User-Agent: MT-NewsWatcher/3.2 (PPC Mac OS X) Message-ID: X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 0-1pool229-77.nas13.albuquerque1.nm.us.da.qwest.net X-Original-Trace: 13 Aug 2003 18:47:27 -0400, 0-1pool229-77.nas13.albuquerque1.nm.us.da.qwest.net Lines: 66 X-Authenticated-User: Tillman NNTP-Posting-Host: 66.73.119.130 X-Complaints-To: [email removed] X-Trace: newssvr28.news.prodigy.com 1060814843 ST000 66.73.119.130 (Wed, 13 Aug 2003 18:47:23 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 18:47:23 EDT X-UserInfo1: SCSYASVGZJVUC\XY]BHD]V@APZXTPO\MAPVZKB]MPXHZUYICD^RAQBKZQTZTX\_I[^G_KGFNON[ZOE_AZNVO^\XGGNTCIRPIJH[@RQKBXLRZ@CD^HKANYVW@RLGEZEJN@\_WZJBNZYYKVIOR]T]MNMG_Z[YVWSCH_Q[GPC_A@CARQVXDSDA^M]@DRVUM@RBM Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 22:47:23 GMT Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu rec.food.restaurants:57913 The Compound, Canyon Rd, Santa Fe We had a most satisfactory lunch here today. The Compound is in a lovely former residence (designed by Alexander Girard, whose folk-art collection fills the Girard Wing of the Folk Art Museum). We ate in the very pleasant patio (though the garden was a bit thirsty and neglected-looking). On entering the restaurant, a sign asks you to not disturb the neighboring residences (by drag-racing in the parking lot? ). Anyway, the nearest neighbor wasn't reciprocating -- their gardener was running a very noisy wood-chipper for much of our lunch. But no matter -- the food is king. Lunch opened with excellent fresh bread and nutty sesame-peanut wafers. The Compound offers a $10 bottle of wine with lunch -- we had an Italian pinot grigio, very crisp and refreshing. I had salmon on asparagus ($15). This is the best piece of salmon I've had since my last salmon at Vivace in Tucson, which is to say pretty near perfect: crusty on the outside, moist and juicy inside, and very, very flavorful. I like asparagus done a bit more than they serve it, but crispy veggies seem de rigeur in fancy restaurants now. My wife had some sort of vegetarian rice-corn-asparagus concoction that was quite good. We finished with perhaps the best strawberry shortcake I've had in my life ($6). Folks, it doesn't get much better than this, and for Santa Fe, these are good prices. We'll be back, and soon. We walked in at 12:30 on Monday, reservation-free, and had our choice of tables. Plenty of parking [note 1]. I'll conclude with a brief update on some of our Fanta Se faves, as we've just ushered two groups of house guests off to the Sunport [note 2]. The clear favorite of our guests was Casa Sena, which boasts Santa Fe's prettiest patio. My favorite dish was their version of chicken satay, with wonderfully juicy grilled chicken and divine mango chutney. Don't miss. Santacafe' seems to be going through a rocky period -- our last three visits have been so-so, with really poor service twice. We've dropped them from our current favorite list. Cleopatra, in the Design Center, is still Santa Fe's best bargain eatery, but they have a new manager, and instead of bringing your meal to the table, as before, they now sing out the order number, fast-food style. But the Cairo chicken continues sublime, and wonderfully cheap --$6 for a huge plate of juicy, sublimely garlicky roast chicken, rice, yoghurt, and an excellent Greek salad, in a pleasant, quiet atrium courtyard. And Harry's Roadhouse has fresh blueberry pie again! My wife had two meals consisting of a BIG slice of blueberry pie a la mode. Harry's pastry chef is great. No reservations and VERY popular, so try to go at off-hours. The chicken quesadilla continues to be sublime. Happy eating! Cheers -- Pete Tillman Eldorado Note 1.) The Compound's parking lot has a rear entrance from the dirt road that parallels Alameda, affording you the chance to show off your knowledge of backroad Santa Fe (using the one-lane Delgado bridge). You may want to do a dry-run first, for the full, casual effect. Note 2.) One guest left her wallet on the plane. Another, her husband's fancy new camera. Both, happily, were turned in by honest fellow-passengers. Could the liquid departure lunch be involved?
Santa Fe, NM