We met Jim, Bacchus Wine and Spirits’ wine specialist at
Monte Vista Fire Station at 5:00 to discuss a new wine list for the Greenhouse
Bistro and Bakery. Almost as soon as we
sat down Cary, one of the owners, came over and said hello. I have not seen Cary for over ten years and
it was great to see him and know that he was managing the restaurant
again. I will definitely need to try
Monte Vista soon. Cary’s group bought
the old Fire Station and remodeled it and then leased it to the Gruet Group for
a few years and apparently, has retaken possession of the restaurant.
We each ordered a glass of red and Jim ordered a guacamole
appetizer and I ordered a plate of truffle fried potatoes. So we nibbled and talked and put together a
wine list of Portuguese wines for the Bistro’s next wine tasting and menu. The wine tasting will be on November 7, 2013
and I am looking forward to it. This is
the first time we have not had the wines to taste, but that is okay because we
tasted them at the Chile and Wine to the trade tasting last month in Santa Fe. The fried potatoes were not very trufflely,
but they were hot and had a slightly greasy trufflely flavor. I found the guacamole to be very traditional
with chunks of fresh jalapeno pepper in the creamy green guacamole, which I
removed. It made my mouth sting in a
good way.
After all the appetizers when we arrived home, we were not
very hungry and Suzette decided to make a mushroom soup because we had PPI
steak and sautéed portabella mushrooms from our steak dinner. We also had the jars of powdered chanterelles
and porcinis and the dried porcinis she had bought at the Taos Farmers’ Market
last Saturday, October 12.
While I worked on a docketing statement for the Court of
Appeals, Suzette made a broth with fresh carrots from the garden and onion and
the PPI steak and then strained out the onion and carrots and steak meat and
then pureed some of the strained ingredients with the broth in a food
processor. She then added to the soup
the tree kinds of mushrooms four ways.
Then she added some cream and Marsala and salt and pepper to make a very
rich and delicious cream of mushroom soup.
While the soup was cooking Suzette cut up a piece of old Fano French
baguette into croutons and tossed them with olive oil and baked them until
firm. When the soup was ready she
garnished the soup with croutons and we were ready to eat. 
I opened a bottle of La Granja Rioja (50% Grenache and 50%
Tempranillo, $4.99 at Trader Joe’s) which is our everyday house wine now.
I loved the woody flavor of the wild mushrooms. The large slices of Porcini (King Boletus)
had fully re-hydrated and were very tender and delicious, a lovely light meal.
Bon Appétit
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