If you choose the $75, eight-course tasting menu at the Pico restaurant in the Los Alamos General Store, prepare to dine through experiential waves of flavor, a young chef’s impeccable techniques, and, perhaps for some, a psychological reckoning. Each dish is intentionally simple, as Chef Cameron Ingle limits each offering to just four ingredients, all found within a 60-mile radius. Unless you actually grew up on a farm, you may leave Pico questioning everything you understood about the farm-to-table movement that’s been sweeping the world for years now.
By now, most food-interested Americans think of ruby-red heirloom tomatoes, multi-hued hen eggs, and ranch-designated cuts of meat when the term “farm-to-table” is uttered. But for Ingle, such expected items aren’t even the tip of the iceberg. Yes, we’re also talking about lettuce, as Ingle recently highlighted reine de glaces, the “queen of ice” crisphead lettuce from a French strain dating back to the 1800s.
Credit: Steven Woodfield