Campo showcases locally sourced food in a matchless setting

The hits keep coming for Campo at Los Poblanos.

In April, the restaurant was named a finalist in the James Beard Awards for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages program. This honor follows multiple Beard nominations for Best Chef Southwest, along with scores of mentions in national publications and leading travel websites.

The fact that all this has happened in a relatively short time makes it even more remarkable. Campo opened in 2017 as the showcase restaurant of Los Poblanos, the farm and hotel that opened as a bed and breakfast in 1999. Penny and Armin Rembe purchased half of the property in 1976, then secured the other half after it went up for sale in 1999. The Rembes elevated their son Matthew to the role of executive director in 2004, and he continues to run the place to this day.

The kitchen flourished under the direction of Jonathan Perno, a perennial Beard nominee for Best Chef Southwest. In 2022, New Mexico native Christopher Bethoney took over as executive chef and promptly earned his own nomination for Best Chef Southwest.

There is no bad time to visit Campo, but its charms are particularly notable in the early summer as the evenings grow long and the cottonwoods that shade the main drive burst with green. The heat hasn’t yet become assaultive and the fields around the restaurant — campo means “field” in Spanish — are starting to yield the vegetables, herbs and botanicals that turn up in many of the dishes.

I visited on a recent Saturday night after making reservations about a month in advance. Even that far out, most of the slots were booked. You must provide a credit card number at the time of booking, and you will get charged if you pull a no-show without canceling.

The restaurant occupies a wooden, pitched-roof structure that was once part of the dairy farm. To reach it, walk from the parking lot toward the two circa-1934 silos, take a right and you’ll be at the entrance.

After checking in at the host station, we were escorted through the lively bar to a small table for two in the corner of the dining room. Booths line one side of the space; tables fill the rest. The decor is farmhouse chic, with splashes of tile and ornately carved wood throughout. A mix of couples and large parties filled the dining room. The sounds of their conversation rocketed around the hard surfaces.

The once paltry wine list has expanded to about 30 pages under the supervision of Wine Director Dylan Storment. New Mexico wines take center stage, with a dizzying variety of wines from California and Europe filling out the list. Each dish on the menu has a recommended wine pairing.

As impressive as the wine list is, it is gin that is the lifeblood of Campo. Gin is a neutral spirit that gets its flavor from botanicals like juniper berries, herbs and flowers. Los Poblanos turns out a lavender and a dry version that are quite complex, with many different botanicals adding to the flavor. They are terrific as both aperitifs and palate cleansers.

An assortment of gin-based cocktails tops the drinks menu. The Lavender ’99 Gin ($18) is supplemented with Crème de Violette, lavender syrup, lemon and sparkling wine. Served in a stemless wine glass, the dark purple drink was fizzy, flowery and potent.

The Cocktail of the Season, another gin-based drink called Back in the Saddle ($16), is a showcase for the farm’s Western Dry Gin and bitters. The sunset orange drink was served in a coupe glass lined with the farm’s Rose Cocktail Rimming Sugar and decorated with a sprig of lavender. Its prettiness belied a spicy, powerful heart, the dryness relieved with apricot, lemon and honey.

The meal began with a tasty amuse-bouche of whipped asparagus topped with a chive flower and served on decorative spoons propped up on a plate.

Appetizers run from an $8 House-made Pickle Jar to a $34 Nosh Board consisting of house-made charcuterie and artisanal cheeses. The Soup of Day was posole.

The dressing for the Lemon Za’atar Salad ($15), one of two salads on the menu, paired the nutty, earthy Middle Eastern spice blend with umami-laden preserved lemon. Lumps of locally produced Mavis’ goat cheese, radishes and shreds of asparagus completed the dish. To accommodate a gluten-free diner, the kitchen split the salad onto two plates and put the Sonoran wheat focaccia croutons on a third plate. This was an outstanding salad, with just the right amount of bright and snappy dressing coating the greens.

Campo’s pasta is made from scratch with local grains. In the Peppercorn Lamb Pappardelle ($44), New Mexico fungi mushrooms and crispy shreds of lamb topped the shallow bowl of long, flat noodles. Mixed in with the springy pasta were big hunks of braised Shepherd’s Lamb from northern New Mexico that were rich and tender. Vella Dry Jack Cheese, almost Parmesan-like in its flavor, gave the sauce a tangy punch. The portion size was easily enough for two full meals. A hearty dish perhaps more appropriate for the cooler months.

The recommended wine for this dish was a Ruth Lewandowski Sangiovese ($9), a natural red wine from California. The high acidity and dried cherry notes worked beautifully with the lamb pappardelle, complementing it while cutting its richness.

Among the five entrees, Spring Allium Risotto ($34) with crispy sunchoke, goat cheese and black garlic was most fitting for the season. Alliums are bulbous plants that include onion, garlic and chives. The alliums imparted a pale green color and a slight oniony flavor to the risotto. Slices of sunchoke, a root vegetable that registers somewhere between a potato and an artichoke, topped the dish. The rice was firm, not mushy, and the goat cheese amplified its creaminess while bringing some pungency to all the starch.

The separate dessert menu has six options priced from $5 to $14. Apple Cider Flan, one of the gluten-free options, arrived as a slice of eggy custard in caramel sauce with a topping of diced local apples. Hoja Santa, nicknamed the “root beer plant,” added a faint anise flavor to the scoop of ice cream on top. The flavors worked together well, even if they were more evocative of the fall.

Outside a couple of slow stretches, service was efficient. Different staff members delivered the food. Our server was friendly and, though relatively new to the job, knew the menu well.

The true capper to any meal at Campo is a walk around the grounds. Breathe in the flowery scents, spot the peacocks and guinea hens and admire the John Gaw Meem-designed buildings. Take your time. When you’re in a setting like this, why hurry back to the real world?

Campo showcases locally sourced food in a matchless setting