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RESTAURANT REVIEW: JOSEPH'S TABLE
by Michelle Pentz Glave
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Santa Fe, NM
April 2, 2004
Page 66
I'm in love. And it's the giddy, daydreamy, hits-you-over-the-head kind of love.
It's been a long time since I've had a meal as scintillating and unforgettable as two recent dinners at Joseph's Table. And I eat out -- a lot -- all over the country and around the world.
Yes, I've had some near-perfect meals, adroitly executed and meticulously presented. But a special something was always missing. Now I think I know what it was: risk. There's nothing like a daredevil act -- when it succeeds with expert finesse -- to stir the spirit.
In his reincarnation of Joseph's Table, which debuted in December in the Hotel La Fonda de Taos, star chef Joseph Wrede takes culinary excellence to new, dizzying heights. Comfortable with the world as his palette, the classically trained chef -- listed in 2000 as one of America's top 10 for the original Joseph's Table in Ranchos de Taos -- marries Mediterranean technique with nouveau Japanese and traditional northern New Mexican cooking.
Thanks to a talented crew in the kitchen, Wrede says he finally feels freed from the stove top to experiment and take chances. With passion and vision, he has created a dining haven that is at once exciting, sensual and unexpected.
Let me spell it out for you: marlin sashimi over fried kale. After a gig as executive chef at Taos' tony El Monte Sagrado eco- resort fell through, 37-year-old Wrede headed across the Pacific for some epicurean dabbling in Japan. Combos like this one are the result.
Imagine the thinnest web of pristine, water-pure, raw fish fanned over flash-fried puffs of black-green kale that poof and dissolve on the tongue like delicate butterfly wings, leaving the essence of salty-nutty-tangy seaweed. Swirl in an orange-soy vinaigrette and add a juicy bite of sour grapefruit and sweet orange. Astonishing is what it is. Even a friend who swears she hates fish was swooning.
Here's another: a foamy, tongue-tickling froth of meringue, nearly 4 inches high, that feels like an unbaked souffle in the mouth but tastes like an airy angel food cake. Add to that the intrigue of a pinstripe of tarragon, grapefruit and caramel sauce. Pastry chef Theresa O'Connor tops it with a cloud of fresh whipped cream dotted with two buttery cookies spelling "JT." Flirty and playful, this appeals as desserts did when I was a kid. In fact, that's an apt metaphor for Joseph's Table.
It's as if Wrede were sitting around one day brainstorming, and out popped the restaurant equivalent of a classic Shirley Temple movie scene, one in which she snaps her fingers and awakens in a storybook world.
And then he made it all happen: a split-level auditorium space dominated by massive vigas is now adorned with 22 swaying 7-foot- high French tulips on a gilt background painted by Wrede's life partner, Kristin Bortles, and his mother, "Cookie" Venn. Wispy chandeliers fashioned from spindly twigs and pussy willows illuminate 2,500 flittering gold and bronze stenciled butterflies, and swaths of burnt-orange, raw-silk balloonlike sails.
And then there are the softly lit, curtained "love shacks," cushioned booths for two cut high up into the back wall. Miniskirt wearers must beware as they spring up into these nooks, which give the sensation of riding on an elephant's back.
Local painters created signature art on the wooden tabletops. We discovered, for example, a nude Rubenesque dame under my Pellegrino, surrounded by a smattering of unabashedly erotic bearded mussel shells and asparagus spears. The overall effect is romantic, exotic and elegantly bohemian -- maybe even a little psychedelic. The only exception to the romantic fantasy is the brightly lit kitchen at back, a peep into the florescent world of hard work under way.
The Joseph's Table vibe matches its clientele as well as its fare -- monied boomers, beaded wrap-wearing museum-patron types, flamboyant artistes and the odd "cowboy" clad head to toe in black, eye patch included. The place seems hip and happenin', like a big- city hot spot that woke up from its own Shirley Temple dream and found it had landed in Taos. The staff, well-coiffed and attractive, understands this and plays it up. While polished, savvy and unflappable, they are having fun, and it shows.
In two visits, the only dishes that failed to thrill were a generic light and savory salad of mixed greens, dense goat cheese, dried cherries and bacon bits doused in a warm bacon vinaigrette and a flourless New Mexican chocolate-cream cake with caramel-chile sauce, which lacked both distinction and chile kick.
Everything else dazzled. Take the gargantuan, custardy and crisp polenta fries -- comfort food extraordinaire -- stacked like Lincoln Logs over a rich yet tamed Gorgonzola crema, cradling a wedge of nicely bitter radicchio -- an incredible value at $6.
Duck-fat fries, another bargain at $4, delighted with their gamy essence and stayed piping hot in a paper cone tucked into a metal cocktail-shaker cup. We dipped them into a sweet and spicy, chutneylike blend of ketchup and Cumberland sauce and a zesty Dijon aioli.
A doughy grilled pizza matched tender lobster nuggets with wasabi flying-fish roe, tempura shoestring scallions, queso fresco and portobello mushrooms with sauce americaine. The chef enhanced luscious little bay scallops and delicate shrimp, marinated and wok- seared, with a confetti of caramelized walnuts, scallions, pickled lime rinds, candied ginger and an understated soy-sesame aioli.
I can't wait to return for Joe's Mezcal Chocolate Bar with lime sorbet.
The chef-owner's idiosyncratic, handpicked selection of about 60 mostly boutique wines, listed by the grape, clearly complements his food. A dry Chateau Cablanc 2000 Bordeaux tasted smooth and soft, with mellow tannin and hints of cassis. A refreshing Spanish Albarino As Laxas (Rias Baixas, 2002), light and fruity, underscored the seafood discreetly, while a purple-black Italian Trere Sangiovese (Amarcord d'un Ross, 2000) burst in the mouth like liquid licorice.
Wrede calls his latest venture a new chapter of culinary exploration, a "more genteel, less sexually charged, sedate platform on which energy could be created. The food and atmosphere are more refined because, in a sense, so am I," he said. "The (painted) flowers look like they've been held in someone's hand and walked around with for a while. That's kind of like how the food is. I'm maturing."
In Short
Joseph Wrede has created a world-class dining experience in his new Joseph's Table, set in the Taos Plaza's Hotel La Fonda de Taos. The eclectic setting is imaginative and playful, and the marriage of classic Mediterranean technique with nouveau Japanese and traditional northern New Mexican cooking is sensual and exciting. Prices are surprisingly midrange for such haute cuisine. Must-tries: the marlin sashimi on fried kale; polenta fries with grilled radicchio and Gorgonzola crema; the angel meringue cake.
The Details
108 A South Taos Plaza in the Hotel La Fonda de Taos, 505-751-4512, www.josephstable.com
Dinner nightly, 5:30-9:30 p.m.; lunch Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Wine & beer only
Bathrooms are handicapped-accessible; the dining room isn't, but staff members will accommodate wheelchair users upon request.
Reservations recommended
Major credit cards; local checks only.
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Phone 505-751-4512, or e-mail info@josephstable.com for more information.
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