Peñasco has always
been the beautiful stepsister ignored by the dutiful suitors who prefer
the company of its more glamorous sibling Taos, the mystical art colony
to which new age subscribers seem preternaturally drawn.
Sugar
Nymphs Bistro is starting to lure some of those suitors away. A
2002 entry into the Taos county restaurant scene, Sugar Nymphs offers a
sophisticated menu that belies Peñasco's rural simplicity while
celebrating its agrarian traditions and serving its local home-grown
organic produce.
In recognition of its
bucolic setting and its outstanding cuisine, Sugar Nymphs Bistro was
featured in the October, 2004 issue of Gourmet magazine, the
internationally renown "magazine of good living." It was one
of eight featured rural restaurants where "the welcome is warm and
the flavor regional."
Despite the
restaurant's acclaim, to some local residents, Sugar Nymphs remains
"that place owned by los hippies." Those
"hippies" would be chef Kai Harper Leah and pastry chef Ki
Holste, co-owners of the only kitchen in Peñasco nearly as wonderful as
my mother's.
Kai plied her chef skills in some of San Francisco's
most innovative restaurants, including Greens which is considered almost
universally as one of the best vegetarian restaurants in the country.
With a chef's pedigree like that, you know you're in for a unique dining
experience.
It's a dining
experience you should start with the restaurant's signature salad, the Goat
Cheese Salad. Available in two sizes, it's playfully referred
to as a "little goat" or a "big goat" and features
organic lettuces tossed in sesame ginger vinaigrette with Sonoma goat
cheese, dried sweet cranberries and toasted pecans. It's one of
the very best salads anywhere in New Mexico, a salad so fabulous a
carnivore would give up meat for it.
A "best"
accolade could also be attributed to the Provencal Pistou made
with locally grown pinto beans, sweet parsnips, caramelized onion and
tomato. It's the perfect cure for a cold winter night.
The
entree which captured Gourmet magazine's attention is the Chipotle
Pork Loin, sautéed pork loin served in medallions with a lively
tomato chipotle cream that tantalizes your taste buds. The
magazine should have dedicated its entire issue to that porcine
perfection.
With a seasonal menu,
the fabulous chipotle pork loin may not be available when you visit, but
don't fret. The menu always includes several wonderful entrees
with which you'll fall in love--entrees like the individual meatloaf
with roasted tomato sauce.
While meatloaf may be
the quintessential comfort food, the Sugar Nymph's version sets the bar.
The meatloaf is seasoned with cumin, Spanish paprika, onion, garlic,
oregano, tomato and cheese. It is served with potato gratin and
green beans.
Unlike the crusty
cardboard tasting meatloaf served at many diners, this one is tender and
moist. The roasted tomato sauce is fabulous, so good you'll use it
as a gravy on your potatoes.
Rather than lament the
absence of the chipotle pork loin, you might want to celebrate the
presence on the menu of the grilled chicken with lemon pepper
Pappardelle pasta.
The grilled chicken is
prepared the French way. It is seasoned and placed on the grill
under a brick, allowing it to cook rapidly and remain moist after
serving.
The
grilled chicken is served with a lemon pepper
Pappardelle pasta (an exquisite
artisanal pasta served at some of the country's finest restaurants,
hotels and resorts) with goat cheese, tomatoes and grilled asparagus.
It is a fabulous entree emboldened by the scintillatingly moist and
tender chicken breast.
The grilled vegetable lasagna features layers
of handmade pasta with Parmesan Béchamel sauce, grilled vegetables and
mozzarella and ricotta cheeses. The Béchamel sauce was positively
beguiling, better than I've had at any Italian restaurant in New Mexico.
Sugar Nymph's innovative menu varies daily to accommodate local
ingredients and keep things interesting for the growing customer base.
A daily standard,
however, is the restaurant's pizza, a rectangular slate oven
baked masterpiece that's as good as pizza anywhere in New Mexico.
That goes for pizza in which one solitary ingredient, say pepperoni, is
featured or for one of the fabulous specialty pies.
One
appropriately called the "West Coast" features a
succulent amalgam of marinated artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes,
capers, caramelized onion and goat cheese. It's a memorable pie!
The
restaurant does a booming take-out business with pizza being the most
popular to-go item. For several decades, the closest pizza
restaurant to Peñasco has been Pizza Hut in Taos. As such, that's
the pie against which all other pizzas have been measured for many
residents. It's heart-warming to see the love of this village for
Sugar Nymphs pies.
Each pizza is
hand-tossed, made with the restaurant's own dough and sauce and there's
only one size--approximately 14 inches sliced into eight edible
triangles.
The Peñasco
pie starts with sauce and cheese then is topped with lots of pepperoni
and freshly sautéed mushrooms. It's made the fabulous fungi very
popular in the village.
Speaking
of pie, the only pie in Taos county equal to or better than a sugar
Nymphs pizza is the restaurant's
signature maple pecan pie topped with
real whipped cream. It's one of the few items on the restaurant
you can top.
A
light and flaky crust establishes the foundation for this wonderful pie
which is then topped with layer upon layer of rich, sweet maple and
chocolate overlayed by pecans. It is an absolutely fantastic pie.
Sugar Nymphs is in the
same building as the Peñasco Theater
(formerly known as the El Puente) which was built in the 1940s and
served as the original movie house for the village. Colorful murals of local
imagery (such as a woman from nearby Picuris Pueblo making micaceous
pottery) festoon the entire frontage.
The interior of Sugar
Nymphs is casual and homey. Delectable desserts are displayed on
the front counter and the aroma of those desserts welcomes every hungry
diner. There are several tables on the patio, made popular by
Peñasco's cool evenings year-round.
Note: During my
youth the movie theater specialized in the
cinematic exploits of both Western cowboys and the Mexican charros while
the area in which Sugar Nymphs is situated once hosted a concession
stand.
Today the theater is
home to the theater company called Wise Fool and serves as a circus
training and cabaret house. The theater company conducts ongoing
classes,
workshops, performances is heavily involved in the community. It
is a nonprofit company relying on donations and benefits to fund various
restoration needs.
Sugar Nymphs has become a popular and
utterly delicious reason to visit Peñasco, but while you're there make
sure you take in the Jicarita Peak which
governs Peñasco's skies
like a sovereign queen perched on her throne keeping a vigilant watch
over her people.
