A Review of Doc Martin's Resaturant at the Taos Inn in Taos, New Mexico

Some things are worth a drive, especially when the drive winds through the rugged Rio Grande Valley, passing through picturesque villages along the way, and the reward is a satisfying meal at a great price with a well chosen wine.

My dining partner and 1 took a beautiful spring drive, and when we arrived at the entrance to the Taos Inn (marked by a blue neon thunderbird sign), the small patio teemed with Taosenos. The inn and restaurant have long been favorites of locals and tourists alike, and the rooms show those years of hard wear. Those who arc comfortable with earthiness and mingling with locals will find it charming - a reminder that the insides of original Spanish- Pueblo Revival buildings were usually dark, with stained wood, low, sagging ceilings, uneven floors, off-square walls and imperfect plaster. There was a time in Santa Fe (before we got spiffed up) when that was the norm, and homes and restaurants expressed the visions of people who wanted to live closer to the Earth rather than closer to the golf course.

Taos is similar to Santa Fe but more extreme. It's richer, poorer, hipper, and artsier at a grassroots level. It has a better ski mountain, a bigger pueblo on the edge of town, and it's more intensely Northern New Mexican. 11 you don't believe me, go to Doc Martin's on a Saturday night and people watch. The patio fills with locals basking in the first warm clays of spring and enjoying the sunset - dreads and clogs sit cheek by jowl with mountain men, trust-fund dabblers, Indian couples, and low riders. Alter dinner, you might see the same mix grooving to a local act in the lobby. The night we were there, it was the Bill Hearne Trio.

A large group of tourists on an art tour queued up for dinner at 5:30 p.m., and we were right behind them. We got a cozy little nook to sit in, and our server came right away. Doc Martin's has good, casual service and good, casual fine dining; the food and the ingredients arc fresh and beautiful, but no one is putting on airs. The restaurant uses all organic flours, organic buffalo meat, fresh and wild-caught fish, and local produce in season. In a reverse of conventional restaurant wisdom, which holds that the chef usually shows his talent on the appetizers while entrees can be ho-hum, we found that Doc- Martin's Zippy White is a master of gorgeous entrees, but some of the appetizers need work.

The heavy, boring tempura of shrimp and sweet potatoes sounded like a good idea, but the thickly breaded batter overpowered, and the dipping sauces - Dijon-green Chile and pineapple firecracker - lacked the promised heat and punch; one came off as too creamy and the other as overly sweet. Wasabi-dusted scallops weren't uniformly excellent, mostly because the wasabi mashed potatoes were cold and the scallops were cut in half, which made them too thin and dry. The restaurant's famous Chile relleno, also on the menu as a main course, is crisp as all get out. Made daily in the kitchen from freshly roasted and peeled Chile, it is stuffed with creamy goat cheese. The coating of tortilla chips and salsa fresca adds crunch. Baby-spinach salad, plated by the kitchen for splitting, combines great flavors with the greens - smoky bacon, pine nuts, pear, and red grapes, and a good onion sesame vinaigrette.

White does terrific work with fish; his concepts about what will work on the plate are very sophisticated. A halibut special with sweet and savory yam-maple mashers, roasted vegetables, and a subtle pineapple buerre blanc, featured one of the freshest and most delicately cooked fish I've ever been served in New Mexico. A simple, delicious, grilled fresh albacore tuna starred with green-curry coconut sauce, rice noodles, and the vegetables du jour.

Vegetables du jour can be the equivalent of a bag of Birds Eye mixed veggies in the hands of some chefs, but at Doc's, the vegetables are first rate - fresh, perfectly cooked, and visually stunning. Small, bright spears of asparagus; baby carrots with their tiny roots tapering off and their cute little green button caps; sweet roasted red and yellow beets; perfectly steamed yellow squash and zucchini: vegetables like these cost a premium, but they arc important and honored in Whites kitchen. Hurray! A plate of grilled mixed game was excellent. Sausage du jour of veal and pheasant burst with juicy flavor; it also comes as an appetizer. Quail and brawny buffalo strip steak showed the delicate and robust ends of the game scale. Lingonbcrry red-wine sauce and duck-fat rosemary potatoes and turnips were perfect matches to the wild meat, suggesting a hunter-gatherer dish just after the tribe had learned to properly ferment grapes and wield a sauté pan.

Achiote-marinated duck breast with the same yam mashers and pear chutney arrived rosy-rare. Readers will have 10 wait until next year to try some of these dishes as they'll soon be replaced by spring-themed specials - until summer, when the menu changes again. Although the house-made baguettes are excellent, desserts arc the specialty of pastry chef Daria Cuthbertson. The pastries are a sweets-lover's fantasy: two slices of a butter)' walnut cake with Baileys ice cream and toasted walnuts; three big profiteroles filled with coffee ice cream, drizzled with melted Belgian chocolate, and topped with toasted hazelnuts; chocolate mousse cake with crème anglaise; and Musician's Tart, a thin-crusted, nutty caramelly pie. All were good to excellent, but the walnut cake and profiterole puffs suffered slightly from not being absolutely fresh. A helpful listing on the left side of the sweets menu matches desserts with complementary sweet wines.

The treat of the evening, however, was our interaction with bartender and wine buyer Craig Dunn. Doc Martins has an amazing wine cellar; originally built as a bomb shelter, it now protects four or five years of vertical stock of the best California cabernets, including Joseph Phelps Insignia and Silver Oak. Dunn saw us studying the wine list during dinner and pegged us as wine geeks. Like a man hungry for conversation after years on a desert isle, he talked with enthusiasm about the passion he has for stocking the cellar with affordable wines from all over the world. Many of the wines are marked up less than the industry norm. Wines by the glass are surprisingly economical and well chosen, and, for a small fee, diners can try a short pour of a wine to help make a decision about what to order.

Doc Martin's is the kind of place where diners feel cared for and comfortable. Servers offer good advice and know the menu well. They're friendly and they welcome you to linger and enjoy your evening. The restaurant is full of people who love food and wine - and it's only a short, gorgeous drive away. Doc Martin's Restaurant at the Taos Inn is located at 125 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, Taos, 505-758-1977