The New York Times takes a look at choice tables in Taos. The article begins:
TAOS is at its moodiest and most beautiful in winter. It’s the time of the silver gray mesa, of ominous clouds, of crackling cedar logs in kiva fireplaces, of snow clouds billowing in across the plain, of the smoke of house fires leaning in lines from the pueblo rooftops. The adobe architecture seems so well suited to winter, both physically and spiritually. It offers the kind of haven from the cold no other building material can.
But northern New Mexico architecture is not just about mud. A large part of its charm comes from its adz-hewn wood — the beams, doors, sideboards, window frames and floorboards made of pine and oak, on which you can still see the blows the adz made.
Makes me want to jump on a plane tomorrow and head west.
I don’t know.
Not to poo-poo anyone else’s reaction, but I read that article the other day, and I couldn’t even make it to the end. All I wanted to do was smack that pompous asshole of a food “writer” in the back of the head. For some reason, the attitude of east coasters towards New Mexico (and the southwest in general) makes me grind my teeth. They never seem to venture past the “city” limits of Taos or Santa Fe, and both those towns are so gentrified — and full of New Yorkers — I cannot fathom why they bother to suffer through airport security. If they’re not going to explore New Mexico — the real, raw, dirty, rough, gritty, DELICIOUSLY MAGICAL place that it is — why do they come here?
Did you read the part about the Bavarian chalet/restaurant?
Lederhosen. In New freakin’ Mexico.
I don’t know whether to laugh or urp up my breakfast. 😉
Gee R.E., I now feel like a complete flatlander tourist myself for even linking to the article.
But you are right.
Don’t feel bad, Ken – I linked to it too! The article isn’t written for locals, it’s for Manhattan people, and they (pardon the pun) eat up this stuff. Maybe they’ll come here, fall in love with the place and buy a house – what more can I ask for!