Dining: High Road to Taos
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| The patrons of Rancho de Chimayó love their carne adovada breakfast. |
Mountain Highs
Though the High Road to Taos is spectacular year-round, there may be no better time to travel its winding 67 miles than in fall, when the high-mountain air is its most crisp and salubrious and the foliage is adorned in a panoply of vibrant colors, magnificent cottonwoods and aspens gleaming in the evening sun like the fabled Cities of Gold sought by Spanish explorers.
The High Road to Taos is a National Scenic Byway that travels north out of Santa Fe along U.S. 84/285, swings east on N.M. 76 to N.M. 75, and jaunts to Taos on N.M. 518. It’s a series of climbs and descents so enthralling that visitors and lifelong residents alike park their cars and stand in awe at the wondrous beauty spread out before them in breathtaking arrays of color and shape.
The High Road Art Tour (September 18–19 and 25–26, 2010) elicits similar responses about the art on view. Visitors are welcomed to the studios and galleries, many within family homes, of the artists and artisans along the route. Chile ristras hang on the walls of many of these studios, as much a sign of hospitality in New Mexico as the pineapple is in Hawaii.
Hanging chile ristras have long been a fixture at the Restaurante Rancho de Chimayó, our weekend breakfast destination in Chimayó, a town 28 miles north of Santa Fe off N.M. 76, and celebrated for the famous Santuario de Chimayó. A rambling, repurposed adobe hacienda serving traditional New Mexican cuisine as it’s been prepared in family homes for generations, the restaurant reopened in October 2009 after a devastating fire shut its doors for 14 months.
Fortunately, the generations-old recipes survived unscathed. The carne adovada—shredded pork slowly marinated in red chile—is still so tender it breaks apart with a fork, and so delicious that we luxuriate in every bite.
From Chimayó we climb, ever upward, through historic land-grant villages in which Colonial-era Spanish is still spoken. We drive through lush, evergreen forests, marvel at panoramic views, and visit several talented artists along the way.
By the time we arrive for lunch in Peñasco, a town 23 miles north of Chimayó along N.M. 75, we’re famished, a situation quickly remedied by a slate-oven–baked, rectangular pizza at Sugar Nymphs Bistro, a charming restaurant ensconced in a vintage theater building. Our made-to-order, hand-tossed pie, festooned with green chile and goat cheese, is inspired.
At the Santa Barbara campgrounds, outside Vadito, off N.M. 75, in the shadow of the urn-shaped Jicarita Peak, we cast a line for a few hours, but our prowess at fly-fishing serves only to scare away our intended catch.
Luckily, succulent rainbow trout are plentiful in Taos. The Love Apple’s rendition, a grilled ruby rainbow trout, comes wrapped in a cornhusk, tamale-style. It’s the best catch of the day.
Restaurante Rancho de Chimayó (breakfast served on weekends only), 300 County Road 98, Chimayó, (505) 351-4444, 984-2100, www.ranchodechimayo.com; Sugar Nymphs Bistro, 15046 N.M. 75, Peñasco, (575) 587-0311; The Love Apple, 803 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, Taos, (575) 751-0050, www.theloveapple.net—Gil Garduño
