November 18, 2022 Lunch - Hot Dog at Costco. Dinner - Sassella

November 18, 2022 Lunch - Hot Dog at Costco. Dinner - Sassella

We drove to Costco at 10:00 to buy turkeys for the Center’s employees for Thanksgiving.  We could purchase 5 each per day for $.99/lb..  Suzette dropped me off at the door. A nice lady gave me her cart for stability, and I waddled to the poultry section of the meat department, where I found a meat department employee loading 20 lb. Butterball turkeys into customers’ baskets.  Turkeys were boxed two to a box and there must have been dozens of boxes stacked up.

 

There was a throng of customers and an employee was loading baskets as fast as he could.  I asked for 5 turkeys and he instantly put five turkeys in my basket as he threw the empty boxes up an unpopulated aisle.

Suzette showed up soon and was able to get five turkeys also.

I then turned my attention to wine and grabbed a Kirtland 10 year old Tawny port, a St. Emillion, and two bottles of Kirtland Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.  As we wheeled to the checkout counter I asked Suzette to pick up a bag of Stacy’s pita chips and a box of Guiden Belgium chocolates.

We then ate hot dogs in the food court as Suzette talked to staff who were searching for turkeys.

After lunch Suzette dropped me off at home where Rahim was waiting and then drove the ten turkeys to the Center.

Suzette’s hyper activity was due to achieve her goal to buy 50 to 60 turkeys so each employee who wanted a Turkey would be given a Turkey for Thanksgiving.  Shortly after we left Costco the hyper activity ended when Denise, a food service employee, bought 40 or fifty turkeys at the Los Lunas Walmart for $.99/lb.

Suzette is also giving each employee $25.00 of gasoline each month to help them get to work this year.

When we returned home Rahim was waiting on the porch, so I met with Rahim and then worked on the water case until 2:00 when Suzette returned and we drove to Santa Fe.  We stopped at Stephen’s first where Suzette found a lovely Japanese bronze foot tall sculpture of three storks.

We then drove to Santa Fe Auction where Suzette picked up the Rosa Curtis painting she bought at the last auction a week ago.

We then drove to Sassella which is located on Johnson St. next to the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in the location formerly occupied by the Georgia O’Keefe Restaurant.  It is now a high end Italian restaurant with at least a 2 to 1 waiter to customer ratio.

We were seated at a four top in the corner of the main dining room.

Water was poured as we perused the extensive and pricy wine list.

We were then presented menus.  As we walked in I had asked a chef what he recommended and he said, “The  Ciappino”. 

Soon we decided to split the Ciappino, a Primi of veal liver ravioli, and an entree of wagyu beef short ribs with polenta and Brussels sprouts and we each ordered a glass of wine.  Our waiter seemed knowledgeable and recommended two Sicilian wines, one lighter and one darker at $25.00 per glass.

I failed to mention that watching the recent Stanley Tucci Discovering Italy series on CNN has enthralled us with all things Italian, so a Sicilian wine for $100 per bottle did not seem strange to us.  We trusted that Sassella would serve nothing less than the best of the best.

Soon our waiter appeared with two small carafes one deep red and the other almost translucent red. Suzette took the darker, heavier red and I took the lighter red. Both were delicious but the darker red had more character.  I think the wines were the $20.00 and $25.00 glasses of wine:p listed below:

Nerello Mascalese, Pietradolce Etna Rosso DOC, Sicily, 2019	20	78
Nerello Mascalese, enuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso, Sicily, 2020		85
Nerello Mascalese, Tenuta Bosco, Etna Rosso, ‘Piano dei Daini’, Sicily, 2018	25	95

   

Soon a bowl of Ciappino arrived filled with seafood including 6 Manila clams, 1/2 of a lobster tail, three grilled shrimp, and three or four types of fish including Chilean sea bass and swordfish in a thick rich tomato and veal stock stew accompanied by a large slice of flatbread. I cleared away the sprigs of parsley and divided up the seafood.  We loved this thick stew full of seafood stew with the red wine. 

Next we were served the veal liver ravioli, three or four ground veal liver stuffed ravioli with a thick enriched veal stock sauce with pieces of veal liver.  It was rich without being too thick.  Again it was a thick rich sauce on light ravioli. The dish was so rich we could only eat 1/2 of the 1/2 dish each of us were served and asked one of the wait staff to box the rest.

The service staff cleared all silverware and replaced it with new silverware after each course and brought a second basket of warm homemade bread upon request.  We relished the level of service we had not seen since haute cuisine restaurants in France.

Suzette had drunk most of her glass of wine so we ordered another glass of the Tenuta Bosco.

Finally, we were each served a 1/2 portion of Wagyu beef short ribs bathed with another rich beef and mushroom sauce with slices of portobello and shitake mushrooms on a pile of cheese flavored polenta with three or four Brussels sprouts halves and an aioli sauce arranged beautifully on separate plates.  The mushroom sauce was so satisfyingly delicious that I found the aioli excessive and detracting.  This is one of the first dishes created with Waugh beef. I found it revelatory.  The meat was so tender that it almost melted in my mouth and was extremely flavorful with the wonderfully rich mushroom sauce.  Wagyu beef is the result of crossbreeding traditional Japanese cattle originally brought from China 2000 years ago with European stock around 1900.  The addition of extra. feeding results in a highly marbled extra tender beef.

Again we could only eat 1/2 of each of our 1/2 of the dish and we had to request the service staff to box the other half.

We not only enjoyed the meal but we could look forward to enjoying it again at home.

We passed on dessert and at 6:45 Suzette drove us home. I was thrilled that Suzette has great night vision after her corrective eye surgery. She could read all the signs and held her lane perfectly.

This was a joyous meal.  It is the best Italian food we have eaten in New Mexico and the $200.00 check did not bother us a bit. In fact I cannot wait to go back.

We may even do a special Thanksgiving meal at the top Japanese restaurant in Dallas for $275.

We arrived at home at 7:55 just in time for Lawrence O’Donnell.

I was still full, but rather than a grappa, I chose a glass of mint kefir and Suzette finished dinner with a cognac.

Later I ate a few bites of chocolate cake and we went to bed by 9:30.

We only ate one light meal and one heavy meal today, but the heavy meal was memorable.

I asked the hostess about the menu and she said the restaurant has seasonal menus and this is the Fall menu.  The heavy sauces were pleasant if a bit redundant, but welcome comfort food on this cold blustery night in Santa Fe as the temperature outside was dropping into the teens.

Bon Appetit