Passion of the palate trend 2014 2015

Passion of the Palate NEW MEXICO’S CULINARY INSPIRATION

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Authentic French bistro fare in Santa Fe by award-winning Chef Charles Dale

Food and Wine Magazine Best New Chef in America Multiple James Beard Award Nominee

451 W Alameda St. Santa Fe, NM 87501 www.bouchebistro.com Open Tues to Sat 5:30-9:30 505-982-6297 for reservations

Passion of thePalate PUBLISHER Cynthia Marie Canyon ART DIRECTOR & GRAPHIC DESIGNER Janine Lehmann ASSOCIATE EDITOR Christina Procter COPY CHIEF Heidi Utz PRODUCTION MANAGER & ASSOCIATE GRAPHIC DESIGNER Jeanne Lambert PHOTO PRODUCTION Boncratious REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Judith Leyba, 505-988-5007 SALES AND MARKETING Christopher Dempsey, Carole Aine Langrall, Kimber Lopez, 505-988-5007 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Rocky Durham, Gussie Fauntleroy, Carole Aine Langrall, Suzanne O’Leary, Calmus O’Hanlan, Christina Procter, Sergio Salvador, Craig Smith, Nancy Zimmerman

2014/2015

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Passion of the Palate is a cuisine magazine of Trend art + design + architecture + cuisine ISSN 2161-4229 published each fall (circulation 10,000), distributed in New Mexico.

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ON THE COVER: Chef John Rivera Sedlar serving day boat scallops with organic spinach on a baroque King Dragon serving tray—a taste of what’s to come at Eloisa, his new restaurant opening in November 2014.

PHOTO BY ANNE FISHBEIN

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BONCRATIOUS

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS AND ARTISTS Boncratious, Anne Fishbein, Lois Ellen Frank, Stephen Lang, Douglas Merriam, Kate Russell, Sergio Salvador

Appassionato!

For Every Opera, a Feast

BY CRAIG SMITH | PHOTOS BY KATE RUSSELL

P Previous page: Santa Fe Opera–goers celebrate the 2013 season–opening performance of The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein with costumes, fabulous food, and revelry.

Opposite: Tailgaters at the 2011 Santa Fe Opera season opener of Gounod’s Faust.

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People who appreciate fine food tend to appreciate other sophisticated experiences as well. Fine art. Theater. Music . . . opera. It’s no coincidence that cities with the finest operas can also have lay claim to having some of the world’s best restaurants. Santa Fe is right up there on both counts. And while it’s hard to say how much the clientele of one pushes the other to ever greater heights, it’s no surprise that the two have an almost symbiotic relationship, especially in the City Different, where Santa Fe Opera–goers seek out first-rate dramatic performances just as enthusiastically as they patronize local restaurants, from the rustic to the refined.

And the parallel is obvious. Opera, no matter its period or type, is rooted in such basic drives as love, hate, desire, nobility, and revenge. Yet it amalgamates many of the arts—music, dance, design, architecture, song, and drama—into a highly sophisticated experience. In the same way, our food is of the earth, earthy; but in inspired culinary hands, basic elements can become transformative, uniting all five senses into a rapturous whole.

Operagoers here know that gustatory pleasures need not be confined to an indoor meal.

One of SFO aficionados’ most cherished rituals

is the tailgate picnic, the pre-show parking lot dinner that’s become a local tradition. Meals are usually planned in accordance with the night’s opera and its potential food allusions, and are often quite elegantly, even if simply, presented.

At opening night of the freshly completed 2014 season, dining situations ranged from a be-linen’d table for two to an impeccably served, five-course sit-down dinner for 20 beneath a tent. In a nod to Stephen Lawless’ new adaptation of Carmen, most of those supping planned their menus around Spanish-inspired cuisine— sometimes with costumes, hats, and music to match.

Making the rounds, we found such basic fare as a coarse but delectable Spanish salad made of meltingly ripe sliced tomatoes, heaped with chopped onions; a variety of wrinkled but piquant Spanish olives; goat’s, cow’s, and even ewe’s milk cheese; and “Gypsy Chicken,” a casseroled catchall that traditionally involves fowl, green peppers, garlic, onions, and whatever herbs one might find growing in the back garden, or even wild.

Equally appropriate was the huge dish of paella one group feasted on, replete with chicken, shrimp, and lobster pieces, like jewels in a chest

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CREDIT

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CREDIT

of precious coins, amid smooth Valencia rice. The Tastes of pungent, sweet, sour, bitter, and salty.

Left: Families and friends, locals and traditional cold gazpacho, that most refreshing of Santa Fe Opera’s 2011 season opener.

Meanwhile, Beethoven’s Fidelio offered German soups, began more than one dinner, and delec- Right: Food, frolic, and festivities at cuisine–lovers a wide range of mouth-melting table flan made a frequent appearance as a dessert the 2014 opening for Carmen. On food opportunities, including cabbage rolls, sauthe menu: ensalada caprese served course. Wine ranging from smoothly ingratiating with 2010 Rafael Palacios “Louro do erbraten, hot potato salad with bacon, and even Bolo” Godello, and a 2012 Veramonte to sharp as a tack adorned many a table. rabbit-packed hasenpfeffer.

But feasting wasn’t confined to opening night. Sauvignon Blanc, “La Gloria” Reserva; Not only patrons have to eat, of course. Shakepaella de mariscos, paired with a 2012 Every pre-opera period drew earnest, creative din- Rio Madre Graciano, Rioja DOCa; speare famously said, “If music be the food of love, ers out in force. Before Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, green beans with water chestnuts and play on.” But as far as musicians are concerned, the dill; Key lime cheesecake served with many planned their menus around traditional a 2006 Maison Nicolas Sauternes famous line from Twelfth Night really means that 19th-century Italian cuisine—perhaps as basic and a 2007 Evenus Zinfandel Port. food is one of the loves of musicians, and the table as pasta drizzled in olive oil and garlic, or as had better be well spread. sumptuous as roast lamb or osso buco. Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol There’s always been a special affinity between food and perinspired others to gormandize Russian blintzes, borscht, lamb, formers. Emperor Nero believed that honey cakes sweetened his and buckwheat-stuffed sausages, in a nod to the composer’s dulcet tones, while flutes and lyres heralded the appearance of homeland. Other patrons celebrated the story’s Asian setting by lampreys and mullets at Roman banquets. During the famous consuming Chinese-themed victuals. feast in Petronius’ Satyricon, at the nouveau riche Trimalchio’s In much the same way, the American premiere of Huang house, it’s hard to know when the singing or trumpet playing ends Ruo’s Dr. Sun Yat-Sen led tailgaters to concentrate on Chinese and the next course begins. fare, some going so far as preparing dishes that balanced the Then there are the scores of recipes named after great opertraditional Four Natures of hot, warm, cool, and cold, and the Five atic luminaries. Among them: peach melba (Australian soprano

The tailgate service setup in celebration of the Santa Fe Opera’s 2012 opener of Puccini’s Tosca.

Nellie Melba), chicken Tetrazzini (Italian soprano Luisa Tetrazzini), chicken Nordica (American soprano Lillian Nordica), and tournedos Rossini (composer Gioachino Rossini). And for famed tenor Enrico Caruso . . . what else but spaghetti Caruso?

Rossini loved food, especially truffles. When he invented a salad dressing that included lemon juice, pepper, olive oil, and a finely sliced truffle, he assured a friend it would interest him “much more than my new opera.” The waggish composer also said he wept only three times in his life: at the failure of his first opera, La cambiale di matrimonio, at the triumph of The Barber of Seville, and when a truffled goose fell into a lake on the way to a picnic.

Giacomo Puccini loved food, too. “I am a mighty hunter of wild fowl, beautiful women, and good libretti,” the composer once said. As a poor student, he used to fill up on “thick broth, thin broth, and thinner broth” until “the stomach is satisfied.” When he was given a nice cash advance for his first opera, Le Villi, he treated himself to roast beef with mushrooms and asparagus, wine, Roquefort cheese, and fresh strawberries.

What is it about food that it preoccupies so many musicians, especially singers? Well, you can’t run an engine without fuel, and musicians who put out oceans of effort need plenty of provender—just like ordinary folk. The danger comes when intake overtakes output and the superstructure gets too big. Of course, some believe that to maintain a voice, extra

weight is needed, especially for bigger guns. Yet SFO’s chorus put the lie to that wisdom: in 2014 one and all were fit and lissome, fine examples of what the French call physique du rôle—both looking and singing the part.

Past singers who did have the grand amplitude of clipper ships included coloratura soprano Tetrazzini, who noted, “I must not diet. If I diet, my face sag.” English contralto Marguerite d’Alvarez remarked, “I don’t go in for slimming. My hips are part of my personality.” And d’Alvarez always had the last word. Once she told a dinner-party hostess, “What a delicious soufflé. It tastes like angels’ saliva. I must send my photo to your cook!”

Perhaps more than any other artistic genre, then, opera brings out the feast in people. And a desire not just to gorge but to savor. To slow down and appreciate and come together and share in something unique. All qualities that Santa Fe brings out in people as well. The fact that the city also boasts a world-class opera and top-notch restaurants only makes it all the more exceptional. R

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CREDIT

Left: At the opening for 2013’s The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, operagoers dine on “Short ribs on a Shingle,” in honor of Candace Walsh’s 1920’s-themed “Haute-Military Chuck Wagon” tailgate dinner party. Top: paella de mariscos, one of the delectable offerings at the tailgate party for 2014’s Carmen.

Photos: Boncratious

Fine wine and dining Decadent desserts Indoor and patio seating Private parties 901 West San Mateo, Santa Fe Reservations 505-820-3121

DOUGLAS MERRIAM (2))

How could it get any better? Coyote Café is already known as the most exciting restaurant in Santa Fe, with its open-kitchen experience of gastronomic magic in action, a wall of 20-foot windows overlooking Water Street, and the Rooftop Cantina’s summertime fiesta mood. It already has one of Santa Fe’s finest wine lists, selected with a sommelier’s discernment and a global approach. And of course it has the charmed culinary creations of Chef Eric DiStefano’s intrepid hand, all served with knowledgeable efficiency and grace.

132 West Water Street, Santa Fe | 505 -983-1615 | coyotecafe.com

Between two world-class museums on Museum Hill, with 100-mile views

Private parties in the evenings

BOTTOM LEFT: KATE RUSSELL (1); DOUGLAS MERRIAM (3)

Museum Hill Café

Monthly jazz nights with Santa Fe Music Collective

710 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM | 505.984.8900 | museumhillcafe.net Winter hours: Tuesday–Sunday, lunch from 11 am to 3 pm

F R E N C H B I ST R O

Authentic French bistro fare in Santa Fe by award-winning Chef Charles Dale Mains

Photo: David Marlow

Small Plates

Charcuterie Plank

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San Daniele Prosciutto—Saucisson de Lyon—Chicken Liver Mousse Add a Slice of Terrine of Foie Gras 14

Plateau de Fromages

16 | 23

Fruit Mostarda, Marcona Almonds

Seafood Platter

36 | 60

Jumbo Prawns—Seasonal Oysters— Dungeness Crab Classic Cocktail Sauce, Dijon Mayonnaise and Peppercorn Mignonette

Soupe du Soir Market Vegetable Terrine, Tomato Vinaigrette Classic Escargots à la Bourguignonne La Grenouille: Frog Legs Provencal-style Sautéed Fresh Foie Gras (preparation changes nightly) Tenderloin Steak Tartare, Fresh Farm Egg, House Potato Chips Grilled Octopus, Chick Pea Puree and Spanish EV Oil

12 13 14 15 28 18 15

Wild Mushroom Ravioli, Sweet Pea Emulsion 17 | 26 Black Mussels in White Wine and Red Chili 16 | 26 Sautéed Sweetbreads, French Beans, Mushrooms and Shallots 18 | 28 Pan-seared Alaskan Halibut, Jumbo Asparagus and Lemon Butter 34 Calf’s Liver Dijonnaise, with Spinach and Onions 27 Grilled Chicken Paillarde, White Beans, Tomato and Arugula 27 Steak au Poivre with Pommes Frites 32

Seasonal Salads Salade Mesclun, Sherry Dijon Vinaigrette Salade César with Shaved Reggiano and Panisse Croutons Tuna Carpaccio Niçoise, Wild Arugula, Lemon Vinaigrette Heirloom Tomato Salad, Fresh Burratta Cheese, Pistachio Pesto Chilled Jumbo Asparagus, Beets, Crispy Prosciutto, Pumpkin Seed Oil

12 14 16 17 18

Desserts Profiteroles au Chocolat, each Demerara Crème Brûlée Strawberry Tart Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding Sorbets and Ice Cream (choose two) Lemon, Raspberry, Mango Vanilla, Chocolate, Coffee

6 8 9 9 8

Sides L&L’s Cheese Tots Garlic Spinach Honey-glazed Carrots

7 7 7

Plain or Truffle Frites 7 |9 French Beans, Shallot Vinaigrette 9 Macaroni and Truffles 12

451 W. Alameda St. Santa Fe, NM 87501 www.bouchebistro.com Open Tues to Sat 5:30-9:30 505-982-6297 for reservations

451 W. Alameda St. Santa Fe, NM 87501 (505) 982-6297 bouchebistro.com

Wine & Dine

BY JAKE DAVIDSON

L.A.’s Rock-Star Chef Comes Home John Rivera Sedlar creates Drury Plaza’s new flagship restaurant, Eloisa

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eloved Los Angeles chef John Rivera Sedlar is coming home. Not to settle down (not yet, anyway). Nor as a prodigal son. He’s returning to Santa Fe, city of his birth, land of many an ancestor and even more memories, to launch Eloisa, his first local restaurant, inside the newly opened Drury Plaza Hotel, where St. Vincent Hospital once stood.

At 22, Sedlar published the definitive volume on modern Southwest cuisine, the first of many cookbooks he’d compile. He went on to apprentice himself to legendary French chef Jean Bertranou of L’Ermitage in Los Angeles.

Since then, the accolades have flowed fast and furiously: youngest chef ever to receive the Silver Spoon Award from Food Arts Magazine, a spot on Food & Wine magazine’s “Honor Roll of American Chefs,” one of Cook’s Magazine’s top 50 “Who’s Who of Cooking in America.” The wonderful dishes he laid out at his Los Angeles pan-Latin fusion restaurant, Rivera, even snagged him Esquire’s 2011 Chef of the Year.

But despite his L.A. acclaim, Sedlar kept one eye on Santa Fe, hoping he might create a space closer to his roots. “I’d been looking to open a restaurant here in Santa Fe for 40 years, but the timing was never right,” says the native New Mexican chef, who’d been scouting around for the right space with longtime friend Christopher Webster, of Webster Enterprises, for about 10 years. “None fit. But when the Drury came up on the horizon, they seemed like the perfect ally.”

Named after his grandmother, and equally inspired by his mother (also a chef) and his mother’s sister, Aunt Gerry, who served as Georgia O’Keeffe’s cook for 15 years, Eloisa will draw liberally and historically from all those connections. For one, Sedlar plans to focus on local cuisine and its historic and cultural roots. “I like to educate people about what they’re eating, and I like my food to tell a story and to connect with history,” says Sedlar, probably the most mild-mannered and erudite of

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chefs ever to reign over a kitchen. “How does it connect to us? As a Hispanic, as Latin food?

Is it organic?” There will also be O’Keeffe tasting menus, prepared in conjunction with the O’Keeffe Museum’s research center, proffering some of the dishes the artist enjoyed eating and serving.

If that sounds like more than just your typical restaurant—and much more than your average hotel restaurant—that’s simply Sedlar’s way.

As is spending a decade and a half soaking up firsthand knowledge of Latin foods, from Mexico City to Machu Picchu to San Juan to Madrid and everywhere in between. Such knowledge has lead him to create and found the first Latino food museum in the U.S., the incipient Museum Tamal, in Los Angeles, due to open soon.

Despite his pedigree, Sedlar sees Eloisa as presenting as great a challenge as any big-city restaurant. “Santa Fe has a lot of talent,” he says.

“The chefs here are off the charts with their creativity, and they have free reign to be übercreative. Everywhere you look there are creative embellishments.”

One of those fun challenges is Eloisa’s cocktail carte, served at two bars on the premises.

This surfeit of inebriants is a nod to the former Patron tequila spokesman’s love of alcohol and its processes, and the way Latin foods mix with cocktails. The bars even look pretty, in an environment designed by creative consultant Laura Carpenter. “It [has] a lighter palette,” says Sedlar, who spent more than a couple nights in the St. Vincent emergency room as a kid. “There’s an adroitness to Laura’s spaces, which are very contemporary but nonthreatening.”

Invoking the current vocabulary of culinary fusion, Eloisa uses Southwest foods as a base from which to mix in a bit of Asia, Latin America, and Europe. “I don’t think we have to casualize the food here at all,” says Sedlar, “even though we’re in a hotel. It’s a new trend for hotels to have a chef. And it’s very positive for the hotel and the city.” Very positive indeed.

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ANNE FISHBEIN

John Rivera Sedlar (center) with chefs Martin Duron (left) and Michael Cena (right) in front of his Los Angeles restaurant, Rivera. Eloisa will open at the Drury Plaza Hotel in Santa Fe this winter.

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Wine/Dine Advertisement

The Compound TOP AND OPPOSITE: BONCRATIOUS. BOTTOM: STEPHEN LANG

653 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 505-982-4353 | compoundrestaurant.com

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n the 14 years since chef-owner Mark Kiffin took over this venerable Canyon Road institution, The Compound has shed its outdated ambience and reestablished itself as one of Santa Fe’s prime destinations for fine dining. Blending the classic appeal of traditional Santa Fe architecture with a sleekly minimalist aesthetic, Kiffin has managed to honor the city’s past while reflecting its hipper, more accessible present.

In keeping with this intention, he’s also fashioned a menu that pays homage to classic Continental cooking while fusing fresh ingredients and flawless technique, yielding an updated take on contemporary American cuisine that has garnered some of the culinary world’s highest awards.

Expect favorites to be prepared with innovative flourishes, like roasted rack of lamb with chickpeas, heirloom carrots, and grilled ramps accompanied

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by salsa verde and romesco sauce; or a pan-roasted chicken breast stuffed with house-made chorizo, roasted sweet pepper, and cilantro alongside a fingerling potato stew. The wine list pairs especially well with the food, so don’t miss the opportunity to sample a new vintage. Desserts are inventive as well, ranging from decadent to refreshing—or a mix of both, such as ruby grapefruit granita with grapefruit-basil salad and poppy-seed cake, or frozen passion fruit–white chocolate mousse in a blueberry-ginger port glaze.

Outside the elegant dining room are a flower-filled patio and a smaller garden patio for private parties. All private dining rooms can be reserved for groups of 10 to 200 people, with special tasting menus available.

Alaskan Halibut Chanterelle Mushroom Veloute Roasted Sweet Peperonata

Nourishing Culture Native American chefs create a healthier future by reclaiming the past

Citrus and nopal cactus salad with toasted red bell peppers and pumpkin seeds in a jalapeùo vinaigrette. Opposite: Tiffany Georgeina Morgan with a sunflower in her grandmother’s garden.

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BY NANCY ZIMMERMAN | PHOTOS BY LOIS ELLEN FRANK

ating is not only a physical act based on biological necessity, it’s an expression of cultural identity rooted in geography and ancestry, with far-reaching effects on health as well as on a given society’s worldviews and self-definitions. How food is acquired, prepared, and presented informs gender roles, social structures, family relations, rituals, and spiritual beliefs, and it underlies humankind’s earliest artistic endeavors, from crafting baskets and pottery to store and cook food to creating cave and rock art depicting hunting and farming scenes. In Native America, a growing movement to revive traditional cuisines of centuries past addresses issues of health and well-being and, in the process, reclaims a vital cultural heritage.

This movement has been spurred in part by crisis. Throughout the United States, type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions, and Native American communities have been especially hard hit. Related illnesses like obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease are at alarming rates as well. And while everyone from healthcare professionals to researchers to desperate dieters struggles to find a solution to these growing health threats, a dedicated cadre of Native American chefs, scholars, and educators are working to forge a new path to wellness and cultural continuity via the ancient foodstuffs and dietary practices that may be in danger of being forgotten.

One of the first to recognize the importance of Native cuisine as a cultural force was Loretta Barrett Oden, a Potawatomi chef and food historian from Oklahoma who is revered as a leader in the movement to return to a Native diet. In 1993 she and her son, Clayton Oden, opened the highly acclaimed Corn Dance Café in

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Santa Fe, the first upscale restaurant to offer indigenous foods to sophisticated diners. “My absolute, all-consuming passion is the relationship between food and culture,” she says. “There’s no way to separate one from the other.” Oden spread the word via her cooking show, Seasoned With Spirit, which ran on PBS between 2005 and 2007, as well as through appearances on Good Morning America and The Today Show, among others, and she continues to serve as a consultant on a variety of food-related projects.

Taking the movement to the next level is Santa Fe–based Lois Ellen Frank, PhD, a renowned chef and culinary anthropologist of Kiowa-Sephardic ancestry, who is also an educator, author, food historian, and photographer. Frank has made the revival of traditional foodways her life’s work, and her results so far have been impressive and encouraging.

“Returning to an ancestral, plant-based diet is a way to reclaim our health,” she says. “And when traditional foods are revitalized, all of the cultural traditions associated with them are also revitalized—the songs that go with the planting, the sustainable agricultural techniques that each tribe uses, traditional knowledge of how to harvest wild foods, the foods that have medicinal qualities, the language, the stories, the baskets, everything.”

Frank is the chef/owner of Red Mesa Cuisine, a catering company whose mission is to bring Native American cuisine into today’s kitchen and to promote traditional foods, agricultural practices, and cooking techniques from throughout the Americas. She brings a contemporary flair to ancient recipes while promoting heirloom agriculture and introducing exciting “new” products to receptive diners. Along with Diné chef Walter Whitewater, who TREND Passion of the Palate 2014/2015

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BOTTOM RIGHT: SEAN CASEY

has done turns in the kitchens of such Santa Fe landmarks as Mu Du Noodles, Bishop’s Lodge, and the late but fondly remembered Café Escalera, she prepares meals for a varied clientele.

Whitewater grew up in Pinon, Arizona, outside of Chinle, and he credits his grandmother with teaching him about the traditional foods and imbuing in him a reverence for the sustaining gifts of the land. “I remember the foods my grandmother used to make,” he says, “and the prayers she taught me, the songs that go with the food. Food is our medicine. When we take an animal or a plant for our own use, we make offerings. And we don’t take everything—we must always leave something for others. We need to go back to what we’ve been taught by the elders, and not get lost in the Western way. It’s our seeds that will be our survival, not Chefs Walter Whitewater and Lois Ellen Frank. Top: Grilled quail with a chile-honey glaze our money.” garnished with fresh herbs.

The traditional Southwest diet Whitewater’s grandmother taught him about was based on the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash. These symbiotic foods thrived in rice and corn in the upper Midwest; buffalo and grouse in the Great particular when planted together, and they provided nutritional Plains; cranberries and turkey in the Northeast. balance through their well-proportioned mix of fiber and protein.

The forced relocation that sequestered tribes into reservations Cactus fruits and game animals supplemented this fare, which was in the 18th and 19th centuries dealt a huge blow to Native food further expanded when the Spanish arrived and introduced sheep sovereignty and disrupted the chain of knowledge. Many of the along with their own food products. Elsewhere in North America, healthy, natural foods that had sustained people for centuries Native populations enjoyed varied cuisines based on local bounty: were replaced by U.S. government–supplied commodities like salmon, berries, and herbs in parts of the Pacific Northwest; wild flour, lard, and sugar. “It’s when food became commodified by

“

Returning to an ancestral, plant-based diet is a way to reclaim our health.

—Lois Ellen Frank, author and culinary anthropologist

Acorn and piñon soup garnished with wildflowers and chives

”

European immigrants that it lost its intrin- Native American ingredients featuring wilddelicious. But we often do it in healthier ways harvested and cultivated foods. Opposite: Juanita sic value,” Frank says. now, using whole-wheat flour or grilling the and Maria Kavena (Hopi) from Polacca, Arizona, Nephi Craig, executive chef of the fine- eating yellow and red piki bread (a paper-thin bread rather than deep-frying it.” dining restaurant at his White Mountain cornbread). Below: Abiquiú farm growing Native Gallup-based chef Freddie Bitsoie, a food American ingredients and heirloom vegetables.

Apache tribe’s Sunrise Park Resort Hotel historian with a background in cultural near Greer, Arizona, refers to this unfortuanthropology, believes that the move away nate break with the past as the Great Interruption. “Pre-contact, we from traditional food preparation actually pre-dated the introducwere expert farmers, hunters, gatherers, fishermen, and cooks,” tion of government commodity food, suggesting that it goes back he said in a recent interview with Indian Country Today Media to the trading-post era. “The trading post was the McDonald’s of its Network. “Then we suffered a violent clash of cultures that lasted time,” he says. “Instead of growing or hunting food, people started 500 years and ended in the reservation system and cheap, high-fat, buying tinned food.” high-carbohydrate commodity foods.”

Bitsoie sees the devaluation of Native foods as a product of coloniEver resourceful, the people found new uses for these less nutrization, and points out that its effects continue today. “It’s a question tious commodities, creating dishes like fry bread and Indian tacos of respect. Native cuisines have always been seen as inferior because that have since become emblematic of pan-Indian cuisine. Native the Native cultures themselves are seen as inferior,” he says. “People chefs tend to embrace their culinary history in its entirety, both the are willing to pay well for European cuisine, but nobody’s going to good and the bad, so even less-healthy options like fry bread are pay $50 for an Indian taco. Once when I worked at a culinary school, sometimes incorporated into the innovative new approaches to conthe chef objected to my paying $60 a pound for cholla buds, whose temporary cuisine. “It’s part of history, after all,” says Frank, “and it’s harvesting is quite labor-intensive, but he had no problem paying for 22

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French truffles, which cost $3,000 a pound.”

The issue of respect Bitsoie raises is key, and chefs throughout the Southwest are addressing it through a variety of educational initiatives, directed toward both Native Americans and the general public, which emphasize the wisdom of the ancient ways. Frank has created a curriculum for a required four-credit science course at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA ) in Santa Fe that includes a hands-on lab to teach students to cook traditional foods. The course examines the cultural, ecological, and medicinal properties of Native foods and is offered each spring semester. “It provides a blueprint for living within an ecosystem rather than at odds with it, or at the expense of it—a practice that has sustained Native cultures for millennia,” she says.

She also teamed up with Santa Fe Public Schools’ Indian Education Program to create the Kids’ Cooking Camp, which teaches children about such topics as food history, what protein is, how calories are counted, and how food can be medicine. “We use kid-friendly ingredients to make fun dishes like a Native American parfait, a blue-corn pudding layered with a mixed-berry compote,” says Frank. “We also use a 72 percent dark chocolate for our snacks, and teach the students about natural dark chocolate, a cacao product that’s full of antioxidants and native to the Americas, rather than an overly sweetened chocolate. The kids love it!”

Frank’s other projects include a DVD and companion booklet, produced in conjunction with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine based in Washington, D.C., that encourages Native peoples to return to an ancestral diet to combat diabetes, and she is the author and photographer of a popular cookbook, Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations, that received the James Beard Foundation Book Award in the Americana category.

Whitewater, who was the first Native American chef to cook at the James Beard House in New York, worked with Frank as a culinary advisor to test and adapt the recipes in the book, which includes a detailed discussion of the history, ingredients, and cultural meanings of the food. The recipes

It’s our seeds that will be our “survival, not our money. ”

—Diné chef Walter Whitewater

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GOING NATIVE

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hen artist Kathleen Wall was growing up in Jemez Pueblo, she enjoyed home-cooked meals made from real ingredients, far from the lure of drivethrough “restaurants” and prepackaged meals. “We didn’t have a lot of money,” she says, “so we didn’t buy processed food. We made our own meals from scratch.”

Years later, as a married mother of three living in Albuquerque, she found herself immersed in a fast-food culture that led to weight gain and, for her husband, diabetes. “He was truly addicted to sugary, high-starch foods,” she says, adding that her kids were also inclined to want sodas and fast foods. “Although I had never cared much for that kind of food myself since I wasn’t raised on it, I tended to give in to my husband’s cravings, bringing home boxes of sugary Froot Loops, his favorite breakfast, and not objecting when he ate at McDonald’s.”

His diabetes diagnosis forced Wall to rethink her food priorities, and she decided to move the family back to Jemez Pueblo, where they’d have less exposure to the temptations of the city and more control over their diets. “My husband is much better now,” she says, “and my kids don’t eat fast food or drink sugary sodas. It’s a healthier environment.”

Wall has tried to spread the word about healthy eating, but she has concluded that it’s better to remind people of the good things about a traditional Native diet rather than to harp on what’s bad about the current ways. “I know people get tired of hearing me go on and on about nutrition,” she says, “and I thought that it would be easier to get the message across using art.”

Thus was born Harvesting Traditions, an exhibition at Santa Fe’s Pablita Velarde Museum of Indian Women in the Arts, running through January 4, 2015, which celebrates Native foods.

Working with co-curators Marita Hinds and Marth Becktell, Wall fashioned a show of ceramic clay figures in traditional garb and paired them with paintings relating to indigenous foodways that show the kinds of foods, utensils, and cultural manifestations that made for a healthy lifestyle. A series of live presentations, the Noonday Dialogues, held on the third Thursday of each month, initiates conversations about how food was gathered and prepared and its relevance to the present. —N.Z.

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in tasty dishes like prickly pear–glazed pork ribs, or cholla bud citrus salad with jicama, fresh spinach, and pineapple. The café is a project of Tohono O’odham Community Action, a nonprofit that is dedicated to creating a healthy, culturally vital, and sustainable community on the Tohono O’odham Nation.

Another hot spot in Provo, Utah, is the family-owned Black Sheep Café, a neighborhood café during White Mountain Apache/Navajo chef Nephi Craig the day and a fineat work in the Sunrise Park Resort kitchen. Left: dining restaurant in Navajo Chef Freddie Bitsoie. the evening, where Diné chef Mark Mason serves up an imaginative mix of Navajo-, Pueblo-, and Hopiinfluenced creations. His signature dishes include appetizers like spicy chicken wings served with creamy cotija-chipotle-lime dressing, and an entrée of braised beef short ribs in a Cabernetguajillo mole sauce, served over yellow-corn polenta enlivened with lime zest and mascarpone.

Designed as an authentic representation of the Gila River Indian Community’s heritage and culture, the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort and Spa in Phoenix features a fine-dining restaurant, Kai, that uses locally farmed ingredients and heirloom products. Its menu includes entrees like grilled tenderloin of buffalo accompanied by smoked-corn puree, cholla buds, and scarlet runner-bean chili with saguaro-blossom syrup.

Amaya at Hotel Santa Fe, the city’s only Native American– owned lodging, features a seasonally changing menu of fresh ingredients and traditional regional foods from around the country that highlights local Pueblo and Northern New Mexico influences.

The Native food movement continues to gather steam, fueled by the passion of its proponents and their congenial camaraderie, which fosters cooperative efforts to reach out to ever-larger constituencies. This outreach has effects beyond the immediate community—it benefits the population as a whole, many of whose members suffer from the same diet-induced ailments as the Native Americans. As healthy traditional fare joins forces with haute cuisine, it becomes more than just the fad du jour— the movement is going mainstream.

Times and tastes may change but ancient wisdom endures, offering us fresh opportunities to heal ourselves and find common ground through our shared human need: nourishing, satisfying food. R

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LEFT: DOUG YAZZIE (EYEBEHOLD PHOTO)

showcase indigenous ingredients in ways that appeal to contemporary tastes in dishes like blue cornmeal and piñon hotcakes with prickly-pear syrup and peach honey, and spicy pinto bean ravioli with corn and chile cream sauce.

Frank also teaches classes for the general public at the Santa Fe School of Cooking, and travels extensively, along with Whitewater, to offer demonstrations and lectures at museums and organizations. Even her Red Mesa Cuisine catering company uses an educational approach. “We always bring the story in,” she says.

“We’re not an ordinary catering company.” Adds Whitewater, who tends a flock of 15 churro sheep on the Navajo reservation when he’s not at the stove, “We like to do a presentation that includes a blessing to start the meal and a song at the end, and we explain about the foods and what they mean to the culture.”

One of Frank’s newest projects is a cookbook that includes information about sourcing local foods that stresses the concept of terroir, the French term for the natural growing environment and its influence on a plant’s flavor. “I like to include all of the ‘scapes,’” she says. “It’s important not only to appreciate the landscape but also to listen to the soundscape, the noises made by the plants and animals, and let your body be in the moment so you’re aware of your own bodyscape and mindscape. The foodscape is thus embodied in the food that you eat.

It’s a way of becoming more mindful about your food, and about life in general.”

Bitsoie, too, has his own catering company, FJ Bits Concepts, and, like Frank, has appeared at events and institutions around the country, among them Kraft Foods, the Heard Museum, and Yale University, to promote a healthy, traditional diet brought up to date with modern flourishes. His creations include such dishes as Navajo herb-rubbed roasted lamb, blue corncakes, and pumpkin bread pudding, and he uses traditional ingredients like tepary beans, acorn squash, corn, and cholla buds. He won the Native Chef Competition at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in 2013 and is currently working on a pilot for a television cooking show, Rezervations Not Required, that he hopes will get picked up by a national network.

Native cooking generally is attracting attention and carving out a place for itself in the larger world of contemporary cuisine. The popular Desert Rain Café in Sells, Arizona, about 60 miles southwest of Tucson, celebrates traditional Tohono O’odham foods that have sustained these people for countless generations. According to consulting chef Mary Paganelli Votto, each dish on the menu contains at least one traditional ingredient, such as cholla buds, tepary beans, or saguaro fruit syrup, which are brought together

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Robert Reck photographs Albuquerque’s past, present, and future

DUKE CITY BEGUILED A youthful, cooperative energy permeates the local art scene

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Johnson Street Experience

BY CHRISTINA PROCTER

I

f you wander down the two neighborly blocks that make up Johnson Street in downtown Santa Fe, you may catch Heidi Loewen tending plants outside her porcelain gallery and school, or bouncing about within, crafting one of her sophisticated, surprising pieces. The pottery wheel spins as she talks about “The Johnson Street Experience,” a community-style street fair that took place in June and will happen again in October. Loewen is one of two organizers who wanted people to connect with the area, which is sometimes passed over despite its prime geography; range of cuisine, art, and services; and truly local business ethos.

Anchored by The Santa Fe School of Cooking at Guadalupe Street and the stately Andrew Smith Gallery on Grant Avenue, Johnson is as local as it gets, from the contemporized traditional menu at Shohko Cafe, the City’s first Japanese restaurant, to the School of Cooking (celebrating 25 years this December), with secrets of the culinary Southwest divulged in classes like Native American II, Red Chile Workshop, and Mole and More.

When Loewen met up one evening with Emily Mayer, wine buyer and bar manager of TerraCotta Wine Bistro across the road, they struck up a conversation about Johnson Street’s unique character, and how to acquaint more people with it. Loewen suggested a block party “so people would know what a diverse, artistic, delicious street we are.”

Mayer was game.

This October, Johnson Street will again open its many doors, offering the gamut of cuisine-sampling (Italian, contemporary American,

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Japanese, and Southwestern), art-making at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, and wine-tasting at TerraCotta (picture flights of rosé and complimentary brisket sandwiches). Beals & Co., which displays art for various local hotels including the Eldorado, will also run a live demonstration of graffiti, street, and mural arts. Downtown Doggie Daycare will offer tours of the new facilities, with treats for dogs of all breeds and sizes. Worth checking out is the open-house at Asian Adobe, which will hold a rare sale on its Ming-style antique furniture, along with other art and accessories. Then there’s the strange, dimensional, and flawless work at David Copher Gallery. Returning by popular demand, two local groups—The Wild Marimbas and Smokin’ Bachi Taiko drummers—will play through the afternoon. Some of the newer kids on the block include Georgia, a restaurant serving contemporary American cuisine on the grill, and Sweet Lily Bakery, with longtime baker Melinda Gipson’s specialty pies.

Back at Heidi Loewen Porcelain Gallery & School, the buoyant artist will guide participants in shaping bowls from hunks of clay to be developed with fine trimming and fired in the kiln. “I work with children of all ages on the wheel,” Loewen says with a grin.

“What we have here is an extremely short but distinct street—a neighborhood,” she concludes. Indeed.

The next Johnson Street Experience takes place Saturday, October 11, 2014, from noon until 4:00 p.m. trendmagazineglobal.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOHNSON STREET COLLABORATORS

A block party for locals

Heidi Loewen Porcelain Gallery & School

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315 Johnson St. Santa Fe 505-988-2225 HeidiLoewen.com Herringbone Smoked & Carved Porcelain 22K Gold D: 30”

Celebrating 25 years!

125 North Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe (at the corner of Guadalupe and Johnson) 800.982.4688 505.983.4511 santafeschoolofcooking.com

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Curtis & Ammerman

The school features hands-on and demonstration classes taught by some of Santa Fe’s best chefs and a market filled with your favorite New Mexican products and foods. Our signature restaurant walking tours are your entrée to the delicious flavors of Santa Fe and our beautiful new space and outdoor patio are perfect for your special events and private gatherings. Visit us online at santafeschoolofcooking.com.

ING THE F DS OF NEW MEXIC O

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Come TO C k. COME TO EAT. COME To SHOP.

LOOK FOR OU R N E W CO O K BO O K December 20 14

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shohko café

A Santa Fe institution since 1975 and perennial local favorite. More than modern, clean sushi, Shohko also specializes in healthy, updated renditions of traditional Japanese dishes with an occasional Santa Fe twist. Named one of Santa Fe’s “Ten Best” restaurants by USA Today Travel in 2013.

sushi • sake • japanese cuisine

321 Johnson Street at Guadalupe Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-982-9708 www.shohkocafe.com

321 Johnson Street at Guadalupe, Santa Fe, NM

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Frances Ehrenberg-Hyman

Come see why our customers are so happy!

& 2 great services in 1 convenient location!

239 Johnson Street Santa Fe, NM 87501 Downtown Doggie Daycare (505) 954-1049 Companions Grooming (505) 982-7882

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307 Johnson Street Santa Fe, New Mexico

505-235-3641

Thursday-Monday | 12-7 pm or by Appt. www.davidcopher.com Located 1 block west of the Georgia O’Keefe Museum

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Rose Garden pizza by Stacey Neff

Out of the Box

When artists throw a pizza party, beauty's in the pie of the beholder

BY CALMUS O’HANLAN

T

his past summer featured the usual roundelay of art parties and art openings, restaurant debuts and catered festivities in Santa Fe. But even amid all that crossover of cuisine and aesthetics, only one event celebrated the marriage of great art and great food. The event, hosted by Trend publisher Cynthia Canyon and painter-sculptor Carlos Carulo, took place on an unusually cool but beautiful July evening at Carulo’s eastside home. Canyon and Carulo invited about a half-dozen artists to each create an art pizza.

Aptly named “Beauty is in the Pie of the Beholder,” this happening had very succinct rules: make an edible pizza that’s as artistic as possible and fashion to it your own personal aesthetic, using the dough as your canvas.

Guest chefs included gold-leaf painter/sculptor Martin Horowitz, glass artist Stacey Neff, sculptor Doug Coffin, painter Brian Coffin, filmmaker Godfrey Reggio, and sculptor and fetish artist Mark Swazo-Hinds. Despite some impressive culinary skills on display, none had been trained as a chef. But making something beautiful out of nothing, from a blank canvas, a hunk of clay, fazed not a one. Especially when plenty of great wine and assorted spirits were on hand as well.

The artists were asked to bring goodies with which to create (colorful veggies, utensils to shape the pie, meats, cheese, and sauces).

Then they were left largely to their own devices. Carulo, originally

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PHOTOS BY KATE RUSSELL from Chile, had by chance recently constructed in his home studio a classic New Mexican horno—the outdoor adobe oven used by Native Americans and early Southwest settlers.

An appropriate twist on the usual pizza oven, the horno was fired and brought up to temperature six hours beforehand. Carulo kindled a flavorful combination of oak, cherry, and mesquite woods, all of which would seep into the artists’ pies.

By late afternoon, the horno was ready and the guests began to arrive. Carulo offered a brief tutorial on how to “roll” the canvases for proper cooking, then sleeves were pushed up and the pie-making was on.

Not surprisingly, the artists’ creations seemed to bear some resemblance to their personalities and the type of work they’re known for. Doug Coffin’s had his sense of playfulness and humor.

Neff’s asparagus spears gave her pie that delicate touch of natural form that makes her glass works so unique. Brian Coffin’s had a slightly Pointillist quality to it—or perhaps resembled a sand painting. Swazo-Hinds’ pizza had the delicacy of his fetishes mixed with the heft of his sculptures. While Horowitz embellished his pie with actual leaves of gold.

In the end, the pizzas were beautiful. And edible. And eaten.

And beyond that, people came together for something different.

Something communal and supportive and artistic: a pizza party outside the box.

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CARLOS CARULO Red and Green Over White pizza

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DOUG COFFIN Buffalo Hyde pizza

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From left: Doug Coffin, Stewart Colgate, Carlos Carulo

MARTIN HOROWITZ Gilded pizza

MARK SUAZO-HINDS Bear pizza

STEWART COLGATE

Swimming with Fishes pizza

BRIAN COFFIN

God is in the Details Pizza

Above: Rick Lum (left) and Godfrey Reggio. Right: Brian and Doug Coffin.

STACEY NEFF

Rose Garden pizza

THE HORNO

THE PIZZA TASTERS

Top, left to right: Doug Coffin, Shari Morrison, Stacey Neff, Stewart Colgate, Godfrey Reggio, Martin Horowitz. Bottom left: Doug Coffin. Bottom right: Carlos Carulo and wife Victoria Ferrara.

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JAMES HART, PHOTOGRAPHER

Full page ad p.43

Into the Woods

One Santa Fe chef’s love of harvesting food from the forest

BY ROCKY DURHAM | PHOTOS BY DOUGLAS MERRIAM

FORAGE: A WIDE SEARCH OVER AN AREA IN ORDER TO Piatto has foraged for some of his restaurant’s ingredients, as have OBTAIN SOMETHING, ESPECIALLY FOOD OR PROVISIONS . Jennifer James and Nelle Bauer (of Albuquerque’s Jennifer James That pretty much sums up my childhood adventures in and around 101) and Jennifer Hart (of Taos’ The Love Apple). Living close to the Los Cerrillos, New Mexico (a small community south of Santa Fe, mountains obviously helps, but all of New Mexico has pretty easy just off the Turquoise Trail). My friends and I would leave the house and immediate access to all kinds of nutritious wild foods, from and somehow, without the use of cellular phones, GPS, or even a stinging nettles and miner’s lettuce to piñon and cholla buds—and wristwatch, meet up with another small contingent of kids and be of course mushrooms. totally out of touch with any parental figures for most of the day.

The upside of modern agriculture is that it has evolved to feed The arroyos were our highways and the sandstone rock forma- millions of people efficiently and quickly. The downside is that tions our fortresses. We knew of the legitimate dangers—black we are becoming increasingly disconnected from the people who widows, scorpions, rattlesnakes—and how to avoid them. We also grow our food, food that may even be genetically altered, sprayed knew that the wilderness with pesticides and herbiin our backyard provided cides, and processed beyond everything we might need recognition. All reasons for for the day, from our trusty the rebirth of community sticks (a requirement for the gardens, the rise of farmers’ young adventurer) to our markets, and the appeal of picnic lunches. The entirety the Slow Food movement— of my edible plant knowleven the demand for organedge was passed onto me by ic produce and gluten-free other kids. (Autodidacts, the products. And the reason lot of us.) Which is, without why many of us are heading question, the most frighteninto our wild spaces to forage ing aspect of this story. The for edible bounty. items on our foraged menu Mother Earth wants us were delicious and easy to to forage. How do I know? identify: wild raspberry, She places delicious items all piñon, asparagus, purple salaround us. And very few of sify root (which we called them are poisonous. Unless “potato flower”). you think extremely bitter is Compared to previous delicious, in which case you generations, we were softmight be in trouble. Many of ies; by modern standards, nature’s poisons are alkaloid we were wild. and therefore very bitter. Ever Today, for myself and a notice how kids’ palates tend growing number of others to be tuned for less chalhere in New Mexico and lenging flavors? How they’ll throughout the U.S. and readily eat a salad made with Europe, running through sweet butter lettuce but recoil the forest and digging up from a bitter arugula or goodies isn’t just a nostalradicchio? This natural avergic trip back in time or a sion in children never really matter of wanting to be a part of the growing goes away, and surely keeps the risk of accidental Chef Rocky Durham and wife Jody venture artisanal movement. (As movements go, foragalkaloid poisoning among adults very low. into the Sangre de Cristos on a foraging run. ing has had its adherents for years—and preUnfortunately, in the kingdom of fungi those Opposite: Aspens, Santa Fe National Forest. dates the artisanals by a good decade at least.) rules do not apply. A wildcrafter with just a little It’s more primal than that. It’s nutritious. It’s fun. It’s easier knowledge of wild mushrooms is an extremely dangerous breed. than you’d think.

Fungi can be tricky to positively identify. I’ve been harvesting Harvesting wild food—also known as wildcrafting or urban wild mushrooms in New Mexico for years, and I still only feel 100 foraging—is not only among the oldest and most basic of human percent comfortable picking six species—let alone eating them. activities, it’s also what connects us to nature. It’s an ancient prac- That said, I’m also able to positively identify about a dozen toxic tice that attracts modern-day naturalists and outdoorsy folk as varietals. The death cap is one mushroom my dad used to warn well as chefs and restaurant owners. Matt Yohalem of Santa Fe’s Il me about. It doesn’t have an unpleasant appearance, smell, texture, trendmagazineglobal.com

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or flavor. If you were to eat one you’d feel just fine for a few days, until one morning you’d urinate blood and then die from systemic organ failure, and there’d be nothing modern medicine could do to stop it. Frightened? You should be. Harvesting wild fungi should be undertaken only under the closest supervision from the most learned mycologists. Or in my case, an experienced French chef.

Now that I’m older (and most of my foraging buddies have moved away), the urge to harvest hits me hardest during summer monsoon season, when all kinds of goodies seem to spring up overnight. Before dawn or after an evening rainstorm, I head to one of my few secret spots (every forager has them). One of mine can yield 10 to 20 pounds of the king bolete mushroom in an hour of casual harvesting.

But I have learned—the hard way—not to harvest casually. Why? Because there are certain types of culinary fungus that we cannot cultivate, despite all our advances in science and agriculture, and the king bolete is one of them. It’s a finicky fungus when it comes to when and where it will grow. However, if you harvest it correctly, that same area can bear fruit the following day, assuming the conditions remain conducive to the flush. (Flush being the sudden abundance of new plant growth.)

And assuming you can maintain enough self-control not to keep looking. Foraging’s a bit like going on an Easter egg or treasure hunt. Which is why it held such great appeal to me and my buddies: the forest was filled with endless bounty. Even now, when I’m done, I have to force myself to turn around and head back to my truck after a successful outing. And on the way home I still find myself taking the most circuitous route back and craning my head to see what else might be out there.

Getting back to the bolete. In my experience, these mushrooms like areas where pine and aspen trees grow together. They do not necessarily grow on the north face of hills or alongside rotten logs—although they sometimes do. I’ve picked them May through October in dark loam and sand. With such a variety of growing conditions, you would expect them to be more common, but trust me, they can be rare and elusive indeed.

The first outing of the year, it takes a moment to retune my eyes to see the broken earth where an immaculate cep—an edible mushroom distinguished by a smooth reddish-brown cap, stout white stem, and pores rather than gills—is emerging. Once you spot one, others start to come into view; but until you “break the seal,” they remain hidden in plain sight.

Northern New Mexico also hosts several kinds of delicious and edible cacti. One is the prickly pear, more specifically, the paddles of the prickly pear. These can be carefully despined, julienned, and eaten raw in a salad of verdolaga (purslane) and dandelion greens, or sautéed with wild onion and juniper berries. One of the components in cactus paddles helps the body regulate blood sugar and may even offer amazing results when eaten by those with diabetes. The red fruit of the prickly pear is also healthy and delicious. Full of vitamins B and C, they can be carefully peeled and eaten as you would a strawberry, or added to the blender when making margaritas.

The color is wondrous—the brightest magenta.

One reason foraging has taken off is that it can be an urban endeavor—you don’t need to live in the woods. People forage in dense, urban communities across the country, from San Francisco and Los Angeles to Minneapolis and New York. Back in the day, authorities arrested naturalist “Wildman” Steve Brill, who’s been foraging Manhattan for decades, for eating a dandelion. These days he leads local restaurateurs on foraging expeditions throughout some of New York’s parks and nearby wildernesses. And there are now foraging communities in just about every major city.

Before venturing out on your own, however, here are a couple of tips. For one, thoroughly wash everything you gather. (Wash all those dandelion greens, for example, especially if gathered from anywhere near a dog park.)

Also, be sure to familiarize yourself with trespassing

Durham doing his best Bear Grylls imitation

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and property-destruction laws before accidentally poison ourselves.)

The forest’s bounty, clockwise from top left: an aspen bolete, wild picking any fruit.

I’m not suggesting that we abandon arugula, juniper berries, a prickly pear cactus, piñon, dandelions For me, what started out as an escape the urban world and return to the forest has become part of my food philosophy. primeval (the fact that so many of us As our culture moves further away from the land, we lose touch with live in cities is what keeps the wilderness wild). But I do think our wild roots. As a matter of linguistic fact, cultured is an antonym it’s essential to understand the natural world. It is key to our of wild. The very first groups of humans were bands of hunter- continued existence that we recognize the interconnectedness of gatherers—wild and uncultured perhaps, but very much connect- all beings and realize that we are just cogs in the great machine. ed with the Earth and their surroundings. Today’s human is on These truths can be easily assimilated when we derive some of the other side of that arc and almost completely out of touch our sustenance from the land. with nature. Although many of us regularly enjoy time in the As Henry David Thoreau famously put it, “All good things are great outdoors, few of us would likely be able to fend for ourselves if wild and free.” So be wild. Be free. Eat well. And in case you need forced to live off the land. (Most of us would probably starve or some culinary inspiration for your spoils, here are a few recipes.

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Wild Mushroom Paté 1½ lb. wild mushrooms (king bolete, chanterelle, hawk’s wing), cleaned and finely chopped 1 red onion, diced 1 T. wild garlic chives, minced ¼ cup butter ½ cup white wine 2 T. wild parsley, chopped 1 T. sage leaves, chopped Salt and pepper to taste

1. Sauté mushrooms, onions, and garlic chives in butter for 10–12 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Press down with a rubber spatula to remove any air pockets and create a smooth, flat surface.

2. Add white wine and simmer for 5 minutes.

6. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

3. Season with herbs, salt, and pepper and let cool to room temperature.

4. Line a small loaf pan with plastic wrap and fill with mushroom mixture.

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7. Serve with crusty bread, mustard, and pickled vegetables.

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Grilled Cactus Spring Rolls with Juniper Ponzu 1 package rice paper wrappers 2 large prickly pear paddles, thoroughly despined 6 purple salsify roots, cleaned and cut into ¼-inch rings 1 small packet of mung bean noodles, soaked until soft 1/3 cup chopped cilantro 1 T. toasted sesame oil

1. Place paddles on a preheated grill and cook each side for 3-4 minutes or until skin becomes dark green and grill marks are evident.

2 Allow paddles to cool and slice into thin strips.

3. In a large bowl, thoroughly combine cactus, salsify, noodles, cilantro, and sesame oil.

4. Soak 1 rice paper wrapper in room temperature water for 1 minute or until just pliable.

5. Place on a clean work surface and place 3–4 T. of noodle mix in the center of the wrapper.

6. Wrap into a tight roll with the ends folded in and reserve.

For the Juniper Ponzu: 1 T. juniper berries, crushed 1 garlic clove, minced finely 2 tsp. crushed red chile flakes ¼ cup soy sauce

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2 T. lemon juice 2 T. honey

1. Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.

2. Take off the heat and steep for 30 minutes.

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Grilled Wild Asparagus with Dandelion Pesto 1½ lbs. wild asparagus spears, blanched in salted water and chilled 6 cups young dandelion greens and verdolaga, thoroughly cleaned ¾ cup toasted piñon nuts, plus more for garnishing 2 T. minced wild garlic chives (reserve flowers for garnishing) ¾ cup olive oil (more as needed) ½ cup local sheep’s cheese, crumbled Salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine greens, piñon, and chives in a food processor and pulse to blend.

With motor running, pour in olive oil.

2. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Lightly oil asparagus spears and place on a preheated grill.

4. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until pronounced grill marks are achieved.

5. Arrange on a platter and spoon pesto over the middle of the spears.

6. Garnish with piñon nuts, chive flowers, and sheep’s cheese.

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Adelitas Alameda Café Anasazi Restaurant Andiamo!

Arroyo Vino Atrisco Café Bert’s Burger Bowl Bouche Bistro Café Pasqual’s Casa Chimayo Coyote Café Del Charro Dr. Field Goods Kitchen El Farol Epazote on the Hillside Fuego at La Posada Gabriel’s Georgia Geronimo Iguana Café Il Piatto izanami Izmi Sushi Jambo Café Jinja Joseph’s of Santa Fe l’Olivier La Boca La Casa Sena La Plazuela Las Fuentes Loyal Hound Luminaria Maria’s Midtown Bistro Omira Grill Osteria d’Assisi Pecos Trail Café

Pizzeria da Lino Plaza Café South Pranzo Pueblo Artist Café Pyramid Café Red Sage Restaurant Martin Rio Chama Ristra San Francisco St. Bar & Grill Santa Fe Bar & Grill Santa Fe Capitol Grill Santacafe Shohko Café Steaksmith at El Gancho Sweet Water Harvest Kitchen Swiss Bistro & Bakery Taberna La Boca Tabla de los Santos Terra at Four Seasons TerraCotta Tesuque Village Market The Bistro at Courtyard The Compound The Galisteo Bistro The Grille at Quail Run The Guesthouse The Old House The Palace The Ranch House The Shed The Teahouse Tomasita’s Tortilla Flats Vanessie Vinaigrette Zia Diner

oto by Lois Ellen Frank

cheers to all these great santa fe restaurants for another great event!

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Geronimo Through the Years LEGENDARY CANYON ROAD EATERY AGES TO PERFECTION

O

n any given day on Canyon Road, a turquoise and white tour bus lingers before the meticulously restored 18th-century adobe that houses Geronimo restaurant. And through his blaring microphone, a tour guide stridently may well announce, “Founded in 1990, this restaurant was named after the Apache Indian who fought against Mexico and Texas during the Apache Wars.” Which sounds entirely plausible.

Except it’s entirely not. Geronimo, says its partner and general manager, Chris Harvey, was named after Geronimo Lopez, who built the adobe house for his family of 13 in 1756. (In 1769 Lopez added a second home to the property, which by then contained crop and pastureland with a 14-tree orchard.)

Harvey should know. He has spent his entire career at Geronimo. “I started as a waiter in the summer of 1992,” he recalls, leaning into one of the brown cowhide–covered chairs he designed and had custom made for the restaurant. “I was intrigued by the owner’s entrepreneurial spirit.”

That former owner was Geronimo founder Cliff Skoglund, who saw culinary potential on a narrow, serpentine street that had suddenly turned into an internationally renowned artistic epicenter. “He created a casual new Southwestern restaurant in a failing space,” says Harvey.

By the time Geronimo arrived, Canyon Road had transformed itself into the artistic artery it is today.

But the road hadn’t even been paved until 1964, and despite an influx of artists beginning in the late 1800s, until then it had remained as much a farming community as an artistic mecca. The ground started to shift in the late ’70s and early ’80s, when artists and their studios grudgingly gave way to art purveyors.

With the advent of “Santa Fe Style,” the town’s art market became the second largest in the world, and Canyon Road blew up.

Yet, aside from El Farol, which opened just up the street from Geronimo in 1985, and The Compound, which had been around since the ’50s and which cemented its current national reputation when chef Mark Kiffin reopened the restaurant in 2000—there

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BY SUZANNE O’LEARY | PHOTOS BY KATE RUSSELL

Geronimo server Barbara Hanna prepares for dinner.

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Geronimo Lopez built this adobe house for his family of 13 in 1756.

Chef Eric DiStefano in his Geronimo kitchen

really wasn’t another quality restaurant on the City Different’s most iconic avenue.

Enter Geronimo. When it arrived in 1990, the timing couldn’t have been more auspicious. Mark Miller had opened Coyote Café in 1987, and the effect was immediate. Coyote not only established Southwestern fare as an imaginative cuisine to be reckoned with and imitated, but foodies from far and wide could add another destination to their bucket list. But Coyote was downtown.

Luckily for Geronimo, those first five years brought little competition, allowing the restaurant to focus on what would become its signature: impeccable service.

The type of service you’d expect at the oldest and finest venues in New York, Paris, Chicago, or London. “The service at the French Laundry and Per Se [the California and New York restaurants started by Thomas Keller] was really the pinnacle for us,” says Harvey, who ate his way across the country in Geronimo’s formative period—not just to savor the great food but to learn from and emulate the overall experiences the best restaurants provided.

“The service at these places was so refined and incredible. Watching these staffs work 56

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together was eye-opening. They all worked as a team, they were happy, and they anticipated every need. You really understood that they cared about your experience.”

After starting out with bistro service (where a waiter takes your order, and a busser busses your table), Geronimo soon eliminated the busser and went with a captain-server model. “We wanted to have knowledgeable professional adults on the floor serving and informing you,” says Harvey. Geronimo also made training a priority; moving from server to captain usually takes six months or longer.

“I believe that while food trends are important and the culinary revolution is real,” adds Harvey, “ultimately, the key to success is the ability to deliver on hospitality.”

Despite its ideals, the restaurant didn’t make the leap into national consciousness until Eric DiStefano arrived in 1995.

Born and raised in Hershey, Pennsylvania, DiStefano was the chef de cuisine at the Hotel Hershey (after apprenticeships and stints from Boca Raton to Scottsdale) when renowned chef Daniel Boulud called to tell him of an opportunity in Santa Fe. The Hacienda del Cerezo, an obscure

bed-and-breakfast, needed a chef. DiStefano accepted the position, and he and his wife relocated—cold—to Santa Fe. After a year and a half there, DiStefano was about to head back East when Geronimo contacted him.

“We were on the hunt for a new chef when we heard about this guy that was working at a little-known B&B,” remembers Harvey. “We both ate at the B&B and were completely blown away. I can still taste the veal chop that he served. For me, his food upon first bite is an explosion of comfort flavors that lend a familiarity and accessibility to it that you know, but then you’re hit with complexities that you might be unfamiliar with that just blow you away. For example, his most popular dish, the elk tenderloin—essentially a steak-and-potatoes dish. But Eric marinates the elk first in beer, hoisin, and garlic, grills it on mesquite to give it a smoky flavor, and creates a brandied mushroom sauce for the potatoes. It’s an explosion of flavors that you literally cannot stop eating. We have guests that come to Santa Fe every year just to get that dish.”

Before DiStefano’s arrival, recalls Harvey, Geronimo’s menu “had been dictated by the local clientele. The food was very casual. Our most popular item was duck rellenos with a mole sauce—very simple food.”

DiStefano quickly changed that. “The original kitchen was a mud hut,” says DiStefano. “And the food was so basic.

Chris gave me carte blanche to remodel the kitchen and change the entire menu.

What a dream, to just go and be creative and feel trusted.” DiStefano’s philosophy has remained simple but ambitious: to meld flavors that are unique and create a global influence.

“I remember the first dish that came out of Eric’s kitchen,” says Harvey. “It was the finest salad I’d ever seen—it was

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so beautiful. And I couldn’t believe how lucky we were to have him. I was beaming, thinking, ‘This is it. We’ve made it now.’”

Indeed, Geronimo had arrived.

For about a decade, all went well. Then Geronimo’s founder overextended the restaurant, putting it in jeopardy. When creditors came after the business for debts

incurred by the former owner, Harvey refused to let his beloved establishment be shut down. He rallied his workers around him, and, with utmost professionalism, he and his staff continued to provide its guests with the same impeccable service and five-star cuisine for which Geronimo had always been known. Not that Harvey

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Partner and general manager Chris Harvey

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Bartender Camille Bremer prepares Geronimo’s signature cocktails, designed by master mixologist Quinn Stevenson.

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would ever let on—then or now—about how stressful that time was, or give away any gossipy details. Harvey, true to who and what he is, stuck to the high road.

And while many a restaurant has gone through tough times and has had to put out small fires, few have had to face a virtual conflagration, and have done so with such grace, class, and fortitude. So if there’s a quality that further distinguishes Geronimo from its fellow restaurants and restaurateurs, it’s that Harvey and his staff have weathered the worst and come out stronger, better, and likely more grateful and appreciative. And if so, perhaps that gratitude and appreciation means more, is felt more, and is what’s also passed on to its diners. When Harvey says, “It’s not just about the food,” it’s not. It’s about everything that has gone into it.

But getting back to 2007, Harvey dug deep. He partnered with Lloyd Abrams in taking over ownership. They reorganized, they recapitalized. They stuck it out. And in 2008, DiStefano (still the owner and chef at Coyote back then—and today) returned to Geronimo as chef and partner. “It’s been an evolution to get to where we are today,” says Harvey, looking back somewhat diplomatically at the restaurant’s many iterations. Geronimo’s lifeblood is the brotherhood between Harvey and DiStefano, which stands on a rock-solid foundation 58 TREND Passion of the Palate 2014/2015

defined by a shared vision.

Although its cuisine once rode the long coattails of “Southwestern fusion,” today both partners describe it as “eclectic international cuisine with a French base.”

Remaining constant are its fresh seasonal ingredients (the legacy of DiStefano’s mother’s garden) and the chef’s spot-on flavor combinations—which often come to him in dreams. “I have a notebook on my nightstand, to take notes,” he says.

Geronimo’s menu remains as enticing as when DiStefano first arrived, and four of its early menu staples are still perennial favorites: from the elk tenderloin to the mesquite-grilled Maine lobster tails.

“We’ve never, ever been closed in 23 years,” says Harvey. “We came close once, when we had a fire roaring inside one of the walls. But we tore through the wall, hosed it down, and covered it with an Indian blanket we bought down the street.

That was a long time ago. We filled the wall with concrete and made the fireplaces gas after that incident. We didn’t miss a beat. We were open for dinner that very night!”

“Yep, we’ve had crazy ups and downs,” says DiStefano. “But when the smoke settles, Chris and I will be the last two standing.” And in all likelihood, they’ll still have to explain just how Geronimo got its name. R

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In 1930 Ernest Thompson Seton bought 2500 acres of land outside of Santa Fe. In purchasing this land Seton sought to create a context where humans and wildness and plants and soil interacted in the landscape. Seton’s dream of wildness was not a pastoral fantasy. It was grounded in reality and served by his lifetime of learning in and from nature.

In 2004 The Academy for the Love of Learning acquired Seton’s home and his last 86 acres. The Academy’s work on this land began with the restoration of a property that had become wounded and imbalanced. This fragile place had become bereft and separate from its own regenerative capacity, well being, and community. We had to clear it, we had to see it, and we had to give it the space to become itself. Then and only then could we grow buildings, cultivate learning landscapes, and create activities and programs.

The Academy’s work on this ground continues with a stewardship philosophy that encompasses the way we use the space and place buildings on the land.

Our buildings incorporate state of the art water conservation practices and green energy processes. Adjacent to every structure we have created swales that restore the natural flora and wildlife corridors to welcome back the birds, snakes, rabbits, lizards, and other community creatures. Making this not just a landscape that we learn in but a landscape we learn from. It is a living landscape being cultivated and stewarded in a way that utilizes the Academy’s learning practice.

We understand what Seton was telling us – that the ground we stand on matters. That restoring this land to harmony is the foundation of any learning philosophy. We tend to the ground we stand on so it can hold all that can happen here. This landscape is capable of promoting reflection and provoking disorientation. Which makes it a perfect learning lab for how to live and transform in harmony.

The mission of the Academy for the Love of Learning is to awaken, enliven, nurture, and sustain the natural love of learning in people of all ages. To achieve our mission, the Academy has developed transformative curricula and methodologies – our learning field inquiry approach – offered through our integrated set of programs, conferences, organizational practices and research.

Photo Credit: Kate Russell

The Academy hosts free monthly Evenings of Exploration and ongoing programs include, Leading by Being, Teacher Renewal, El Otro Lado in the Schools and Lifesongs. The intent of our work is to help stimulate and support the rebirth and renewal of learning and education in America.

®

Server Micah Bowman attends Farm & Table’s great room. Right: The restaurant’s newest executive chef, Sean Sinclair.

Chef TASTES

Locally Sourced Chef returns to bring New Mexico farms to the table

S

ean Sinclair knew early on that preparing food was going to be a major part of his life. Long before his first gig frycooking at Wing Stop, he was soaking in the teachings of his beloved grandmother, Dora. “Some of my earliest, and fondest, memories happened in my grandmother’s kitchen,” recalls the 25-year-old. “Since then, I’ve never really thought about doing anything other than cooking for a living.” Now, not so much later, he’s the executive chef of what is arguably Albuquerque’s hottest restaurant: Farm & Table.

The mission at Farm & Table is well documented: a singleminded focus on locally sourced ingredients grown with an emphasis on sustainability. And while widespread press coverage has placed the restaurant firmly on the national culinary map, it makes sense that when the top position opened up late last year, the new executive chef would be sourced locally as well.

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TEXT AND PHOTOS BY SERGIO SALVADOR

Sinclair grew up in Tijeras and graduated from La Cueva High.

He credits time working under Stephen Shook and Jeff Trollinger at Chama River Brewing Company with bridging the gap from his early interest in cooking to having developed a deep passion for it. “It was at Chama River that the fire was lit for me,” says Sinclair, “where the foundational bits my grandmother had shown me were taken to another level through the training I got there.” Clear-minded about his trajectory, Sinclair determined that his next step involved a westward move to the Le Cordon Blue College of Culinary Arts in Portland, Oregon. It was there, and in the kitchens of Portland’s top restaurants, that Sinclair’s eyes were opened to a different level of local sourcing and where he truly hit his stride. “In Portland, using local purveyors isn’t a trend. From food trucks to five-stars, seasonal menus and local ingredients are standard operating procedure.”

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Chef TASTES

Ric Murphy’s Sol Harvest farm (located just west of the restaurant) provides a steady stream of locally grown food each season. Top: Diners on the patio of the North Valley, Albuquerque restaurant

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Portland kitchens, ultimately finding inspiration working alongside chef Jake Martin at the (recently shuttered) five-star Genoa. “Jake was putting out by far the most beautiful food I’d ever seen,” says Sinclair. The menu at Genoa changed each month, and because of its small size, the crew was encouraged to spread their wings creatively. The experience resonated with Sinclair and continues to express itself at Farm & Table, where presentation and plating have become a higher priority since his arrival. The tight-knit, knowledgeable Farm & Table crew take their preparation and menu-planning to new levels of creativity and innovation, benefiting from the trust that owner Cherie Montoya Austin has in Sinclair and his team. He also works closely with general manager Amy Haas to keep the restaurant organized and firing on all cylinders. Farm & Table’s daily menu meetings are designed to educate the servers so that they can help deliver not only delicious food to tables but disseminate a meaningful community message as well. “There is a sense of responsibility and pride that makes working here more a craft than a job,” says Sinclair.

A key to the Farm & Table mission is found in Sinclair’s relationship with onsite farmer Ric Murphy and his Sol Harvest farm. “We talk every day,” says Sinclair. “Ric and the farm provide a constant reminder about where the food on our menu is coming from, and diners can look out from their table and see the source for much of what is on their plate.” Chef and farmer sit down together a couple times each week and plan for the future by going over seed catalogs and thinking about ways the menu can be inspired by the farm’s direction and vice versa. Says Montoya Austin, “If I need Sean for something and can’t find him, more often than not I’ll peek outside and see him on the farm. He’s very connected to it.”

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Owner Cherie Montoya Austin

Chef TASTES

Heirloom tomatoes with a caramelized onion mostarda. Below: Lamb T-bone with fregola salad and fried green tomatoes.

Farm & Table’s goal of 100 percent local sourcing for their menu is an ambitious one, but they are not so far away. As of this writing, the menu is 80 percent locally sourced, according to Montoya Austin. Sinclair works with more than 65 local purveyors, running the gamut from small North Valley heirloom tomato growers to

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chicken-egg harvesters like St. Francis Farms in the South Valley.

Fresh pork is brought in from Albuquerque’s Kyzer Farms. And Alameda Farms, owned by Montoya Austin’s father, David Montoya, supplies the beef from the same 10-acre property as the restaurant.

Since his arrival at Farm & Table, Sinclair has effortlessly fallen into step with the restaurant’s mission, while also pushing the staff and purveyors to take the menu to another level.

Young for an executive chef, Sinclair projects an enthusiasm that can be missing in kitchens with chefs who feel they’ve arrived or are set in their ways. “His energy—the eagerness to continue learning and to grow—is amazing,” says Montoya Austin. “And it matches the dynamic of our evolving, ever-changing restaurant perfectly.”

Sinclair’s youthful exuberance and energy are balanced by an even-keeled demeanor that Montoya Austin says has been a trademark of all three chefs who have worked at Farm & Table. It’s one of the first traits she looks for in the person wanting to steer the ship, one she immediately saw in him.

“His respect for the people he works with fits into the teamoriented restaurant we strive to be,” says Montoya Austin, “and his ability to take the air out of difficult situations is something we really need in this business.”

Far from the clichéd hierarchy with a screaming sociopath chef at the top, the “reality TV” version we love to hatewatch on cable, Farm & Table is instead a restaurant that holds the basic integrity of food and a sense of community at its core. R

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Screen of Memory “These recent formless painting events are intended to coalesce an energy that we all share�

C Gurd charlescgurd.com

Saveur Bistro Saveur means taste, and the name says it all.

204 Montezuma, Santa Fe, New Mexico | 505-989-4200 Open Mondays through Fridays, 7:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Breakfast, lunch, and catering.

BY SKYA ABBATE | PHOTOS BY KATE RUSSELL

W

hen you walk in the front door of Saveur, you know this is a special place. The deli counter, reminiscent of fine European specialty shops, is lined with an exceptional variety of fresh cheeses and meats.

Laced among them are tempting desserts—pure presentations of sweet promise.

Moving along you stop in your tracks, halted by the visual array of common and exotic vegetables, prepared to enhance not only their taste but their inherent colors, shapes, and sizes. Slices of bell peppers grilled to perfection and anointed in olive oil, a boat of baby pink shrimp in an earthy avocado, angelic deviled eggs, crisp salads in nuances of green, cubed garnet beets, tart artichokes, and a host of other vegetables make you ponder the wisdom of nature.

Hot entrees of delicate meats and comforting potatoes or noodles, and three steaming soups ranging from a playful seduction to a hearty repast for a busy afternoon at the office meet the needs of the local and visiting clientele. Fresh made-to-order sandwiches, daily specials, cool and hot drinks, and wines to celebrate the day or complement the natural menu are all offered for a complete dining adventure. With its charming café ambiance and range of delectables, Saveur is simply a place of abundance.

“Organic and local whenever possible” is the food philosophy of the proprietors Dee and Bernie Rusanowski. Food preparation and presentation is their passion, as is their personal connection with their customers, clearly evident in their enthusiastic greetings to all as they enter—both from the register (where you weigh and pay for your buffet selections) and as they mingle among the diners. For ten years they have been the voice of Saveur in a town known for artistry, breathtaking beauty, and friendliness.

Whether you crave a custom breakfast or a continental buffet of hand-squeezed juices and fruit-filled pastries, breakfast at Saveur is a special way to start the day Monday through Friday. As a destination for lunch, it is the perfect spot to bring family, friends, and colleagues to graze the buffet or enjoy a full gourmet meal—all accompanied by a glass or two of well-priced French wine and a luscious dessert. And if you want a great meal for dinner, you can buy the fresh food remaining at 3:30 p.m. for a Saveur feast at home.

The restaurant sparkles from top to bottom, from the clear glass windows framed with French lace, to the busy yet perfectly run kitchen, to the burnished Saltillo floors and the gleam in Dee and Bernie’s eyes. Rich palettes of tranquil landscapes and saintly birds comprise a backdrop to lively conversation—and you are sure to run into someone you know as they drop by for a quick cup of soup or coffee to go.

Saveur has a spirit all its own—beautifully prepared food in all its organic, visual, and gustatory glory served with genuine care, friendliness, and pride. For the freshest, most satisfying food and friendships, this is simply the best restaurant in town.

Photo: Boncratious

Full Bar • Specialty Cocktails • Lounge Area • Summer Patio • Wine Dinners • Private Rooms Available Award-Winning Wine List • Classic French Bistro Faire • Extensive Selection of Wines by the Glass 315 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM

(505) 986-9190

Fri-Sat 5pm-9:30pm Sun-Thu 5pm-9pm

www.315santafe.com

Reservations recommended