I began coming out of the worm hole of a week of constant
litigation today faced with only revising and filing the pre-1906 Claimants’ Motion
for Summary Judgment in the LRG adjudication.
I got it edited by noon and took off for lunch. Since it was a lovely warm day and I had not been
to 2000 Millennium Restaurant (505) 232-0900 601 San Mateo Blvd SE, Albuquerque, NM in a while I went and ordered, my favorite warm weather dish,
No. 21, a large bowl filled with a cool salad in the bottom (slices of cucumber,
lettuce, basil leaves, and mung bean sprouts), room temperature boiled vermicelli
rice noodles on top of the salad and on top of the noodles two sliced fried
eggrolls and pieces of grilled thinly
sliced pork and strips of carrot and sprigs of cilantro ($7.75). The dish is served with a sweet fish sauce
that you pour over the bowl to coat the ingredients with flavor and make the
noodles easier to pick up because it makes them less sticky. The owner of 2000 Millennium Restaurant who usually serves
me also knows to bring me a side plate of cilantro and basil sprigs and mung bean
sprouts so I can add additional herbs and vegetables to the dish.
I love the dish and order it most of the time. On really hot days, I also order an iced
coffee with condensed milk if I feel the need to perk up and cool down.
Tonight was the re-opening of the Greenhouse Bistro and
Bakery for dinner during which time the dining room and kitchen were reorganized,
an adjacent building was re-modeled to add additional seating and a commissary built
beside the kitchen. Also, several new persons were hired,
including Tom Slater as the new executive chef and Elizabeth Lund as
the new waitress.
Suzette wanted to go for dinner, so after I filed my Motion and
notices electronically at 5:30 p.m. we drove down to the Center for Ageless Living
in Los Lunas where the Green House Bistro and Bakery is located. The Bistro has developed a new menu format for dinner on Friday and
Saturday evenings. It is a fixe prix three
course meal with a salad and soup course, an entrée course, and a dessert. Tonight’s choices for entrée were either N.Y.
strip steak garnished with an onion/mushroom cream sauce served with mashed
potatoes and steamed asparagus or a Steamed seafood pot served in a covered plastic
container filled with a scallop, several shrimp and clams, a piece of sausage
and corn and a boiled red potato and two snow crab claws with either a lemon
butter sauce or a spicy Cajun sauce.
I chose the Seafood Pot and Suzette chose the steak cooked
to medium rare, so we could share both dishes.
We each ordered glasses of wine. Suzette ordered a glass of French the 2009 Chateau St Martin de la Garrigue Coteaux du Languedoc
Bronzinelle.
Here is what one knowledgeable reviewer said about the wine.
"Aged for 12 months in older
barrels and demi-muid, the 2009 Chateau St Martin de la Garrigue Coteaux du
Languedoc Bronzinelle, a blend of 42% Syrah, 26% Grenache, 19% Carignan, and
13% Mourvedre, has a deep, smoky nose of both red and black fruits, licorice,
pepper, Provencal herbs, and tobacco. Medium+ bodied on the palate, with a
solid richness that comes through in the texture, this impressively balanced
2009 lacks some of the intensity and complexity of the Gres des Montpellier
Cuvee, yet is still borderline outstanding and well worth the entry fee. It
should drink nicely for 5-6 years." - 89 Pts
I ordered the always reliable Champalou Vouvray, clean
tasting 100% chenin blanc.
Here is some information on Vouvray, the chenin grape and
Champalou published by the Winery:
Vouvray, an appellation full of character
Situated on the right bank of the
Loire, nearby to Tours, Vouvray has always been closely associated with vines
and gastronomy.
It is said during the Fourth Centery, Saint-Martin, the Bishop of Tours, planted the first vines in Vouvray for the profit of the church . Over time, the appellation flourished and began to realise its full potential.
Later in 1936, Vouvray became one of the first Terroir of Touraine to be recognised as an Appellations d'Origine Controlée.
It is true to say that Vouvray encapsulates an infinity of flavours and culinary reveries......
The Chenin.
We work with just one grape - the Chenin - wich is native to the region, and is mentioned by Rabelais in his Gargantua (1534).The complexity of Chenin express itself wonderfully on the limestons soil of the Loire Valley.
The Chenin depending on its terroir and the vinification, can range from bone-dry and sparkling, through to dry and still, to semi-sweet and great dessert wines. When the grapes are harvested in the presence of noble rot, exceptional liquoreux wines are also possible.
Whether dry or sweet, wines made from Chenin can age for ten years or, in some cases, much longer...
The wines are best served either at the aperitif or during the meal. The dry wines will pair well with shellfish, grilled fish or meats; the semi-sweet wines are recommended with fish in sauce, creamy white meat and spicy food; dishes such as foie gras, blue cheese or desserts will match superbly with the sweet wines.
The terroirs
At present we work upon twenty-one hectares (almost 50 acres) of Chenin, speard across Vouvray itself and the neighbouring communes of Rochecorbon and Vernou, wich allows us to benefit from a good range of different terroirs, as well as providing a shield against any problematic climatic conditions that could threaten the vines in any one locality.
Our most important terroir is Argilo-calcaire (clay and limestone), wich is found on the plateau and wich produces wines combining fruitiness and minerality. It is from these soils that our sparkling and dry wine derives.
On the slopes, the Argilo-silicieus gives a different maturity to the grapes, and It is from this that the Fondraux, the Moelleuse and the Tries come. The soil transmits aromas of white flowers and gives a mellow character to these wines.
Also, we are fortunate enough to have inside our own walls a very particular Terroir :Le Portail. This is a small Clos and it is gifted with a wonderful soil: approximately 70 cm of clay are set above the chalk rock out of wich cellar is dug. This contrast between soil and sub-soil brings substance, roundness and structure to our dry wines, Le Portail. “A diversity that only the Chenin can reveal.”
We visited the Loire and Vouvray last summer and enjoyed its
wines very much and were amazed by the diversity of types of wines made from
that one grape. Champalou is the name of
the family that owns and runs the winery.
We were first served a Bistro salad with a small container
of cream of beet soup using fresh beets from the Center’s own gardens and small
pieces of freshly fried bacon. Suzette
and the two persons at the neighboring table loved the soup, but I found it
difficult to eat because I am slightly allergic to black pepper and the soup
had been cooked with black pepper, which infused it with a black pepper flavor.
The salad included several items from
the Center’s garden, including several micro greens and slices of fresh baby
radishes. I loved the salad. Before the salad course, Kat, the other
waitress, brought us a plate of sliced homemade bread with pads of butter that
was baked fresh at the Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery’s kitchen. It was rich and delicious with a smear of butter.
Then the entrees arrived.
Mine was in a high domed covered plastic bowl. I loved
spending an hour wading through all the different types of seafood and other
ingredients. We shared several surf and
turf moments as I gave bites of steamed crab in lemon butter sauce to Suzette and
Suzette gave me bites of her steak that was cooked to medium rare, which was
blood red but very tender for that cut of meat.
After the entrees and an additional glass of Champalou Vouvray
and an additional small bowl of steamed clams in the lemon butter sauce that Tom
gladly made for me upon my request, Kat
asked us if were ready for dessert and we said yes. She brought us bowls filled with a
deconstructed Strawberry cheesecake with a caramelized crust cookie and a
creamy strawberry cheesecake/pudding filling.
I liked it a lot but it was so rich I could not finish it.
On balance it seems that the Bistro is on the right track, continuing
the restaurant’s established attention to food quality and use of fresh
ingredients from the Center’s gardens.
I liked my dinner a lot and hope Suzette feels the urge to
return for more dinners. Perhaps the
most important comment about the meal was that of Suzette, the owner, who said
she was satisfied with the meal and felt good about the restaurant’s direction
under Tom. We met Tom’s wife, mother and
his baby girl, who also came for dinner; and Suzette chatted with several other
patrons of the Bistro.
Two additional notes:
1.
The best way to enjoy the restaurant in my
opinion is to take off from work a little early on a Friday afternoon and go to
the Garden Gate Day Spa, which is also on the Center’s 6 acre campus and have a
treatment, such as a pedicure or massage or facial and soak in the 103˚ hot tub
or swim in the ozone treated 84˚ pool for a few minutes and then, after you are
pampered and rejuvenated, walk across the parking lot to the restaurant for
dinner.
2.
If you check the Center’s website for the Center
and decide that you do not want either of the Chef specials offered that night
at the Bistro or you have special needs, you can call two hours or more ahead
of your arrival and discuss with Tom an alternative menu made especially for
you and he will prepare a meal to your liking from the Bistro’s available
ingredients. Tom had lots of experience
preparing impromptu special order meals as the private chef for the Sacramento
Kings basketball team.
Bon
Appétit
