New
Mexico has been gilded with incomparable scenic beauty and an abundance
of sunshine. Cerulean skies graduate in depth of color the
higher above the horizon your eyes climb, interrupted only by velvety
smooth red-rock outcrops and snow-capped mountains. Fiery sunsets
and brilliant sunrises give the illusion that God just threw a bucket of
paint into the sky while processions of wispy cloud formations provide
the promise of much needed rain as they sweep past the parched
escarpment. A vibrant and diverse topography provides striking
contrasts in terrain. It's easy to focus on the many reasons New Mexico
truly earns the sobriquet "the Land of Enchantment."
"Glass is half empty"
folks might argue that New Mexico has been "shortchanged" when it comes
to water-based enchantment and would point out that "waterfall" in
our blessed state means that the water falls only on occasion and in
parsimonious amounts. The rest of us would retort that sometimes
less is more and cite as evidence, the volcanically formed and
preternaturally beautiful Soda falls in the Jemez River valley.
Sometimes
man creates what God didn't provide. In November, 2006, the Falls
Steakhouse launched in a new edifice just about as far northwest as you
can go before you're in Rio Rancho. Situated on the steep slope,
the top of which demarks the boundary between the Duke City and the City
of Vision, it provides a panoramic view of the Sandia Mountains and at
night, of the city lights.
Appropriately named,
the restaurant features two manmade waterfalls so that whether you're
indoors or out, the sound of rivulets of water cascading down sheer rock
formations will lull you into a state of content relaxation.
An out-of-doors
waterfall on a large outdoor patio was crafted from river rock culled
from the Las Vegas, New Mexico area (pictured above). It's 15 feet tall
and 51 feet in length.
In comparison, the
indoor waterfall is much smaller at 9 feet in height and 25 feet in
length. The indoors waterfall employs a fog machine to evoke the feeling
of intense cold or heat. Two large salt water aquariums add to the
thematic experience, both teeming with exotic tropical fish and live
coral.
The Falls Steakhouse is
owned by local businessman Fahim Adi who also owns several IHOP
restaurants in the city. It is a dramatic departure from IHOP in
every way but one---the proximity of tables to one another makes it
difficult to hold a private conversation. Still, each seat has a
view, whether of the waterfalls or of the city below.
The Falls is also a
dramatic departure from Albuquerque's other steakhouses. The menu
showcases Wagyu beef lines, the top of the scale, high-end grade of
beef. Wagyu is a breed of cattle genetically predisposed to
intense marbling. It produces a high percentage of
buttery-tasting, unsaturated fat laden beef. In its most famous
rendition, Wagyu beef is known as Kofe Beef when it is raised in the
Kobe prefecture of Japan.
Wagyu cattle
are hand-massaged with sake and are fed a
daily diet Homer Simpson would die for that includes large amounts of
beer. The result is meat that is extraordinarily tender and extremely
expensive. At The Falls, a bone-in Kobe ribeye to share goes for
$129.95 while a filet of tenderloin commands $79.95. For most of
us, those are special occasion prices.
Fortunately, not
everything on The Falls' menu is exorbitantly priced. In fact,
there are many items on the menu within the easy reach of most
price-conscious diners. The lunch menu, in particular, features
many reasonably priced entrees that although portioned somewhat smaller
than dinner menu entrees, will let you feel like a million bucks without
having to spend nearly that much.
A
dinner menu appetizer you can order at any time is the seafood
spinach and artichoke dip (pictured above) fashioned with tender
shrimp and bay scallops, cheese, spinach and artichoke then broiled
until bubbly. Both the shrimp and scallops are imbued with the
complementary briny and sweet tastes inherent only in fresh seafood.
This appetizer plate is circumnavigated by ten triangles of warm, tender
pita bread onto which you can slather the rich, delicious mélange.
If the price of Kobe
beef scares you, but you're dying to try it, you can do so by ordering
The Falls Kobe Burger (pictured at left). You can
practically see the richness of the beef on the six-ounce beef patty
which practically oozes a buttery taste when prepared at medium or
below. Slather on the mustard, ketchup or mayonnaise if you will,
but make sure you don't overpower the subtle beef taste. Oh, and
since this is New Mexico, you can order the Kobe Burger with green chili
(their spelling, not mine). The burger is accompanied by Texas
fries, perhaps the most boring item on the menu.
For a pittance, you can
have either a Caesar salad or a dinner salad. The
dinner salad is crafted with Romaine lettuce, small tomato cubes,
cucumbers and croutons, but you can transform it into something truly
special by requesting the bleu cheese dressing with crumbles.
The dressing is creamy and redolent with olfactory arousing bleu cheese
apportioned generously. I normally ask the wait staff to bring me
"as much bleu cheese as you can carry," but the standard portion will be
just fine for most diners.
The Falls' steaks are
hand-selected by executive chef Henry Sanchez and are aged for no less
than 30 days. Processed locally in New Mexico, this is excellent
beef--even if you don't order the Kobe.
If you order the New
York cut (pictured at right), ask for it to be prepared with salt,
pepper and garlic (the real stuff, not powdered) on both sides and the
chef will slice thin slivers of garlic and broil them with your steak.
It imbues the steak with the unmistakable pungency of garlic that blends
superbly with the steak's inherent sweetness. This is an
outstanding steak!
Although starches are
a' la Carte for dinner, a lunch steak entree includes the potato of the
day. Pray it will be the scalloped potatoes which are
sliced into thin wedges then dredged with a blend of Asiago and
Mozzarella cheeses. You may never again asked for a baked potato.
Dessert options are a
match for their prandial precursors. The favorite of the wait
staff appears to be Bananas Foster which one especially ebullient
waitress described as something like you'd want to eat everyday.
This isn't a New Orleans style Bananas Foster. In fact, it's
similar in name only to the popular southern specialty. The Falls'
version features deep-fried slices of banana filled with a rich banana
and Bavarian cream mousse then drizzled with confectionary sugar.
It is absolutely delicious.
With the audacity or
confidence of a winner, the Falls Steakhouse was started with one
thought in mind--"to provide a great meal with great ambiance and
unparalleled service" in a "real steak and seafood restaurant." It
will certainly compete with its upper-crust brethren, the Gruet
Steakhouse and the venerable Ranchers' Club for the adulation and
dollars of well-heeled patrons, but goes one better by providing
reasonably priced lunch options for the rest of us.
