Local Flavor October 2011

JOSEPH WREDE

Hands Artisan of the

OCTOBER 2011 Santa Fe - Albuquerque - Taos

of The Palace

FARM TO SALON

Hair • Oils • Aromatics Mediterranean & Italian Cuisine

by Chef Owner Steven Lemon

Check out our ever changing fall menu specials Plan your Holiday Party with us Make your reservations now: 505.455.2000

Tuesday – Saturday • 11am – 9pm Only 15 minutes north of Santa Fe in Pojoaque 86 Cities of Gold Rd. off of 84/285 www.oeatinghouse.com

Live in Beauty ~ Naturally • Personalized Cuts • Signature Balayage • Hot oil treatments • Food for the Hair & Skin – shampoos, conditioners, essential oils

128 N. Guadalupe Santa Fe • 505.988.8907 • anitalouise.com 2

OCTOBER 2011

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delicious burgers, sandwiches, salads & hand-cut fries

boutique inn

fine dining

live entertainment

awesome beer & wine selection

lunch & dinner everyday

patio dining Book your holiday party with us today!

tastes like

heaven 505.242.2991

427 west water st santa fe reservations inn: 505-984-1193 dinner: 505-982-9966

700 Central SE, Abq, NM (just west of i25)

www.vanessiesantafe.com

Open M-Th 11am-10pm, Fr-Sa 11am-11pm, Su 11am-9pm

More Fish ~ Less Rice

LA

PO S A D A

DE

S A N TA FE

R E SO RT & S PA

TM

A ROCKRESORT

Izmi Sushi

Newly Located at 105 E Marcy Street • Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-424-1311 • www.izmisantafe.com Lunch Mon–Sat 11:30am–2pm • Dinner nightly from 5pm

Celebrate this holiday season and book your holiday party with us!

To Learn more, contact David Stone at davids@lpdsf.com or 505-954-9618 330 E. Palace Avenue, Santa Fe • laposada.rockresorts.com Aspen • BeAver Creek • BreCkenridge • JACkson Hole MiAMi • sAntA Fe • vAil • st. luCiA • doMiniCAn repuBliC

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

OCTOBER 2011

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Hands of the Artisan

Inside ON OUR COVER:

Joseph Wrede of The Palace

Buzz

by Christie Chisholm | 08

What’s in, what’s out, what’s hot, what’s not … that’s the buzz!

Silver Coyote

by James Selby | 10

Craft distillers are at the forefront of a movement catering to connoisseurs hungry (and thirsty) for local artisanal products. Meet Colin Keegan of Santa Fe Spirits—and wait ’til you sip a little of his Silver Coyote.

The Heart of the Hotel Chimayó

by Gail Snyder | 14

The opening of the new Hotel Chimayó de Santa Fe has generated quite a bit of excitement in town, but it’s nothing compared to the pride of the villagers of Chimayó.

Divine Burgers in Edo

by Barry Fields | 19

The latest eatery to open in the trendy Edo neighborhood is Holy Cow. And holy cow, wait ’til you taste their burgers!

On the Set

by Elizabeth Tannen | 22

The film industry in New Mexico has opened the doors for an entirely new generation of artisans. Meet Ian Scroggins, art department leadman on the set of Albuquerque’s own In Plain Sight.

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On the Cover: Reflections in the Palace

by John Vollertsen | 26

Amidst all the publicity and excitement of the reopening of the Palace Restaurant and Saloon, we take a quiet moment to talk with Chef Joseph Wrede, who shares some personal and professional reflections.

The Alchemy of Space

by Christie Chisholm | 31

For Lisa Samuel of the Samuel Design Group, supporting and nurturing local artisans is not just a part of her design aesthetic—it’s a part of her life.

Amigos at The Bull Ring

by Gail Snyder | 36

Serving some of the finest prime steaks in the city helps, but when it comes right down to it, this Santa Fe institution is all about the people.

Way Back When

by Tom Hill | 38

Match wits with a wine writer who has a great palate and a long memory.

Artful Tea

by Tania Casselle | 40

It takes the hands (and the palate) of an artisan to blend the stunning teas that Karen Gardiner creates in her charming tasting room in Santa Fe.

Still Hungry?

by Caitlin Richards | 44

We close our October issue with four recipes from the Bueno Foods family. What better way to celebrate another great chile harvest!

2011 ~ Publishers Patty & Peter Karlovitz Editor Patty Karlovitz Publisher’s Assistant Caitlin Richards Art Director Jasmine Quinsier Cover photo: Kate Russell Advertising: Michelle Moreland 505.699.7369.

Mary Brophy 505.231.3181 Anita L. Feight 505.235.8642 Prepress: Scott Edwards Ad Design: Alex Hanna Distribution: Southwest Circulation LocalFlavor 223 North Guadalupe #442, Santa Fe, NM 87501 Tel: 505.988.7560 Fax: 988.9663 E-mail: localflavor @earthlink.net Website: www.localflavormagazine.com localflavor welcomes new writers. Send writing samples to localflavor@earthlink.net localflavor is published 11 times a year: Feb, March, April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec/Jan. Subscriptions $24 per year. Mail check to above address. © Edible Adventure Co.‘96. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used without the permission of Edible Adventure Co. localflavor accepts advertisements from advertisers believed to be reputable, but can’t guarantee it. All editorial information is gathered from sources understood to be reliable, but printed without responsibility for erroneous, incorrect, or omitted information.

October

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#1 Prime Steakhouse in Santa Fe since 1971 "THE PLACE TO MEET - THE PLACE FOR BEEF" U!

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Harvest Festival!

October 1st and 2nd, 2011 • 10 am – 4 pm

Help bring in the harvest at an old Spanish ranch!

Letter

This month’s “Hands of the Artisan” issue has a decidedly different feel to it than in past years. The issue is usually filled with a diverse group of artisans profiled in their busy shops

and studios, sharing stories highlighting their artistic journeys, their traditions and their crafts. But with the opening of the new Hotel Chimayó de Santa Fe and its gorgeous tribute to the artisans of the entire village of Chimayó, I was struck by the positive force that a single person can have on giving artisans the opportunity to ply their crafts. So in this issue you will find tributes to two individuals whose vision for a successful business is founded on nurturing local artists and artisans.

The first is Jim Long of Albuquerque whose company, Heritage Hotels and Resorts, just opened its sixth hotel in New Mexico, the Hotel Chimayó de Santa Fe. It is a wonderful story of one person’s determination to honor and preserve tradition—not just as homage to the past but also as an entrepreneurial path for artisans of the future.

The term “artisan” often implies preserving an aesthetic of the past.

Not to Lisa Samuel. The founder of Samuel Design Group, Lisa relishes working with edgy, contemporary artisans as well as more traditional craftsmen. What is very important to this trend-setting designer is to support and nurture local artisans and craftsmen, to reach out to emerging artists and to be a force for sustainability in her community. You will love reading this gutsy lady’s story, as will the many people whose careers she has helped to launch.

• Tour the ranch in a horse drawn wagon!

• Learn how to string ristras • Make your own retablo! with award winning artist Frankie Nazario Lucero • Eat yummy biscochitos!

• Buy traditional crafts directly from New Mexico artists!

• Enjoy Los Matachines de San Lorenzo!

• Learn about Amadito and the Hero Children

by Professor Enrique Lamadrid

• Crush wine grapes by foot! • Delight in the “Parade of Breeds” horse show!

• Make tortillas • Participate in a outdoor hot off the comal! procession and San Isidro Mass

Admission:

Under 13 FREE Adults $8 Seniors (62+) $5 Teens (13-18) $5

Museum Hours 10am - 4pm

For more information and map visit us at www.golondrinas.org Programs funded in part by Santa Fe Arts Commission and the 1% Lodgers Tax, The Santa Fe County Lodgers’ Tax Advisory Board and New Mexico Arts.

OCTOBER 2011

Finally, to all of our localflavor readers who go to the ends of the earth (make that the corners of our local food shed), for that perfect artisinal cheese or local honey or favorite chile or local microbrew or gelato or whatever tickles your palate: You too, are an economic support system for the artisans who live amongst us. Two very unique ones are featured in this issue, Karen Gardiner of ArtFul Tea and Colin Keegan of Santa Fe Spirits.

Karen blends beautifully crafted teas and sells them at the Artisans Market in Santa Fe, and Colin is a master distiller who has created New Mexico’s first commercially produced whiskey, Silver Coyote.

On our cover is Chef Joseph Wrede, crowned as the founding chef of the new Palace Restaurant. Wrede already has quite a reputation in our town; Santa Feans have been driving up to Taos for years to enjoy the extraordinary cuisine of this nationally acclaimed chef. Palace owner David Bigby has taken a big gamble to reopen a restaurant of this size and scale in this economy. But the Palace has always loved her gamblers, and all of Santa Fe is pulling for this one to be a winner—and no one more than localflavor.

It has been a magnificent summer of fiestas and markets in Santa Fe, and now Albuquerque opens its skies to the most splendid of them all, Balloon Fiesta. There is not a place on earth that has more local color, flavor and character than New Mexico. ¡Que viva!

Just south of Santa Fe I-25 Exit 276 • 334 Los Pinos Road

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In addition to putting the spotlight on individuals who support artisans, we also wanted to say thank you to the New Mexico film industry for the enormous opportunities that it has opened for an entirely new generation of artisans. Ian Scroggins of Albuquerque brings a wide variety of artisanal skills and computer savvy—not to mention the creative mind of a true craftsman—to the set of one of my favorite TV shows, In Plain Sight.

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Since they are not covered together in one story.

I think it was plain “Artful” in the story, and that is also how she has it on her website.

Join our legion of community Angels who are helping to prepare and deliver meals to our homebound neighbors in need.

You can volunteer, or make a regular donation to keep Kitchen Angels flying.

Be an Angel and earn your wings today!

Agave Lounge. Santa Fe’s first true nightlife experience.

Only at Eldorado Hotel & Spa. Signature Cocktails Locally Crafted Beers Tequilas | Small Plates Premium Wine List Complimentary Parking

www.kitchenangels.org 1222 SILER ROAD • SANTA FE, NM 87507 • 505.471.7780

Open 11:30 am - close 309 W. San Francisco | 505.995.4545 |

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

AgaveLoungeNM

OCTOBER 2011

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Buzz

the

ALBUQUERQUE

by Christie Chisholm

It doesn’t matter if you’re a comic book lover, a post-graduate pontificator on the hero’s journey, an art adorer or just someone who’s plain curious. 516 ARTS’ newest exhibit, Superheroes: Icons of Good, Evil & Everything in Between, will tickle your brain in the best of ways.

The multimedia group exhibition uses iconography to explore heroes, villains and identity through painting, sculpture, video, textiles, photography, poetry and on-site murals. In other words, it looks at the idea of superheroes in a beautiful and unusual way. Check out the new exhibit at the opening reception on Saturday, October 1, from 6 to 8 p.m., or come to the Superheroes Poetry Reading on Friday, October 28, at 7 p.m. For the reading, awards will be given out for a variety of superhero-themed categories, and coming as your favorite superhero for Halloween is encouraged. Also keep an eye on film screenings for early November. To find out more about them and to get a sneak peek of the exhibit, visit www.516arts.org. 516 Central SW, 505.242.1445.

| Superheroes at 516 Arts The old Harlow’s on the Hill Rhythm & Blues Club space has been vacant for a while, but there have been rumblings in the building and signs of impending development for months. The curtain’s finally been drawn, and the restaurant now occupying the corner of Central and Carlisle is Fan Tang—or, as it calls itself, “your Asian Kitchen.” It comes compliments of the Zeng family, who are the same people who opened Chow’s Chinese Bistro in Santa Fe and Chow’s Asian Bistro on Albuquerque’s Westside. The goal of Fan Tang is ultimate comfort—a roomy dining area with Wi-Fi, pet-friendly patios and fast, high-quality meals at reasonable prices.

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OCTOBER 2011

An order of Chicken Lettuce Wraps will set you back $6.95, while Sichuan Street Noodles are only $7.29. Other menu items, like the coffee chicken for $9.95 or the Walnut Shrimp for $10.95 are slightly pricier but well worth the extra pennies.

Stop by and welcome this bright and shiny new restaurant to the neighborhood. 3523 Central NE, 505.266.3566, www.fan-tang. com.

| Balloon Fiesta It’s the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta! Of course, you probably know that already if you ever look at the sky.

Thousands of balloons are sweeping over our city every day through Friday, October 9. From now until then, Balloon Fiesta Park is packed with activities, including the daily 7 a.m. mass ascension and near-daily 5:45 p.m. balloon glows. There’s food, there’s music, there’s more giant hot-air balloons than you could ever hope to see.

For a complete lineup of events, visit www. balloonfiesta.com. 5000 Balloon Fiesta Pkwy NE, 505.821.1000.

One thing we can always use more of is artisanal chocolate. Luckily, Albuquerque’s acquired another fine chocolatier to add to its ranks. Choco Canyon Artisan Chocolates got its start at the Chocolate and Coffee Festival in April and has been growing steadily. Proprietor Steve Whitman’s tasty delights, initially available at both the Downtown Growers’ Market and the Nob Hill Growers’ Market, can now also be scooped up in the aisles of La Montanita Co-op, Bookworks and Café Giuseppe. So what kinds of confections are we talking about? Grand Marnier truffles, salted caramels coated in dark chocolate, gingersnap truffles and red chile bonbons, to name just a few. Whitman sources his ingredients locally when possible, using New Mexico staples like Rasband Dairy and Heidi’s Raspberry Red Chile Jam. Keep an eye out for the Choco Canyon label the next time your sweet tooth is acting up.

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Everyone loves an open house. You can lust, you can dream, you can take inspiration and, if you’re lucky, you may even be able to make one your own.

That’s why The Homes of Enchantment Parade is so popular—there’s something for everyone. This year, 36 homes from all over the Greater Albuquerque Area are part of the tour, and they range in price from $189,000 to $1.1 million. The parade runs from Friday, October 7, to Sunday, October 9, and from Friday, October 14, to Sunday, October 16, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. Get all the tidbits at www. homesofenchantmentparade.com.

I don’t have to sell this to you at all.

New Mexico Brew Fest is back for its second year after a successful first run.

Not only do you get to sample beer from 18 different breweries, you also get to snack on offerings from half a dozen food trucks as well as munch on food and beer pairings provided by Whole Foods. And if that weren’t enough, there will also be live music and a VIP Beer Garden in which beer-infused food will be available, along with hourly beer-pairing sessions with local celebrity chefs. Just go, drink, eat and be incredibly merry. General admission is $25 in advance and $30 the day of the event; the VIP Beer Garden is $50 in advance and $55 the day of the event. It all happens Saturday, October 8, at the Villa Hispaña at Expo New Mexico from noon to 6 p.m.

300 San Pedro NE, www.nmbrewfest.com.

You’ve heard of the Blue Man Group, but have you ever seen them perform? Now’s your chance to catch the ultramarinehued fellows on the Popejoy stage as they twist comedy, music and technology into one giant, chest-thumping spectacle.

They’re only here for three days and five performances, from Friday, October 28, through Sunday, October 30, so reserve your ticket before they sell out. 203 Cornell Drive NE, 505.344.1779, www. popejoypresents.com.

Wrangle the kids and get them to the Rio Grande Zoo for the 23rd annual Zoo Boo. With games, “Haunted Habitats,” performances, costume judging, sweets from local businesses and a costume parade, the day can serve as a great alternative or addition to trick-or-treating.

Here’s a nice incentive to carpool: Up to four kids get in free with each paying adult, who pay $7 a pop. It’s on Saturday, October 29, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 903 10th Street SW, 505.768.2000, www.cabq. gov/biopark.

The South Valley’s Marigold Parade to celebrate Día de los Muertos is still around the corner on Sunday, November 6. In the meantime, the South Broadway Cultural Center is honoring the tradition on Sunday, October 30. From 2 to 5 p.m., bring offerings to the ofrendas erected at the center or simply go to pay your respects. If you’d like to submit a song to be performed during the event, e-mail sbcc@cabq.gov. 1025 Broadway SE, 505.848.1320, www.cabq.gov/southbroadway-cultural-center.

The Barber of Seville hits the National Hispanic Cultural Center stage for four days only this month. Internationally renowned scenic designer Carey Wong conceived the set for this Opera Southwest season opener. With Stephen Hartley singing the role of Figaro and Heather Johnson taking on Rosina, this should be a can’t-miss performance for opera aficionados. Catch the show on October 9, 11, 14 and 16. Tickets run $10 to $75.

1701 Fourth Street SW, 505.724.4771, www.operasouthwest.org.

SANTA FE

| The Barber of Seville at Opera Southwest

It’s an upscale, modern American bistro.

That’s how Brian Rood describes the new restaurant where he’s serving as chef de cuisine. The eatery comes to us from Maria Renteria, owner of Max’s, and is nestled in the old Louie’s Corner Café spot, at the intersection of Galisteo and Alameda. Renteria says the vibe at Tomme is “sexy but mellow. It’s another adult restaurant,” she says, “but we’re trying to make this more approachable financially.

Nosferatu in a dim Cathedral. Live, improvised organ music playing in the wings by renowned silent movie improviser Dorothy Papadakos on the largest pipe organ in New Mexico. Is there any better way to get yourself jazzed for Halloween?

Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and a mere $5 for those with their student IDs handy. It’s Friday, October 28, at The Cathedral of St. John. 318 Silver SW, 505.247.1581, www.stjohnsabq.org.

by Christie Chisholm

| Chef Brian Rood of Tomme

San Q Japanese Sushi and Tapas is the place you’ve been hearing about—or at least it’s the place you should have been hearing about. The newest incarnation of the old Café Paris space in Burro Alley, it’s a place where you can find green chile tempura with rock salt along with nigiriformed monkfish liver, fire steak, quail eggs wrapped in bacon, chicken teriyaki donburi bowls and a classic caterpillar roll.

The new restaurant comes from Kohnami Japanese Restaurant owner Sanggyoo (San Q is the phonetic version of his name), who was inspired to provide a place where good food could be found at low prices, much like the culinary outlets that cropped up in Japan after World War II. With affordably priced beer, San Q also takes on a pub quality. Go pay your new neighborhood pub/tapas/sushi bar a visit.

32 Burro Alley, 505.992.0304.

How can you not love something called Eat Local Week? It’s Oct. 10 through 16, and to celebrate, the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market is breaking out two food-centric competitions. The first is the Cook with the Chef Showdown on Thursday, October 13, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Market Pavilion. Chefs George Gundry (from Atrisco) and Patrick Lambert (from Cowgirl BBQ) will battle over who can make the best chile and yak (yes, you heard me) appetizer. Judges Chef Matt Yohalem, Chef Rocky Durham and food writer Rob DeWalt will select an ingredient from that night’s market to be used in the dish.

More celebrating at Eat Local Week: On Saturday, October 15, from 11 a.m. to noon under the water tower, home bakers will show us what they’ve got in the Local Baking Competition as they vie for first place. Come down, buy some local veggies and maybe get a slice of something delicious. 1607 Paseo de Peralta, 983.4098, www.santafefarmersmarket.com.

Get your paws on some limited-edition libations that have just been released by KGB Spirits. The hand-crafted smallbatch beauties include Vodka Viracocha, a potato-based concoction made in a 12-foot Arnold Holstein copper still and named after a pre-Incan god; Los Luceros Hacienda Gin, of which 90 gallons were created in the botanically infused alembic still (it’s also the only potato-based gin

in the world, according to KGB); and Taos Lightning, a three-year-old, singlebarrel, straight rye whiskey. KGB says the release of the whiskey revives a tradition not practiced since 1847 at the beginning of the Taos Pueblo Revolt. It’s dedicated to John David Albert, who escaped to Colorado on the day Simeon Turley (the drink’s creator) and Gov. Charles Bent were killed. Pick some up before it disappears.

I found my new home. It’s at Whoo’s Donuts, the made-from-scratch donut shop that just opened next door to the ChocolateSmith. The owners of that artisanal, cocoa-laden boutique, Jeff and Kari Keenan, are taking the same approach to the fluffy pastries as they do with their candies. While you can still get the classics like Boston cream and raised glaze at Whoo’s, you’ll also be able to get such decadent desserts as pistachio with white chocolate–lemon ganache, or maple-bacon with dark chocolate glaze and chili brown sugar. If you aren’t already convinced that you want to move in, too, here’s another tasty tidbit: Whoo’s will use organic, locally grown ingredients when it can, including Sangre de Cristo flour from Taos and organic Fat Boys coffee from Cedar Crest.

I think I’ll go grab a baker’s dozen right now. 851-B Cerrillos, 629.1678, www. whoosdonuts.com.

If you’ve been waiting in the wings to furnish that side room or purchase that perfect antique chair, the time to act is now. Stephen’s, A Consignment Gallery is throwing its Semi-annual Fall Sale on Saturday, October 15, and Sunday, October 16. Come from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday to nab 30 to 50 percent off items at this Santa Fe institution.

2701 Cerrillos Road, 471.0802, www. stephensconsignments.com.

You just know you’ve got a can of green beans in your pantry you’re never going to open. Won’t you feel better if you give it to someone who’ll use it? From October 16 through 30, A World Feast is conducting its second annual food drive. All you have to do is drop off donations like that can of green beans at one of a couple dozen locations, including La Montanita Coop, Santa Fe Community College and the New Mexico Museum of Fine Art. Right now non-perishable beverages and personal hygiene items are in short supply, so any donations along those lines would be much appreciated. For a full list of dropoff locations and all the other details you might desire (including how to become a corporate sponsor for a mere $50), visit www.aworldfeast.com.

It’s not often that you get the chance to watch a live taping of National Public Radio’s hit show From the Top, the one in which pianist-host Christopher O’Riley introduces the stories and music of the best pre-collegiate musicians with the world.

No, it’s not often you get to do that. That’s why you should go—for the compelling performances, for the thrill and for the chance to say you did. Presented by the Santa Fe Concert Association, it’s on Tuesday, October 25, at 7:30 p.m. at the Lensic Performing Arts Center. Tickets range from $20 to $72 and can be bought at www.ticketssantafe.org or by calling 984.8759 or 988.1234. 211 West San Francisco, www.lensic.org.

The Dixon Studio Tour is celebrating its 30th birthday in a rather remarkable way—by printing a book. A reading of Creating Art & Community, by authors Stan Crawford, Estevan Arellano, Harvey Frauenglass and Michael Wildgoose, will be held at The Range Café in Bernalillo on Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 6 p.m. The Dixon Studio Tour proper, in which artists let the public into their homes, studios and businesses to showcase their methods and process, is slated for November 5 this year. The book features 112 pages of artist vignettes and color illustrations along with essays on Dixon’s community. You can get your own copy for $20. Congratulations to the Dixon Studio Tour on 30 outstanding years! www.dixonarts.org.

Here’s some advance notice so you can mark your calendars. Las Cosas Kitchen Shoppe is holding an Italian Holidays event on Thursday, November 3, from 3 to 7 p.m. Vietri ambassador Jody Kennington will be at Las Cosas and there will be Italian sweets and treats to snack on. If you get there early, you’ve also got a chance at scoring one of the limited-edition Old Saint Nick platters signed by the artisan. 181 Paseo de Peralta, 988.3394, www.lascosascooking.com.

Let’s paint a little picture. You’ve just sat down to plates of piquillo peppers a la plancha stuffed with queso Mahón; tuna carpaccio with smoked sea salt, blood orange aioli and olives; and black mussels steamed in almost-romesco fish broth.

You’ve got the perfect Spanish wine to wash it all down. Things are already looking pretty good. Add to this portrait a troupe of live, internationally trained

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

Flamenco dancers and musicians, and you’ve got your next night at La Boca.

Once a month, the restaurant will play host to Inspiración Flamenca, whose world-class performers have shared stages with Maria Benitez and Carlota Santana. Cover charge is $10, and reservations are recommended.

The next La Boca Baila night is Friday, October 28. Shows start at 10 p.m., with seating beginning at 9:30 p.m. Order off the regular menu or get one of several La Boca Baila specials. 72 W Marcy Street, 982.3433, www.labocasf.com.

Photo: Michel Sarda

It’s cool, innovative, fun, contemporary food, but there are no white tablecloths.”

(There are black tablecloths, though, and appetizers that run from $6 to $11.) Using local ingredients when possible, Rood says the bistro will serve classics like steak frites and mussels alongside familiar dishes with a twist (their fried chicken and their posole offer some pleasant surprises, he adds).

“It’s more casual than Max’s but with the same kind of good quality,” he says.

Tomme is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch and from 5 to 9 p.m. for dinner. 229 Galisteo, 505.825.2253.

| Julia Chacón at La Boca

TAOS Here’s a new one. The next time you want to take your dog with you to dinner, you don’t have to settle for café fare. Both you and your dog can have a fine dining experience at Graham’s Grille in Taos. I don’t mean your dog can just hang out with you on the patio while you eat. I mean your dog can eat, too. Graham’s has a new “Yappy Hour” menu, which includes grilled free-range chicken breast or Angus beef and diced, local lamb. At $4 a pop, Rover can eat in style while you treat yourself to your camarones al mojo de ajo. 106 Paseo del Pueblo Norte.

575.751.1350, www.grahamstaos.com.

Three cheers for the Taos High School Culinary Team, which snagged the honor of 2011 Culinary Team by the New Mexico Restaurant Association at the Hospitality Industry Awards. The award comes out of New Mexico’s ProStart Program, a curriculum offered in 54 schools around the state that teaches high schoolers key aspects of culinary management and hospitality education. With 400 hours under their belts, those who finish the program are ready to enter the hospitality workforce. Another accolade for Taos High School goes to Benjie Apodaca, who won the National ProStart Teacher of the Year award for 2011. He also took home a $5,000 scholarship for the 2011 James H. Maynard Excellence in Education Award.

Taos High School also got to compete in the National ProStart Student Invitational in Kansas City. A big pat on the back to Taos!

OCTOBER 2011

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Silver Coyote Hands of the Artisan

L

ike his countryman Sir Isaac Newton before him, Colin Keegan came to a very good idea while lazing in an apple orchard. This orchard was behind Keegan’s house in Tesuque, New Mexico. As he contemplated what to do with his bumper crop, a young local brewer named Nick Jones paid him a visit, and their conversation led to a plan: apples to brandy. The seed was planted, so to speak, and in 2010 Santa Fe Spirits joined a burgeoning industry of some 400 craft distillers across the nation, small-scale, nimble operations similar to microbreweries that quench a thirst in the marketplace for local artisanal products.

Until Prohibition in 1920, the United States had over 10,000 distilleries. With its 1933 repeal, the business of booze came back in the form of a couple dozen large corporations. Now, nearly 80 years later, Keegan has opened Santa Fe Spirits, one of only three fully licensed and bonded distilleries in New Mexico. (The first, Don Quixote in Los Alamos, began in 2005, and the newest, KGB Spirits, just released their inaugural bottling in September of single-barrel Taos Lightning Rye Whiskey.)

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story by JAMES SELBY p h o t o s b y K AT E R U S S E L L

In a light industrial area tucked into a cul-de-sac off Airport Road, not far from the 599 bypass, Santa Fe Spirits occupies a tree-shaded modern building. Make an appointment to step into its cozy tasting room, and you will be surrounded by the clubby comfort of tangy scents of fermentation, a wooden bar bent like an elbow, and still-life paintings hanging on the walls. Keegan, a former architect of middle years and Polo good looks, offers a welcoming grin and warm handshake, but it’s his voice a visitor notices first. The North of England accent, mellowed from years in London and the United States, has a confident timbre more reminiscent of Jude Law than The Full Monty.

If you’ve walked into a local liquor emporium, you may have seen a bottle of Keegan’s Silver Coyote Pure Malt Whiskey and mistakenly thought it was tequila. The distinctive barrel-like bottle, made of clear glass, boasts a cork closure, a sterling label ringed in barbed wire, indigo Western font, and a sprinting coyote. The liquor inside is as limpid as water. “This is New Mexico’s first whiskey,” explains Keegan, “distilled from malted barley and bottled straight from the still. Unlike Scotch we normally see, with a caramel color, Silver Coyote sees no barrel, no peat. This is unadorned spirit. Flavor is extracted from malted barley and yeasts, period.” (Malting is a process wherein grains are made to germinate by being soaked in water. The germination is halted by drying the grains in hot air, and specific yeasts are chosen to turn sugars into alcohol.)

“Before we taste, perhaps you’d like to see where it all happens,” suggests Keegan.

Glassed off on one side of the tasting room, in a high-ceilinged space slightly larger than a racquetball court, is an immaculate state-of-the-art facility, replete with a copper hybrid pot still from Germany; all the requisite tanks, valves, vapor columns, and catalyzers; a dephlegmator (to condense the spirits); the gauges and safety features required by state and federal regulators; and—perhaps equally as important—those insisted upon by Keegan and Jones. Basically, the distillation process consists of three steps. First, a pot of substances is heated to a point where vapor is emitted; then that vapor is cooled. Finally, the resulting condensation is collected. This collected liquid will have concentration and purity of flavor. “This is a more sophisticated version of what a lot of folks used to do in the backwoods,” says Keegan, “but, essentially, the idea is the same.”

Back in the tasting room, Keegan puts up a few glasses and pulls the cork from a bottle of Silver Coyote Pure Malt Whiskey. In the nose, there’s a subtle, fruity note, with a soupçon of Good & Plenty. Sipping brings a piquancy of alcohol that quickly transforms into a sake-like roundness of Bosc pear, anise in the mid-palate, and a pleasantly smooth finish. Keegan thinks it is well suited to citric mixers or (appropriately enough, given the heritages of the liquor and the cocktail) as an

| Nick Jones and Owner Colin Keegan A Taste of Life in New Mexico

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Silver Coyote element of a Bloody Mary. Laurie and Al Lucero, owners of Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen in Santa Fe, dubbed “the mother lode of American margaritas,” plan to create a Whiskeyrita.

“There is a natural sweet note imparted from the distillation of the barley that doesn’t require fruit juice,” says Mark C. Johnson, beverage director for Amavi and Junction restaurants, weighing in on Silver Coyote. “We’re planning to put it into small oak casks on the bar, add our own botanicals and make barrel-aged cocktails.”

According to Michael Stein, owner of Tesuque Village Market, who sells Silver Coyote both retail and over the bar, “The bottle has legs. People love the package and that it’s local.”

Over the course of a week, I try to determine for myself where this naked whiskey fits into the canon of the spirit world. After several game attempts at mixing, I decide I like Silver Coyote by itself, with a splash of water.

For those who want traditional flavors of smoke and wood in their malt whiskey, Santa Fe Spirits also has something aging in a cask. On the opposite side of the bar from the distillery is the barrel room, where the temperature is kept at 80 degrees and humidity at 50 percent; otherwise, New Mexico’s climate would dry out the porous wooden barrels and allow too much of the precious liquor to be given over to the “angel’s share,” a natural evaporation that occurs as whiskey ages. Stacked to the roof in new and requisite used barrels (Scotch is typically aged in used sherry or bourbon casks), is a whiskey Keegan will age for a minimum of two years before bottling, with the eventual release of five- and ten-year-old versions. The barley for this liquor is smoked, not with peat as in Scotland, but with a southwestern fuel source. Tentatively, it will be named Glenkeegan Single Malt Whiskey.

Getting back to the apple that started it all, Jones, a young man with a round, expressive face, is excited about the release of Santa Fe Apple Brandy made from New Mexico apple cider. “The French have been making Calvados from apples since, well, the 12th century, when the distillation process found its way there from the Middle East,” says Jones, whose interest in distilling began when he was a student at St. John’s and led to work at Santa Fe Brewing Company. Samples are poured from a bottle up on the bar, boasting a painting of red apples on the label by Keegan’s wife, Suzette. Aged in small oak casks, the brandy has a tawny amber color and smells of spice and apple. It is not at all a sweet liqueur, but the fruit flavor is foremost,and there are hints of cinnamon and vanilla. It has a fullthrottle warming appeal that makes you want a second sip. Watch for its local release around the holidays.

Along with passion, a huge leap of faith is required for the most determined startup distiller. State and federal laws and regulations are perplexing and knotty. Paperwork and fees can be daunting, and equipment expensive. Though, for Colin Keegan, it is simply the way of enterprise, and Santa Fe Spirits itself is part of a revival— not only of an artisinal craft, but also of pride of purpose and selfdetermination, which many, in our corporate-dominated world, have relinquished. “I wish there were more hours in the day,” says Nick, “to do all the things I dream of doing here.”

Santa Fe Spirits is located at 7505 Mallard Way, Unit I, in Santa Fe. 505.467.8892. www.santafespirits.com.

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A Taste of Life in New Mexico

OCTOBER 2011

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Hands of the Artisan

The Heart of

Chimayó The Hotel

I

t’s not a large lobby. It welcomes not with fanfare but in a manner both humble and hushed. In fact, as a first-time visitor to northern New Mexico, you could be forgiven for initially overlooking some of the most salient aspects of the Hotel Chimayó de Santa Fe’s lobby: its lovingly handcrafted furniture, the newly hand-plastered walls, the fireplace of hand-painted tiles depicting lives of saints and, above it, the carved wooden cross hung with a chain of dried marigolds displayed on its hand-carved mantelpiece. Even the handmade altarpiece dedicated to the Virgin Mary, with small vases of cut flowers and glowing red holy candles that both illuminate and disseminate her loving presence, even this might not consciously register at first. But, as you stop in front of the check-in desk, setting baggage down, waiting as the receptionist matches your name with the reservation, two stunning black-and-white framed photos face you from the back wall. One is of a rough wooden cross, slightly askew; the other is a flock of sheep being herded past the entrance to Chimayó’s famous santuario. Seeing them, you—and all other visitors who follow—can’t help but feel a sense of peace emanating from all over the lobby, embracing you, lifting your spirits.

This focus seems a logical choice for a hotel dedicated to the village known worldwide as the “Lourdes of America.” And, says Jim Long, Founder and CEO of Heritage Hotels & Resorts, the man whose vision it was to celebrate this small, generations-old, unincorporated village with his newest project, Chimayó is “the most sacred place in the United States.”

Pilgrims from all over the world agree. The Catholic chapel known as El Santuario de Chimayó attracts droves of visitors, thirty thousand alone during Holy Week. Built in 1816, it has long been revered for its healing power, both spiritual and physical.

Still, isn’t it something of a risk, especially these days, to emphasize faith heavily when you’re targeting tourists? Maybe so, concedes Jim. Nonetheless, he stands by his decision. “The Hotel Chimayó is unique as the first hotel to showcase Hispanic culture, including religious devotion,” he says. And, as he points out, its larger mission is to celebrate the extraordinarily rich role Hispanic traditions have played here in the Southwest as exemplified in this tiny village. With strong traditions in weaving, agriculture, crafts, culinary arts and, yes, lowriding, Chimayó’s culture is an intricate warp and weft of interconnected elements that combine to tell a story of great faith, creativity and backbone.

“I’m very passionate about the preservation of the culture,” says Jim. “It’s the root of what we do.” Jim grew up in Albuquerque’s North Valley. “My mom’s an Aragon from Peña Blanca. My uncle served as the pastor at the Cathedral in Santa Fe.” 14

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story by GAIL SNYDER photos by GAELEN CASEY

An architect by training, Jim started out working within the confines of so-called branded hotels but soon grew frustrated.

“They emphasize a homogenized experience for their guests, so they can have the same familiar experience no matter where they stay. I wanted each of my hotels to reflect the particular tradition and heritage of their physical settings, and I was meeting with tremendous resistance. So I realized I was going to have to create a hotel brand that focused on cultural heritage.”

In 2005, Jim’s Heritage Hotels & Resorts brand unveiled its first such project, Hotel Albuquerque, in the heart of Old Town. In that venture, he combined the city’s Spanish, Mexican, Native American and Western elements beneath a Territorial-style roof. In its race to join what he calls “mainstream USA culture,” Jim explains, “Albuquerque forgot its roots a little. I feel we have a great responsibility for keeping the architectural sense of region, of a place, all of which is deeply rooted in its community. In all of our hotels, it’s a depth of culture. It’s relationships with the people of that community that we’re creating.” (Their other Santa Fe properties include the Hotel St. Frances and The Lodge at Santa Fe.) For their newest hotel, which is housed in the site of the former Hotel Plaza Real, Heritage Hotels spent the better part of two years earning the trust of Chimayó’s villagers and connecting with community members and artisans. Eventually, Jim explains, “they were very excited and honored to tell their story in an authentic way.” But it would never have happened, he’s quick to add, without the intermediary efforts of Maria Lorraine Vigil, whose roots in the Chimayó community go back 11 generations. She understood that the intention behind the hotel was “respectful, not exploitative in any way.” If they hadn’t been able to earn the villagers’ trust, Jim says, we wouldn’t have gone ahead with the project.

“Chimayó is a very special place. It’s a proud community,” he says admiringly. He describes how they’ve been able to remain self-sustaining over the centuries, keeping the ancient traditions of agriculture, weaving, woodcarving and tinsmithing alive. But what does the future hold for Chimayó? This unincorporated village of just over 3,000 people, most of whom can trace their ancestry back to the founding mothers and fathers, has not been without its history of problems. Jim believes that the village is “very much in danger, like so many other unique places around the world, of losing its individuality, becoming similar to everywhere else.”

Here is where business can partner with a community to create a winwin situation. “As long as Hotel Chimayó exists,” says Jim, “we’ll donate a percentage of its profits to the Chimayó Cultural Preservation Society. The initial funds have been earmarked for the Los Maestros program which is a group of elders in the community working with the youth of the village to promote language, music, arts and creative traditions. And we’ll continue to think of ways to add to the economy of the community.” Already, they’ve engaged the agricultural community to expand its output of red chile. (Says Jim, “It turns out they don’t produce enough for us to serve year-round in our restaurant, so they had to plant an entire new field.”) They are also offering guests regular tours of Chimayó, which is located about 24 miles from Santa Fe, and organizing twice-annual markets at the hotel where village youth can sell their handmade products. Jim foresees many opportunities growing out of A Taste of Life in New Mexico

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Hands of the Artisan

Chimayó | Low-Rider artist Carmelito Martinez, who along with his son, created the hub cap light fixture in the Low ‘N Slow bar.

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Maria Lorraine Vigil, wood artist and 11th generation Chimayó native and tour guide.

| Irvin Trujillo is a 7th generation weaver who combines old design ideas with his current vision to create pieces that interpret both his history and culture and document the modern world.

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| Karen Martinez is a seventh generation master Rio Grande-style weaver. This type of weaving has been passed on from generation to generation with a focus on preserving traditional Hispanic weaving styles.

| Nicolas Madrid is a Spanish Market award winning tin worker. His work can be seen in the Denver Art Museum and the Spanish Colonial Arts Museum.

this interdependence, especially as guests are introduced to villagers.

Attention to detail is the key to the hotel’s success in immersing its guests in Hispanic culture. In this, Jim had lots of help. Kris Lajeskie was the hotel’s interior designer; Chimayó artisans Karen Martinez, Irvin Trujillo, Robert Ortega and Carlos Trujillo did the weavings incorporated throughout the hotel; Nicolas Madrid provided tinwork. Carmelito Martinez, lowrider mechanic and builder, is responsible for all the genuine lowrider artifacts throughout the bar, and Brenda Romero, president of the Chimayó Cultural Preservation Association, vouched for authenticity throughout the project. Every imaginable cultural element is here: the well-thumbed selection of books in the lobby covering topics such as the origin of New Mexico families; the 500 crosses made by villagers from found objects and recycled materials, a collection of which hangs above each hotel room fireplace; the little Chimayó apple trees planted in front of the hotel’s entrance; and the authentic horno on the premises where actual baking takes place.

And then there’s the hotel’s Low ‘N Slow lowrider bar, its name an affectionate nod to the title of a book by Jack Parsons and Carmella Padilla celebrating all things lowrider. “Lowrider culture is a lot of fun,” says Jim. “It’s beautiful, artistic in itself, but misunderstood—lots of negative connotations. The culture has been passed down from grandfather to father to son. We will have an exclusive lowrider parking zone right in front of the hotel, the first in the world. The parking sign for the space will read ‘If it doesn’t scrape the pavement, it’s not a lowrider. It’s just a car with rims.’”

For the hotel’s new restaurant, Tia’s Cocina, Chef Estevan Garcia, a Santa Fe native, combed through countless old Chimayó cookbooks in order to replicate traditional country food for his menu. In the homey, comfortable dining room presided over by a lovely fireplace, Chef Estevan serves dishes he learned by cooking with the villagers in their own kitchens: rustic cornbread (made with whole kernels), house-made atole, queso blanco salad, beans and chicos, tortas de huevo (“My mom used to make those,” he remembers). “This food, it’s my roots,” Estevan continues. “I’m working with school programs to give all this back, to inspire kids to cook these dishes, too.”

At the hotel’s recent grand opening, Jim estimates that at least 90 percent of those attending were from Chimayó. “They are the stars here,” he says. “For centuries, they’ve made a conscious effort to hold onto their economy—it’s truly a cultural economy. As cultural entrepreneurs, our mission is to help preserve and protect a community’s rich cultural and historic traditions. We’re more entrenched than ever in this mission. I’ve made so many lifelong friends on this project. What we want guests to come away with from their stay at the hotel is not souvenirs but spiritual and emotional memories that will last them their lifetime. In the effort to understand what shaped Chimayó, you must understand that faith and devotion are most important. This is their real culture; we’re not afraid to take risks in order to bring this to people.”

Jim is convinced that, when all is said and done, the success of the newly opened Hotel Chimayó rests in the hands of the guests who choose to stay there. “They’re the ones making this whole endeavor possible. When visitors choose to stay here with us, they do it because they are believers in the same endeavor that we support. It’s the opportunity to make a difference in something that matters.”

The Hotel Chimayó de Santa Fe is located at 125 Washington Avenue in Santa Fe. 505.988.4900. www.hotelchimayo.com.

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Divine Burgers s t o r y b y B A R RY F I E L D S photos by GABRIELLA MARKS

Edo in

H

oly Cow isn’t your typical burger joint. If it were, it wouldn’t have wood plank floors, sleek zebrawood chairs, and aluminum-topped tables that give it a hip, contemporary flair. It wouldn’t have vegan entrees like the “no-cow burger,” moist and flavorful and made of roasted eggplant and chickpeas. It wouldn’t serve gourmet salads like seared ahi tuna infused with subtle Asian flavors, or offer sides like sweet potato fries and parmesan-zucchini fries. It wouldn’t have a curved bar flowing into an open kitchen. And it wouldn’t be the newest addition to Edo, Albuquerque’s up-and-coming Eastern Downtown area centered around Central Avenue, home to a number of trendy restaurants that were featured in the June 2011 issue of localflavor.

Holy Cow’s small menu may be diverse and upscale, but the big signs on the walls that read “BURGERS” leave no doubt about the restaurant’s star attraction. The hamburgers are served with caramelized onions, pecan-wood-smoked bacon, homemade roasted green chile, or other delectable toppings. They’re made with northern New Mexico or southern Colorado grass-fed, antibiotic-free beef. They come large and thick and earn rave reviews from patrons.

The restaurant, which is housed in former drive-in diner Bob’s Fish and Chips, underwent a six-month remodel before it opened toward the end of July. Pleasant outside seating under one of the canopies, where cars used to park, will soon be winterized, and eventually a second canopy will be another outdoor dining area. As Dave Boyd, one of the three partners in the establishment, observes, “This building speaks to me as a burger place. So that’s what we did—but we stepped it up a bit,” as befitting a neighborhood where “people go to the farmers’ market and are concerned about what they eat. We already have regulars who come two to three times a week.”

|

Chris Medina

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The triumvirate of partners come from varying backgrounds. Dave Boyd used to own Sauce, a wood-fired pizza business, and Raw, a sushi bar, both located around 4th and Central. Michael Wewerka is an architect and contractor educated at UNM who has designed a number of restaurants in Albuquerque, including in Edo. And Chris Medina, who’s practically been living at Holy Cow since it opened, has been around restaurants since his mid-teens, when he began working at Santa Fe’s Staab House in La Posada. He followed this with a ten-year stint as a waiter at Geronimo, one of Santa Fe’s top gourmet destinations. “I was always drawn to restaurants,” he muses. “It wasn’t work for me”—even to the point that it derailed his career plans in computer networking.

Boyd and Medina met in Santa Fe and quickly became friends. “All we ever talked about was the restaurant business,” Medina recalls. They fantasized about having their own establishment, and played with various concepts. They became enamored with the Edo area—as did localflavor—particularly because of the restaurants. They had their eyes on spaces and liked the old, empty drive-in. Then a “for sale” sign appeared.

Wewerka, it turned out, had owned the building on the Central Avenue for four years. “I always wanted to do a restaurant here,” he underscores, “I just didn’t have the right partners.” But when Boyd and Medina bought into the project, he suddenly did. They all agreed on burgers as something that would complement the restaurants already in Edo. Burger signs were already on the walls. As Wewerka sees it, “This is a classic Route 66 burger joint. The building says it.” In coming up with a physical design, he had to submit plans to Albuquerque’s historic review committee. Even with the upgrades, he feels he has been true to what he calls “the classic mid-century modern burger place.” As a contractor, he led the remodel effort, and all three partners put their own sweat equity into the project. Light and airy, modern and comfortable, the end result has character with a comfortable ambience. “I just love being in here,” Wewerka asserts. “It feels really good. We all get immense satisfaction from it.”

Medina backs him up: “My heart is definitely in this place.”

Medina met chef Steve Jarrett while they were both working at Geronimo, and they stayed in touch when life took each of them elsewhere. Jarrett went on to open Tulips, another Santa Fe fine dining establishment, which he ran for several years. As the partners were in the early stages of developing Holy Cow, Medina recounts, “I was in a pizza place in Santa Fe when Steve walked in.” They began talking about the concept of the restaurant. “Steve and I come from similar styles in terms of how a restaurant should be run. Just because the food is casual doesn’t mean the quality has to be compromised.” They developed Holy Cow’s menu together, Medina specifying the dishes he wanted and Jarrett executing them with his own technique, which is “subtle and elegant” in Medina’s opinion. (Localflavor was always a fan of Jarrett’s cuisine--he was featured twice on our cover.) Jarrett trained the kitchen staff and remains a consultant. “We put work into each and every dish,” Medina points out.

And Wewerka boasts, “There’s not a single item on the menu that’s weak.” Vegan dishes and gourmet salads weren’t an afterthought, but rather a conscious decision to make the place as appealing to local yoga instructors as to diehard carnivores.

With Jarrett’s help, Medina sourced high quality ingredients, beginning with the beef and free-range chicken. Breads come from Albuquerque’s Fano Bakery, the goat cheese is made locally, and in-season tomatoes and zucchini are bought from the farmers’ market. Holy Cow offers local ales in their excellent selection of beers.

In spite of the other terrific Edo eateries—or maybe in part because of them—Holy Cow’s reception has taken the partners by surprise. Their first night open they expected to serve 30 people and 110 showed up, among them actor Mark Ruffalo, known for his roles in such movies as Shutter Island and Collateral. “It’s been such a warm welcome from the neighborhood,” Medina gushes, obviously pleased.

The partners share credit for their initial success with their bright and personable staff, who helped them iron out some opening-week service kinks.

Holy Cow is a work in progress, as any new restaurant must be. Desserts weren’t yet on the menu when we visited, and art work had yet to be put on the walls. Soon there will be specials listed, and the kitchen is already slated for expansion. “It’s all about the guest’s experience,” Medina says. Yet it takes creativity, planning, teamwork and talent to create that alchemical combination of food, service and environment that bring guests back again. So far, the threesome is succeeding, helping to solidify Edo’s mark on the culinary map.

Holy Cow is located at 700 Central SE in Albuquerque. 505.242.2991. They are open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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A Taste of Life in New Mexico

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Set

Hands of the Artisan

On the

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s t o r y b y E L I Z A B E T H TA N N E N photos by GABRIELLA MARKS

W

hen I first meet Ian Scroggins, outside the main building at 1-25 Studios on Albuquerque’s West Side, he is dressed in a black tee shirt and black jeans, unloading a life-sized ceramic bulldog from the back of a beige minivan.

Turns out, this is a pretty characteristic scene. As art department leadman for the Albuquerque-set and -filmed television series In Plain Sight, the transport of seemingly random and peculiar objects makes up a large part of Ian’s job.

If, like me, you aren’t intimately familiar with “the industry,” it can be tricky to keep track of the various players and departments and artisans that come together to create the backdrops for the movies and television shows we see on screen. In other words, it’s hard to understand exactly what Ian Scroggins does.

Fortunately, in addition to possessing crucial and relevant skills in design, organization, and iPhone apps, Ian is a very easygoing guy—and therefore had no problem repeatedly describing the way it all works.

For each episode of the show, there’s a director (a different one, usually) and a script (also, obviously, different). Each episode contains any number of various sets, usually somewhere between ten and twenty. (Working on In Plain Sight, which follows FBI detectives who work with people in the witness protection program, is a particular challenge, because every episode is supposed to start out in a different part of the country—with a different character entering the program.)

Some scenes will be filmed on location (in town or somewhere else in New Mexico) and some on set, at I-25 Studios. There’s a production designer, the “big cheese” as Ian puts it, who, along with the director, has final say on the overall look of the movie or TV show. Beneath them is an art director, who maps out the production designer’s ideas, and a set decorator, who determines what the set dressing—the furniture, the fixtures, sometimes the ceramic bulldogs—will be.

And then there’s Ian, who is in charge of making those set-dressing plans actually happen. Usually, with about three days’ notice.

“I like to think of it as translating their vision—the production designer, the art director, and the set decorator—from the elements into the physical world,” Ian explains. “I take the things they draw and bring all that stuff together to coordinate how it gets set up. I protect their vision.”

Protecting that vision, in more practical terms, means directing a team of twelve guys and two trucks to pick up and drop off a whole lot of stuff.

Ground zero of this whole operation is what’s called the Gold Room (or sometimes “The Goldie”), a gargantuan warehouse space at I-25 that stores the past four seasons’ worth of set dressing material. It’s a thrift maven’s wonderland: walls of vintage clocks, piles of framed posters, aisles of more upholstered chairs than you have ever imagined exist in the world, an area called “The Jungle” crammed with all manner of fake greens, and stacks of neon signs advertising generic brands (“BEER,” “WINE,” “PADDY O’s”).

Walking through the room with Ian, what appear to be innocuous objects can provoke flashbacks that are sometimes jarring: a rack of telephones, for example.

“Oh, man,” he says, recalling an episode from season three in which he was directed to set up an entire floor of the Albuquerque Journal (whose building is often used for local filming) as an FBI office. “The set was on air for forty seconds, but they needed the entire office floor set up,” he explains. “You think, there’s no way we’re gonna fill thirty cubicles without spending a fortune.”

But, being good at what he does, Ian figured out a way to do it. Computers were borrowed from UNM and a local recycler; phones were snagged from the Gold Room.“Everything is available locally if you’re willing to fake it,” he says.

He and the rest of the production team try to patronize local businesses as much as they possibly can—even if it means spending hours scouring every thrift store in town for whatever’s needed. They do make an occasional trip to Texas, though— particularly Austin, where In Plain Sight set decorator Carla Curry knows exactly where to find the perfect vintage table for any occasion.

Walking through the endless rows of accoutrements (of which there’s another equal-sized warehouse downstairs, this one for the “ratty” stuff), it can be hard to imagine how it was ever useful.

“We collect so much stuff,” Ian says, “I think all the time, ‘Why would you ever want that?’ Usually it’s from some thrift store in Los Lunas.”

I inquire about possible uses of a shaggy white throw pillow, located in a pile of other variously unattractive pieces. Ian knows immediately: One episode of In Plain Sight required an 80’s Miami condo—powder blue couches, the whole bit.

“We probably spent $15,000 on that set,” he says, “and what you actually see on screen is the corner edge of a side table and a blur behind the guy’s head. You just never know.”

|

Ian Scroggins

OCTOBER 2011

23

In a sense, Ian explains, the work that he and the rest of the set decorating team do is more for the other members of the film crew— and, most especially, the actors—than it is for viewers. They spend a ton of time picking out and putting together the right materials for any given background, for example, and that’s something that TV audiences will rarely ever get a good glimpse of.

“It’s really important that the crew feels like they’re in the right spot,” he says. That, for him, is where the job’s satisfaction lies. “We’ll spend two days working on a vet’s office, and then all of a sudden there are all these extras sitting around with cats and dogs making noise and people in lab coats walking through, and it looks like the real thing. We all kind of smile and look at each other, because that’s when you know you’re doing good. The set crew are people who see this stuff everyday, so if you can feel like you’ve fooled them, you know you’ve done your job.”

Watching the sets he helped create on the air, though, is not something Ian loves to do. In fact, he avoids it. “I still love movies,” he explains, “but it’s a lot easier to watch stuff that you didn’t work on.”

Ian grew up in Ft. Worth and then Albuquerque, when his parents relocated for work. He attended UNM, where he studied music theory.

He’s still passionate about making music but prefers to keep that a hobby while making film his profession.

During college, he also got involved in what he terms “computer stuff.”

“I’m really not trying to be vague,” he quickly qualifies. “I really just did a lot of computer-related stuff.” Those skills have come in very handy in his film work, particularly as the industry has become more dependent on digital media. “It’s really different than it was even five years ago. Now, everyone on set’s got their iPhone and their laptop out,” he says, his own iPhone beeping twice during that sentence.

He still does some web design work at UNM and often finds himself considered the resident computer guy on film sets, frequently called upon to help out with various problems.

Perhaps these diverse skills are part of what has kept Ian working so consistently since he first got into the movie business in early 2005, starting out as a production assistant in the art department and quickly moving into set dressing. In addition to his work for In Plain Sight, Ian has also been on the set dec crew for numerous films, including Avengers, which probably had the biggest budget he’s ever worked with.

Having a limited budget, though, is part of what Ian enjoys about his work. “We get to be inventive when we’re cheap. When you have more money, you can buy exactly what you want. When you don’t, you get to come up with a solution that fools the camera.”

And there are some other, less expected perks to the job. Walking past an antique wood stove in the Gold Room, Ian stops to point at it emphatically. Apparently, someone once tried cleaning the stove with wax cleaner, a mistake that cost around $1,400. “One reason it’s great to kind of climb through the ranks,” he announces, “is that you learn a lot about cleaning products that you wouldn’t normally as a guy in your 20s.”

Ian is also expert at cleaning two-inch blinds, a set piece that he describes as his biggest headache. “We have more two-inch blinds of every color than you can possibly imagine.” Also, leather furniture: “For some reason people feel like leather is indestructible,” he muses— although, he admits, set dressers tend to rearrange furniture more than the average homeowner. “You’re not really supposed to move your couch around sixty times in one month,” he says. “And it’s hard to stick with something when you know there are fifty other options in the Gold Room.”

Which, I can assure you, there are.

24

OCTOBER 2011

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A Taste of Life in New Mexico

OCTOBER 2011

25

Reflections inThe

Palace story by CHEF JOHNNY VEE p h o t o s b y K AT E R U S S E L L

Joseph Wrede |

W

hat makes a great chef? What makes a chef great? These are the questions I pondered as I prepared to interview Joseph Wrede, former owner and chef of Taos’ heralded Joseph’s Table and newly ensconced executive chef at the recently revamped Palace Restaurant and Saloon. I think the answer should reflect on two different parts of a chef ’s composition: the talent and the person behind the talent. I wondered what Wrede would think. As a personal friend of his for over a decade, I know him to be both of these things, a great chef and a chef who is great. I have been lucky enough to play a small part in his successful career, to count him as one of my mentors, and to be a willing participant on the roller coaster ride of ups and downs that make up his occupational journey.

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AUGUST 2011

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Interviewing someone you know so well can make for a tricky assignment; the writer can read between the lines, which often leaves the reader in the dark about the details. It seemed odd, in fact, to sit down with pen and paper opposite my friend, after all we’d been through; I could write his story without necessity of dialogue. I decided to start with a quick career recap and then focus primarily on what’s going on in Wrede’s head now and where he is headed with this exciting new project.

A brief history. I met Joe and his life partner, Kristin Bortles, in 2000, just after he was named one of Food & Wine Magazine’s Top Ten Chefs in America. I had not been to Joseph’s Table at this stage but was intrigued by the hubbub the award created in New Mexico’s culinary scene. I very clearly remember when we met.

Rather than an egomaniacal lunatic, Wrede was a simple, humble, down-to-earth small-town boy making big in a very competitive industry. We discovered we shared a lot in common, were likeminded as far as preferences in food. I suddenly found myself dining at Joseph’s Table regularly and looking for excuses to be in Taos and hang with the rising star.

The last decade has been a wild and wooly one for Wrede.

Along with the accolades came fame and challenges—both of which the eminent chef took in stride. But these changes also threatened to upset his illustrious kingdom in Taos. Wanting to

| Tuna Tartare atop sliced radish with red chile and lemon, mango, kiwi and panko-crusted fried avocados.

| David Bigby

expand his empire—and feeling he had outgrown the rustic little building that housed his original restaurant—Wrede was lured to head up the fancy new restaurant at the flashy El Monte Sagrado Resort. But after closing his eponymous business, Wrede discovered that El Monte was not a good fit and pulled out prior to its opening.

A chef without a kitchen, Wrede flirted with the idea of moving to Santa Fe but eventually reopened a space in the historic La Fonda Hotel on the Taos Plaza. (By this stage, he and Kristin had added two kids to the mix, Fallon and Dashiell, now ten and seven, respectively.) The setting was not exactly ideal, given that many of Joe’s clientele were night owls and revelers. I remember dining at the original joint at midnight—a state of affairs that definitely did not conform to the hotel management’s idea of ideal tenant hours. Joe also opened a bakery that stretched him thin. Then the recession came, and he found himself in a financial strain. Recognizing the need for a cash injection and assistance with his admitted weak point, administration skills, he joined The Taos Restaurant Group (members of which include the Old Blinking Light, Lambert’s and Brett House Catering) and became its consulting chef.

The lack of love from La Fonda management, another economic downturn, and complications in lease negotiations sadly forced Wrede out of business in May 2009.

Frustrated with the local scene, he briefly pursued an opportunity in Los Angeles but decided to return to Taos and regroup. While finishing contractual responsibilities to the Restaurant Group, he spent last winter manning the stoves at the Edelweiss Lodge and Spa’s Blonde Bear Tavern, in the Taos Ski Valley. As spring arrived, Wrede decided that he needed a new venture to support his family and, more importantly, to keep his culinary hat in the ring.

Enter entrepreneur David Bigby and The Palace Restaurant.

Bigby had never worked in a restaurant, even in his youth. “Zippo,” the amiable big guy replied when I ask him what his prior interest in the food service industry had been. Instead, he headed a large consulting firm out of Dallas.

“My wife, Barbara, is an artist and we have been coming to northern New Mexico for years. We always intended on moving here,” he explained in a gentle Texas drawl, noting that much of the artwork that adorns the dining room is hers. “After I retired (although I am still on the board of my company), I played golf and skied, but it wasn’t enough. Barbara said she could tell I was bored and ‘chewing my foot off.’ A friend here alerted me about the Palace being for sale, so I came and had a look. We had never even dined here in its heyday, but I immediately recognized its potential.”

“I always felt that Santa Fe was such a special city,” Bigby continued. “I wanted to do something where I could connect to the community. As the sole proprietor of the restaurant, I will certainly be involved, but not so much in the day-to-day. We got such an amazing response to our chef ad on Craigslist. We had some very serious applicants. When Joseph approached me, I was afraid, given his incredible resumé, that he would be a prima donna. When we sat down, I was impressed at what a sweet, charming man he was. I had never dined at Joseph’s Table, but I got an immediate good feeling.” Clearly Wrede’s reputation preceded him.

Bigby admitted that his own lack of experience as a restaurateur meant he’d often be facing a steep learning curve. “I’m surprised how frank and honest customers are; they tell you exactly how they feel about every facet of the business. I’m still trying to figure out where to hide occasionally when the place is packed,” he confessed to me with a chuckle.

When Bigby got Joe in place as the Palace chef, the buzz in town started immediately, but the redo was a major project that lingered through the summer.

During the period when Joe was designing his menu, he and I ate in every restaurant in town worth its salt to give him an insight into the strengths of his competition.

Realizing he was no longer a big fish in a little pond, Wrede was rightly intimidated by the league of talented chefs he was about to join. We dissected and discussed each bite and conferred on the subject of how each dish and establishment fit into Santa Fe’s edible landscape. We then determined what culinary niche he would fill.

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| Homemade tagliatelle with corn, kale, leeks,rosemary and cream.

When the Palace’s beautiful renovation was complete and the kitchen open, it was time to get a very busy Joe to the table. I was dying to try the Palace’s soon-to-be-famous green-chile cheeseburger and was extra excited to eat it in Joe’s new professional home. It was complemented by an order of perfectly crunchy onion rings, and I was confident that Wrede’s conquest of Santa Fe had begun. Only day three into operation the chef looked slightly wilted but enthusiastic and inspired.

“How does your food fit into the historic Palace?” I asked him.

“Because it is historic and was Italian for so long, I am gravitating toward the Italian flavor profiles—I am comfortable in that realm,” he said. “But we are in America, and cooking has become a melting pot. So I think my other dishes, like duck fat fries and foie gras with mole, will fit into the concept. The size of the restaurant is intimidating. I need to make sure I maintain an intimate relationship with each plate. Doing large numbers can slow you down. I know our customers will have great expectations. I have created a standard and hope that the entire staff can reach that standard. We will all be judged eleven times a week.”

“Is it easier or harder to not be the owner?” I wondered.

“It’s a bit of both actually: easier because I don’t have to write checks, but harder because as a working partner I have to share the financial success. What is great about David Bigby is he is not putting up any obstacles; he works to eliminate them. It allows me to focus on the food.”

“How did the Food & Wine award change you and your cooking?” I inquired.

“I remember my first cooking job out of the culinary schooling I did at Peter Kump’s in New York City. I thought, ‘I’m the chef,’ right away.

I was already convinced I was better than anyone else. After opening Joseph’s Table in 1995, I was humbled. Originally we opened for breakfast and lunch. I think our best day we took in three hundred dollars! Once 28

OCTOBER 2011

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we scraped together the money to obtain a beer and wine license, things started to take off. Word spread. I still had that young energy where you can work your ass off and party, too. The Food & Wine award validated me, I think, with my local competition—the older European chefs in Taos. Suddenly people cared about what I had to say; my opinion meant something, about food and other topics.”

“What was your least favorite part of your newfound acclaim?” I asked.

“Once you attain recognition, you really have to be careful not to buy into pretense, and [you have to] ward off narcissism. I wanted further validation, so I set out to exceed the expectations an award like that sets up. I enjoyed my success, because it shut up early critics. But there is no easy way for a chef; you still have to work your ass off.”

“So after El Monte Sagrado didn’t pan out for you, and you reopened at La Fonda, was it hard to restart your original Joseph’s Table concept?”

Wrede frowned slightly. “The mindset at La Fonda was very different. The tension was horrible. Working with the Taos Restaurant Group was a great experience, though. I had to learn to cook for their audience in their different venues, but it taught me how to run a business. The lessons were hard-learned; I had always considered myself an artist first. I used food to be creative and to express myself. Having to learn to think like a chef first was an extremely difficult transition. When the recession hit, it was tough; by the time I closed the restaurant I was burned out, exhausted and bankrupt. I realized I had stopped learning things. I was scared.

What is amazing at The Palace is there is no one getting in the way of the creative process.”

| Grouper seared in crème fraîche and mustard, served on a sweet potato and onion hash with fried anchovy stuffed green olives.

“How has having kids changed you?”

He smiled, “There is no real responsibility like having children. I think the job of a parent is to extend a child’s innocence as long as you can. I want my kids to have a grounded childhood somewhat different from mine. In the realm of it changing my cooking, it’s interesting to realize that kids’ reaction to food is based on sight and taste. That’s all you have to think about.”

I asked Joe what he thinks makes a great chef.

“I think it takes discipline, stamina and good cooking.”

As for what makes a chef great?

“An incredible sense of taste is important, true style and, most importantly, fearlessness.”

Wrede doesn’t seem to separate the man from the talent—interesting.

So how will Wrede take on Santa Fe? “After moving here, I realized how isolated Taos is. I am so energized by the ethnic restaurant scene here. There is such a good food audience, a larger population. I’m gonna go for it like the other great chefs in town. Santa Fe is programmed to succeed with all the great events that take place throughout the year. There is art everywhere, people are extremely stimulated, and I am excited to add my two cents.”

“Do you have a new mantra now that you are in Santa Fe?” “Well, I have learned from my experiences and will capitalize on my lessons. I will wake up earlier and go to bed later. I won’t hide from criticism. I won’t lie to myself. I’ll stay clear and balanced.”

I ask him what is his dream is for his new life at The Palace.

“I want to reestablish financial security for my family,” he said, “rise to the occasion. Never allow myself to reach a place where my career feels like an entrapment. My legacy, I think, is that I’m building a team, who when they leave me will get the best jobs in town with the best new chefs.”

Knowing that Wrede was being backed by Bigby and his team, I felt confident that he would conquer Santa Fe. In closing, I asked Joe what he would like God to say to him when he is ushered past the Pearly Gates.

“Have a seat at the bar,” he replied with a twinkle in his eye.

They’ll have to keep that seat open for a while; Wrede has lots to do before then.- JV The Palace Restaurant is located at 142 West Palace Avenue in Santa Fe. 505.428.0690. Lunch is served Monday - Friday from 11:00 until 2:30 p.m. Dinner is served Monday - Saturday from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. Bar menu is available Monday - Saturday until 10:30 p.m. www. palacesantafe.com

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Hands of the Artisan

Alchemyof

The

story by CHRISTIE CHISHOLM photos by GAELEN CASEY

Space

Lisa Samuel wanted to change her world. At 19, the Santa Fe native found herself divorced and a mother of two. “I knew I needed to do something to make my life work,” she says, “and I knew I couldn’t do it here.”

|

With dreams of designing, Samuel packed up her two small children, sold everything she owned, and with ninehundred dollars in her pocket, moved to San Diego. She lived on welfare for two years while studying architecture and construction at The American College.

When she finished, she moved back to Santa Fe and tried to find a job with an architect. “But it was the late ’70s,” she says. “I was young and I was a woman. I couldn’t get an architect to hire me.”

Samuel made her living for years working for civil and mechanical engineers, but the job never satisfied her; she longed for something more creative.

She found some release in raising her by-then three children. When they were grown, she went back to school at Santa Fe Community College, this time studying interior design. Even then, in her forties, her path wasn’t smooth. In order to maintain scholarship money, she had to go to school full-time, and she did that while continuing to work full-time and take care of her second husband, who had gone legally blind (they’ve since divorced). Somehow, in the same breath, she started her own business, the Samuel Design Group.

Today Samuel has the air of someone who’s fulfilled her dream.

Sitting in an office flooded with natural light, the white walls juxtaposed with exuberantly polychromatic abstract paintings, she looks a little like a queen who has finally found her empire—a queen, that is, with Buddy Holly glasses and brown hair streaked with silver. She’s frank about her past, because she’s proud

Leonardo Baca, Lisa Samuel and Jennifer Ashton of the Samuel Design Group

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

OCTOBER 2011

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Hands of the Artisan

of it and because it’s deeply influenced the way she runs her business. “I don’t see things as obstacles very easily,” she says. “If I wanted something specific, I would just make it happen.”

That philosophy runs through every vein of her interior design firm, which has been open since 2002 and has worked on homes throughout northern New Mexico and up into Colorado. It’s most readily apparent through the artisans and craftsmen she commissions for her work, who are all local. “It’s about supporting the community,” she says, “and more so, the community that belongs to me, or that I belong to.” Samuel makes a point of finding whatever she’s looking for close to home. She recalls only one time in her firm’s nine-year history when she went outside this rule, flying in an artist from California to paint a table for a client.

Otherwise, Samuel is strict about staying within the local economy. She sees it as a way of helping to foster the aspirations of likeminded souls. “I know what it’s like to struggle. And a lot of creative people have a life path of somehow working in a way that expresses their creativity,” she says. “Many of them work for themselves. I love supporting that.”

From a practical perspective, relying on artisans and craftsmen who are nearby provides other advantages, like being able to keep an eye on projects as they develop.

“If it’s something that’s done far away, I can’t be there to watch it grow,” she says, adding that when she commissions a piece, she has specific ideas about the outcome and wants to be around to help guide it.

Samuel’s employees follow the same guidelines. The two other designers at her firm are Jennifer Ashton and Leonardo Baca, who is currently in training. Her husband, Les Samuel, acts as her business consultant. He has a 35-year history working in the fashion business in high-end women’s wear, and the two met through a mutual colleague. Although Samuel oversees every project at the firm as its owner, each designer also brings a unique aesthetic to her or his projects. While Samuel refers to her own as an “organic sensibility” that features clean lines and simple forms, she says Ashton’s centers on “bold and more exotic flavors” and calls Baca’s “clean and tailored.”

What Samuel likes most about the designers’ different approaches is the collaboration that comes from joining them together. She also wants people to question her and not be afraid to disagree. “If no one challenges you, you don’t stretch,” she says. That’s also one of the biggest qualities she looks for in the artists she works with—the ability to speak their mind.

Even though Samuel works exclusively with local artisans and craftsmen, she doesn’t consider her work classically Santa Fean—at least, not in the way that many people interpret Santa Fe style. “People think it’s all Native American and bright colors,” she says. “I interpret it as nature-inspired, ethnic-inspired to a point ... a blend of Mexican, Native American, Victorian and Spanish influences.” Samuel likes to design for that style with a modern twist, using her aforementioned clean lines as much as possible. The designs she creates and the work she gets from local artists can fit any style, though, she says. Ultimately what matters is “creating spaces that are wonderful and inspiring from something ordinary and uninspiring,” she says. “That has been my life.”

Growing up as the ninth child of eleven, in a large Catholic family, Samuel found privacy hard to come by. She found ways to express herself and create something personal by carving out whatever small spaces she could find. “It’s all about making you feel a certain way,” she says, referring to the art of design as “the alchemy of space.”

Samuel believes she got to where she is because of her father, who she calls the biggest influence on her life. “My father had a couple of things that he taught me that really play into my life every single day,” she says. “One is there’s more than one way to do things and accomplish the same result. And the other is you can do anything as long as you have the right tools.”

The Samuel Design Group is located at 703 Camino de la Familia, Loft 3101 in the Santa Fe Railyard. 505.820.0239. www.samueldesigngroup.com.

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Photos by Amadeus Leitner

John Prosser ProsserForge

John Prosser calls himself a blacksmith. That’s because he got his start in the metal forging business when he was 16 after dropping out of high school to go to horseshoeing school. It was when he made his first fireplace screen, though, that he found his calling.

Prosser can forge iron into just about any shape imaginable, but in the two and a half years he’s been working with Samuel Design Group, he’s primarily made furniture for the firm, such as a vanity base topped with granite. Prosser also molds non-ferrous metals like stainless steel and bronze, but iron remains his favorite medium. “I like to get iron hot and hit it hard,” he laughs.

His design philosophy comes from the man who taught him how to blacksmith more than 25 years ago, Frank Turley (who’s still teaching at his blacksmithing school, Turley Forge). “The thing about really nice ironwork is it’s there for a lifetime,” says Prosser. “And the thing about really ugly ironwork is it’s there for a lifetime. It makes me want to make pretty things.” www.prosserforge.com

Jorge Rodriguez Rodriguez Woodworks

Jorge Rodriguez has been building custom furniture for Samuel Design Group since the firm started in 2002.

Lisa Samuel designs the pieces she commissions from Rodriguez, who’s made everything from tables and chairs to dressers and vanities for the group. “I use mostly any kind of wood,” he says, but “I like most working with walnut.” After learning the trade while working for others, Rodriguez started his own business in 1985.

With Samuel, Rodriguez says, “It’s mostly contemporary furniture,” although he adds that he’ll work within any style and oftentimes does so for the firm. “I enjoy the process.”

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Hands of the Artisan

Presents an Italian Holidays Event on Thursday, November 3, 3–7pm.

VIETRI ambassador Jody Kennington will be present during the event to sign purchases.

Limited edition Old Saint Nick Platter signed by the artisan will be available on a limited basis.

Free gift with purchase of $100 or more through Saturday, November 5.

Las Cosas will also feature new products during this event.

Enjoy sweet treats and Italian goodies and get into the Holiday Spirit Italian Style!

181 Paseo de Peralta, DeVargas Center • Santa Fe (505) 988-3394 • www.lascosascooking.com

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Heidi Loewen Porcelain

Heidi Loewen played in the mud as a child, and she’s still playing in it today. If that weren’t great enough, people flock to her studio to ask her to teach them how to play in it, too. As one of Santa Fe’s premier potters, Loewen has had her porcelain work featured on the Food Network’s Giada’s Weekend Getaways and the Travel Channel’s Great Weekends with Samantha Brown.

Loewen started her professional life by working with Chinese and Japanese artifacts at Sotheby’s, and that influence comes through in her designs, which often feature an Asian flair. Samuel Design Group only recently started scooping up her pieces for projects, and Loewen says the experience so far has been wonderful. “Lisa’s such a professional,” she says. “Her flavor in the art world and mine are very simpatico.”

Beyond getting her hands dirty, the part of her job Loewen most loves is meeting people who come in for classes. “It’s just the pure joy of getting to meet people from all over the world all the time,” she says. www.heidiloewen.com

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SENA PLAZA 125 East Palace Ave. SANTA FE VILLAGE 227 Don Gaspar Ave. PLAZA DE PALACIO 200 East Palace Ave. PLAZA MERCADO 112 West San Francisco SHOPS AT RIO CHAMA 410 Old Santa Fe Trail MERCADO VIEJO 222 Old Santa Fe Trail All conveniently located near the Plaza and professionally managed by SouthWest Asset Management, Inc. 505-988-5792

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And for that, Mike will always be grateful.

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A

sk the large family of wildly disparate Santa Fe regulars at the Bull Ring why they consider it their second living room, and they’ll all say, “Remember the old TV show Cheers?” In fact, if Santa Fe didn’t have Harry Georgeades and his acclaimed restaurant, we’d have to make them up. Because everybody needs a place, as local Patty Terrell says, “where you can come together with your friends to laugh, cry and support each other,” where people get to be themselves and, yes, everybody knows your name.

Back in 1971 when it opened right next door to the State Capitol Building, the Bull Ring (then under different ownership) was a popular nightclub—the dining choice for legislators, lobbyists, politicians, business owners, artists and others. Kurt Sommer and Cheryl Pick, who both grew up here, refer to its earlier incarnation as “rockin’.” Kurt says, “When you turned legal,” i.e. 21, “it was the place to go on Friday and Saturday nights!”

His wife Cheryl agrees. “Live music. You’d dance your heart out! The Raven Brothers!”

Then, in 1980, it went up for sale and Harry bought it. Deciding to sell the original 150-year-old adobe compound, which needed a lot of work, he moved the restaurant to its present locale, in the courtyard of the New Mexico Bank & Trust, on Washington Avenue in 1995. Next, he focused on upgrading the menu. And The Bull Ring: A Prime Steakhouse was born.

USDA prime beef, corn-fed, hand-cut daily. Word got around fast.

And it wasn’t just the legislators who followed Harry to his new location, but the locals as well. Kurt’s father, Joseph Sommer, who founded Sommer, Udall, Sutin Law Firm in 1953, quickly became a devoted regular. He came

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B

Amigos at the at least once a week. “Harry ran a tab for locals, and my father had one. All four of us, my brothers and me, when we’d be home from school, would come here together and have a wonderful time!” he laughs. “The Bull Ring was always one of my dad’s favorites. He’d order and read the paper. He was a good friend of Harry’s. Harry’s got a heart of gold. He was always so kind to Dad—he knew all his dietary restrictions.”

Cheryl, owner of Kaune’s, started out practicing law at the Sommer firm, where she and Kurt first met. “I’d come two or three days a week for lunch,” she says. “I still love the Tuesday special: meatloaf with green chile.”

They’ve had lots of firm functions in the Bull Ring’s private room.

“And also lots of Amigo lunches,” Kurt adds, referring to the group of voluntary ambassadors who gets together from all over the state to drum up ideas for promoting New Mexico to the outside world. “Harry’s an Amigo, too.”

Over the years, Kurt and Cheryl have brought their three daughters to the Bull Ring for birthdays and other special occasions. Now, they often come just the two of them. “It’s a great little courtyard to come sit in the summer on a Friday evening for drinks and dinner,” Cheryl says. Scanning the dining room approvingly, she adds, “Harry renovated a few years back.

There’s a comfortable elegance here. Harry puts his money back into the business. He supports the locals, and the locals in turn take ownership of the Bull Ring.”

Like a kindly uncle, Harry is very visible, affably going from table to table, greeting everyone, kissing the ladies’ hands. “He always thanks you for being here,” says Cheryl. “Harry doesn’t know a stranger!” She and Kurt laugh appreciably.

And that attentiveness, that personable, inviting care for his “family” of locals, Kurt says, “livens up the whole room.”

BullRing Speaking of lively presences, Cheryl’s father, the well-known ex-Santa Fe mayor Sam Pick, is another Bull Ring enthusiast. “He’s here every Thursday night,” she says, “working the crowd. He’s got the best lines ever—smooth. He brings a smile to your face.”

Kurt, nodding, adds, “He’s still got it!”

Patty Terrell chuckles at the mention of Sam Pick. “He calls all the women the most beautiful girl in the world. Sam once introduced me to someone as his ‘future last wife!’” She asks me if I’ve heard of the Wax Museum. “We’re a big family, a bunch of regulars who’ve been hanging out together here for years and years and years. We’re all getting up there now—everybody’s in their 50s, 60s, even 70s—and we come for a cocktail, primarily to socialize.” Since they run the gamut from extreme rightwingers to extreme left, Patty says, the Wax Museum crowd mostly skips controversial subjects and watches sports together in the bar. She describes the Bull Ring’s bar as such a safe, responsible place that she even brings her grandchildren there for dinner. “Everybody loves me there. It’s my home away from home.”

Tonight, that bar is packed—and this is a Sunday! Nedra Matteucci, another longtime Santa Fean, owner of the well-known Nedra Matteucci Galleries, sits on a bar stool beside Harry, beaming at the scene around her: a cacophony of legislators in town for the special session, good naturedly interrupting each other, erupting in laughter. “Harry always says, ‘Nothing good ever happens in a bar after 10:30 at night,’ and so that’s when he closes. I just love it here,” Nedra says. “The food is wonderful—USDA prime beef and good lamb—plus good people, good fellowship.”

State Senator Tim Jennings agrees wholeheartedly. “They’ve got the classiest food, consistently good. Great service—the staff greets me by name, they always remember me. You know, the legislature is a very stressful environment. This is our watering hole, our place to unwind.

It’s incredible—we always feel welcome here at the Bull Ring. The House and the Senate get to learn what each other is doing. People from different perspectives come together here and talk, learn about each other’s problems and work them out.”

These themes recur, table after table. “The atmosphere is never hostile, never gets out of hand,” says Stuart Ingall, Minority Leader of the Senate.

“There’s room for many divided opinions here, and you don’t have to say ‘Mr. Speaker.’ Unfortunately, we all can have a little bit of an ego, but here at the Bull Ring, it’s a level playing field.” And, he adds, “Harry always smiles at you when you come in.”

Dona Irwin, state representative from Deming, says, “Things that happened during the day are often resolved at the Bull Ring. And I love the petite filet—order it with red chile!”

Mary Helen Garcia, state representative from Las Cruces who’s been a regular for 19 years now, loves the camaraderie. Bill Fulginiti, executive director of the New Mexico Municipal League, a local who’s been coming since 1977, says of the bone-in filet, “It defies imagination!”

Andy Nuñez of Hatch, described by his buddies around the table as “the first and only Independent member of the New Mexico Legislature,” says, “I’ve been coming here forever. These are the best friends going! I wouldn’t trade these guys for anything—other than money!” They all guffaw.

Even Lisa Wilson, manager of the restaurant for the past five years, is in love with the place. “It’s great to come into work every day!” she enthuses, and you know she’s not exaggerating.

The Bull Ring is located at 150 Washington Avenue in Santa Fe. 505.983.3328. Lunch is served Tuesday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Dinner is served Monday through Sunday 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. www. santafebullring.com.

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When

Way Back

by TOM HILL

1. The Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta completed its 21st annual event last month. The very first event, in 1991, was held at: a. La Fonda Hotel b. Santa Fe Opera c. Hilton Hotel parking lot d. Sanbusco Market Center’s back parking lot e. Gruet Winery

2. The two primary organizers of the first SFW&CF were: a. Gordon Heiss b. Mark Miller c. Greg O’Byrne d. Susan Eagan e. Robert Goodfriend f. Doug Mohr

3. The first owner and winemaker of Santa Fe Vineyards was:

8. In 1980, Robert Mondavi joined Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton Rothschild to produce a joint-effort Bordeaux blend from Napa Valley grapes.

The winery was named: a. Mayacamas Vineyards b. Opus One c. Mondavi Old Goat Red d. Bobby Phillips New Red Blend e. R.H. Phillips Winery

9. Assyrtiko, Moschofilero, Xinomavro, and Agiorghitiko are all varieties of grape indigenous to which country?

a. Keith Obermaier b. Diego de Vargas Zapata y Luján Ponce de León y Contreras c. Alexis Lichine d. Len Rosingana e. Bishop Lamy

a. Greece b. Macedonia c. Israel d. Turkey e. Portugal

4. One of the first books to focus on American wines was Joyous Anarchy: The Search for Great American Wines. The author was:

10. The modern Washington State wine industry was launched in 1962 by:

a. Alexis Lichine b. William Massee c. David Nolf d. Gerald Asher e. Charlie Olken

a. Château St. Michelle b. Associated Vintners c. Cowan Cellars d. Mount Rainier Winegrowers Association e. Walla Walla Wine Cellars

5. What do the names Richard Heller, Dwayne Northup, Peter Handler, and Keith Obermaier have in common? They all:

11. The modern New Mexico wine industry was launched in 1974 by:

a. Wrote wine columns in the Santa Fe Reporter b. Stocked groceries at Kaune’s Food Town c. Ran some of Santa Fe’s early fine wine shops d. Authored books on pairing chile with New Mexico wines e. Were famous sommeliers at noted Santa Fe restaurants

a. New Mexico Wine Growers Association b. Santa Fe Purple Feet Club c. New Mexico Vine & Wine Society d. Wines of the Southwest e. Sangre de Uva Vintners

6. The Spanish Table is located on Guadalupe Street in a building that once housed:

12. The late 70s marked the dawn of today’s New Mexico wine industry when the state’s first two modern wineries opened. They were:

a. La Querencia restaurant b. Kelly’s Liquors c. OJ Sarah’s Breakfast and Juice Bar d. Sherry-Lehmann Fine Wines e. J. Dahmer’s Fine Wines and Body Parts, relocated from Cerebellum, Nebraska, in 1974

a. La Vina Winery b. Louis Gross Winery c. Gruet Winery d. Rico’s Winery e. Case Rondeña Winery

7. The first red Meritage wine was released in 1989 by: a. Dry Creek Vineyards b. Robert Mondavi Winery c. Cosentino Winery d. Caymus Vineyards e. Carneros Creek Winery

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Answers on page 42

magazine.com

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A Taste of Life in New Mexico

OCTOBER 2011

39

l u f t r A

Hands of the Artisan

Tea

s t o r y b y TA N I A C A S S E L L E

photos by GABRIELLA MARKS

K

aren Gardiner stands behind a big silver bowl, pondering. She takes a scoop of gunpowder green tea, a smaller scoop of finely cut ginger, a scattering of freeze-dried peach, and gently mixes it up. She contemplates the bowl again, wondering whether to add organic marigold.

“We eat and drink with our eyes as much as with our tongues,” she says. “You want something pretty.” She glances over rows of white pottery canisters, decides against rose petals and dismisses the lushly purple hibiscus blossoms, which would add color but also too much flavor. Once she’s finished

tweaking, the autumnal-hued blend looks fantastic to me, and finally meets Gardiner’s expectations. Alchemy complete, we head for the kitchen, and for the boiling water that may possibly transform her experimental blend into the newest addition to ArtfulTea’s catalogue.

Gardiner’s earliest memories of tea are as a young girl in Maryland, with her grandfather helping adjust it to her taste.

“It was more milk and sugar than tea, and it was yummy.” Her family drank everyday teas like Lipton, but Gardiner really got hooked on the good stuff at age twelve, when her grandmother took her out for a proper afternoon tea. “I loved the silver, the china, the elegance, the accoutrements.”

Years later, Gardiner was practicing as a lawyer (“I hated it; I was miserable,” she says) when she received the first clue that tea might be more to her than just a pleasant beverage. She did “The Artist’s Way” course by Julia Cameron, which featured an exercise to write down five imaginary lives. “I jotted down ‘bookstore and tea-room owner.’ It planted some seed in my brain that didn’t let go.”

She turned that attraction into action in 1999, opening the Kindred Spirit bookstore and tea room in Key West. “Many folks thought I had lost my mind, but a few of my closest friends really applauded me, and some of my friends in the law firm were probably jealous as heck.”

Some of her Florida customers stayed loyal when Gardiner moved in 2006 to Santa Fe, where she’d been a regular visitor for at least 15 years. “I felt so inspired by what I experienced here, so alive. I knew it was a spot that fed my soul.” Rather than opening 40

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| Karen Gardiner

a bricks-and-mortar store, she decided she’d shift to internet retailing, and ArtfulTea was born. When she first started out in New Mexico, Gardiner sold at the Tesuque Flea Market, meeting visitors from all over the Southwest who’d walk away with one of her handmade tea pouch samplers. “They’d go back to their hotel or casita and fix a cup of tea, and I’d hear from them a week later: ‘I love that tea. I want to buy some!’”

We’re sitting in Gardiner’s studio—a serene space with one half dedicated to tea, the other to her craft projects. Prayer flags hang in the window, neat shelves display sewing supplies, vintage lace and linens, and baskets of wood and sheet music that she uses in her angel sculptures.

A china cabinet holds tea settings and a collection of tea pots; next to them are rows of caddies evocatively labeled: Organic Tibetan Lavender, Wild Rosebuds, Lemon Balm, Chocolate-Dipped Strawberry Tea and Pu’erth from China (which is buried to age it and create the earthy taste). Everything is orderly, but the entire space speaks of creativity. It also smells divine, and Gardiner smiles when I swoon over the bergamot fragrance from a jar of Earl Grey. “The aroma of tea really does sell it. I believe that’s what causes people to buy it.”

Gardiner sells via her website, but she’s also at the New Mexico Artisans Market at the Santa Fe Railyard most Sundays, and she’s recently become the tea supplier to the Hotel St Francis. Tea blending is a newer venture for Gardiner, as her traditional focus had been on sourcing fine teas. She describes herself as a good taster, searching out teas that people enjoy but that aren’t off-the-charts expensive.

“I’m like the local little wine shop,” she notes. “They can describe the wine; they’re very knowledgeable and can describe what it pairs with.

They don’t make the wine, but they’re a good source.” She took the leap into blending teas when a key supplier went out of business. “There is an art to it, but it’s also really hit-or-miss. I grab a few bowls and pull out a few of my ingredients, herbs, spices, and flowers and see how it tastes.

Sometimes you come up with something fun; then you have to remember the recipe.”

We sip the ginger and peach green tea she just whipped up. It’s delicious, but she decides to adjust the proportions to bring the peach flavor forward. She chose the Chinese gunpowder tea base, as it’s great for blending, but also because Japanese sencha green tea is becoming hard to source following the tsunami disaster and radiation leaks. At the time of the accidents, there was only enough sencha in the U.S. to last a year, and it may soon run out. “So if I’m blending something new, I might as well start with a Chinese green base that I’ll continue to have access to.”

Her most popular teas include masala chai, a traditional recipe with cinnamon, ginger and cardamom. “In the green teas my best seller is Spring Fancy, with passion fruit flavor, papaya, pineapple, rose petals and strawberry pieces. It’s a green and white tea blend. People love it. Moroccan mint is another big seller. Rooibos is very popular—no caffeine, lots of antioxidants, a nice bold flavor.” Although herbal infusions are not strictly tea (they don’t contain the tea plant), about 40% of Gardiner’s business is in herbals, because many people opt to avoid caffeine.

Gardiner disputes a common misconception that tea contains more caffeine than coffee. “I believe the coffee industry probably started that rumor,” she says with a smile. “By weight, tea does have more caffeine, but you use so much less tea to make a cup than coffee.” She throws out some stats, and I gather that a cup of black tea contains around half the caffeine of the same size cup of coffee. Green tea contains much less, and white tea is barely worth calculating.

She sources her imports at The World Tea Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. “I can meet people right from the garden that grew it.” As with wine, tea has its own terroir, and much depends on the soil, climate and elevation.

Gardiner punctuates her conversation with references to tea fermentation, oxidization and the health qualities of tea: its ability to either calm or uplift, to warm the drinker up or cool them down.

“Tea has been a driving force in world history. It’s also the second most consumed beverage in the world today, after water.”

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Hands of the Artisan Answers 1. d The first SFW&CF was held in the back parking lot of Sanbusco on a bright, clear, sunny afternoon.

2. a & b It was primarily organized by (the late) Gordon Heiss of La Casa Sena and Mark Miller of Coyote Café.

The idea was to hold a wine and food event during the slow time between the summer tourist season and the winter ski season to support the local restaurants. Current SFW&CF director Greg O’Byrne was not yet involved. Robert Goodfriend and Doug Mohr, owners of the restaurant E.K. Mas were participants.(Bonus points: What restaurant is now located at the original E.K. Mas site? Answer below…)

3. d Len Rosingana and his brother bought the old Ruby Hill property in Livermore, California, in 1975 and reopened the dilapidated winery under the name of Stony Ridge Winery. Ruby Hill was one of the legendary vineyards in the Livermore Valley, planted in 1887. When they closed Stony Ridge, the winery was abandoned and eventually burned to the ground. In the early ‘80s, Len and his wife, Donna, returned to Santa Fe and he founded Santa Fe Vineyards in an old building just south of the new prison. Len died in the late ‘90s.

4. b William Massee was a prolific wine writer during the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. He was one of the first to recognize the potential of California to make great wine. He co-authored many books with his wife, Dorothy Ivens.

His daughter, Kate Tremper, opened the first cheese store in Santa Fe in the early ‘70s and co-authored several books with her father on matching wine and cheese. Massee died in 2007.

Her most exotic tea is the Japanese Dragon Well, which she describes as “exquisite” with very flat leaves. “They process it in a wok and use their hands on the tea leaves to flatten it out. It’s a bit more expensive than most of the teas I carry.”

For a can’t-go-wrong gift tea, Gardiner suggests her blueberrypomegranate herbal infusion. “Everyone uniformly loves it. It’s a beautiful fruity herbal tea, so if we don’t know if the person can drink caffeine, they can have this.”

I’m an Englishwoman. Tea is in my genes, and I like to think I know something about making it. So I’m delighted when Gardiner confirms my prejudice against the insipid brews resulting from cafés serving a cup of hottish water with a tea bag on the side to dunk. She explains that pouring hot water directly over leaves is better, because tea leaves float.

So if you drop a tea bag into the water, it doesn’t want to submerge. She pauses as she says “tea bag,” adding, “I can hardly say the words without sniffing.” Pouring water on the leaves saturates them and ensures the leaves open properly. I discover, however, that my bias for boiling water is only partially correct. For black tea and herbal infusions, it should be boiling, but for green teas it’s best to leave the kettle for thirty seconds after boiling, so it doesn’t scald the leaves.

“Most people who tell me they don’t like green tea haven’t had it prepared properly,” says Gardiner. “They’ve steeped it far too long and used boiling water. Let green tea steep for just one minute. I’m a stickler for timing my tea.”

She sends me home with a jar of Earl Grey Lavender, and, slightly skeptical, I follow her instructions to set my kitchen timer and let it steep for exactly three minutes. She’s right. It’s perfection.

She’s not heavy on other rules—after all, she started enjoying tea in a milk-and-sugar fest. “Good tea is enjoyable without adding anything, but if adding milk and sugar to black tea enhances enjoyment, absolutely!”

Two years ago Gardiner had cancer. “I’m fine now, cancer-free, but it really changed my perspective on what’s important,” she reflects. “Tea is really important to me. I’m passionate about it and it’s going to be part of my existence no matter what. I could study tea my whole life, and there’s always something more to learn.”

Karen Gardiner’s website is www.artfultea.com.

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5. c Dwayne Northup ran the Mr. Bottle wine shop in the Loretto Inn in the ‘70s. Richard Heller opened a deli on Guadalupe Street across from what is now the Zia Diner and then expanded into the Water Street location, now occupied by Collected Works Bookstore, starting Santa Fe’s second fine cheese shop with a small corner devoted to wine. Peter Handler opened Peter Handler’s Fine Wines after he moved to Santa Fe. He was a major contributor to Alexis Lichine’s classic wine encyclopedia and involved in Alexis Lichine Imports. Keith Obermaier opened Kokoman’s Wines in Pojoaque and its Santa Fe outpost, Kokoman Circus.

6. b George Nellos opened Kelly Liquors in the Northeast Heights of Albuquerque in the late ‘60s. The place was a pretty seedy dump, and all the checkout clerks carried handguns, but it was New Mexico’s first really great wine store with incredibly low prices. He expanded into Santa Fe at the location now occupied by Liquor Barn, then opened the downtown store in the location that now houses the Spanish Table. When Kelly Liquors was relocated to DeVargas mall, Susan Eagan was the manager. Sherry-Lehmann is an iconic, highend New York City wine shop that once employed Philip DeGive, localflavor wine writer.

7. c The first red Meritage of the ‘86 vintage was released in 1989 by Cosentino Winery, one of the founding members of the Meritage Alliance. Dry Creek Vineyard, another founding member, made the first red Meritage of the ‘85 vintage, but it was not the first one released. According to Jane Hodges Young, executive director of the Meritage Alliance Meritage and other blended red wines made up the fastest growing segment of the wine market in 2010, surpassing Pinot Noir for the first time since 2004.

8. b Although they had been hatching the project from the early ‘70s, it was big news in 1980 when the effort was finally announced. Mondavi sold a 35-acre block from the famed To Kalon Vineyard to form the heart of the Opus One wine.

9. a Though long known primarily for its retsina wine, Greece has taken a quantum leap in the last ten years regarding the quality of wines made from indigenous grape varieties. Actually, some of the modern retsina, made by adding small pieces of Aleppo Pine resin to the must during fermentation, can be quite nice when paired with some Greek foods. You just have to put turpentine out of your mind.

10. b Through the early 1900s, the Washington State grape industry was primarily driven by the sale of Concord grapes for juice processors. Associated Vintners was founded by a group of Washington State University professors who wanted to commercialize their home-winemaking passions. Associated Vintners eventually became Columbia Winery; the ‘66 Grenache Rose was their first wine to attract national recognition.

Interestingly, George Cowan, founding director of Los Alamos National Bank, recognized the potential of Washington to produce premium wines and was one of Associated Vintners’ early investors.

11. c In 1974, a small group of grape growers and home winemakers banded together to form the New Mexico Vine & Wine Society to promote wine growing in New Mexico. It was quite a ragtag group led by John Lilley (Los Alamos), Clarence Gaillard and Baron Brumley (Albuquerque), Jim Allen (Sequoia Grove Winery in Rutherford, California) and John Balagna (Los Alamos). Meetings consisted of talks on growing grapes and winemaking, followed by a potluck luncheon and much homemade wine. From that nascent effort, several New Mexico wineries eventually developed in the late ‘70s. The group eventually spawned the New Mexico Wine Growers Association, whose focus is on commercial grape growing and wineries. The New Mexico Vine & Wine Society is still active, focused mostly on amateur wine growing.

12. a & d Louis Gross was producing wines in the early ‘70s in Corrales. Tony Claiborne reopened the defunct Rico’s Winery in the North Valley on 4th Street, primarily using grapes brought in from Cucamonga, California, and a small amount of Zinfandel from Ed Schaeffer’s vineyard in Placitas. A little later, University of Texas at El Paso physics professor Clarence Cooper opened La Vina Winery in Anthony, New Mexico, just north of El Paso. Gruet and Casa Rondeña were founded much later.

Bonus answer: The Cowgirl Hall of Fame

227 Don Gaspar • santa fe 505.577.8200 • wahoosantafe.com

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Michelle Moreland | Santa Fe & Taos 505.699.7369 | morelandnm@aol.com Mary Brophy | Santa Fe 505.231.3181 | mary@localflavormagazine.com Anita L. Feight | ABQ | 505.235.8642 anita@localflavormagazine.com

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A Taste of Life in New Mexico

OCTOBER 2011

43

l StilHungry?

story by CAITLIN RICHARDS photos courtesy BUENO FOODS

I

n 1946, the Baca brothers returned from serving in World War II and opened a small grocery store in Albuquerque.

The advent of grocery store chains soon threatened to put them out of business, but in the 1950’s every household was getting a freezer. So the Baca brothers wondered, “Why can’t we take our own heritage and preserve it, so to speak? Why can’t we start with an autumn tradition, green chile, and use freezers to make it last until the following year’s harvest?” Why not, indeed. They built the equipment they needed, developed the food processing and packaging, and for the past 60 years Bueno Foods has been growing. Now run by the second generation (Jacqueline Baca, President, and Gene Baca, Senior Vice President), Bueno Foods is still known for their green chile but also manufactures, prepares and distributes more than 150 authentic, gourmet-quality food products to restaurant and retail customers throughout the United States. Localflavor spoke with Ana Baca, Vice President of Marketing and Communications, who shared with us some family recipes.

Grandma Baca’s Enchiladas, 1929 “This is my Grandmother Filomena’s recipe for traditional red chile–cheese enchiladas,” says Ana. “She often made them for birthdays, and to this day red chile enchiladas are a family favorite for birthdays in my generation. In 1929, she toasted the pods in a wood stove oven and used a stone metate to grind away the skins from the pulp of the chile pods. She’d then add water to make a thick red chile sauce to be seasoned later with crushed garlic, salt and oregano. For years, this recipe was stored away only in Grandma’s memory, until she was persuaded to measure all ingredients so as to write down the following recipe.”

Makes six 8-ounce servings.

12 to 15 chile pods 3 ½ cups water 1 clove minced garlic 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon crushed oregano ¼ cup oil 12 corn tortillas ¼ medium onion, finely chopped 2 cups (6 ounces) cheddar cheese, grated Remove stems and seeds from chile pods. Rinse. Soak pods in lukewarm water until soft. Grind softened chile pods on metate (use a blender today). Blend in the 3½ cups water in which pods were soaked, garlic, salt and oregano.

Pour sauce into a saucepan and bring to a slow boil. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Quickly fry tortillas in very hot oil, then dip in chile sauce one at a time and fix in layers in a casserole dish. Pour a serving spoonful of sauce on top of each layer. Sprinkle grated cheese and chopped onion over each layer. Heat in 350˚ oven about 15 minutes or until cheese melts.

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Turkey Tacos “We love looking for healthier alternatives in our recipes,” says Ana. “Turkey tacos are the perfect example. The key to bringing a dish to the table that is more nutritious yet flavorful is to find ways in the dishes you already create to reduce extraneous and unhealthy fats such as saturated fats, sodium and calories. These tacos show that this can be done successfully without sacrificing taste. For these tacos, we used ground turkey (which is lower in saturated fat and cholesterol than beef ), no-salt tomato sauce and soy cheese. Also, we used already prepared taco shells that were made without trans fats. Bueno® corn tortillas have no trans fats, so an alternative is to make your own shells using Bueno® corn tortillas or to serve soft tacos.”

Makes about five 6-ounce servings.

1 pound ground turkey 1 small onion, chopped 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce (no salt added) ½ cup Bueno® New Mexico Red Chile Sauce 1 medium potato, boiled and mashed 10 taco shells ⅓ cup mozzarella soy cheese 2½ cups lettuce, shredded 1 fresh tomato, chopped ⅓ cup Bueno® Salsa Brown turkey in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté. Add tomato sauce, red chile sauce and potato; stir well. Cook uncovered over low heat 15 to 20 minutes. Place taco shells on baking sheet, heating a 350˚ oven for 5 minutes. Fill each shell with approximately ¼ cup of filling, 1 teaspoon soy cheese, ¼ cup lettuce and 1 teaspoon each tomatoes and salsa.

Green Chile Chicken Stew “This is one of our autumn favorites. There’s nothing like green chile stew to warm the soul on a cold evening.”

Mama’s Posole Ana says, “This is our mother’s recipe for traditional posole, a traditional Southwestern savory stew often eaten during the winter holidays. In the early years of our parents’ marriage, she made the posole with both beef and pork, since she came from cattle country in Santa Rosa and our dad’s family raised their own pigs on a small farm in the South Valley.”

Makes twelve 16-ounces servings.

7 Bueno® Chile Pods (stems and seeds removed, pods rinsed) 6 small pigs’ feet 6 quarts water 1 pound lean pork meat, bite-sized 1 32-ounce package Bueno® Posole 2 medium onions 6 cloves garlic, minced 4 teaspoons Bueno® Granulated Garlic 1½ Tablespoon salt 1 14-ounce container Bueno® Frozen Red Chile Place chile pods, pigs’ feet and 3 quarts of water in an extra large (12-quart) pot.

Bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 1 hour over medium to medium-high heat. Add pork and stew meat (including bones if any), posole and 3 more quarts of water to pot. Bring to a slow boil. Cover and cook for 30 minutes over low to medium heat.

Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a slow boil. Cover and cook for 1 hour over low to medium heat, allowing flavors to blend.

Makes about seven 8-ounces servings.

Non-stick spray 3 garlic cloves, minced ½ white onion, finely diced 1½ pounds chicken breast fillets, skinless, boneless, cut into ½ inch cubes (approx. 3 cups) 3 cups fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth

2 carrots, thinly sliced 1 13 ounce container Bueno® Chopped Green Chile, with juice ½ cup frozen whole-kernel sweet corn 2 medium Yukon gold or red potatoes, peeled and diced into ¼ inch cubes ¼ teaspoon black pepper Spray a large, non-stick skillet with cooking spray. Heat skillet over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and onion and sauté until translucent, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove garlic and onion into a separate bowl. Add chicken pieces to skillet and cook, stirring until pieces turn white, approximately 7 minutes. Add chicken broth. Add sautéed garlic, onion and remaining ingredients.

Simmer over medium heat until chicken and vegetables are tender, approximately 25 minutes (lower heat if rapid boil develops).

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

OCTOBER 2011

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