Burque bakers adding salt, flour, butter to the desert air
Green chile country home to one of the country's best bakeries
A week’s worth of desert air never disappoints, but I’m back in the 405 diningscape with a busy week ahead. (Don’t forget about Cinco de Mayo on Sunday at The Tasting Room, details below!)
Before I get into full-blown catch-up mode, wanted to share some thoughts from a trip to New Mexico with stops in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. You may recall my last dispatch from The Coyote Café? Since then, I dined at The Compound and Zacatlan in Santa Fe and Mesa Provisions in The Q.
My time in Albuquerque was short but rich. Dinner at Mesa Provisions in the Nob Hill district just east of the University of New Mexico campus was revelatory. The meal was nearly perfect, including green chile cornbread with red chile butter, BBQ Beets with sweet potato fritters, a half-chicken and Chocolate Surprise for dessert. The meal was a succession of high points I will go into further detail about next month.
As that dinner was winding down, it occurred to me I was about to come home saying in a week of amazing meals, it was once again the pinto beans that won me over in New Mexico. In this case, the half chicken came with a bowl of pinto beans, helped by duck fat tortillas. The pinto beans, grown locally, were hilariously delicious. Pinto beans are not supposed to be that good. So Iaughed out loud. But the pinto beans place in my heart only lasted until my last stop in New Mexico, The Burque Bakehouse.
Friends, this is where things got serious. Located in a former Tastee Freeze or some such time-forgotten burger/ice cream stand before the drive-thru was invented, the Burque (pronounced bir-kay) Bakehouse is the epitome of nondescript. The bakery hides in plain sight within a grayer than gray cinderblock building. The only windows are for orders and pickups. The windows only opens a few days a week; Friday through Sunday right now. The website indicates orders can be made and communication is possible, but neither of those were true in my experience. But now that I’ve stood in the line that bends around the bakery’s corner lot and extends into a nearby neighborhood, I understand why.
The folks at Burque Bakehouse are far too busy. Prepping and preparing doughs more butter than imaginable, rolling those doughs into impossibly thin layers and crafting them into transcendent pastries. Oven witches and warlocks simply do not have time for social media nor should they.
The bottom of the Kouign Amann had to be a trick of alchemy. Is pastry brittle a thing? I’m talking about precision handcrafted dough matched with just the right amount of sugar, fire and magic to create a foundation of bread-candy the likes of which I’ve never tasted. The Wild Berry Danish was the best Danish I’d ever eaten. That lasted until I got into the Rhubarb Danish. The dirty little secret that made the Rhubarb Danish sing was what I can only describe as apple curd. Siiiiigh. I only wish I’d had the opportunity to try some of the savory Danish pastries, including Smoked Gouda and Roasted Sweet Peppers and the obligatory Green Chile.
Brought back a loaf of Challah. The pictures above tell a thousand words each. The Banana-Walnut loaf wore a crown of caramelized banana slices. And then there was the French Toast loaf.
I plan a longer story about The Burque Bakehouse next month, but the fact that I’m actively recruiting excuses to return to Albuquerque incentivized me to get the good word about it out as soon as possible.
Update from Social
Time to update those plans to send Social Deck and Dining out in style. You may recall from a previous post that owners Jamie and Jordan Winteroth were converting the Social space into a catering kitchen and private event venue and moving Aurora Breakfast a few spaces west in The Plaza District to take over the home Mexican Radio vacated.
Jamie reached out to let me know Social’s public dining services will end after brunch on May 19. Jamie initially targeted Memorial Day weekend. The new iteration of Aurora promises to combine strengths with Social in spirit and staff. …
The Crown Going Tiger-Style
A busy week of dining events capped off by Cinco de Mayo begins with the last Tiger-Style popup from chef Caleb Stangroom until June. Chef Eric Smith welcomes Tiger-Style into The Crown. The menu includes Stangroom’s signature fried head cheese, this time with Korean BBQ sauce and yuzu honey mustard. Festivities begin at 5 p.m.
The Crown and Smith will also host with chef Gabe Lewis on a May the Fourth Star Wars themed dinner. Lewis and Smith will present sights, scents and science fictional flavors inspired by a galaxy far, far away for the first 14 folks to claim tickets by calling 773-991-3707 . For the Tatooine Surprise, come, for the eau de Wookie, stay. …
Did I mention Cinco de Mayo? My personal favorite of the industry-appropriated holidays, brought to you by Mexico’s brewers of cerveza and farmers of agave. Chef Kurt Fleischfresser and I will open the doors of The Tasting Room for an Oklahoma-style Cinco de Mayo, which will pay homage to the traditional cuisine of Mexico with a nod to the local pioneers who brought us Taco Tuesdays, Cheese Enchilada Wednesdays, and Free Queso forever. That and plenty of cold cerveza and tequila to go around. The fiesta is Sunday 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Get your tickets from The Tasting Room before they run out.