Campo at Los Poblanos
August 15th is Autumn and my anniversary. This year Autumn asked me out a week in advance and usually it’d drive me crazy to try and figure out what we were going to do, she’s really sneaky and good at keeping secrets, but this year I just let it play out. All I knew was that I had to be home from work by 4:45 pm, not a minute later. I was home at 4:45 on the dot, though she claims I came through the door at 4:46. I rushed and changed clothes and we were on our way. I wasn’t allowed to look at the GPS or get any type of clue where we were going. After about 45 min of driving in the rush hour traffic, we pulled into this cute, tucked away farm/ranch, called Los Pablanos. I was ecstatic as we’ve been wanting to try this place since we moved to this area, but it’s reservation only and not close to our home now.
As we walked on the property we started to take in the property. We saw the inn, the market, and the restaurant. Our reservations were promptly at 6pm with instructions to arrive early to not miss the reservation. Autumn then let me know that we were doing a chef table series that was 8 courses and our seats were on the outskirts of the kitchen. I was absolutely stunned and was as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning.
In the waiting/bar area, it was stunning. So many unique and unheard of liquors, mixers, homemade liquids graced the walls. It was all I could do to not run into people as I kept taking pictures. The bar had fresh herbs, house made mixers, bitters, and an incredibly unique drink menu.
Now, I am not a big drinker. Every once in a while I will try a drink, especially if it’s unique and blends flavors well. If something doesn’t taste good, I usually won’t eat or drink it. This drink menu had descriptions and items I’d never heard of before, so we decided to try two: the Campo Margarita and the La Islay Bonita.
The drinks were very unique and delicious and we sipped on them well into our meal. My drink was a blend of scotch that had a spicy finish with the ginger, but it was balanced well with the honey and smoky notes. Autumn’s margarita had their house lavender and a sweet and salty rim. It was mixed well and very subtle.
The host approached us and let us know our table was ready. We joined 4 other people, 2 sets of couples that were out celebrating a birthday in their party. We were walked through the dining area and were sat at a long table that faced the open kitchen. Other staff members were providing a tour of the kitchen to several people as we sat down. How neat to be able to dine in a restaurant and be able to not only observe, but take a tour of the open kitchen as it steadily produced throughout the evening.
We were seated by one of the many people who would be attending to us throughout the evening and he started with introductions and providing us some of the history of the farm. The farm is 25 acres with a field to fork concept. The ingredients, including the meat, are acquired from local farmers and the menu is scratch made with local organic ingredients. As our host continued with interesting facts regarding the Executive Chef Jon and the team, our first course was being prepared. Each and every dish had someone from the kitchen, whether it be the Sous chef, grill cook, line cook, pastry chef, or whomever, every person who took part in preparing food presented us a dish with explanation of what we were about to eat and relevant information behind the ingredients or concept behind the dish. It was very neat to have everyone in the kitchen participate in our meal, including the runners and servers who routinely checked in our us and provided our table turnover between courses. Now onto the courses!
Course 1: House pickles with pickled pheasant egg, rhubarb, fennel, and edible flowers
Early this month Autumn asked what edible flowers taste like, she’s not a fan, haha. The house pickles were delicious, not too strong or overwhelming, and they complimented the pheasant egg well. Very unique combination of flavors, but I’ll agree with Autumn, the edible flowers weren’t my favorite.
Course 2: Ash-Roasted LP Beets with dukkah, aliums, mint, pistachio, oil, and sumac yogurt
The beets were super flavorful in this dish. They take the embers from the morning fire pit and bury the beets to roast. The depth of flavor was incredible. The yogurt was creamy and was very flavorful, especially with the pistachios and sumac seasoning. Add in the beets and it was a very unique and layered dish.
Course 3: NM Corn Project- Posole with blue corn, grilled yellow tomato hybrid (part pepper, part tomato from the experimental cook’s garden), and walking onion.
I don’t normally like posole, but this was incredible. The corn had plenty of texture, the broth wasn’t a traditional tomato base. The tomato hybrid had so much flavor it was surprising. I would order this one again for sure.
Course 4: Peas and Carrots- a smoked carrot purée tortellini with micro carrot spouts, and jack cheese.
I loved this dish. The smoky carrot purée inside the pasta was silky, flavorful, and had a very smoky flavor throughout. I’m not sure I could eat an entire bowl of this in large portions, but it was a very unique dish that was packed with flavor.
Bread: This wasn’t on the menu, but the Sous chef Daniel graciously provide our table with 3 of their breads- green chile sourdough, baguette, and a rye bread. We didn’t need the bread, but it was a great treat.
Course 5: Aguachile- a take on ceviche with day boat halibut, cucumber, radish, jalapeño, cilantro, and chile water. Served with fresh tortilla chips.
This one was Autumn’s favorite. It was refreshing, spicy, and full of flavor. The chile water broth on it’s own was a bit salty, but cumulatively, it was something we’d absolutely eat again.
Course 6: Mole Rojo- Shepherd’s Lamb neck tamale with a Mole Rojo.
The lamb used here is certified organic and the masa is made using duck fat. The mole rojo was both sweet and spicy using a blend of ancho, guajillo, and chipotle chiles . It wasn’t too spicy and the tamale wasn’t dry at all.
Course 7: Polk’s Folly Mangalista Pig- a polish country stew with sauerkraut and rye bread.
The pork in this dish was very tender and rested over a spicy sauerkraut. The sauerkraut made here takes weeks to make and it was full of flavor and had plenty of texture still. The rye bread was toasted and helped with the heat from the stew.
Course 8: Apricot sorbet with pickled peach gelee and sage flowers.
The apricot sage sorbet was a bit of a pallet cleanser after some big flavors. It was light, had a touch of sweetness, then a burst of acidic peach flavor, followed by a mild sage flower. It was small but very flavorful and the apricot and sage complimented each other well.
Course 9: Torchon of Foie Gras with grilled peaches, piñon, sopapillas, and drizzled with 21-year old Monticello Balsamico.
The most controversial dish of the evening. I’ve had foie gras before in Cabo, and it’s not my favorite texturally or flavor wise. It’s not as minerally as some livers, but it’s very creamy and also very controversial as an ingredient. The sopapillas were not overly sweet or overly salty, so I appreciate the seasoning with these. Foie gras is duck or goose liver that’s been over fed and becomes very fatty. The Sous chef Chris provided a tidbit of history that was very interesting. In history, the Egyptians found that migrating birds would overeat prior to their journey and their livers would become large and fatty. After this discovery, the Egyptians developed techniques to mirror the naturally occurring process by force feeding the birds and over the years it’s developed into a delicacy.
Course 10: LP Honey Cake with blackberries, local honey, and honey brittle.
This cake was not too sweet, not too overwhelming, and was very refreshing with the fresh tart berries. They provided us custom plates with a very thoughtful message for our anniversary. The honey brittle was fantastic and had a lot of depth with the honey. I could eat that brittle all day with how delicious it was.
Course 11: Bonus course- Beet soup with pear.
We saw so many of these tiny cups with this deep purple liquid being prepped in front of us all night. Our table mates had inquired what this was with the chef and he offered us to try the beet soup that was being brought out as a palette cleanser for all diners in the dining room. It was very earthy and the pears provided some much needed texture.
Course 12: Lavender Bites – a lavender chocolate truffle, lavender shortbread, and a lavender horchata ice cream.
I had asked Sous chef Chris earlier in the meal if there was a way to get a menu of our dining experience. They presented us a personalized menu at the end with our last course. The ice cream was fantastic. The spices with the lavender ice cream was balanced well and wasn’t too heavy at the end of our long meal. The shortbread cookie was soft and subtle. The truffle was had a strong lavender creamy center with a dark chocolate shell.
This entire meal was about 3 hours and a very immersive experience. I can’t imagine what someone who has no knowledge of kitchens could be thinking during this whole process, but I was very impressed at how well the kitchen ran. It was organized, efficient, and for the most part, they worked well together. I absolutely loved the entire experience and would recommend it to anyone to try out. It was the most perfect gift/dinner I could have imagined. I can’t wait to go back and try the dining room menu and tour the grounds more.
