Past Repast

Beas says he's interested in foraged herbs and whole-animal butchery, and he makes a saddle of local lamb with Anasazi beans, wheat grass, goat milk curd and whey bread ($42). Roasted brassicas come with crisp pork jowl, egg yolk bottarga and smoked garbanzo beans ($18). There's also a dry-aged striploin with bone marrow, onion petals, piñóns and pickled strawberries ($48).

Edgy? No. Expensive? Yes. Which means for most of us, it's going to be a special occasion place. Which is fine: It's nice to feel like you've got something splurge-worthy when the next celebration comes around.

"I want people to have a memorable, unique experience," Beas says. "They'll have to be a little adventurous and be interested in trying new things." He adds that he plans to change the menus frequently. "I don't want people to expect that there will be signature dishes here."

Chef Beas agreed to share a couple of recipes from the new menu, and they're pretty exciting—and complicated and time consuming. They will send you on a treasure hunt for exotic ingredients and challenge the most adventurous of you to push your home cooking into the realm of art, and you people know who you are. For others, even if you never try these dishes at home, it's great fun to peek behind the curtain and see how the magic is made.

Stone-Cooked Quail with Juniper Berries, Apples and Branches, Smoked Egg Yolk and Verdolaga

(Serves 4)

If you don't have verdolaga (wild purslane) growing in your yard, you can substitute watercress, sturdy spinach or another succulent green.

• apple and juniper branches, as needed for fire
• 6 whole quail, split in half
• 1 apple, cored and sliced ¼-inch thick
• 2 tablespoons juniper berries
• 4 whole eggs in shell
• ¼ cup olive oil
• sea salt
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup crème fraiche
• 1 lime
• 2 small bunches purslane (or any wild succulent), watercress or thick spinach
• 1 large, flat stone, at least 1 foot in diameter (soaked in water the night before)

Directions

Place the stone (soaked but not dripping) in the middle of a grill light, arrange the apple and juniper branches around it, and light a good fire. Let the stone heat for at least 1 hour prior to cooking.

Lightly season the quail with salt.

Add a few drops of olive oil to the hot stone and place each quail on it, skin side down. After 2-3 minutes, turn and finish cooking 2 more minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Add the apples to the stone and cook 1-2 minutes, until they're caramelized, and then remove them from the stone.

With a sharp knife, cut off the top of the eggshell and place it in a large bowl. Separate the egg yolk and add it back into the shell. Place the eggshells in between the branches and cook them for 2 minutes for a soft consistency.

Toss the purslane in olive oil and char it lightly on the hot stone. Season it with salt, lime juice and zest.

Make the juniper berry sauce: In a clay pot on the fire (or a saucepan on the stove), toast the juniper berries for 3 minutes. Add the wine and reduce by half. Remove from heat and fold in crème fraiche. Season with salt to taste.

Plating

On a plate, arrange three halves of quail on an angle. Scatter four apple slices all over the plate.

Remove the egg yolk from shell and place in the middle of the plate.

Spoon 1 ounce of juniper sauce on top of the quail.

Garnish with purslane.

Finish with exceptional olive oil.

Charred Octopus with Potato Polenta, Garlic Sheets, Lime and Squash Blossoms

(Serves 8)

This dramatic small plate is a play on the classic Spanish combination of octopus and potatoes with a local touch (squash blossoms) and a big wow! factor (thin sheets of pureed, dried garlic).

For the octopus

• 2 cups olive oil
• 3 pounds red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded and diced
• 4 onions, peeled and diced
• 2 fennel bulbs (including the green stalks and fronds), diced
• 12 Roma tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup smoked paprika
• 1 whole octopus (4-5 pounds)

Add the olive oil to a large stock pot and saute the peppers, onions and fennel until caramelized.

Add the tomatoes, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 10 minutes.

Stir in the smoked paprika, then pour in enough water to cover the vegetables. Simmer 1 hour.

The cold octopus must be introduced to the hot liquid in stages, so gently submerge the octopus in the simmering broth and then lift it out, Repeat that process three times or until the octopus is the same temperature as the liquid. Then leave it in and gently simmer for 2 hours, until the octopus is tender.

Remove the octopus from the pot and chill it until cold.

Pour the cooking mixture through a sieve, discarding the solids, and reserve the broth for another purpose, say as the base of a seafood soup.

Garlic Sheets
While the vegetables are simmering, make these crisp, delicate sheets.

• 1 cup peeled garlic cloves
• 2 quarts milk

First, blanch the garlic: Put it in a pot of cold water, bring it to a boil, then remove the garlic and pour out the boiling water. You'll need to do this three times in order to mellow the flavor of the raw garlic, each time starting with cold water.

Add the blanched garlic to a saucepan, pour the milk over it and simmer 15 minutes.

Puree the garlic with enough milk to make a smooth paste the consistency of thick pancake batter. 
 
Using a rubber spatula, spread the garlic puree as thin as possible (about 1/8-inch) on cookie sheets lined with silicone baking mats (or parchment paper). Bake at 225 °F for 2 hours, until dry.

Cool and break into shards.

Potato Polenta

• 4 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced
• 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) butter
• 3 tablespoons squid ink
• Salt to taste

Put the uncooked diced potatoes in a blender and add enough water to cover. Process until smooth.

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, cook the potato mixture, stirring constantly, until it resembles polenta and the raw potato taste is gone.

Stir in the butter and squid ink and season to taste with salt.

Plating

• 3 limes, zested and segmented (with no peel and pith)
• 8 squash blossoms, shredded and tossed with olive oil and salt

Just before serving, cut off the tentacles and discard the rest of the octopus.

Heat a cast-iron skillet over high heat until smoking. Add a film of olive olive oil and cook the tentacles in batches until slightly charred on the edges.

Put two large spoonfuls of potato polenta in the middle of each plate and lay one tentacle  against the polenta. Arrange some lime pieces around it, 2-3 shards of garlic sheets, sprinkle lime zest over the plate. Scatter the squash blossoms.

Finish with exceptional olive oil.

Santa Fe Reporter