Peter Eller and I had plans to go to Café Istanbul for lunch but as we drove by Pasión at 722 Lomas NW, I asked Peter if he had ever been to Pasión and he said no and he was game to try it, so he made a slightly sharp turn from the left lane into Pasión’s parking lot and we went into what used to be Capo’s. The inside was not dramatically changed from the Capo days, except I do not recall if Capo’s had two ironwork hanging fireplaces in its dining room. We looked at the board of specials as we walked in, which included a Pasión’s Hamburger and Latin Fish and Chips for which the restaurant had been recognized as an outstanding dish by Local Flavor Magazine.
After being seated, we scanned the menu. I saw many dishes that seemed slightly unusual but I finally decided to try Pavo Adobo (turkey marinated in pineapple juice and adobo) with a cranberry marmalade). When the waitress came by Peter asked her several questions about the burger and accompanying side dishes and then, in Peter’s precise Germanic style ordered the Daily Special, Pasión hamburger ($10.50) open faced on a toasted bun, if possible, with the sauce on the side and I ordered the Pavo Adobo ($8.00).
Peter then told me about his Grandfather in Germany Germany Albuquerque
Our waitress brought us each a small plastic cup of fresh lightly minted lemonade as a sample appetizer from the chef, which was a nice touch and made me feel like we were in a real restaurant. Peter tasted his and poured the rest into our water glasses to flavor our water.
Soon the plates of food were served. Peter’s hamburger was served on an oval plate filled with about a ½ lb oval shaped grilled burger on a toasted bun spread with black bean paste with slices of lettuce and tomato. Beside the burger were two lovely sweet and soft sautéed plantains and a pile of yucca fries. Peter and I tasted the fries and plantains. I loved both. He and I thought for a moment that strips of potato and yucca had been mixed together, but after trying several of the salty fried strips, I decided that they were all yucca, at which point Peter stopped eating them and I began eating them in earnest. They were addictive. Crisp and salty, but not heavy like a potato, more airy and light like a meringue.
My pavo adobo was not as elegantly presented but it was equally delicious and interesting; a plate on which was placed a roasted turkey thigh, a pile of cranberry marmalade, and a small salad of organic and chopped romaine lettuce with only a little oil topped with a small pile of marinated red onion rings. The turkey was very tender and the pineapple adobo sauce was pleasant, not too sweet and not too spicy. The cranberry marmalade was really interesting; surprisingly, it did not taste like cranberry sauce, but really tasted like marmalade. I loved the flavors of all three elements on my dish and ate them with strips of fried yucca offered by Peter. WE were full and could not consider dessert, when it was offered and left happy and more than willing to put Fusión on our dining out map. It appears that Pasión has the same regular menu for lunch and dinner, so it is really a great bargain for dinner. I recommend it if you are looking for something a little different than traditional New Mexican or Northern Mexican food.
After lunch Peter and I went to Lowe’s Market at 12th and Lomas NW to buy steaks. Lowe’s has the best price for boneless rib eye I have seen in years, $3.99 lb. if you buy the whole bag of rib steaks and $5.39 lb. for a single steak. So I bought a whole bag (16.5 lbs.) for $65.87 and the butcher cut it into sixteen ¾ inch steaks and Peter bought four of them for $15.00 and I am thrilled to have the other twelve in my fridge. The other wonderful deal that took us to Lowe’s was 5 avocados for $1.00. There was a mixture of softer darker ripe avocados and harder green avocados, so I bought five of each and three lemons, five for $1.00 also.
At around Suzette called from Costco as she was shopping for her Santa Rosa facility to ask me if there was anything I needed and I suggested a green vegetable like spinach and corn chips for guacamole. I then made guacamole with the five ripe avocados, chopped onion, a clove of pressed garlic, salt, lime juice and some Mexican lime flavored red sauce. When Suzette arrived at around we discussed dinner briefly because I had to leave for zen meditation at . I told Suzette that we still had some PPI Crawfish Ettoufèe in the basement. She asked if it was still good and I said I thought so and suggested making a pasta dish with the crawfish and spinach like we had had in Taos
When I arrived home from meditation at I was pleased to see that Suzettte had made a stew with the PPI rice, the PPI crawfish ettoufèe and some of the fresh spinach leaves. We drank beer with bowls of the colorful, spicy stew (see picture) and watched a wacky movie on the Indie Channel named “Wackiness”(?) with Ben Kingsley, that could only have been written from real life, until and bed.
Bon Appètit
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