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Dine like royalty: The Crown Room returns with new chef, revamped menu, elevated ambiance
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After a five-year closure, The Crown Room inside The Downs Racetrack and Casino is ready to welcome diners.
The restaurant closed during the pandemic and opened less than a handful of times for holidays such as Thanksgiving.
Diners are so eager to return to the restaurant that its Valentine’s Day dinner is completely sold out. However, diners can enjoy the luxurious experience without breaking their budget every weekend after Feb. 14. The restaurant will be open from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
“I want food that’s not too snobby,” said Angela Boone, executive chef. “I want food that is very elevated, but that people are familiar enough with that if it’s a little different, they will still love it.”
Traditional favorites meet contemporary cravings is one way to describe The Crown Room menu.
“I think we’re having a little more traditional items in there like bananas Foster and some traditional stuff, but with some new, innovative stuff,” Boone said. “Not necessarily fusion, just a little twist to things that people are already sort of familiar with.”
Some of the main features will include jumbo lump crab beignets and Chilean sea bass, as well as steak offerings including rib-eye, wagyu New York strip and a picanha cut. The menu will also offer vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options.
“(The picanha cut is) a little bit more affordable than a filet or a rib-eye, but that way we have four levels of beef offerings to give our customer,” Boone explained.
Boone’s culinary background is homegrown.
“I did live in New Mexico for 20 years,” she said. “I lived in Velarde for 10 (years), and 10 (years) in Rio Rancho, and then I moved to California for 10 (years), and then Washington state for three (years), and then just came back here a year ago to live near my kids and my grandkids.”
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Boone, who has a long history with Marriott hotels, said everything she learned was hands-on in high volume and low volume restaurants. She also worked outside the kitchen, in the front of the house, as a server, bartender and manager. Before moving to California, Boone made salsa, pickles and jams, under the company name Adobe Kitchen. She would sell her products out of her van and at the farmers market in Santa Fe. One year, she took second place for best salsa at the New Mexico State Fair. However, her experience in California is where she cut her culinary chops.
“I think California gave me invaluable experiences I never would have gotten had I stayed here,” she said. “I think that’s a big part of the development of my career, and expanding my knowledge, and horizons that I can now bring back here.”
The Crown Room offers a wine program that includes some rare selections such as a 2009 Lokoya cabernet sauvignon, a limited vintage Brunello di Montalcino and an Inglenook Rubicon 2009. High-end whiskey, cognac, tequila and more are also available.
“We got really lucky, because when they first originally opened this place, about 10 plus years ago, they brought in some really great wines at the time, unknowing if it was going to be a good wine year or not,” said Wade Ridley, food and beverage director and in-house wine sommelier. “With the restaurant having closed for five plus years, those wines didn’t sell. The only thing they did is appreciate in value. So we have big wines that have appreciated in value that you really can’t get anywhere else, especially for sale in the vintage and years that we have.”
The wine list also includes exceptional wines at approachable price points.
“We want to make these wines available to everyone at affordable prices as well,” Ridley said. “That way, when you come in and enjoy a steak, you can actually afford a bottle of wine too. We don’t want to, in any way, shape or form, let people feel like they are excluded from this experience.”
To add to the ambience of The Crown Room, an elaborate chandelier hangs in the center of the dining room. The chandelier was previously owned by Edward L. Romero, of Albuquerque, who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Spain and Andorra from 1998 and 2001.
“The previous owner was the ambassador to Spain, Ed Romero,” said Reta Jones, chief financial officer and acting chief operating officer for The Downs Racetrack and Casino. “He received that as a gift, I think, from the king of Spain, which we understand its prominence.”
A large piece by American artist, LeRoy Neiman, welcomes guests as they enter The Crown Room. Eight original pieces by Neiman decorate the lounge and dining areas. The works are on loan from Albuquerque native, Mike Abraham, who is one of the largest collectors of Neiman’s work in the world. Abraham is also one of the largest horse breeders in the country, according to Jones.
“He just fell in love with Neiman’s work and started collecting,” Jones said. “... (Neiman) was certainly a well-recognized American artist and had a lot of success. He did a lot of what they call Americana art and people art. He did like animals, human beings, situations, racing. He was a remarkable gentleman as well.”
