We ate chicken sandwiches at 1:00 p.m. and then drove to Taos. I dropped Suzette off for her intake interview and then drove to the Taos Gasthaus and checked in. I selected a room with a skylight and an outdoor patio. When Suzette called about an hour later I went and picked her up and returned to the room so she could freshen up. Then we drove to the Taos Inn parking lot and walked to Lambert's for dinner. Since we were about twenty minutes early we went to the bar for a drink. Suzette ordered a honeysuckle lemon martini. It was made with camomile infused organic gin, a lemongrass infused simple syrup and fresh lemon juice. Well loved it and a ordered one also. Soon we were told our table was ready and we carried our drinks to our table located in the corner of the outdoor patio.
We reviewed the menu and wine list and finally decided on a three course meal of grilled Arctic Char with coconut rice and.a medley of marinated artichokes and cherry tomatoes with a glass each of Laxas Albariño; then a cup each of the chilled fruit soup of the day, which was actually two different soup, one mango and coconut milk. And the other a strawberry in a wine based soup as a desgutive with a shared glass of rose; and for the third course, a daily special of Elk Tenderloin with a glass each of a Southern Rhone blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre by Bertrand, that our waiter suggested.
We loved the Arctic Char, which was grilled to perfection. It tasted a little like salmon and had the same large flakes, but was more white and not as oily. We did not like the use of marinated artichokes as part of the vegetables, with fresh cherry tomatoes because they tasted strongly of vinegar and herbs. Suzette said, “they should have washed the marinade off.” This is really one of my only criticisms of Lambert’s; they tend to use prepared ingredients as shortcuts in the preparation of their dishes occasionally. This works great when the other ingredients in the dish are complementary but fails when they clash or are not combined in the correct proportions. That is what Suzette was suggesting when she said, “They should have washed off the marinade from the artichokes.” She was saying that the vinegar and herb marinade created a harsh flavor that over powered the rest of the ingredients of the dish, including the delicate fish and fresh tomatoes. The coconut rice was lovely, crisp with a hint of sweetness. The Laxas was also slightly sweet tasting, which surprised me.
We were served warm baguette with butter, olive oil and a half head of roasted garlic in a ramekin. Suzette did the honors of pushing the cloves of garlic out of their casings and crushing them with olive oil into a paste that we spread on the warm buttered baguette slices to good effect. I felt like we were in Provence.
Next came the soup. The-combination of the slightly buttery coconut, slightly sweet mango cream soup was a nice contrast to the wine based slightly tangy watery strawberry soup. Suzette liked mixing her soup while tried the soups separately an combined and liked them both both separately and combined. We were each brought a ½ glass of a lovely rose wine that we did not get the name of that tasted better than the sparkling rose with 70% Chardonnay we had tasted in the bar before dinner. This rose was probably Spanish or French with mostly Grenache. It's lightness went well with the fruity soups. Let me say a word about our waiter. He was an older gentleman who knew wine and was really familiar with the wine list. He was the one who made the switch from the sparkling rose we ordered to the lovely light, still rose, probably because he knew it was a better match.
The waiter also staged the meal more like a French meal than an American meal, leaving longer intervals between courses to allow us to talk, eat bread and sip our wine and digest each course, before proceeding to the next course. This is one of the big differences between French and American dining and he got it.
Finally, we were served the Elk Tenderloin, two long ewe does of meat sauced with a light brown Demi-glace, cream sauce which clung to the meat nicely but later proved to be a bit indigestible. The Elk was served with roasted purple potatoes, pomme de terre, and wedges of golden beets that may have been stewed with the elk. All the vegetables were delicious. The heavier Southern Rhone wine selected by our waiter went better with the heavy cream sauce than the Grenache I had initially selected, but the Southern Rhone was not on the menu. A good waiter/sommelier can make all the difference.
The elk was lovely, grilled to medium rare, as we requested and cut in long wedges that allowed its incredibly long strands of muscle to show.
We loved our three course meal that was satisfying and not too heavy. We decided to forgo dessert. I had an idea of buying a bottle of cognac and a chocolate bar and eating it on our patio at the Guesthouse, but Suzette wanted to walk around downtown Taos. We walked to the square and stopped at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store, which had a broad selection of chocolates plus ice creams that the younger set was buying like crazy. I was immediately attracted to what appeared to be citroned bitter orange peel dipped in dark chocolate. The attendant allowed us to taste a piece and I bought a ¼ pound of the peel for $7.68. With our chocolate in hand we proceeded to the Black Mesa Winery’s tasting room at 241 Ledoux Street where there was a trio playing Gaelic and American music.
We tasted and Suzette ordered a glass of their “port”, which was a blend of several of their grapes with mostly Zinfandel, so it had a slightly spicy edge to it. We ordered one glass of port and sat on the patio and listened to the music while we enjoyed the cooling night air and starry night sky. We sipped port and nibbled chocolate orange peel and enjoyed the music for about twenty minutes until the trio took a break. I was happy that I had my favorite chocolate and found the port a pleasing alternative to a harsher cognac, but with a bit of bite to itthat supplied the appropriate desgutive effect after dinner.
Then we went back to the Guesthouse and bed.
Bon Appetit
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