Beachin’ It

Occasion: Fort Pickens with the Family
Shirt: XXI | Skirt: American Apparel | Shoes: Ross (Children’s department) | Belt: Gift, Vintage

We’re enjoying a nice break with my family in Pensacola, Florida this week. There’s so many forts, historical sites, and museums here, it’s a history buff’s paradise. (And we’re both huge history nerds!)

This was taken at Fort Pickens on Pensacola beach. It’s a fort from the civil war era, and is the perfect spot for photo shoots. We’ll be going back later, because the weather was less-than-cooperative when we went yesterday. I’ll definitely be bringing the tripod. :)

What’s your favorite part about vacations? Are you a “lay on the beach” type of person, a “local culture connoisseur”, or something else? I think I fall into the “museum and food nerd” category myself.

Taos Restaurants: Lambert’s of Taos

Unfortunately none of my Lambert’s photos came out. I was too embarrassed to turn on the flash!

Lambert’s of Taos (website)

What we had:

• Steamed mussels in a white wine pesto broth with grilled garlic bread
• Sautéed lobster and shallots in vanilla champagne sauce with rice cake and parma ham
• Sea Bass in a mushroom cream sauce with purple potatoes
• Glazed Roasted Duck with apricot chipotle sauce, sweet potato fries and vegetable medley
• Zeke’s chocolate truffle mousse, raspberry sauce
• Hazelnut crème brûlée

Lambert’s of Taos is by far our favorite stop on the restaurant tour. We always save it for last. We were concerned that El Meze had knocked Lambert’s down to second-favorite this year, but Lambert’s held it own, and came back with the most flavorful dinner to date.

How do you review such a wonderful restaurant? I’ll start by saying, we skipped the salads and soups on this one. I only had one piece of bread. There simply is no room for mediocrity when you’re at Lambert’s. B ordered the mussels and I ordered the lobster. The mussels were perfect. They had a perfect, light flavor, and the broth was delicious. But my lobster. Oh, my lobster.

I couldn’t stop “mmm-ing” while eating the lobster. The vanilla champagne sauce alone was phenomenal. This whole dish could have been an entrée. So fantastic.

B had the sea bass. The mushroom sauce (we couldn’t remember what kind of mushrooms) was so good with this subtle fish. And the potatoes were heaven.

I did the duck (again) with the sweet potatoes (again). I never thought that duck and sweet potatoes was “a thing,” but it must be. This duck was roasted to perfection. I was given sliced white meat, as well as a dark meat leg. The chipotle was a bit spicy, but my martini did a wonderful job of cooling my mouth down.

The desserts were fantastic. Hazelnut crème brûlée should be mandatory on anyone’s dessert list. The mousse was light and airy, and everything a mousse should be. Melted in your mouth. The raspberry was a perfect mate.

And there you have it. My humble musings about one of the hidden gems of the southwest. Taos is one of our favorite places on earth, and as much as it pains me to say, I don’t think we’ll be heading back there any time soon. We discussed on the way home and decided that Taos is wonderful, but it’s time to explore other cities. We’re hoping to make it to Portland this summer for a mini-vacation, maybe three days. I can’t wait to see what other restaurants have to offer!

Taos Restaurants: Doc Martin’s

Doc Martin’s (website)

What we had:

• Roasted garlic and goat cheese with green chili baguette
• Hearts of romaine salad
• Achiote Rubbed Duck Breast with ginger sweet potato mashers, Asian pear chutney and broccolini
• Red Wine Braised Buffalo Short Ribs with horseradish mashers, and melted leeks
• Bread Pudding

I love Doc Martin’s. It’s one of the first places I ever went to in Taos, and it’s the place where I gave B a really hard time about proposing to me, about 30 minutes before he actually proposed! (I didn’t know!!) It’s always a stop on the restaurant tour, mostly because it’s consistently good, and never disappoints. This trip was no different.

We started with the roast garlic and goat cheese, which was delicious. I thought the plating was a tad bit strange, however. It was plated with lettuce and sliced tomatoes, instead of the sundried tomatoes it was described as having. I didn’t think it was very seasonal, but I devoured it anyway.

My duck was amazing. I unfortunately had filled up on green chili French bread, so I couldn’t finish it, but the duck was mildly spicy and paired so well with the sweet potatoes. I love duck, but can’t bring myself to actually cook duck, B raised ducks as a child, and doesn’t like to eat it. So, I have to get my duck fix at restaurants, and Taos always has lots of duck dishes for me to choose from. Deelish!

The buffalo short ribs were melt-in-your-mouth good. Fell off the bone, tasted great with the horseradish mashers. So good. If you’re ever in Taos, don’t pass up Doc Martin’s. It’s not the most innovative restaurant, but what they do, they do well.

The bread pudding was good. I’m not really a bread pudding girl, but it was nice and not too sweet. I let B eat most of it.

Taos Restaurants: Pizza Outback

Taos Pizza Outback (website)

What we had:

• Their white pizza with mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, ricotta and parmesan
• Cannoli

I don’t know what it is about this pizza, but I couldn’t stop eating. I definitely made myself sick. Since we didn’t have a microwave in our room, I knew the left overs would be cold, and that just wouldn’t do this pizza justice.

I’m a white pizza girl. Something about tomato sauce always makes me sick. I think it’s the acid. So, poor B always has to indulge me with the white pizzas. Outback has the most amazing dough. I can’t put my finger on what makes it so special, but here’s my best description: it’s flaky, crispy and soft all at once. It’s sprinkled with sesame seeds, which makes me think maybe there’s sesame oil in it. I don’t know what it is, but I’m determined to find out.

The cannoli was even superior. Usually cannoli is kind of “blah,” but these had a softer shell, and the cream was obviously fresh, or at least a better quality cream than I’m used to. So many thumbs up!

Taos Restaurants: El Meze

El Meze (website)

What we had:

• Fried green olives stuffed with Spanish bleu cheese
• Sopa Verde (slow braised collard greens, smoked bacon and Campo de Mantaban gratin)
• Grilled Hearts of Romaine with lemon anchovy dressing and Manchego cheese
• Grilled bone-in Ribeye steak16 oz dry aged with Moroccan butter and herb frites
• Lemon Mousse and Raspberry Napoleon
• Mini Cardamon Doughnuts served with a caramel chocolate sauce

El Meze was a total surprise. We’d never been there, it’s rather new, but the bartender at Doc Martin’s was also a waiter there and recommended it. We couldn’t have been more thrilled. Honestly we were blown away.

The restaurant is very cozy, a small room with about ten tables set up. (There may have been more dining space, this is all I saw.) We each had a glass of pinot noir, and I ordered the fried olives, despite B’s dislike of fried foods and bleu cheese. It was delicious! Served with a lemon wedge, this was definitely something I’d consider making for a cocktail party. I might serve it with a lemon aioli. Very nice!

The bartender had recommended the sopa verde, so I ordered it. The soup was huge, definitely more on the “entrée” side of soups, and it was so good. Imagine a less-greasy version of southern, home-style collards, in soup form. It was too good. The broth was perfectly salty, and went so well with the “campo de mantaban,” or the cheese-covered toast in the middle. I actually had to have the waiter take it away from me, since I had ordered the steak and was worried I wouldn’t have any room left.

B’s salad was, I can’t believe I’m saying this about a salad, SO GOOD. The grilled romaine made it feel like “salad-y” and more like a meal .The dressing was the perfect blend of lemon and anchovy — not too fishy. Another couple of dishes to replicate.

We did the boring thing and ordered the same entrée. I think it was the skiing, because I was really craving a steak. Boy-oh-boy, was that a steak! 16 ounces doesn’t sound like too much, I’m normally going to go for the 8 ounce steak, but that wasn’t an option. And I was hungry. I’m pretty sure it was the biggest steak I’ve ever eaten. The Moroccan butter was perfect, the steak was cooked perfectly, and the herb frites were, for lack of a better word, adorable. We asked the waiter what was in the Moroccan butter and he started rattling off herbs… I didn’t have time to grab my pen and paper, but I’ll be trying to replicate the flavor at home. I’ve had some good steaks, but this one was really the best I’ve ever had. We Texans could really learn a thing or two from the Moroccans.

We were too full to eat dessert at the restaurant, so we took it home. On the way out, the owner/chef came out to visit the tables. He was such a nice guy, and I hope his restaurant does well. It was one of the best meals we’ve ever had.

The desserts! Ohmygosh the donuts. Cadamon donuts. With chocolate! And Caramel! And the Napoleon. Kind of a weird choice for B, as he doesn’t like lemon desserts, but it won him over. So good, so light and airy. Just perfect. I hope they open a restaurant in Austin, I really, really do.

Taos Restaurants: De La Tierra

For such a small community, Taos is truly blessed with some of the most amazing food B and I have ever tasted. He’s been going to Taos for many years, and when we first started dating, I was fortunate enough to be invited along. We’ve been four times since, and even got engaged there! We always enjoy the skiing, but what I really look forward to is the restaurant tour. I took photos, but because of lighting issues, not all of them came out. Most of the websites have photos, so if you’re interested, click away! I’ll be posting one every day, so it’s not such a big chunk!

De La Tierra (website)

What we had:

• Cheese scone with prickly pear butter
• Cheese plate with three cheeses, (mild, soft & sharp) truffle honey, soaked figs, strawberries, an Eiffel Tower, and toast
• Caesar salad
• Caprese salad with prosciutto
• Half a lobster and a claw with butter
• Seared bass on garlicky sautéed spinach with lobster ravioli and a sweet corn sauce
• Mascarpone cheesecake with blackberries and whipped cream

This restaurant was, to say the very least, gorgeous. The design of the place must have taken a ton of work and forethought. I was really impressed. It had a rustic-meets-metropolitan look, if that makes sense. Two giant tree-limb chandeliers greeted us.

I’ve never had prickly pear butter. I didn’t know prickly pear butter existed. It was very unique…. Sweet and fruity, and went well with the cheese scones. I’ll definitely be trying out some prickly pear recipes if I see one at the grocery store. Delicious.  We did the usual cheese plate, which was fairly boring, except for the truffle honey. We still can’t decide if we liked the truffle honey. I was debating if, perhaps, the chef was pulling our leg with it, but then I saw it being touted on Tastespotting and Williams-Sonoma. Makes me wonder if I wasn’t appreciating it the right way.

I ordered incorrectly, and ended up with a boring, butter-and-lemon half-lobster and claw. I had intended to order a plate with lobster, scallops, and asparagus in a peach cream sauce. Ah, c’est la vie. It was just as well. I was stuffed, anyway.

B’s dish was absolutely amazing. (well — parts of of it) The sea bass was boring, flavorless, but the lobster ravioli with sweet corn sauce and spinach was out of this world. I was so jealous! I’m looking for a sweet corn sauce recipe online, if you find one, let me know! I think a cheaper version of the dish (which I’m dying to replicate) would be a spinach and lobster or crab ravioli with the sauce. Yum!

The dessert was blah. B loved it, but I let him choose dessert and he did his normal cheesecake. I hate to say it, but cheesecake never impresses me. I know it’s difficult to bake, blah, blah, but I just don’t like the flavors. The vanilla whipped cream was good, though.

Overall I wasn’t impressed with De La Tierra. Maybe I went on an off-night, but I thought for the price (it was the most expensive restaurant we went to, I believe) it just wasn’t as good as I was expecting.

Mishka and Meatloaf

We’re getting ready for our annual trek to the gorgeous Taos, New Mexico, and our Pomhuahua (Pomeranian-Chihuahua mix) Mishka decided to stow away in our ski gear. I hate to leave the puppies at the vet for boarding, but I know they’ll be taken care of. Still, I can’t help but feel guilty about leaving my baby in a kennel in South Austin. :(

In preparation for our gluttonous week in Taos, (Taos is home to several amazing restaurants, which — don’t tell my hubby — is the real attraction for me, not the skiing!) we’ve been doing some low-cal, hum-drum dinners this week, along with our usual high-fiber cereal in the morning with coffee (for the Mr.) and tea (for me).

Last night’s dinner was a favorite low-cal dinner, meatloaf with mashed potatoes from Real Simple Magazine.

At only 376 calories, and 30 grams of protein, this is the ideal meal for us during ski-prep workout weeks. It’s less meaty with the addition of spinach and onions (though, I subbed shallots since we had some on hand). To add nutrition and cut down on carbs, I always sub cauliflower for potatoes. I also added some sauteed broccoli with lemon for some green. Yum!

Find the recipe here.

How do you prepare for big vacation gorging?