Double Eagle joins the 2011list of 50 New Mexico restaurants recognized by the New Mexico Department of Tourism for their inspired versions of a gastronomic treat loved by locals and tourists alike, the green chile cheeseburger.  The announcement was made by New Mexico’s Department of Tourism Secretary, Monique Jacobson, on May 26, 2011. 

“We are very pleased and excited to be named again to the culinary trail.” said Jerry Harrell, General Manager of the Double Eagle, “Maybe it was our Chile Relleno Burger or the World’s Largest Green Chile Cheeseburger or our regular Green Chile Cheeseburger which prompted our selection.”    Harrell described how it’s not unusual to have customers come in saying they saw the listing on the Department of Tourism’s website and were visiting to experience the GCCB.  “Many people talk about all the different burgers they have enjoyed.  Some can pick a favorite but most say they are all worth the trip but can’t pick one as the best.” said Harrell. 

The Trail’s selection process combined nominations and popular vote by burger fans and a panel of culinary and tourism authorities to select the special 50 businesses.

Now Being Served - Bulleit Rye American Whiskey 

Yes, Kentucky has another winner in the whiskey category.  You may have heard of Bulleit Bourbon.  This new entry is definitely different.  95% rye with 5% malted barley.   90 Proof which is high but not a bad thing.  Aromas of oak, dark summer fruits, light notes of vanilla.   Mouthfeel starts surprisingly smoothly with cherry notes right up front, hints of tobacco, nuts, toffee and, mmmmmm, spice pops up.   Mid palate moves to a buttery smooth, well balanced with sweet n spicy elements.   Finishes with cinnamon red hots candy, a bit of a kick – definitely whiskey – and – promise not to laugh, I swear to you – hints of candied fennel.  I am not kidding.  Well, taste it yourself, then. 

 Excellent sipper.  Bangers in a Manhattan.  Say, here’s my Louisiana heritage coming out – anyone know what a Vieux Carre cocktail is?  Invented in New Orleans and named after the main square of the French Quarter, I believe.  I remember it being:  shot of rye whiskey, shot of cognac, shot of sweet vermouth, ½ shot of Benedictine, dash or two of bitters and a lemon twist stirred into the drink – all over ice.  Those New Orleans people know how to drink, I tell ya.  After two of these on Bourbon Street, you’re not just calling out for the strippers, you ARE the stripper.  Not that anything like that ever actually happened to me. Really.  No.  Not me.  Really.

Now Being Served -A New Summer Wine For Double Eagle By The Glass menu:  Viognier 

Impress people when you know how to say it: Vee-yo-N’YAY.  Think of yourself as a French man or woman from the south of France and say it with a French accent.  Kind of snearing and dismissively as the French do when speaking to Americans. 

From California’s most ancient grapevines – well, OK, kind of old grapevines – 80 to 120 years old – this is a Rhone-style wine.  Rhone is a region in the south of France specializing in Syrah and Viognier grapes.  The region produces a number of red, white and rose wines, most recognizably the blend Chateau-neuf-du-Pape. 

This is a great wine choice instead of a Riesling.  Slightly sweet, off-dry as the wine snobs say, with a lush mouth feel, a crisp finish and a touch of citrus-y/pineapple-y acid.  When drinking this: expect visions of summer-ripe peaches; tangy apricots; sharp, sweet orange blossoms; spicy, floral, sweet honeysuckle. 

Food Pairing:  anything with chile – red or green, jalapenos – spicy food, blue cheese crumbles or dressing on the salad,  chile rellenos, fajitas, Mexican combo plates 

A good afternoon sipping wine. 

Hint: most restaurants, including us, serve this wine too cold.  Well, people like cold stuff in the summer.  Order this and restrain yourself for about 5 minutes after it’s served.  Let it warm slightly.   You know how you’re supposed to hold the stem not the bowl of a wine glass so your hand doesn’t warm the wine?  Well, go ahead and hold the bowl of this wine glass.  Just take that deep chill off.   Test:  when served, sniff the wine then wait 5 minutes and sniff again, taste and enjoy.  That’s when those visions will appear for you….depending on how many glasses of wine you’ve already had, of course.

Almost 500 people enjoyed our Grand Buffet for Mother’s Day.  Sous Chef Luis Campos and his crack crew did a fantastic job and provided a wonderful assortment of
tasty treats to many Moms who just seemed happy to be with family on this special day.   The apricot-honey sauce on the roast country ham was amazingly good – not overly sweet but very flavorful with the slightly salty ham.  Sebastian Vacio, our Chief Decorator for Grand Buffets, did an outstanding job, as always on decor, carving large roses out of watermelons, small flowers out of potatoes which he dyed bright colors, a basket carved out of cheese filled with vegetable flowers.  On Easter, a 6 year old took one of the dyed potato flowers and ate it…or most of it till his parents realized his hands and mouth were now dyed a bright blue.  Vegetable food coloring so nothing dangerous but his parents were not pleased we did not watch their child as closely as they thought we should have.  So, for Mother’s Day, we had to add signs saying Do Not Eat.  Decoration Only.   We were not happy to do that but then we realized that some people actually do need the signs.  For those people who don’t, we can use the signs as a reason to celebrate our genious intellect at figuring out that a bright blue carved potato might not be delicious.  Makes us feel so smart. 

The creamy shrimp pasta was great.  The roast pork in garlic rosemary sauce was great.  The ragout of spring asparagus, peas and pearl onions in butter was meltingly good. 
All in all, a happy day for everyone.

 First comments give the Margarita Dinner held here on Friday, April 29, 2011 a Grande Ole’!  Sous Chef Luis Campos and his crack crew turned some top treats into temptresses of taste!  Many thanks also to Mark Burden of Southern Wine and Spirits for all the hard work he put in to make this event the success it was.  Mark hand juiced almost all the limes personally to provide the perfect margarita base allowing the different tequilas tasted to shine through.  The many self-proclaimed tequila afficienados in attendance among the 60 attendees pronounced judgements on each course and tequila.

But, each seemed to pick a different course as ‘the best’ and different tequilas as ‘the best’ and there was much discussion but little persuasion.  Just an example of how personal taste rules us all!  Here’s a reminder of what you missed!

 Reception
Espolon Tequila  Silver & Reposado

 First Course
Ensenada Shrimp Cocktail with House Seasoned Tostadas
Sauza Hornitos Plata

 Second Course
Baja Seafood and Avocado Taco
Mexicali Rice with Spring Vegetables
Don Julio Reposado

 Third Course
Chile Colorado Beef Tostada Compuesta
Chile Relleno En Nogagda
(Stuffed Poblano Chile with Spiced Pork and Tequila Soaked Apples,
topped by Mexican Crema Agra with a Chipotle Sauce garnish)
Orange Honey Glazed Sweet Potatoes
Patron Anejo

 Fourth Course
Double Chocolate Tart with Vanilla Bean Cream
Patron XO Café

Seattle’s Best Columbian Blend #5 Coffee

Leslie is having a birthday!  She has reached the point in time that she celebrates rather than dreads her birthday.  It’s a time for fun, for looking backward over what has been and for looking forward to what will be….and, yes, the best is yet to come.  What a wonderful way to look at a marker in one’s life, eh?

From an early morning phone call from her 4 year old granddaughter to a more reasonably timed call from her 90 year old grandmother, Leslie is having a great day.  She arrived for work looking chipper and up.  And, now, she gets to greet her many well-wishers among her fellow workers and customers. 

It’s such a refreshing breeze to have someone not moaning about ‘another birthday’ like it’s a mill stone hanging around the neck dragging one closer and closer to the grave…wow, that was kind of a downer!  But, don’t you feel that way in talking to some people who seem to roll their eyes at life rather than scanning the horizon for the next adventure.  Yes, old age creeps up on us…but, not today.  The body gets weary and worn…but, not today.  The realities of life do sometimes overwhelm us…but, not today!  Not Today!

Leslie is going to have a great day enjoying everyone and everything around her.   She is going to enjoy because she has taken the attitude that life is good.  Yes, bad things sometimes happen.  You deal with those and move on looking for the next rainbow. Not a bad way to live.  Choose to look for the next rainbow!

April/May-2011 A wonderful addition to our Wine By The Glass program for the late spring/early summer – if our supply lasts that long.  I anticipate a strong
demand for this selection as the weather warms.  From an artisan winery run by a Canadian in southern Italy, this wine follows the Italian
tradition of light, fruity Pinot Grigios rather than the French style (think Alsace) of a more mineraly, flinty product.  Light, bright, a hint of
green in the almost clear wine.  Crisp, clean almost dry finish.  Aromas remind one of ripe pears, lemons and a touch of spring flowers.  Taste is
slightly floral with lemony crispness.  The sweetness is handled with a very light touch.  As you swallow, there is a memory of honeysuckle.  A
brisk wine with a light to medium body.  That fullness is surprising and pleasing.

I would pair this wine with 
Appetizers:  Green Chile Cheese Wontons/Pineapple-Jalapeno Salsa, Cheese Nachos Chico, Crispy Calamari
Lunch:   a leafy salad for lunch like the Caesar Supreme with Crispy Calamari, Mixed Seafood Enchiladas, Chicken Mesilla, Pecan Chicken Salad Sandwich
Peppers: Columbia Salmon Fillet, Hot Turkey Open Faced Sandwish with Green Chile-Alfredo
Double Eagle:  Halibut with Pancetta, Corn & Green Chile, Pistachio Grilled Salmon, Chicken Jerusalem

I just can’t believe it’s already Easter time!  I’m just putting away the Christmas stuff!!  Well, ok, there’s still one box of Christmas decor still sitting in my living room but it’s all packed up.  Surely, Santa will give me points for that! Right?  Tomorrow is Good Friday so should I just skip the Easter decorations and wait for the next holiday?  I don’t really have much Mother’s Day decoration stuff to put out.  And, THAT is only 2 weeks away from Easter. It’s all rolling too fast. Chef Campos is still out with his wound care for his foot due to his diabetes so this will be Luis Campos, Chef’s nephew and Sous Chef, first big Holiday without Chef’s on-hands guidance.  I’m thinking he kinda likes being in charge.  Things are rolling right along.  Easter cookies baking (they are made even better when dipped in the chocolate fountain! well….anything is.  I saw some kids sticking green beans in the swirling, melted chocolate!)  Luis is slicing Hawaiian Ono for baking.  Ono is a wonderful Pacific fish, light, flaky texure but still tuna-like in firmness.  Baking the fillets in garlic butter and topping with a sassy Mango salsa!  Zowie!  Very tasty and I’m not a big fish type of guy! 

Growing up, we rarely ate seafood and we lived in the swamps of southern Louisiana!  Mom was the reluctant one.  Dad would bring home turtle and frogs and all manner of strange fish.  He was allowed to  do so as long as he cleaned the things and cooked them.  Mom would eat the salad and pick at the fish or turtle.  She didn’t seem to mind the frog legs (tastes like chicken) but never really said anything negative about seafood unless Dad pressed her while teasing.   I still remember Dad pulling into the driveway, which was crushed clam and oyster shells, and calling to the kids to come see what he had.  All the neighbor kids had learned, as had we, that Mr. Wayne brought home interesting things.   This time it was a huge snapping turtle.  Easily three feet from front shell to back – not including the head and tail.  We all knew about snapping turtles.  When we went swimming in the brown, murky water of the various rivers, backwashes and bayous, the adults would sit on the bank and yell helpful information: “Sammy, was it two or three toes that snappin’ turtle took off you left foot?”  “Well, I’ll tell you it was a total of three.  He chomped the first two off in the first bite and they were so delicious that he came back for another taste and got the third”   Of course, Sammy had shoes on at the time and it would have been rude to demand to see the missing toes, despite our deep and, yes, dark desire to see the spot his toes had been.  So seeing a dead turtle was a wonderful chance to touch the bone-like chopping snout on the head or the elephant skin of the tail.  Well, it felt like what we thought an elephant would feel like.  What an adventure!  Which quickly went bad when Dad started ‘cleaning’ the thing. 

The smell was just what you’d imagine if a creature spend his life lurking in in the mud of murky waters chomping on dead things and human toes, when he got the chance.  I know now the proper term is malodorous.  We all resolved we were not about to eat any part of this vile smelling thing.  All the neighbor kids heard their Mommas’ calling them home. I didn’t hear anything but you can’t argue with Mamma call.  So, they left us, me, my brother and sister,  standing with Dad happily using his filleting knife cutting ligaments and muscles and skinning off linings and cutting off organs.  I would have thought the meat would be dark and beefy but it was a light pink in color and -sorry – looked like chicken….and, then, not even the chicken dark meat!  HA!  I thought that was an awful lot of work to go through for that much meat.  It seemed a pitiful portion after that massive shell!  But, Dad was excited.

He brought his prize into the house and laid it in the kitchen sink and washed it all.  We moved with him.  Although we had made up our minds we were not eating this thing, we could still watch what Dad was going to do with it.  We were especially enjoying Mom’s facial expressions in response to Dad’s joyful comments about where the turtle came from and who gave it to him and how nice they were.  Then Dad started cooking.  The rule in cajun cooking is “First you make a roux”.   The second rule, which we later learned was just Dad’s rule, is “Use as many pots as possible.”  So, Dad started the roux with equal parts flour and fat, in this case, Crisco shortening.   You cook the flour in the fat whcih becomes a thick paste, stirring constantly, till it’s at the color you want.  Light for a creamy gravy, Medium for a sauce. Dark for gumbo.  Dad had determined this would be a sauce piquant.  This basic sauce of tomato and pepper could be used for any meat.  Dad put us to work chopping onion, celery, carrots and garlic cloves.   Another slab of Crisco and we were soon frying the veggies.  As soon as everything was soft except the carrots, these were added to roux.  Still stirring constantly, the veggies were soon coated with the roux.  Now the canned tomatoes and tomato sauce went in, still stirring.  Once these were in the stirring could relax adn the meat added to slowing cook in the sauce.  Dad had but the turtle meat up into little bites.  The roux was now incorporated into the liquid and a thickening started to occur.  Now was the time of seasoning.  Dad was a ‘hot food’ afficienado.  We didn’t know that word then and just thought Dad likes spicy food.  But, Dad knew his peppers.  We had the Louisiana tabasco sauce, of course but there were also a number of other Louisiana based hot sauces used for various thing:  mustard greens, cornbread (yep, he put butter and hot sauce on cornbread!).

After an hour of simmering, supper was ready.  The smell of the toasted flour, the onions and garlic, the tomatoes had softened our resolve and we all took a serving over a spoon of sticky white rice.  We tried not to think of Sammy’s toes and just concentrate on the amazingly good flavors presented to our noses and tastebuds.  Turtle was tasty!  Mom still picked at the serving, studiously avoiding any meat consumption and smiling like a good sport as we all praised Dad’s culinary prowess. 

So, that’s a long way to say that I’m looking forward to the seafood selection for the Easter Grand Buffet.

We get many calls from people about reservations who can’t answer the basic questions:  when are you coming and how many chairs do you need at the table?  We often wonder about these people.  If they don’t know these things, why are they calling?  Oh, don’t act surprised.  It’s one of the chores of life they don’t teach you.  You have to learn by experience.

 These people dial first and then hold a conversation with other people in the room at their end of the call about when they are coming and how many chairs they need or, maybe, they don’t want to come to this restaurant or would they want to do something else.  All while we hold on, usually with people walking in the front door staring at us while we wait for the caller to give us information   We ask a question and then hold on while the conversation takes place.  More people waiting at the door. Then, we ask another question and wait again.  I guess it’s just a different thought process I use to decide what you are going to do, when you are going to do it and how many people are going to do it with you.  Then, having decided those things to proceed to make plans to actually, you know, do those things.

 It must just be me, my personality, my ego?   It just baffles me to visit someone and have the “I don’t know.  What do you want to do?” conversation.  Seemingly endless rounds of  “I don’t know.  What do you want to do?” among people.    In this case, “I don’t know.  Where do you want to go to eat?”  Sometimes “I don’t care.” gets thrown in instead of  “I don’t know.”  And then the confusing part comes in when someone finally actually makes a suggestion for a restaurant and everyone else immediately says, “No.” even the ones saying ‘I don’t care.”  Apparently, they DO care, after all!  I have never understood how the points are tallied and who actually wins in this game.

 Gotta tell you that I don’t play the “I don’t know./I don’t care.” Game.  Past experience say that people get very upset with me if I don’t let the game, at least, get started and go one round.  “He’s so bossy. Who does he think he is?”  Well, I think I don’t want to play a game I am never sure if I win or not.  I usually stop the game after that one round, cause I’m so polite, and take over making suggestion after suggestion till even the toughest “I don’t know./I don’t care” player gives up.  Some people are relived that a decision has been made but others seem to be upset that the game wasn’t completely played out before a decision was made.  I don’t understand why they get upset if they really didn’t know or really didn’t care.  I begin to suspect their pants are on fire, if you know what I mean. 

 So, help with my blood pressure and be prepared when you call for a reservation.  What time are you coming and how many chairs do you need.

Note:  No one understands what you want if you say “4 adults and 2 children”  Does that mean 4 chairs and 2 high chairs?, 4 chairs and 2 babies in car seats sitting on the floor?  6 chairs?  5 chairs and a high chair?

And, if you want to sit somewhere specific, say that. Don’t assume we know what you want.  Give us some kind of hint.   Say you want to sit in a specific room or at a specific table or up against a wall or out in the open or what ever you want/like/prefer. 

 Gosh, I feel so much better now.  Venting is good!

A 44 ounce Margarita deserves something special as a moniker.  What can you come up with to match the majesty, the grandeur, the magnificence of a 44 ounce Margaritas lovingly constructed by the skilled hands of a Double Eagle bartender.  What name can evoke the thrill shivering through someone gazing at beads of icy condensate running skippingly down the side of the glass.  Not that I have ever done anything skippingly…I just imagine it. 

What name can you come up with?  Just email us at doubleeaglerestaurant@live.com with your suggestion(s).  Sure, send more than one.  We are going to collect the entries and weed out the obscene and obtuse and get you the best of the best suggestions!   Extra Large seems somehow to disparage the hefty size while big just doesn’t do it justice. Doozie starts coming close but still that zing, that oomph is needed.  Yes, this is definitely something requiring market research.   Come on down to the Double Eagle and sample one for yourself before making a decision on your entry.

Winner gets Sunday Champagne Brunch for 4.  We will submit the best for your opinions but reserve the choice to our staff.  Winner will be selected by drawing from all winning entries submitted.   Contest runs till May 15 so that leave plenty of time for market research!  Come on down!

The weekend of Friday, April 15, Saturday, April 16 and Sunday, April 17, 2011 - just say you’re here for market research and we’ll give you $2.00 off each Margarita ordered at your table – regular or the 44 ouncer!  The code word is “I’m a member of the club.”  No this is not an enticement to drink alcohol.  That would be wrong and illegal.  It’s more of a suggestion.

So, think up a great name or two or three and send ‘em over OR drop by and fill out an entry blank at the bar.  Bartender has the entry blanks.  Ask your Server to bring you one.