Verjuice

The Dean and DeLuca cookbook is a great resource, and I generally reach for it first, especially if I'm either unsure about what I want to eat or if I'm cooking for a crowd. It's an excellent primer and full of ideas, but most of the recipes are a bit luxurious (in other words, fattening) for my everyday taste, so I end up adjusting a lot of the recipes to better suit me. This doesn't always work, mind you, and I think D & D would baulk at some of my results, but what the heck. The Last Course by Claudia Fleming for desserts, hands down.

What's the difference between Campbell's cream of tomato and their tomato bisque?

Didn't think appleasauce was a condiment? I once had a roommate who would slather it on tuna from the can, and sandwich the hideous concotion between two halves of a Dunkin Donuts croissant. Every morning. Lunch was two slices of white bread sagging beneath the weight of several spoonfuls of generic low fat mayo and thinly sliced Red Delicious apple. This being standard fare, one can only imagine what her guilty pleasures were. I shudder to think. In fact, I'll be shuddering all day now that I've triggered the imagery.

I avoided eating chicken in restaurants the U.S. for years after I moved here, because I found that its presence in most dishes would have been better stated with something tepid like tofu or textured shoe protein; equally lacking in character and stucture, but more innocuous. Chicken so often does not know what it's doing in a dish, but is there out of the lack of imagination of the diner or chef. It's often stringy, tough, tasteless, dry or gamey. Then, a couple of months ago, I discovered Mark Haskin's hormone and antibiotic free Smart Chicken- oh my! Has anyone else tried this stuff?? A quote from his website: "During a trip to Europe, Mark Haskins, made a culinary discovery. He found that European chickens tasted more like the farm fresh birds he remembered from his childhood. You see, in Europe chickens are processed by a cold air method. Processors in the United States commonly use a water immersion/absorption method that not only adds water weight but also increases the potential for contamination. As a man of vision, Mark brought air chilling technology home to the Midwest to create a premium chicken with that farm fresh taste. Now, you can savor what Europeans have been enjoying for years!" This is a very good thing, indeed.

I've decided to compile a list of Santa Fe musts. I'm looking for suggestions, of course, because I'm tired of doing all this detective work, delicious as it may be, and I dine solo for the most part so it takes me a while to work my way through a restaurant menu. This list took me two years to compile, and I just keep returning to the same places now, hesitant to try anything new. Has anyone tried Bumble Bee's Baja Grill? How about The Canyon? Or Celebrations, for that matter? Paul's? Tulips? I can't get enough of: 1) The cinnamon rolls on Saturdays at Counter Culture (they've just begun toying with staying open Sundays). 2) The almond croissants at Sage Bakery. 3) The brussels sprouts at the Whole Foods Prepared Foods deli window- oh my! 4) The chicken Tikka Masala at India Palace downtown. The Chevron one sucks. And this is as close to perfect as TKM gets. 5) The banana walnut pancakes at Chocolate Maven. Not what I'd usually go for; too gimmicky, but I'm a convert. 6) The first ten minutes of any salad at Guadalupe Cafe. I'm sort of a legend there, because I always finish my salads, but I'm not always in good spirits by the time I'm done. 7) The rellenos at Dave's. 8) The raspberry pie at Steaksmith. Forgo the dining room, the revolting appetizer menu, the mind-numbing decor, the fistlike and mediocre steaks and the absurdly slow service. Just order a whole pie and bring it home. 9) Bobcat Bite burgers. 10) The Caesar salad at Il Vicino; they leave me no choice! Where can you get a better one, anyway? The Palace is overrated, and they guy who makes them there is such an ass. Three bites in you're ready to throw in the towel from fat exhaustion. Excess oil, cheese and anchovies, if such a thing is possible. Its richness should not be all that makes it delicious. 11) Ohhhh..... the halibut at Julian's. 12) Elk at Ristra. The elk at Geronimo is much more direct if you ask them to minus the bacon, but in general I find the food there to be very inconsistent. I've had some exceptional meals there, and some that I have found totally unremarkable; mostly lunches, dinner specials, and desserts. The seeded rolls are the best part of any meal at G, I think. 13) The best steak in town is at Bistro 315, hands down. 14) The best foie gras is at Rociada. It's Hudson Valley foie gras, so much more velvety than what they serve elsewhere, and without all of the bells and whistles. 15) The Hungarian mushroom soup at Back Street Bistro. 16) The coffee at Ohori's- good, chewy stuff. The best I've found in any American city. Integrity coffee. 17) Mm, the ice cream at Aztec Cafe is the best in town: try the Mint Chocolate Chip made with fresh crushed mint leaves, or, even better, the GC Pistachio. 18) The creme brulee at Pranzo- what a surprise this came as. It's a knockout. 19) The barbacoa at Bert's La Tacqueria. Don't knock it 'til you try it. 20) The guacamole at Gabriel's, though the rest of the food there does next to nothing for me.