We celebrated jobs, school, Bryan's birthday & our 19th Anniversary last night at Vernon's Hidden Valley Steakhouse in historic Los Ranchos de Albuquerque.
Vernon's is well hidden - the front door is very unassuming and in the back of Los Ranchos Liquor store (adjacent to Calico Cantina & Cafe) and you need a password to get in. Based on the prohibition's (for you young un's, that's the time when liquour of any kind was banned in the US and you had to get your libations by nefarious means) speak-easies. You knock three times on the unassuming door, and the peep hole opens. Give your password and voila - entrance.
The restaurant interior is dark, very dark until your eyes adjust. The walls are finished in diamond-finished black plaster, the tables adorned with black & white table clothes. Friday & Saturday nights feature a pianist & Sunday's jazz. The ambiance is very nice, but by the time we left (9 pm) it was getting loud. Our reservations were for 7 PM and we were promptly seated.
We ordered cocktails and bruschetta (excellent and enough for at least 4 people). Entree's come with a vegetable (ours was broccoli & carrots) and a side - I chose loaded mashed potatoes (highly recommend, and I'm SURE they were fat free... almost) & Bryan got truffle mashed potatoes - but we also ordered salads as well. My entree was a suberb NY Strip & Bryan got the Los Ranchos Star - a 20 oz bone-in ribeye. We asked for medium-well & were promptly told that anything over medium was not guranteed but ours came out perfect.
We each ordered a glass of wine with dinner - Bryan really splurged and got the Duckhorn merlot, I was more reasonable & got a Washington State merlot - I have to say, his was WAY better. We don't consider ourselves wine aficionados but lordy that his glass was excellent... it also cost more for the one glass than we've ever spent on even a bottle so that's probably why. It was good enough that we actual looked up the winery and considered joining their wine club.
We each ordered a glass of wine with dinner - Bryan really splurged and got the Duckhorn merlot, I was more reasonable & got a Washington State merlot - I have to say, his was WAY better. We don't consider ourselves wine aficionados but lordy that his glass was excellent... it also cost more for the one glass than we've ever spent on even a bottle so that's probably why. It was good enough that we actual looked up the winery and considered joining their wine club. Dessert was the house special - a chocolate silk mousse creation with a wonderful pecan crust.
Sorry to go on & on describing food but this was just about the first dinner we had that wasn't covered in green (or red) chile's and it was terrific.
Service was excellent. Very attentive without being intrusive. I picked up the pepper shaker and the next thing I knew our waiter was there with offering freshly ground pepper. Water glasses were never less than half full before being refilled... Overall a good experience.
Oh yeah, and if you go, tell 'em Joe sent you.
(photos lifted from their website: www.thehiddensteakhouse.com)
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