4-course Chef tasting at Terra, a restaurant at Encantado Resort in Santa Fe, N.M
During one of my recent visits to Santa Fe, I went to Terra Restaurant for a tasting experience by Chef Charles Dale. I visit Santa Fe often and love to see what creations chefs come up with and present. By the way, did you know that Santa Fe has more restaurants per capita than anywhere in the country? And many of the restaurants have renowned chefs who will give you a wonderful culinary experience.
Encantado Resort is located about 7 miles north of Santa Fe and is a 5-star hotel. As you walked up onto the porch to Terra, there’s a huge fireplace that’s very inviting to warm by, and it’s set with a view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in the background with gave the restaurant additional ambiance.
First Course:
I had the Cesar Salad paired with a Franciscan Chardonnay. Now this might seem very ordinary, but the salad had a true Cesar dressing over crispy romaine lettuce with shaved Spanish Manchego cheese and masa croutons. The croutons were what made the salad wonderful. Usually the croutons are an after thought, but these have a great taste. The chef makes the masa mixture and fries it to get a crunchy texture. It gave a whole new twist to croutons.
My dining companion had the leafy greens salad with a confit of roasted tomatoes, caramelized shallots with Sherry vinaigrette. It was fresh, light, and the tomatoes and shallots gave it additional flavor.
Second Course:
My second course choice was Autumn Ravioli with roasted veal and spinach stuffing, exotic mushroom ragoût The pasta was perfectly cook and the veal and spinach stuffing with that mushroom ragoût was melt-in-your-mouth good.
Lobster risotto was the second choice course for my dining companion. It was creamy with a rich flavor and a lobster tail on top. Both of these courses were paired with Row 11 Pinot Noir. I fell in love with this wine. It’s a fruit bomb, fruit forward, in your face Pinot Noir like I’ve never had before. A bottle of this Napa wine retails at around $35 and it worth every penny.
Third Course:
For the third course, I selected the beef short ribs, which is always a favorite dish for me. This was outstanding! The short rib was slow cooked and fell off the bone. It was served with some of the au jus and the meat was so tender that it flaked apart.
The third course for my dining companion was lamb. Always a good choice and she loves it as much as I do. This dish was called Duo of Lamb which was a roasted rack with a guajillo chili jus, lamb shank tamale and tomato-tomatillo salsa. It was delicious as well. Both of these dishes were paired with Strattalumic Cabernet Sauvignon.
Fourth Course:
We were both so full and relaxed, and we had to muster the strength for the dessert course. I had a warm apple tart with homemade vanilla ice cream on the side and my companion got her artisanal cheese plate to go. Both of these were paired with a Jospheh Phelps Dessert wine.
The tasting menu was a great deal for the money. It was four courses for $44. Of course the wine pairings were an additional cost, but well worth it. Paul Montoya the sommelier paired the wines beautifully and made it a delightful evening. Excellent service
