In an uncharacteristic twist for us, we were drawn to Los Poblanos initially by the architecture rather than the food. We had known the property on the west side of Albuquerque primarily for its lavender products. But the 25 acres of lavender fields are only part of an historic Rio Grande Valley farm.
It’s actually quite an operation. A boutique hotel and restaurant occupy the ranch house. A farm store with a dizzying array of lavender products fills former dairy barns. Lovely gardens circle the estate. There’s also a special event space, La Quinta, in the former cultural center designed in the 1930s by architect John Gaw Meem. At the same time, Meem renovated the ranch house to bring a uniform style to Los Poblanos (4803 Rio Grande Blvd. N.W., Los Ranchos de Albuquerque NM; 855-486-1380; lospoblanos.com).
Meem was arguably the preeminent New Mexico architect of the twentieth century. He reinterpreted the traditional architecture of northern New Mexico with a modernist eye, creating the Territorial Revival style. We knew many of his buildings, including La Fonda hotel on the plaza in Santa Fe and the ranch house at Pecos National Historical Park about 25 miles southeast of Santa Fe. We were curious to see what he had accomplished at Los Poblanos.
Our best option was afternoon tea served on select dates in La Quinta, followed by a short guided tour of the property. What’s more, we figured that the formality of the service would be a nice break from green chile cheeseburgers, breakfast burritos, Frito pies, and tacos.
Southwestern flavors in small bites make elegant tea service
The setting itself suggests that the service will be special. Guests are seated in the ballroom-like central hall of La Quinta. The light-filled room features soaring coffered ceilings and immense mirrors to reflect light into the darkest corners. Each table was dressed with a long white tablecloth and a small vase of fresh flowers.
As a first in our afternoon tea experience, each ‶course″ was paired with its own tea. For example, with the amuse-bouche of chilled melon soup, we each had a cup of Matcha Mint. Our savory and sweet courses arrived together on a classic three-tiered tea tray with Victorian serving utensils to slide under each piece. A pot of Los Poblanos’s own Lavender Earl Grey tea swiftly materialized to accompany the house-made pimiento cheese crostini, the braised beet frittata, a cucumber slice with ricotta and preserved lemon, and an open-faced BLT.
Our sweet course included classic scones with clotted cream and a seasonal jam — lemon curd, in our case — as well as a brown butter pepita blondie and cocoa nib biscotti. The tea was brilliantly red Hibiscus. We were so relaxed that we had to finish up quickly to join the last tour of the day. The simple elegance of the rooms spoke eloquently of Meem’s update of Arts & Crafts style in a New Mexican vernacular. Perhaps most impressive of all was the book-lined library (below). If we had wanted, we could have ordered a drink from the bar in the corner — maybe a Lavender 99 with sparkling wine, gin, and lavender simple syrup — and lingered a little longer.
