Article courtesy of Angelle St. Pierre at Local Food Gal

I relish a rare opportunity to satisfy my inner princess and my dirty-fingernailed urban homesteader persona simultaneously. That’s some profound integration if you ask me. With Los Poblanos Inn & Cultural Center’s upcoming “Field to Fork Dining Series” featuring fruits of New Mexico’s farms, we can all delight in supporting our local blossoming food shed while indulging our palate in fine cuisine.

I stopped by the Inn last month to visit the kitchen before their Valentine’s Day dinner, and was lucky enough to visit with Executive Chef Jonathan Perno and Chef Jaye Wilkinson, witness the meticulous process of prepping for a fine dining experience, and enjoy a slice of their decadent in-house chocolate cake. (Holy Cow, seriously.)

The kitchen was abuzz with the 2 chefs and a few prep cooks slicing and dicing local winter finds such as leeks, parsnips, winter squash, and fingerling potatoes. Some of the dishes in prep included a Croque Madame with bantam eggs provided by Hip Chik farm, and Totten Inlet Oyster Chowder featuring Los Poblanos’ own guanciale, a deeply flavorful cured pork cheek.  (Chef Jonathan is a master butcher experienced in the art of charcuterie.)

Vegetarians are well-accomodated at the Inn as well. The “Vegetarian Valentine” dish was a carrot flan (carrots from Green Tractor Farm) with pea shoots, shallot beignets, and pecorino prado. And there is always a unique seasonal wine drink offered with dinner as well, like blood orange wine margarita in winter, pomegranate champagne cocktail in fall, or sangria in summer.

Reservations are still available for this weekend’s dinner at $55 per person for your 4 course meal. Menu includes selections like Frico Caesar with red russian kale, Osso Buco with creamy polenta, Gnocchi with valdeon cream and red chile, and a Hearty Winter Verdue for the vegetarian palate, with japanese white yams, broccoli, and bulbing fennel. If I were going, which I very well may, I would choose the Kahlua Gateau with caramel coconut cream for dessert. Ooo la-la!

Reservations are also being taken for April and May dinners, as well as for their Mother’s Day Brunch on May 8. Dinner dates for summer and fall months will be coming soon. Be sure to check out Los Poblanos Inn’s events page here to get more details and make reservations for your special night of scrumptious local fare.

If you’re a fellow gardener turned fine diner for the night, please don’t forget to clean your fingernails. And as we say in my hometown, Bon Appetite!