Dija Know… Joe’s Restaurant Newsletter -81 December 2012

Lou Levin will be joining us at Joe’s for at least several weeks.  He’ll play solo keyboards enhancing Sunday Brunches with live music!  Lou plays the great American Songbook standards we all love.  Join us for Sunday Brunch and delightful live music. <<< ( canceled ) >>>

 

Book now!  The Red Room is still available for your Christmas or festive event.  It’s also a great space for power breakfast meetings.  Ask Roland about group and party discounts.

 

The Beaujolais Nouveau is here! This year the Beaujolais is really good, the best we’ve tasted in several years!  It has that classic light fuity easy-drinking profile.  It seems to go with everything – can’t think of more than a couple of dishes it does not complement. But remember this is a short-lived wine for 2 reasons. One, it does not lay down well – it is meant to be drunk within 2-4 months; and two, Sheila tends to drink much of it, leaving little for the rest of you.  Don’t miss out. 5.99 a glass.

Breakfast at Joe’s is a great and nourishing way to start a chilly morning.  We start serving at 7:30 every day.  Organize your power breakfast meetings in the Red Room!  Discounts for groups of 12 or more.

 

Bill Todino is the current local artist whose impeccable works you see in the main dining room. His photographic representations have a pure quality, devoid of maudlin or saccharine sentiment, but representative of the deep roots of Faith here — eminently New Mexican. Reasonably priced in time for holiday giving!

A heads up for the next Carbon Economy Series presentation.  Daniel Mirabal & Maria Boccalandro at SFCC Jan 11-13.  To develop a new sustainable and responsible model for tourism as an important driver for economic and social development.  Look at practices that do not work for the people, planet or profit and find new options.  Eco tourism is only a small part of being sustainable. This workshop will help everyone who is in involved with tourism learn to be more sustainable, adding resilience to the triple bottom line (people, planet and profit).  We will also look at the trends and myths of the industry.   We will apply strategies to optimize operations and revenue and show how to work with local sustainable projects resulting in a positive impact both on tourism and on your business. http://carboneconomyseries.com

 

Activities ramp up around the holiday season and can cause us additional stress and that in turn can add  pounds to your waistline.  Besides the M word (jeez I hate that phrase, “everything in moderation”!) certain nutritional supplements can offset the effects of stress.  Here is my list of daily “must haves” & “must do’s” to aid me through the holidays:
Multivitamin – the foundation. Whole food derived rather than cheap synthesized tablet. Perhaps a drink powder for a smoothie.

Vitamin D3 with K-2 – very important through the winter months.

Buffered Vitamin C – well known for its support of your immune system.

Fish Oil or Krill Oil (omegas) – beyond essential.

Probiotics – unbelievably important for immune support

Glutathione and/or astaxanthin – two of the best anti-oxidants that gobble free radicals.
Magnesium – keeps everything relaxed and spasm free – from muscles to digestion.
Enzymes – for digestion and for coping with inflam- mation (many different kinds).
Exercise – I know I know.  Go ahead, groan, stamp your feet and resist all you want, but there is absolutely no way around it.  If you want to mainain or recover your health, you just must do it.  If you are disabled or lazy, see my newsletter #78.  There is an easy way!! No excuses.

 

Gluten free foods are improving. We now have some pretty darned good pastas and an improved pizza crust.  I don’t think anything can replicate the nutty rich flavor of high gluten wheat flour.  That said, in some cases you would not be aware that some of these new products are gluten free! We have just finished the testing of our new  GF chocolate cake.  It’s moist, rich and delicious.  Our “normal” baking flour for our pastries, breads, sauces, pizza is New Mexico grown organic wheat flour.

Gift ideas – Ask your waiter for details and choose from – latte cups, wine and beer glasses, truffles, tee shirts, gift cards (pay cash or check for a $100 card and get a free $10 card!).  Lower increments available.

DiJa Know – when asking yourself if it is worth the extra cost to go organic, you might consider this – there is a notable difference with anti-biotic resistant germs.  Bacteria found in non-organic meats have a 33% higher risk of being resistant to multiple antibiotcs. Food poisoning caused by antibiotic resistant germs is far harder to treat.   The other somewhat obvious factor that plays into choosing organic is its taste.  In most double blind tests, participants chose the organic food as having the more flavorful and distinctive taste profile.

 

DiJa Know – The vindication of the coffee drinkers continues.  An Australian study recently showed a 7% reduction in diabetes risk for every daily cup of coffee (not decafe).  People who drink four or more cups of coffee per day have a 50% lower risk of developing type2 diabetes than people who don’t drink coffee.  As well, male coffee drinkers have a lower risk of prostate cancer.  Not bad for a much maligned beverage, eh?
Fat foods that make you thin, Part 2 of 5 –  Olive oil and coconut oil are 2 marvelous fats that do not make you fat. They both have many terrific properties.  A few are: olive oil consumption results in higher levels of adiponectin.  This is a hormone (who knew we had so many different hormones?!) whose function is the breakdown of fats resulting in lower BMI (body mass index) levels.  Coconut oil lowers cholesterol.  How?  By stimulating thyroid function. Coconut oil raises your metabolic rate thus releasing energy and promoting weight loss.  I prefer not to use olive oil for high temperature cooking.  It will oxidize and hydrogenate to some degree.  A wiser choice is coconut oil or clarified butter which is what we use at Joe’s.

“I wish we had a Joe’s where I go to school. I love it here,” said a recent college student home (from I forgot to ask where) on Thanksgiving break.

Why is locally grown food so very important to Joe’s?  Why do we keep hammering on this “buy local” theme? There are many factors that are out of our hands when it comes to our food supply.  Most of what ends up on the American dinner table derives from a shockingly few giant agribusinesses.  Their influence reaches from designing the (GMO) seeds to planting, harvesting, processing and shipping.  We as consumers cannot with confidence hand over the entirestewardship of our food to these few multinationals. Our passion here at Joe’s is for a local sustainable food supply – food produced by growers who are accountable for what they grow.  KYG – Know Your Grower.  We are able to look our local farmer in the eye and ask him about his growing practices or even visit his operation. This gives us the

confidence that we are eating food that is healthy,

wholesome, non-genetically engineered, often better than organic, humanely treated and minimally processed.  It is grown with a smaller energy-use footprint and

transported short distances. We cannot divorce human health, the economy, ecology, personal (perhaps spiritual) satisfaction or honorable work from FOOD.  Food is fundamental. What we eat, where it comes from, the stewardship of food animals, the nurturing and building of soils – all these factors affect us at a cellular and visceral level … whether we slow down enough to be aware of it or not. We are fortunate in Santa Fe to have a dedicated farm base producing a wonderful array of goods.  Here at Joe’s we do our best to offer this bounty to you, keeping dollars in the community. In the interest of transparency, in 2008 Joe’s spent $30,000 on local foods.  In 2009 that increased to $60,000.  And for 2012 we expect it to exceed $100,000 representing about 50% of our food budget.
Tuesday is Spaghetti and Chianti Night at Joe’s$29.95 for two will get you Caesar Salad, Spaghetti Bolognese (made with our grass-finished local beef) and a great ½ liter of Chianti.  Wadda deal!

♥ Joe’s hand-made French chocolate truffles.  They are close to divine.  Who do you know who would love a little red bag of truffles?    $1.99 @ or 5 for $8.99
Tired of still paying for BB’s (big banks) bailouts? Tired of lining the pockets of the uber-rich Wall Street bankers? subsidizing their megabonuses, greens fees etc? Every time we use a credit card part of that 3%-5% fee contributes to the above.  Now let’s be real –  in today’s world no one can function without a cc, but there are still (legal) alternatives that can save us all money and reduce our subsidies to the BB’s.  We have a couple of suggestions: (1.) Are you on Joe’s Check List?  If you are a “regular” and wish to pay by check, please ask your waiter to get you on the list.  Very easy.  (2.) Joe’s “frequent diner” or gift card – when you purchase $100 gift card with cash or check, get a $10 card free!  (3.) And we are working on something else. . .

Lost in translation:

 

Sign on road leaving Nairobi – TAKE NOTICE: WHEN THIS SIGN IS UNDER WATER, THIS ROAD IS IMPASSABLE.

Sign in Dry Cleaners, Bankok:  “DROP YOUR TROUSERS HERE FOR THE BEST RESULTS.”

Joe’s
2801 Rodeo Rd (at Zia Rd) Santa Fe, NM   87507
505-471-3800       www.JoesDining.com