Our 7 favorite 2012 food experiences

One of the best things about what we do is that we get a chance to have lots of wonderful food experiences. It’s great to see how other people approach food and to experience a lot of cultural variations. It’s hard to say what’s best but here are Our 7 favorite 2012 food experiences. Bon appétit!

At BBQ U: Getting the rotisserie ready for the prime rib, photo/Steve Collins

Steven Raichlen: Raichlen convenes a couple of sessions of his BBQ U at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs every year. Upwards of 50 participants take part to learn, share the fun and taste the excellent results of their labors. I got to spend a day at one of the sessions and learned lots of new things about BBQ, food history and food culture around the world. As an added bonus I had the opportunity to interview this Renaissance man-about-grill.

Bill and Cheryl Alters Jamison, photo/Mary Jablonsky courtesy of Bill and Cheryl Allters Jamison

Bill and Cheryl Alters Jamison’s Tasting New Mexico:
We sat down with Bill and Cheryl in their Tesuque home to talk about Tasting New Mexico, their newest cookbook. It chronicles their research into New Mexico’s deep culinary traditions. In their unique way, they take you into kitchens all around New Mexico sharing old family recipes for favorites such as chicos and posole. Don’t know what chicos are? You’ll have to buy the book to find out what they are and how to make them.

Mary and Tito’s, New Mexican food at its finest photo/Steve Collins

Mary and Tito’s:
As long as we’ve been in New Mexico, we’d never been to Albuquerque’s Mary & Tito’s, named an American Classic by the James Beard Foundation. Abundant plates of New Mexico’s specialty dishes have come out of this kitchen since 1963. Mary has run the front of the house since their opening and continues to come in most days even now. Tito passed away in 1980 but the tradition carries on today with their children and grandchildren front and center.

Ace. Eat. Serve’s pong hall, photo Dave Lehl courtesy Ace, Denver

Denver’s Ace, Eat Serve:
Ace, opened last summer in the trendy Denver Uptown neighborhood, was bustling on the Friday night we were there. Besides a fun menu of Asian inspired dishes and a drink list made to share with others, you can work off your meal playing ping pong in their pong parlor. Sounds like a recipe for fun to us.

Executive Chef Carmen Rodriguez of La Posada de Santa Fe, photo/Steve Collins

Carmen Rodriguez:
In August we sat down and talked with La Posada’s Executive Chef Carmen Rodriguez. This man must have a special clock to fit the extra hours into his day. Among the many things we talked about is his new concept for La Posada: Global Latin food.

The Farm Store at Los Poblanos, photo/Steve Collins

Los Poblanos Farm store:
Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm is a special inn in Albuquerque’s North Valley that puts fresh locally grown and sourced food front and center. We enjoyed our stay there and our conversation with Stephen Humphrey, the manager of their farm store.

Beekeeper Les Crowder of For the Love of Honey talks about bees, photo/Steve Collins

Santa Fe Farmers Market Annual Farm tour: Santa Fe has an award winning farmers market. One of the things farmers at this market with its strict guidelines do is  carry on Northern New Mexico’s tradition of growing heritage varieties of meat and produce. Taking theif annual fall tour is a great way to see where some your food is grown and to get to know the farmers a little better.

We could have listed another dozen, but we had to draw the line somewhere. What are some of your favorite food experiences of 2012? Here’s to a 2013 loaded with lots of fun food and good times shared with others!

Read out other year-end round-up posts:
5 Northern New Mexico attractions we should have gotten to sooner
Photo of the Week: 5 Favorites of 2012
Our 5 favorite posts of 2012