Restaurants & Chefs

New chefs of Santa Fe

By WOLF SCHNEIDER

Web exclusive

Oliver Ridgeway is a tall, friendly 32-year-old Brit who made a name for himself in London and New York before arriving as executive chef at The Anasazi Restaurant & Bar at the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi. Charles Dale is an impressively connected yoga-practicing 51-year-old who drew devotees in Aspen and New York before becoming executive chef at Terra at Encantado.

Both came to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to reinterpret Southwestern fine cuisine. I thought they might be curious about each other, and I was right.

Dale and I went to Inn of the Anasazi to see what Ridgeway was up to.

"What we're doing here is modern American cuisine with a Southwest influence," Ridgeway, who once dazzled Manhattan at the revered Carlyle hotel, told us. "I'm reinterpreting Southwest with a predominantly Hispanic kitchen by incorporating dried chiles, anchos, pasillas, cumin, cayenne, and a lot of oomph! A lot of color, too — bright color, like a bright-green pea soup."

That inventive pea soup with green chile, duck prosciutto, and a seared Maine scallop started us off right (and proved Dale's favorite).

"I like the little bit of heat," Dale said, "and I wonder if a mint oil is involved." Next came a watercress salad with hearts of palm, avocado, chayote squash, and blood-orange vinaigrette. "I'm a very picky salad eater," Dale confessed. "I won't order a salad with raw onion or carrots. This salad is thought-out; that's what separates a really good chef from an okay chef. This salad has dynamic tension: The ingredients all work together, but they're threatening to pull apart." A blue-corn crusted salmon was my top pick — light, scrumptious, and healthy. Then a porterhouse cut of lamb was paired with a high-alcohol-content Amarone della Valpolicella wine that had Dale asking for a second pour. We finished off with lemon-vanilla crème brûlée and a 20-year-old Portuguese port. Dale's overall impression? "It's inventive, it's fun, it's creative."

Dale returned the invite, so a week later Ridgeway and I headed just north of town to Terra at Encantado. Dale — who owned Rustique, Renaissance, and Range in Aspen, and before that did stints at New York's renowned Le Cirque and Quilted Giraffe — characterizes his cuisine as "modern rustic." And he's prepared it for all sorts of luminaries, including Mick Jagger, Don Henley, and Jack Nicholson.

Nowadays, Dale holds food court in a high-concept setting of glass, concrete, stone, and metal with mountain mesa views that stretch for 40 miles. "You can't beat the views! And the wine is on display — I like to see wine." Ridgeway was obviously enthusiastic about Dale's new space. And we were soon just as enthused about his food.

We tucked into a super-fresh Asian-influenced seared tuna with ginger caviar that was paired with a sparkling Gruet Blanc de Noirs. Then came duck confit on a blue-corn pancake with chipotle hoisin. "A play on Peking duck." Ridgeway was approving. Italian-influenced oxtail ravioli with Parmesan broth followed: "Really delicious, very balanced, my favorite." Bruschetta-style salmon with tomato jam was comforting, while pork tenderloin in adobo was richer. As we came to the meal's finale, a pine-nut anise cake, the setting sun performed its own finale, streaking golden yellow through thick, luminous clouds.

After that meal, Ridgeway had no trouble giving Dale his due: "Out of all of Santa Fe, this is the most contemporary restaurant with an artisan flair." For his part, Dale pinpointed an advantage the two talented chefs share: "We're not conditioned by the locale. We don't have a past here. We look at the environment through a different lens." Macro Southwest, you could say.