Given I’m all ears when I hear an establishment is featuring lots of corn on its new summer menu, I hightailed it up to Los Alamos to check out Norman. Housed in the Skyview Motel perched above the 101 — and if you park in the restaurant parking by their very own vineyard at the hill bottom, you will feel every foot of that elevation (but at least get very hungry) — Norman is a mid-century-modern gem offering California comfort food with exciting twists. As Chef Dustin Badenell, who among other places previously worked at the brilliant and missed Bear and Star, puts it, “I source products at the peak of their best to create dishes that you might not think pair properly but in fact do if used correctly.”
Start with the corn ribs at dinner, for just one example. Not just a TikTok craze, and much safer to have out so you don’t lose any fingers doing the prep at home, they are a gorgeous take on Mexican street corn, curled up on the plate like vegetarian shrimp. Almost too much seems to be going on — there’s chili oil, honey chipotle cream, green romesco, a cilantro lime vinaigrette, and queso fresco — but all the flavors harmonize into one sweet and savory delicious song in your mouth.
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