. Food brings us together as a species. It is bipartisan and universal. Most of my friends are involved in the food business, and a perk to writing about food is promoting their efforts through what I do. I spent so much time developing recipes for the restaurants where I worked in and for my cooking school that it seemed like a natural follow up to start writing about food. Creating recipes I always want to make it sound as delicious as possible. I also wrote copy for marketing and menus; I had to make the food sound special and intriguing. The writing came easily because basically I told people about the food I loved. I could never write about something I am not absolutely passionate about. Once, an editor wanted me to write about counter tops—I couldn't do it. I started cooking as a youngster with my maternal grandmother. My mother was not a great cook; most dishes started with some sort of Campbell's soup. But my grandmother was a Methodist minister's

wife, and if you know anything about Methodists, we have a lot of potluck dinners. I spent weekends cooking with her and the association of her love and making food together was very potent to me. Cooking is a form of love and love makes the world go around! I like being known as "that food guy.” I earn my living by teaching, consulting, and reviewing about food—I take that responsibility very seriously. If I promote a place, person, or ingredient through my writing I want readers to enjoy it too. I like being a trusted source for what's good to eat. Eating local has become a hugely popular. Folks in the biz know why eating local is important but the average home cook may not. To some, a potato is just a potato. A good food writer can reveal, through provocative writing, that a locally grown spud is so much more. I had such a blast writing my cookbook Cooking with Johnny Vee. It is my proudest accomplishment to date. When I signed off on the final draft to the publisher I felt I was sending a child out into the big bad world. But every time someone stops me in public to tell me they will make one of my recipes for dinner, I know I have been a good parent.

RED CHILE SCALLOPED POTATOES Serves 6-8 3 pounds medium potatoes, washed, peeled, and sliced to ⅛-inch thickness 4 egg yolks, lightly beaten 1 cup heavy cream 2 cups milk 1 cup sour cream 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese 1 teaspoon hot ground red chile ¼ cup mild red chile 1 teaspoon toasted and ground cumin 1½ teaspoon salt Pepper

Preheat oven to 400º F. Spread potatoes on paper towels and dry well. Butter a 4-quart casserole dish. In a medium bowl, whisk together yolks, cream, milk, sour cream, cheese, red chiles, cumin, and salt. Place potatoes in a large bowl and pour milk/cream mixture over them. Stir to completely coat potatoes. Place potatoes in casserole and crack fresh ground pepper over potatoes. Cover and bake at for 30 minutes, uncover and continue baking until potatoes are tender and casserole is bubbling and nicely browned, about 20 minutes.

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edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

GREEN CHILE CHICKEN STEW WITH CHEDDAR CHEESE BISCUITS Serves 6-8 STEW 2 tablespoons butter 1 cup onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves, minced 1½ cups roasted, peeled and chopped green chiles 3 tablespoons flour 1 tablespoon jalapeno pickle juice or white vinegar 3 cups chicken stock 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon pepper 2 large red potatoes, diced into 1 inch squares 1½ cups poached chicken meat Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add onion and sauté until soft and translucent. Add garlic and brown slightly. Stir in chiles. Sprinkle flour over onion mixture, stir in, and let brown slightly. Stir in pickle juice, stock, cumin, Mexican oregano, salt, pepper, and potatoes. Reduce heat to simmer and cook about 10 minutes or until potatoes are almost tender. Stir in chicken. Pour stew into buttered 4-quart casserole dish and top with cheddar biscuits. BISCUITS

PUTANESCA SAUCE Serves 6 ¼ cup olive oil 6 garlic cloves, sliced 15 ounces canned, diced tomatoes ½ cup black olives, pitted ⅓ cup capers, drained 6 anchovies, chopped ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes ½ teaspoon pepper 8 large leaves fresh basil, cut into chiffonade 1 pound linguini ½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté until it starts to brown. Add tomatoes, olives, capers, and anchovies and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low and allow sauce to simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in red pepper flakes, pepper, and basil and remove from the heat. Cook linguini in a large pot of salted, boiling water until al dente. Drain noodles but do not rinse. Toss pasta with the sauce and plate onto warm dinner plates. Top each with cheese and serve immediately. Note: Never rinse pasta noodles as it washes away the starch that the sauce should adhere to. Some Italian chefs even add a bit of the pasta water to the sauce to complete it. Your pasta water should be as salty as the Mediterranean Sea.

2 cups flour ½ teaspoon garlic powder ¼ teaspoon pepper ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon hot ground red chile 4 teaspoons baking powder 4 ounces cold unsalted butter 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese 1 cup heavy cream, plus 2 teaspoons In a medium bowl combine flour, garlic powder, pepper, salt, red chile, and baking powder. Using a cheese grater, grate the butter into the flour and stir it until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in the cheese. Add cream and mix lightly with a wooden spoon until dough just holds together. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Using a large spoon, break off dollops of dough to form flattened biscuits 2 inches in diameter by ¾-inch thick and drop onto surface of stew. Bake stew uncovered in preheated 425º F oven (450º F at high altitude) for 20 minutes or until biscuits are nicely brown. Note: If you can’t fit all the biscuits on the surface of the stew, simply bake on a cookie sheet for 12 – 15 minutes and serve on the side.

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edible notables

New Restaurant on the Hillside in Santa Fe Hillside happily announces the addition of Chef Fernando Olea. Originally from Mexico City, he has been a major proponent of Mexican cuisine in Santa Fe since 1991 and a staple of the local culinary community. Chef Olea's diverse culinary experience, love of food, and respect for all palates has led to his creation of a new restaurant, Epazote at the Hillside, where you can enjoy his menu plentiful in its breadth, depth, and exploration of Mexico's cuisine. Additionally, he focuses on the agricultural bounty of New Mexico and on the centuries-old culinary traditions that have taken root here, paying tribute to Santa Fe's unique history, culture, and food. Inspired by his heritage and heart, Chef Olea offers the best of Mexico with local New Mexico ingredients, from well-known favorites to his exotic and sublime signature moles.

making a stay there a true adventure. The Moorish architectural detail of the lobby leading to MÁS reminded the chef of his travels in southern Spain and Morocco. While the MÁS menu will offer many of the classic Spanish flavors of La Boca and Taverna, he will also be serving tagines and delicacies with flavors like blood orange and pomegranate. A former resident of the city, Chef Caruso has dreamed of opening a restaurant in Albuquerque. For him, MÁS represents an opportunity to do more—to expand the flavor palette he has cultivated in his Santa Fe restaurant menus, to meet new friends and food lovers, and teach about the wonders of Spanish food and wine. 125 Second Street NW, Albuquerque, 505-242-9090 www.hotelandaluz.com

86 Old Las Vegas Highway, Santa Fe, 505-982-9944 www.santafehillside.com

Chef James Campbell Caruso

Blue Corn Brewery Goes Green Tisha Sjostrand, Chef Fernando Olea, and Pam Fennell

James Campbell Caruso comes to ABQ Mid-November Chef James Campbell Caruso opened his first Albuquerque enterprise, MÁS, at the Hotel Andaluz in Downtown. With the same passion for sherry, Spanish culinary tradition, and high quality local and imported ingredients that characterizes his Santa Fe establishments, Taberna and La Boca. MÁS will serve tapas in all the service areas of the hotel, including the main lobby and the rooftop Ibiza bar. Along with the tapas, the restaurant will feature starters, salads, soups, entrees, and desserts. When asked what will make MÁS unique from Chef Caruso’s other endeavors, he explained that the difference is inspired by the architecture. The Hotel Andaluz has held onto its historic character,

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

The Blue Corn Brewery has taken big steps to become a leaner, greener establishment. Chef David Sundberg is passionate about using locally grown and seasonally appropriate foods and fervently supports local growers and producers. He has incorporated many New Mexico-raised foods into the menu at Blue Corn, including beef (about twenty-five thousand pounds annually), pork, organically produced cheeses, produce, breads, and tortillas. He hopes to expand the local products he uses in the coming year to include core ingredients like corn meal, pinto beans, and flour. In a further effort to take Blue Corn green, he instituted a recycling and composting program, reducing the restaurant's landfill waste by half in 2012. The restaurant’s kitchen oil goes to a produce vendor who converts it to biodiesel for their delivery trucks. Additionally, they have converted their take-out supplies to green products— renewable fiber, bagasse (sugar cane), and plant-based plastics. Chef David says his hope is that he can use the buying power and local recognition of Blue Corn to encourage more growers and pro-

ducers to bring products to market in quantities sufficient for local restaurants and retail stores, keeping jobs and money in the community, while reducing our carbon footprint. He feels that the more businesses that strive to operate more efficiently and responsibly the more pressure there will be on government and other businesses to do the same. He says we all must affect change for a true shift in culture. 4056 Cerrillos, Santa Fe, 505-438-1800 www.bluecorncafe.com

New Mexico Organic Farming Conference If you dream of an abundant garden in the cold months of winter, consider attending the New Mexico Organic Farming Conference. This February, join farmers and ranchers from around the state to discuss and learn about the ins and outs of organic growing, the future of sustainable farming, the possible impacts of climate change on food production in the Southwest, and more. This year, in addition to the wealth of information offered in dozens of sessions, the organizing committee will host their first-ever social event during the conference. The Rio Grande Farmer Coalition will collaboratively present a winter mixer the evening of Friday, February 14. Bring your sweetie, enjoy a glass of organic beer or wine, and listen to the sweet sounds of Wildewood. www.riograndefarmers.org.

Chef David Sundberg

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eat local guide

PREMIUM

New Mexico has its own unique food traditions—from Hatch to Chimayó—and we’d like to help you find some of the area restaurants and chefs that create the distinctively New Mexico dining experience. Restaurants are chosen for this dining guide because of their emphasis on using local, seasonal ingredients in their menus and their commitment to real food.

EAT LOCAL GUIDE LO

Support these restaurants, and support local food communities.

Authentic

Delicious

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ALBUQUERQUE

8917 4th NW, Albuquerque 505-503-7124, www.farmandtablenm.com

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

10601 Montgomery NE, Albuquerque 505-294-9463, www.savoyabq.com

A wonderful dining experience! Enjoy delectable seasonal dishes created from scratch, sourced from local farmers and our beautiful on-site farm.

An artisan café serving breakfast, lunch, and brunch; fine coffee, tea, and wine. Featuring the highest quality seasonal ingredients available.

California wine country in the Northeast Heights. Savoy strives to serve as many local ingredients as possible. Wine tastings and happy hour.

9 locations in Albuquerque & Santa Fe Railyard 505-944-5942, www.flyingstarcafe.com

1828 Central SW, Albuquerque 505-820-9205, www.vinaigretteonline.com

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

Buying local, baking and cooking fresh since 1987, serving breakfast all day, seasonal specials, lunch, dinner, and award-winning desserts.

Our salad-centric philosophy focuses on bold flavor combinations and savory proteins to compliment a huge variety of organic greens.

Oak fired grill, local ingredients, and the best patio dining Old Town has to offer!

4803 Rio Grande NW, Albuquerque 505-344-9297, www.lospoblanos.com

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

Rooted in organic ingredients from our own farm and the Rio Grande Valley region. Join us at La Merienda, Wed-Sat 6-9pm, by reservation only.

A three level bistro featuring contemporary cuisine with a French flair. Dinner daily, weekend brunch, fabulous cocktails, and tasty bar bites!

edible Santa Fe | WINTER 2013

2929 Monte Vista NE, Albuquerque 505-554-1967, www.amoreabq.com New Mexico's only certified authentic, hand-crafted, wood-fired Neapolitan pizza. Also: hand-made mozzarella, dessert pizzas, local beers, Italian wines. Casual atmosphere and rooftop patio, too.

The

Brew by

villa myriam

CATERING 3109 Central NE, Albuquerque 505-268-9250, www.yannisandlemoni.com

505-205-4337, www.mothertruckingourmet.com

Offering a variety of catering options that always Yanni’s and Lemoni Lounge, located in Nob Hill for twenty years, serve the freshest seafood, steaks, chops, start with the freshest ingredients. Upscale, gourmet, and comfort foods for any occasion. pasta, gourmet pizza, and homemade desserts.

311 Gold SW, Albuquerque 505-814-1599, www.villamyriam.com Family owned from farm to cup, we are steeped in three generations of coffee excellence.

LOS LUNAS

88 Louisiana SE, Albuquerque 505-268-0206, www.talinmarket.com

300 Broadway NE, Albuquerque 505-265-4933, www. hartfordsq.com

Talin T-Bar Traditional flavors Made quickly and with love Ramen. Monday: Dumplings!

Our seasonal menu, featuring local ingredients, changes weekly-- enjoy the variety! Breakfast, lunch and dinners-to-go. Sunday Brunch. Specialty coffee. Wonderful baked goods. Catering.

Good food always puts you in a good mood! Fresh, seasonal ingredients provide the basis for a meal that promotes healthy living.

322 Garfield, Santa Fe 505-995-9595, www.andiamosantafe.com

125 East Palace, Santa Fe 505-988-5232, www.lacasasena.com

2801 Rodeo at Zia, Santa Fe 505-471-3800, www.joesdining.com

We prepare the finest local and seasonal ingredients à la minute with the utmost care and respect. At the end of the day, we want our guests to feel better for having eaten here.

A local favorite for over 30 years! Chef Gharrity features New American West cuisine infused with fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients. We also feature an award-winning wine list.

High quality European-influenced American comfort food. Joe's Mission: strengthen and protect our land, health, and economy by serving local, sustainable food.

709 Don Cubero Alley, Santa Fe 505-820-9205, www.vinaigretteonline.com

4056 Cerrillos, Santa Fe 505-438-1800, www.bluecornbrewery.com

414 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe 505-955-0765, www.riochamasteakhouse.com

Our salad-centric philosophy focuses on bold flavor combinations and savory proteins to compliment a huge variety of organic greens.

A local favorite since 1997! Featuring awardwinning craft beers brewed on location. Northern New Mexican cuisine and contemporary comfort food highlighting local, sustainable ingredients.

Serving the finest prime and choice dry aged steaks, chops, and seafood. Our wine list features more than 800 labels and 20 wines by the glass, earning us the “Best Of Award Of Excellence” award from Wine Spectator.

5 Thomas, Los Lunas 505-866-1936, www.greenhousebistro.com

SANTA FE

NEIGHBORHOOD TRATTORIA

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SANTA FE PREMIUM

Authentic

EAT LOCAL GUIDE Delicious

198 State Road 592, Santa Fe 877-262-4666, www.fourseasons.com/santafe

We're dedicated to providing people with 100% gluten-free, (mostly) vegan baked goods without sacrificing taste and scrumptiousness.

Terra combines a sense of place, local farm-fresh ingredients, and New Mexican culinary traditions, with chef Andrew Cooper at the helm.

505 Cerrillos Rd, Santa Fe 505-780-5073, www.talinmarket.com

1005 S St Francis Dr, Santa Fe 505-780-5483, www.omiragrill.com

95 W Marcy Ave, Santa Fe 505-984-1091, www. ilpiattosantafe.com

Talin T-Bar Traditional flavors Made quickly and with love Ramen. Monday: Dumplings!

Brazilian steakhouse known for its culinary excellence and internationally inspired dishes. We use only locally raised, hand cut New Mexico beef, lamb, and pork.

A local favorite since 1996, boasting an authentic Italian farmhouse experience, sourcing its ingredients directly from local farms, dairies and ranches. Extensive wine list.

815 Early Street, Santa Fe 505-989-1288, www.rasajuice.com An organic juice bar and cafĂŠ committed to offering delicious plant based foods, cold pressed juices; and innovative cleansing and detox programs.

428 Agua Fria Street, Santa Fe 505-982-1272, www.josephsofsantafe.com

229A Johnson off Guadalupe, Santa Fe 505-983-8000, www.momoandcompany.com

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Pop-up Restaurant Here today. Gone tomorrow. brought to you by edible Santa Fe

www.ediblesantafe.com/popup

Joseph's is the latest incarnation of Chef Joseph Wrede's mission to bring together the finest ingredients, artistic vision and delightful, surprising flavor to every dish.

We are looking for locations, chefs, and attendees for our winter pop-up series. Contact us at info@ediblesantafe.com.

103 East Taos Plaza, Taos 575-758-8866, www.thegorgebarandgrill.com

125 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte, Taos 575-758-1977, www.taosinn.com

TAOS

TAOS DINER I & II

908 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, 575-758-2374 216B Paseo del Pueblo Sur, 575-751-1989 www.taosdinner.com Home to New Mexican and American homemade, homegrown, and organic breakfast, lunch, and dinners. Gluten-free choices. Beer and wine.

Menu is straightforward, yet eclectic, and chock full Serving lunch, dinner, Saturday/Sunday brunch. of favorites. Every dish is made from scratch using Patio dining, fresh local foods, award-wining wines as many fresh and local ingredients as possible. and margaritas. Signature dish: chile rellenos.

Easy Holiday Shopping: 1. Buy Savoy, Zinc, Seasons gift certificates 2. Give to friends 3. Hope they invite you Give $500 in Gift Certificates, from Zinc, Savoy or Seasons and get $50 worth for yourself. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s our gift to you. And for your holiday parties, try our new boutique catering service, Taste.

505.254.ZINC

505.294.WINE

505.766.5100

505.850.2459

www.zincabq.com

www.savoyabq.com

www.seasonsabq.com

www.tasteabq.com WWW.EDIBLESANTAFE.COM

last bite

It takes a community... This year, for the first time ever, we determined our Local Hero awards through reader nomination and a reader poll. The local food movement is a grassroots effort, and often involves late nights, backbreaking work, getting your hands dirty, checking your ego at the door, and generally being a good sport. In addition to recognizing the efforts of our winners, we at edible Santa Fe and our readers thank all the Local Hero nominees for your hard work and efforts to build a stronger local economy and a robust local food system.

The Olla Award

recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions in the realm of good food work in Northern New Mexico, and who are creating a more robust local food system. Every year we commission an artist to create our Olla—this year's Olla was created by Jennifer DePaolo and is featured on the cover. • • • • • • •

ration of L leb o Ce

od l Fo ca

A holi day

THE NOMINEES • Amy Hetager • Andrew Cooper • Cherie Austin • Deborah Madison • Eldorado Nine • Erin Wade

cem

013 b er 6, 2

Jesse Daves Jessica Rowland Lynn Walters Matt Rembe Matt Yohalem Miguel Santisteven Nina Yozell Epstein

• • • • • • •

Olivia Chavez Pam Roy Poki Piottin Rocky Durham Roland Richter Steve Warshawer Vicki Pozzebon

Join us on December 6 as we honor our 2013 Local Hero Award Winners.

edible Santa Fe, Delicious New Mexico, and the SVEDC are pleased to announce the 2013 Jubilee – A Holiday Celebration of Local Food. December 6, 2013 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm South Valley Economic Development Center 318 Isleta Boulevard Southwest, Albuquerque,NM 87105

The Nominees Restaurant • Andiamo • Bien Shur • Blades Bistro • Dr. Field Goods • El Meze • Ezra’s Place • Farina Pizzeria • Farm & Table • Joe’s Dining • La Casa Sena • La Merienda at Los Poblanos • Mu Du Noodles • Omira Grill • Pasqual’s • Seasons Rotisserie & Grill • Sugar Nymphs Bistro • Taberna • Terra • The Love Apple • Vinagrette Albuquerque & Santa Fe Café • Barelas Coffee House • Bocadillos • Café Fina • Gold Street Caffe • Hartford Square • Java Joe’s Albuquerque • MoMo & Co • Revolution Bakery Retail • Cid’s market Taos • Kaune’s Neighborhood Market • Kellers • La Montañita Co-op • Plant’s of the Southwest • Santa Fe School of Cooking • Spanish Table • Talin Market • The Farm Shop • Victor’s Grape Arbor • Vitamin Cottage • Whole Foods Food Writer • Lisa Brown • Robert DeWalt • Jessica Dyer • Andrea Feucht • Patricia Greathouse • Anne Hillerman • Gabriella Marks • Sheila Nixon • Marjory Sweet • Sarah Wentzel-Fisher • Mark Winne • Zane Fisher

Food Artisan • Aceto Balsamico of Monticello • Bosque Baking Company • Buckin’ Bee Honey • ButterBeautiful • Cloud Cliff Bakery • El Rancho De Los Garcia’s • Heidi’s Raspberry Jam • Intergalactic Bread Company • Kakawa Chocolate House • Los Chileros • New Mexico Pie Company • Pecos Pablo • Pop Fizz • South Mountain Dairy • Urban Orchards • Valley Gurlz Goodz

Chef • Juan Bochenski, Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi • James Campbell Caruso, Taberna & La Boca • Andrew Cooper, Terra • Rocky Durham, Santa Fe Culinary Academy • Patrick Garrity, La Casa Sena • Josh Gerwin, Dr. Field Goods • Jennifer James, Jennifer James 101 • Patrick Lambert, Cowgirl • Fred Mueller, El Meze • Andrea Meyer, The Love Apple • Louis Moskow, 315 Restaurant and Wine Bar • Jonthan Perno, La Merienda • Martin Rios, Restaurant Martin • Marie Yniguez, Bocadillos • Matt Yohalem, Il Piatto

Beverage Artisan • 2nd Street Brewery • Abbey Beverage Company • Chama • Cowboy Up Energy Drink • Estrella Del Norte Vineyard • KGB Spirits • Luna Rossa Winery • Marble Brewery • Pop Fizz • Santa Fe Spirits • Santa Fe Tea Company • Taos Lightning Rye Whiskey • Villa Myriam • Vivac

Food Truck • Bike in Coffee • Boiler Monkey • Curbside Café • El Chile Toreado • Gauchito catering • Nile Café • Pop Fizz • Roque Garcia • Rustic • Santa Fe BBQ • Santa Fe’s Famous Cart (Carnitas) • Seasonal Palate • Slurp • Soo Bak Foods • The Beestro

Farm/Farmer • Amyo Farm • Camino de Paz School & Farm • Cencho Ocha • Crawford Garlic Farm • Dave Vasquez • Erda Gardens • Frances Mary Pavich • Gaia Gardens • Green Tractor Farm • Jack West • Jannine Cabossel • Kyle Johnson • Old Town Farm • One Straw Farm • Pat Montoya • Pollo Real • Purple Adobe Lavender Farm • Ric Murphy • Sean Ludden • Skarsgard Farms • Talon de Gato Farm • Thorp Family

Organization • Agri-Cultura Network • Cooking With Kids • Delicious New Mexico • Farm to Table • Gaia Gardens • Home Grown New Mexico • Kitchen Angels • La Cosecha • La Montañita Co-op • LOMB Local Organic Meals on a Budget • MoGro • New Mexico Farmers Market Association • Santa Fe Culinary Academy • Santa Fe Farmers Market • Santa Fe Farmers Market Institute • Santa Fe School of Cooking • Seed2Need • Slow Food Santa Fe • The Food Depot