We spent a wonderful day in Taos. We left the house at around 9:00 and drove to Michael’s Kitchen on Camino Puebla Norte. Michael’s offers a full menu. Suzette ordered an egg and two slices of toast and made an egg sandwich with a cup of coffee. I ordered two poached eggs with corn beef has and fried has brown potatoes and pancakes. I had forgotten that corn beef hash usually contains potatoes, so I had potatoes with my hash that contained potatoes. I enjoyed the stack of three pancakes with the meal.
Elaine ordered eggs with a piñon nut pancake that was studded with piñon. Billy ordered Huevos Rancheros with Christmas on the side, which turned out to be two small ramekins, one filled with green chili and the other filled with red chili.
Everyone agreed that the breakfast at Michael’s Kitchen was more delicious and less expensive than the food we ate at Café Pasqual yesterday.
After breakfast at 10:00 we walked across the street and visited the Taos Art Museum housed in the house Nicolas Fechin built. Fechin was not only an artist in the Russian impressionist tradition, but also a master wood carver. His house has beautiful carvings throughout and a good representative collection of Taos artist’s works..
We then went across the street to Hulse-Warman Gallery where the Harwood silent auction is being held this year. We found a steel end table covered by a glazed 18 inch square tile painted by Jim Wagner with a rough image of the head of a long snouted dog that we liked and bought it for $500 to put beside our bed when we remodel our bedroom.
At 11:00 we drove to KTAO and found out that buses run from there every 30 minutes to the ski basin, which we try to use tomorrow to get to the seminar on Corsican wines.
After talking to the desk attendant at KTAO to confirm the TSV employee schedule we drove back to Overland Sheep and checked to see if they were offering any Mongolian sheep skin like we saw in Las Vegas. There were 2 x 2 foot pillows with Mongolian Sheep skin on one side for over $150.00 but no skins. When we asked the attendant if they sold skins she answered, “We used to sell pieces when we manufactured here but since we went to all retail.”
I then noticed a sign that advertised Overland Sheep stores in a number of cities in the U.S. We will need to search upstream for skins from retail.
We then returned to the Hulse-Warman Gallery to pick up our table and then drove to the Harwood Museum, where we saw its extensive show from its permanent collection, including two Burt Harwoods over the mantle where the magnificent Victor Higgins “winter Funeral” usually hangs. There were also two early Agnes Martins, one more than usual.
There was also a new to me Ron Davis piece in colored wood that I liked.
After we finished seeing the wonderful show at the Harwood at around 2:00 everyone was ready to head home for a nap. We drove to Ace Hardware where Billy bought a new lamp for his flashlight and the home. I took a long nap from 2:30 to 5:00 and then showered on dressed and at 5:30 we drove to Lambert’s on Bent Street for the wine dinner starting at 6:00.
Everything was ready for the twenty to thirty diners. The glasses for the six courses were assembled on the bar like an array of soldiers waiting to be inspected by dignitaries. There was excitement of anticipation among the wait staff and the diners as well. The wines were supplied at cost by a new importer, Wine Bridge. The daughter, Carolina, and son of the family run business sat at the table next to us and we met them and began talking to them during the dinner. They introduced the wine for each course in each of the two rooms. Their family started exporting wine from the Mendoza Valley in Argentina, then from Chile and then moved to California to become an importer of wines from not only Argentina and a Chile, but also Spain, and New Zealand into the U.S.
I have been attending wine dinners at the Taos Winter Wine Festival for almost twenty years and this one ranks right at the top of the list of all of them, for both the unusual and interesting wines and the amazing menu for the low price of $95.00.
The first course was two deep bowled chilled Kumiai oysters in the half shell from Baja California sitting on a bed of crushed ice garnished with a jalapeño foam seasoned with lemon, and sturgeon caviar mignonette. The two oysters that I ate still had the salty seawater in the shell. Delicious beyond words. The wine was a sparkling wine made with 80% chardonnay and 20% Semillon produced in the Valdivieso Valley del Curico in Chile using the charmat method, which means the entire process of fermenting and capturing the CO2 gas as bubbles is achieved in a steel tank. The wine was served a little warmer than we are used to and both Suzette and I felt it had a decidedly Chardonnay taste.
The next course’s wine was one of our favorites; a small production 2016 Savee Sea Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough wine district in New Zealand by a transplanted Frenchman that had a wonderful balance of minerality and fruitiness. There was not that heavy grapefruit or grassy flavor that so many Australian Sauvignon Blanc have, just fruit and a slight tartness of acid or minerality that was a perfect complement to the frisée salad served with cool pears poached in port wine, warmed marcona almonds, and two grilled large sea scallops dressed with a shallot vinaigrette and garnished with crumbled applewood smoked chèvre and a thick slice of applewood bacon. Yes, everything does taste better with bacon, even scallops. The scallops must have been fresh because they were tender throughout with no residual liquid. One of the best salad courses I have ever eaten.
Everyone thought the third course was the best course of the night which was no small feat among so many superlative dishes. It was fresh pappardelle pasta tossed in a light butter sauce with crisp fried prosciutto, shaved grana padano cheese and slices of sautéed black truffle. Killer. The pasta dish was served with a 2013 single vineyard Pinot Noir from the Valdivieso Valle del San Antonio that we thought had a rather musty terroir flavor but was surprisingly light and fruity.
The fourth course was surprisingly light and perhaps the most unusual dish of the evening; roasted cow bones cut in half lengthwise to expose the marrow served on a pile of micro diced roasted root vegetable hash with baby arugula dressed with a grain mustard sherry vinaigrette and served with a very lovely single vineyard 2011 Chilean Cabernet Franc grown near the Pacific in Valle del Colchagua. The brother of the Wine Bridge family introduced us to the wine. It was my favorite red wine of the meal. The dish was served with two freshly baked slices of baguette that had been lightly grilled. I did not put the marrow on the bread as others did but laid it on the roasted vegetables where its creamy gelatinous texture created a sauce-like complement to the vegetables.
Finally, the piece de resistance of the meal that everyone was waiting for with anticipation arrived; an entrée of slices of grilled ostrich served on a pile of grilled Brussels sprouts and chanterelle mushrooms with a lovely creamy mound of artistically beveled celery root and potato purée pushed through a pastry bag. The ostrich, cooked to rare, had the texture of bison and the appearance of the dark meat of a duck and was incredibly tender served with a slather of brandy flavored béarnaise sauce. We all loved it but could not eat the generous portion and collectively we decided to take the leftover portion home for an ostrich omelet on Sunday. This course was served with a 2008 La Perla de Priorat Noster Priorat Templari from Spain, a blend of mostly Grenache and Carignan with some Syrah according to the daughter. The age of the wine had relaxed the Grenache into a very pleasant drinkable wine, our second favorite wine of the evening.
Dessert did not disappoint either; slabs of firm chocolate mousse drenched with a tart cherry port reduction sauce laid on a stiffened crème anglais served with a light red Valdieso Valle Central Caballo Loco Chilean NV wine. We could only eat a few bites and again asked for a box to take the dessert homework our steak dinner tomorrow evening.
Executive Chef James Crowert appeared from the kitchen after dessert was served to rousing cheers and applause from the assembled diners.
Something great had happened at Lambert’s this evening that everyone understood and appreciated.
We gladly paid our $95.00 and left a good tip for the superb food and service.
Soon we were contently on our way home.
Bon Appetit
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