Josh's BBQ

For this entry, I left my comfort zone of Albuquerque and ventured to a land that is far in mind, but close distance to Albuquerque. I ventured out to the "City Different" or Santa Fe. Why you ask that I would leave the great town of Burque on a Friday night? I wanted to show Vanilla Pop some groupie love and lift pints with some great company. Vanilla Pop is one of my favorite bands.

So again, Erick is going to a barbecue joint. I've read a few articles about Josh's BBQ in Santa Fe and it did get mentioned in the book America's Best BBQ that I have linked below. The book is a fairly good collection of reviews and recipes from around the county. I have eaten at several of the establishments that are mentioned in the book and have not been disappointed. Two BBQ restaurants in New Mexico are mentioned in the book. I've heard that Josh is a chef and used to work in French cuisine. He liked BBQ because it was more the pace of life he was more his speed. To sum up Josh is a great chef making BBQ.

Josh's BBQ is tucked away in a strip mall in Santa Fe by the Lowe's hardware store and a parking structure. When you walk in the floors are colored, glossy concrete. This is a BBQ joint where you order from a counter and can see the plating area. The drink station is similar to to what you would find at a Subway or McDonald's; it's a soda fountain with some silverware and condiments to the side. My dinner companion and I stand around for a few minutes due to my indecision. I struggle with ordering in a new BBQ joint. I want to order the entire menu, but I end up asking the staff for their expert opinions. Most times the staffs are very patient with me and give me good advice. I roll up to the counter and order the three meat combo, but due to the kind gentleman working the counter he gives me the tip that I need to order the deluxe combo. With the deluxe combo I get three meats with two ribs and two sides. For my three meats I order the smoked carne adovada, brisket, and the sausage. For the sides I got the corn and beans. The corn bread came with the meal. It was a green chile corn bread that was phenomenal. The corn bread was not too dry and the flavorful green chile complemented the corn bread very well. My dinner companion got the brisket sandwich. She ordered a very sensible meal while I'm like a kid in a candy store with a credit card.

We did try the chips and queso as an appetizer and I was pleasantly surprised by how good the cheese was. It had a nice subtle flavor with a smooth, rich finish. This was not Velveetta and if it was it was Velveeta mixed with crack in it. The corn was OK. I would have preferred a grilled corn, but this came from a warming bin with water in it. The beans were standard BBQ style. The ribs were very flavorful. I think they use oak to smoke their meat. The brisket was excellent. At first I was disappointed that the charred edges had been trimmed from the brisket so I inquired a staff member what happened to the burnt ends or charred portions. The brisket was almost missing the smoke ring due to the trimming. What Josh's BBQ does is trims the charred portions and uses them for sandwiches. This is almost unheard of in this part of the country, but common practice in Kansas. Burnt ends are awesome. The best way to describe them is a caramelized chunk of beef with a rich flavor. The staff was kind enough to allow me to sample of their burnt ends and they were tasty. The brisket that they do serve outside of a sandwich is the flat portion of brisket and considered the "premium" part of that cut of meat. I appreciated that Josh's BBQ recognizes this and serves their brisket this way. The ribs were spare ribs that were served dry. Josh's does offer four kinds of sauce. The hot BBQ sauce is kept behind the counter. The smoked carne adovada was good, but not what I expected. The red chile was thin and meat was good, but not great. It was not as moist as a good carne adovado or a pulled pork. This by no means was a "meatball sundae." A meat ball sundae is a business term for when two good things are combined to make something atrocious. The sausage was good.

All in all Josh's BBQ is great. If you are in Santa Fe and love BBQ run to Josh's BBQ. The entire experience was great. I would give it four out of four stars.

http://www.vanillapop.com/

Amazon.com link to America's Best BBQ Book
http://www.amazon.com/Americas-Best-BBQ-Smokehouses-Restaurants/dp/0740778110

http://www.joshsbbq.com/

La Crêpe Michel

The French eat a lot of butter and consume a lot of wine, but they are thinner than us Americans because they tend to set up and eat. Meaning they take their time and enjoy their food so they're not eating at a fast rate. I normally don't go out too often for French food, but whenever I do get a chance to eat it, it's normally pretty good. La Crêpe Michel (LCM) has been in Albuquerque for a few years, but I had never been. Part of it is due to location, Old Town, which I don't frequent and I don't think to go. Recently a friend of mine was celebrating her birthday and a her friend suggest that we go. This establishment is truly a hidden treasure. This restaurant is tucked away off of the plaza and you cannot see it from the road. I've read some of the reviews of this place and I agree, do not go here if you are in a hurry like we Americans normally are. Again, the setting up and eating thing. When you first arrive this place you see only about four tables and you think were am I eating, but the place has more tables through the waiter station/hallway. Old town tends to be quaint and this place fits into Old Town. When my fairly large party of eight arrives I was pretty concerned when I only saw the front dining room. It only had capacity for about twelve people and about four tables. We were seated in the back dining room through the waiter station/hallway. We are seated in a fairly nice table, but this is an old structure that was probably a house that became a restaurant so the layout is odd. I quickly notice that there is no background noise, but there were some small speakers that are close to the ceiling on a shelf, but are not on or making sound. I mention to my party that this is odd and we'll have to entertain ourselves or be pleasant company to each other. Others notice the silence later on in the meal.

The presentation of the food was great; each dish we ordered could have been in a food magazine. We ordered a variety of food for our courses and all the dishes I tried were great. We began our meal with two appetizers: the Brie en Croute Brie and escargots. The Brie en Croute Brie is brie wrapped in puff pastry and baked. It's served with a salad underneath. The escargots was half a dozen snails in a garlic-butter sauce and mushrooms. I had never eaten snails before and the person who ordered them was kind enough to share. The texture of the snails reminded me of chicken hearts. The snails were prepared in garlic and butter which would make my arm taste awesome, so the seasoning or flavors of snail were not too interesting to me. They were served in a cooking pan similar to the one in the picture to the right. I was surprised that there was a lot of meat on such a small animal. The brie crust was a nice flaky crust and was great on bread. The salad was just a bed of greens under the brie. I don't recall a dressing on the salad, but the salad was OK. The greens were of good quality, but the salad was not anything extraordinary. It was more like a fancy garnish that I did eat.

Some of the party ordered the French onion soup which was great combination of flavors and textures. The cheese was melted onto the soup with a great brown crust. I think the cheese was a Gruyere Cheese. It was a really rich flavor for just being broth, onions, and cheese.

For my main course I ordered the Filet de Boeuf Beef with a rich Roquefort cheese sauce. I think the waiter misspoke when he said it was blue cheese sauce, but the cheese sauce was served on a well prepared fillet minion. I ordered my steak as rare as possible and it was cooked to order. My dish was served with scalloped potatoes and some mixed veggies. The portions were not too large, but again a reason the French tend to be thinner than us Americans.

For desert we had Les Crème Brûlée and a chocolate dessert which I cannot remember. This was a really nice meal. I would give LCM a rating of three and a half stars out of five.

http://lacrepemichel.com/