Wine & Chile Fiesta a delight

Side Dish

By John Vollertsen | For The New Mexican

10/7/2008

The Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta always is a great celebration of our town's love of food and wine — and this year I got to view it from an interesting new perspective. I have only attended as a member of the media in the past, but for its 18th annual celebration, through my consulting with A La Mesa, a new restaurant about to open, I got to see it all from behind the scenes — both as a guest chef at a luncheon Friday afternoon at El Rancho de las Golondrinas that featured three fabulous wines from Dog Point Vineyard in New Zealand and as a dole-er out of more than 2,000 canapés at the grand tasting on Saturday afternoon.

The whole week of events is so well organized that I kidded SFW&CF executive director (and New Mexican columnist) Greg O'Byrne that since it ran smoother than FEMA's response to Hurricane Ike, maybe he should consider going to work for them as a consultant. Watching the Saturday event unfold under the tents at the Santa Fe Opera, I have a new respect for how hard the chefs and their staffs work to pull it off.

Most memorable among the canapés served on Saturday were those from chef Brian Cooper of Luminaria, whose seared scallop was wrapped in chorizo with peppery arugula; the confit of suckling pig on rice pancake by first-time contributor executive chef Charles Dale of Terra, the restaurant at the newly opened Encantado resort; Tulip's plump grilled Hawaiian blue prawns with green-chile tortilla salsa; and the tiny cupcakes from The Plaza South Café, which also garnered my vote for best display with its tiered platters of three types of tasty cupcakes.

Mother Nature added her splendor to the day with sunny weather and subdued winds, and the feeling of community and camaraderie among the teams that prepared and served all that glorious food made me proud to be a member of the Santa Fe hospitality community. There is certainly no rivalry, competition or egos at play during that week — well, maybe just a bit.


If you feel inclined to drive north to Taos to catch the fall colors — and you really should — check out El Meze (575-751-3337), a 10-month-old restaurant on the far side of town in the hamlet of El Prado. It's amazing. The menu tells us that meze is an Arabic word meaning "table" so the dishes reflect a definite Mediterranean influence with touches of Moorish and Spanish flavors here and there.

Everything we tried was unusual and delicious, including blue cheese-stuffed and fried green olives, luscious ripe white nectarines with Serrano ham and shaved Manchego cheese, and a bodacious 21-day dry-aged ribeye steak that melted in your mouth. It was served with crispy lavender- and thyme-scented frites. Yum!