February 10, 2012 Dinner – Valentine’s Day Four Course Dinner at Greenhouse Bistro

February 10, 2012  Dinner – Valentine’s Day Four Course Dinner at Greenhouse Bistro

I took off work early and rode my bike ten miles at 3:15 p.m. and then drove to Los Lunas to the Garden Gate Spa arriving at 5:00 p.m. for a pedicure and then a one-half hour massage at 6:00 p.m. to get the kinks out of my muscles from riding bike.

A little after 6:30 pm. I dressed and walked across the parking lot to the Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery for dinner.  Suzette was seated, sipping a glass of Gruet Rosè Champagne when I arrived.  The four course meal included an appetizer, a soup or salad, an entrée and dessert and three glasses of wine for $55.00.  We were first served a plate with sautéed fresh spinach topped with a heart shaped slab of seafood patè.  The plate was garnished with two heart shaped crostini and lightly blanched treads of red and yellow bell pepper.  The patè was a combination of crab, scallops and mussels and drizzled with a light butter and wine sauce.  We were served a glass of Rosè with the seafood dish, a very hardy, but light start to the meal.  Let me say that for me the difference between a good restaurant and a great restaurant is often found in the small things, such as the addition of a simple thin butter and wine sauce to the plate of spinach and seafood pate.  That little bit of thin sauce was a brilliant recognition that a warm puddle of wine flavored butter would greatly enhance the cold seafood pate's flavor.   

The next course was a choice of soup or salad.  We both chose the soup when we heard that Chef Eric Elliott Heaslet had made tomato bisque.  We had had Eric's tomato bisque before and it is one of the best, if not the best tomato bisque, I have ever eaten anywhere in the world.  It is made with oven roasted tomatoes and cream and a lovely combination of herbs and garnished with an escutcheon of crème fraiche.  We gobbled up a large soup bowl of it, stopping only long enough for an occasionally sip of  champagne.

Half way through the meal and we were feeling great about the food quality and preparation.

For our entree course, we were confronted by several difficult choices; Beef Wellington or seared Ahi Tuna with a wasabi glaze (pickled ginger and wasabi horseradish garnished with stir fried bok choy in a mandarin sauce using sweetened, thickened chicken stock).  I chose the Beef Wellington and Suzette chose the Tuna.  My Beef Wellington was a slab of tenderloin coated with a mushroom duxelles (a finely chopped mixture of mushrooms, onions, shallots and herbs sautéed in butter, and reduced to a paste), wrapped in an incredibly light puff pastry and baked to golden brown and then garnished with a Sauce Bernaise (a reduction of white wine and shallots and tarragon and white wine vinegar to which egg yolks are added and then thickened with butter).  The plate on which the Beef Wellington was served also included a pile of blanched and sautéed haricot vert (baby green beans) and three medallions of Potatoes Dauphin roasted to golden brown (mashed potatoes enriched with cream and butter that are pushed through a pastry bag and then baked).  The Beef was served with a glass of Oregon pinot noir from Firesteed Winery and the Tuna was served with a glass of S A Prum German Riesling.

The portions were generous and it took us a while to dissect and digest the tuna and beef Wellington as we savored our delicious wine, but finally we were ready for dessert.

There were several choices.  Suzette chose a cheese and fruit plate with a large fresh strawberry dipped and drizzled with white and dark chocolate.  The cheeses include Goat cheese, cubes of hard cheese like Swiss Gruyere or Jarlsberg or cheddar, brie and Gorgonzola plus several raspberries.

I chose the Chocolate Truffle cake, prepared by the Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery’s chief baker, Armando.  The cake was a wedge of rich dark chocolate flour less truffle baked in a chocolate crumb shell flavored with espresso coffee served with a mound of fresh whipped cream garnished with two fresh raspberries.  The truffle cake was world class, like the tomato bisque; as good as you could expect to get anywhere in the world and delicious when combined with bits of the fresh whipped cream and raspberries.  Each dessert was served with a glass of silky smooth, sweet Cockburn’s Special Reserve Port.     

 The meal was elegant, with wonderful fresh ingredients and generous portions; a really good value for $55.00.  Based upon my experience I would expect to pay the following prices for the four courses: seafood pate appetizer - $10.00, Tomato Bisque - easily $7.00 to 8.00, Beef Wellington - easily $30.00 anywhere else (in fact, I have never ever been served an individually hand made portion of Beef Wellington, so having my own puff pastry filled with the flavored tenderloin made just for me was a thrill  [I even experienced a primordial or post-apocalyptic thought of taking my plate and running to a dark corner and consuming this delicious dish in silent ecstasy], and dessert - at least $8.00 at any good restaurant.  There is no other four star restaurant in New Mexico that I am aware of that offers as good a fine dining experience and value with such fine wine for such an inexpensive price.  I am always conscious of food value and in my mind, the food is worth $55.00 and the three glasses of wine are worth $30.00.  

I can hardly wait until summer when the Center for Ageless Living's gardens are producing fresh herbs and produce, because the quality of the Greenhouse Bistro's ingredients and dishes will get even better.

Bon Appètit