2008 Update

New Menus, Spots, Shots, and Combos

January 17, 2008

Get Your Fresh Quiche and See Great Movies
Mondo Kultur Video has new stuff at its original location, in Piñon Plaza, 622 Paseo del Pueblo Sur, and at Mondo North, just past the gravel pit on the road toward Questa. Jennifer Campbell, co-owner, says she’s completely changed the kitchen and the menu at the South location.

“I’ve been experimenting with recipes since late October,� she told the Pesky Diner last week. “We’ll have lots of new eggy comfort foods—omelettes, quiches, crepes. The crepes will be both savory [salty] and sweet, with fresh fruit. I’ll bake my own cakes and muffins and croissants, too. We’ll have croissant sandwiches with feta, with ham and cheese, and our most popular, the breakfast sandwich on a croissant with egg, bacon or sausage, cheese and green chile.�

Jennifer also has a new staff. “They understand what I’m doing and participate in the evaluation of it. That helps me gain consistency, which is my big thing.� Mondo will take special orders for house-made cheesecake and quiches, and call-in orders are welcomed for take-out.

At the South location, breakfast will be served from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The all-day portion of the new menu will be served from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Jennifer says the quiches and breakfast sandwiches will be available at Mondo North as well.

The big news from Mondo North, friend-o, is that Mark Campbell says the Taos Film Society is starting up again in the expanded space at Mondo North.

THC Up To Speed: Bring Cat Chow and Salsa Shoes
Taos House of Coffee has expanded from a house with limited space (now Francesca’s clothing boutique) to a gallery/classroom/ dance floor/cultural complex at El Prado Plaza. Owner/head barista Mark Brower moved THC eight months ago, but as 2008 dawns, he says, “We’re just hitting our stride with programming.�

The back wall of the coffee shop opens into a gallery space with a nice wood floor. Fridays from 6:30 to 7 p.m., Sarah Hearne leads a salsa dance class. Then from 7 to 9 p.m., salsa addicts can dance away. Surrounding the dance floor on three sides is a permanent installation of ceramic work by Logan Wannamaker, arrayed in three sections according to firing technique: wood-firing, salt-firing, and saggar-firing. Saggar means any small enclosure that facilitates oxidation on the ceramic surfaces. Wannamaker uses aluminum foil shells around each piece, and dribbles in a weird array of stuff that melts at different temps: horsehair, cat chow, banana peels, Miracle Gro, duct tape, fish net, steel wool, leaves, sawdust.

Taos Clay used to be a co-op but is now under private ownership, part of a larger co-op with THC and free-lance instructors. In addition to salsa dancing, Mark Brower is adding a couple who just relocated here from California who will present screenwriting workshops, spoken word events and classes, and workshops in metal and clay. Beginning in January, Taos Clay will offer 24-hour access to the studio, 3 hours of instruction per week, and 25 lbs. of clay to paying students in the following classes: Wheel Throwing; Handbuilt Forms; Raku, Charcoal and Saggar Firing; and Figurative and Abstract Sculpture. Short Intensive Classes beginning in February include Tilemaking and Firing and Mixing Glazes.

The THC coffee shop now has room to produce sandwiches along with smoothies. They feature Taos’s Rising Sun baked goods.

Roberto’s Italian-Style Pizza Piazza
Roberto Gianfalla, from Palermo in Sicily but twenty years in the States, has opened Pizza Piazza next door to Spin and Sparkle Laundromat on Siler Rd. You know, right over there south of the Smith’s parking lot. In his one-man shop, he rolls out the dough and adds the fresh ingredients after taking your order. Explaining his devotion to the simple balance of classic ingredients, he says, “I make pizza with A, B, and C. People ask for D and E. I say, ‘No.’� Part of the fun in talking to Roberto is his accent. It takes some study.

All his pizzas are 12-inch round pies. They range from the classic Margherita at $7 to the top-of-the-line Piazza at $10. The Piazza has onions, mushrooms, green pepper, and chopped Prosciutto ham. I had this one and it was light and delicious, with a tangy sprinkle of oregano on top. I’d ask for double ham next time.

Roberto also makes roasted veggie sandwiches in baked-to-your-order folded pizza crust; a daily quiche; Croque Monsieur, the Euro ham-and-cheese; and the day I was there, a Pain Bagna special, or Provençal-style sandwich. Roberto serves O’Doul’s nonalcoholic beer and dessert specials daily.

On the wall are paintings and collages by Roberto’s girlfriend, Maria Totman, adding a classy look to the generic storefront space. A microphone and conga drum are in one corner; must be live music at night. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 12 to 8 p.m.