The Compound – Santa Fe, New Mexico
“It’s good…New Mexico good.” As a proud New Mexican, it galls me to hear apologists demean, denigrate and otherwise concede (quite erroneously) that restaurants in the Land of Enchantment are good, but not as good as restaurants elsewhere. It’s as if New Mexico’s restaurants can’t possibly be as good because…well, we’re New Mexico and we’re just not supposed to be very good. Look at where we rank in so many quality of life categories. It’s akin to University of New Mexico (UNM) Lobo basketball fans being content to make it to the “Sweet 16,” a goal no Lobos team has ever achieved. My counterargument is why the #$%*&! can’t a restaurant in New Mexico be considered one of, if not THE most outstanding restaurant in the Fruited Plains. Similarly, why can’t the Lobos blow past the Sweet 16 and win an NCAA championship in basketball? It’s as if a Pygmalion effect (low expectations lead to poor performance) has cast a pall over the Land of Enchantment and we’ve become the “Land of the Mediocre.” Channeling Howard Beale from the Academy Award-winning movie Network “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more!” The next time someone…