A taste of Taos: savor a gourmet getaway in the northern New Mexico mountains - Three-Day Weekend

Sunset, Sept, 2003 by June Naylor

You're sitting beneath the stars on the patio of Momentitos de la Vida, a mountainside adobe more than 150 years old that now houses excellent restaurants. Just when you think that the evening couldn't get any better, the waiter delivers a pistachio-crusted rack of Colorado lamb on wilted greens with limechipotle demiglace.

Such sophisticated cuisine has become surprisingly common around Taos, a once-sleepy village nestled beneath the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

"When we first came to Taos, we had trouble getting Dutch-processed cocoa. Now we get such beautiful products that it's hard to believe," says Kelly Maher, who owns Momentitos de la Vida with business partner Chris Maher. "We'll have people tell us this or that is the best dish they've had since they were last in France."

Like other restaurateurs who have moved to Taos since the late 1990s, the Mahers found that their hearts were captured by the landscape and the laidback pace. Joseph Wrede was the town's first celebrity chef, and he's still perhaps the best-loved chef here. When his tiny but nationally acclaimed restaurant, Joseph's Table, closed last fall, diners were devastated. Wrede plans to open a new restaurant this month on Taos Plaza, serving what he calls "French food with a worldview." The new Joseph's Table (in Hotel La Fonda de Taos, 108 South Plaza; 505/758-2211) will be yet another one of the many fine places to dine between gallery strolls and splashy rafting trips on the Rio Grande.

Friday

Start your fling with Taos cuisine at Main Street Bakery and Cafe (112 Dona Luz St.; 505/758-9610), a humble, friendly cafe with excellent organic meals. Try the house special: eggs scrambled with green onions, mushrooms, and spinach, with homemade carrot-poppy seed bread on the side. Fine art in a fine building. After breakfast, wander over to the Harwood Museum of Art (closed Mon; $5; 238 Ledoux St.; 505/758-9826), the oldest fine-art museum in Taos, housed in a beautiful Pueblo revival-style building. Art here spans the centuries.

A different angle. For lunch, relax on the patio at Dragonfly Cafe and Bakery (402 Paseo del pueblo Norte; 505/737-5859) over a savory strudel of spinach, mushrooms, beets, and feta. Afterward, stroll along the Paseo del Pueblo Norte, which cuts a swath through the center of town. Stop to admire the work of Stephanie Woolley, an angler and artist who owns Tailwater Gallery (204-B Paseo del Pueblo Norte; 505/758-5653). Her watercolors of rainbow trout are one of a kind.

Unwind in the afternoon. Look for good reading at Moby Dickens Bookshop of Taos (124-A Bent St.; 888/442-9980), with many books by Southwest writers. Later, head to the plaza's juice stand for a cool, fruity drink, or walk a block to Historic Taos Inn and sip an icy margarita on the hotel patio (125 Paseo del Pueblo Norte; 888/518-8267).

What's cooking? Enjoy an evening of spirited culinary adventure at the Taos School of Cooking (from $55; inside the Yaxche Learning Center on Manzanares St. off Ranchitos Rd.; book ahead at 505/7514419 ext. 206). The chef-instructor might be John Vollertsen, who runs Las Cosas Cooking School in Santa Fe, or restaurateur Wrede of Joseph's Table fame, but the school also features instructors from all over the United States.

Or book a table at Byzantium (dinner one; closed Tue-Wed; 112 La Placita at Ledoux; 505/751-0805), a stylishly bohemian room with wood vigas overhead. Try the smoked maple-leaf duck or the beef green curry and coconut milk.

Saturday

Seek out the talents of master baker Seth Klein, who makes gorgeous European-style baked goods like sinful sticky buns, fig tarts, and delicate apricot turnovers at his Taos Bakery (closed Sun; 1223 Gusdorf Rd.; 505/751-3734).

Southwest souvenirs. After breakfast, drive north 10 miles toward Taos Ski Valley to tiny Arroyo Seco, a favorite haunt of nearby resident Julia Roberts. Arroyo Seco Mercantile (488 State 150, Arroyo Seco; 505/776-8806) carries everything from cast-iron Dutch ovens to books on New Mexico traditions. Two doors down, local artist Claire Haye sells her sculptures, paintings, and handmade silver jewelry at ClaireWorks Gallery (482-A State 150, Arroyo Seco; 505/776-5175).

Sample Southwestern flavors. Lunchtime means a stop in the little grocery and bar known as Abe's Cantina y Cocina (closed Sun; 489 State 150, Arroyo Seco; 505/776-8516), where the Garcia sisters and their parents woo customers with homemade tamales and fresh empanadas filled with apple, pumpkin, or prune.

Culinary and cultural. Try one of the cooking classes at Villa Fontana (closed Sun; from $250 for a three-day course; 71 State 522; 877/758-5800). This elegant Italian restaurant 5 miles north of Taos is co-owned by chef Carlo Gislimberti--known for his preparations of local wild mushrooms--and his wife, Siobhan.

Later, poke around Lumina Gallery (239 Morada Lane; 505/758-7282), where contemporary paintings, sculptures, and photographs fill the 19th-century mission and grounds that Taos art patron Mabel Dodge Luhan made into her home nearly 100 years ago.