An Indulgent Thursday in Albuquerque

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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Yesterday morning we left for Albuquerque to get some work done on Carollee’s XK-8. The biggest task, replacing the timing chain tensioner, would take eight hours. So we decided to spend the night in Albuquerque. As we left the Jaguar dealer in our loan car, we headed for TaLin to get some needed goodies - sakes, wasabi, potstickers, French fruit preserves, sardines, & mackeral; however, they didn’t have any fresh chiso leaves or fresh wasabi. Then we went to Williams-Sonoma for an iced tea and margarita pitcher to replace the one that Carollee unfortuantely broke. Sadly the size we wanted wasn’t available in the Albuquerque store, only via internet order. Then we decided to have lunch at Marcello’s Chophouse, figuring we probably wouldn’t have dinner. We walked over to Marcello’s under light sprinkles, were seated after a short wait, ordered our sparkling water and a 2006 Chateau Mont Redon Côtes-du-Rhône - Bright spicy red fruit, good acidity, and a pleasant finish. It was quite enjoyable with our meals of Kobe burger with 3-cheeses mix and frites for Carollee and Fish n’Chips with a Cajun tartare sauce for me. A very nice filling lunch, so we headed for our hotel. We made the mistake of seeing if Jeff Pfohl wanted to do something in the evening. He did and we ended up going to Vernon’s Hidden Valley Steak House, a speakeasy kind of place, with entrance through a locked door in the back of a liquor store. You knock three times on the door and when the panel opens, you give the password. This week’s was ‘Swordfish’. Jeff arrived a couple minutes after we had. We started with a 1999 Domaine Jean Chartron Puligny-Montrachet ‘Clos de la Pucelles’ - no signs of PremOx, light yellow gold in color (though it was kind of hard to tell in the dark speakeasy); rich pear, apple, & citrus in nose & flavors; good acidity with a complex mid-palate; and a long complex fruit finish. It went nicely with our starters of Caesar Salad for Carollee, Lobster Bisque for Jeff. and a rich, creamy green chile chicken soup for me. The chiles weren’t very hot so the Puligny was a nice match. Because of lunch, I didn’t quite finish my soup.

Then Jeff and I tried to order the day’s special of an interesting preparation of elk tenderloin, but they didn’t have any more. So Jeff had a prime rib-eye and I had a prime NY Strip. Carollee had veal scallopine with a Marsala-Mushroom sauce. We all had their truffled mashed potatoes and the day’s vegetable - sautéed broccolini. The next wine was 1985 Penfold’s Grange - good color and nose; rich complex secondary and tertiary fruit; complex mid-palate; and a long rich finish. It was almost a little light with the steaks, so we also had a 1996 Guigal Côte-Rôtie ‘La Turque’ - nice dark color; bright, rich berry fruit in nose and flavors; balanced mid-palate; and a long complex fruity finish. It was very good with the steaks. Once again, because of lunch, I didn’t quite finish the steak and potatoes. The potatoes were apparently done with just truffle oil and weren’t very truffley.

Then to complete the day’s indulgence we decided to try their Grand Marnier Crême Brulée. Carollee & I split one and Jeff had his own. Jeff had a snifter of old Cognac with his, while Caarollee & I each had a Grand Marnier in a small snifter.

Since the speakeasy was halfway between Jeff’s apartment and our hotel we went our separate ways, after an enjoyable evening.

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For a mistake, the libations sound pretty good! [thumbs-up.gif]

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Dick,

I was in TaLin on Wednesday AM and picked up a package of fresh shiso leaves. Sorry if I cleaned them out. Let me know if you need any. I have more than I need.

BTW, I finally found out what TaLin means; roughly translated: impossible to find what you are looking for. Alternate definition: if you do figure out where something is, it won’t be there next time you visit. Another alternate definition: the Mexican guy who doesn’t speak English knows where everything is.

Best,
Bill

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rolleyes

[suicide.gif]

Loved the 1996 La Turque, the WOTN for me. The 1999 Jean Chartron Puligny Montrachet Clos de la Pucelle Monopole was one of the first white burgs I fell in love with, the 1995. I’ve bought it every good year since. Lovely.

I wasn’t enthralled with the 85 Grange. I loved it at a tasting a few years back, but to me it didn’t seem as complex as I hoped nor as complex as my TN from a few years back indicated. hmmmmmmm that’s ok, my last bottle. I’d rather have the 1996 La Turque… wow was it tasty.

The steaks were ok but weren’t up to Flannery, we are definitely spoiled now that we can get some of the best prime delivered to our doors.
grouphug