Review of Ice's Tea Room at Ices Organic Farm in Los Luceros, New Mexico

Visiting Ice's Tea Room (located on Ice's Organic Farm) requires a 35-mile drive from Santa Fe to the tiny village of Los Luceros, just past Alcalde on the low road to Taos. The Ices sell produce from their three-plus acres at farmers markets in Santa Fe and Los Alamos. Gayle Ice had always been a fan of tearooms and converted her house's closed-in porch into seating for about a dozen guests.

She knows what an old-fashioned tearoom should look like: damask tablecloths, small plates (Royal Doulton), tiny spoons for the preserves, pretty napkin rings, and silver goblets, which she filled with cranberry/grape juice when we sat down. Outside the window were pots of flowers and herbs and hummingbirds busy with their own lunch. The tearoom is open only the three midweek days - the Ices have a farm to run - and by reservation only; they prepare food for just the number of people they expect.

There's tea, of course, iced or hot, black, green, or fruit-flavored. We had refreshing iced-peach and raspberry non caffeinated teas. We began with a plate of deviled eggs, stuffed cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, and sugar snap peas accompanied by a dilly dip. The sugar snaps, Gayle Ice told us, were the last of the season,* picked that morning. There was zucchini-and-pear bread and cream cheese with red-chile jelly. Almost everything is grown on the farm. She apologized for the store-bought tomatoes. (It's still too early for home-grown.) Next, a salad of just-picked lettuces came dressed with the farm's own vinegar, along with tiny moist scones and homemade wheat bread. This was followed by raspberry, lemon, lime, and mulberry sherbets 1 couldn't immediately identify the mulberry, unsurprising since I hadn't had any in 30 years.

Then came big plates of finger sandwiches: sliced radishes, cucumbers sliced literally paper thin, and chicken-salad sandwiches in the shape of little teapots. There was also a mini-casserole of hot shrimp. We finished with homemade vanilla ice cream and mulberry sauce.

We had arrived at 2 and left a little before 4. Our visit included a short tour of the farm and a stop at the gift shop where homemade vinegars and preserves are sold. I went home with ajar of mulberry jam. Ice's Tea Room is located at Ice's Organic Farm, Road 1097 in Los Luceros, New Mexico; 505-852-2389