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Still leveling up: Fine cuisine with unmatched views
When Sean Sinclair took over last year as executive chef at Level 5, the restaurant atop Hotel Chaco near Old Town, he had some big shoes to fill.
Sinclair’s predecessor Marc Quiñones created a buzz during his brief tenure at Level 5 with his use of New Mexican flavors filtered through his Dominican and Puerto Rican roots. His efforts made him a 2024 James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef Southwest before he left to take over the kitchen at Ex Novo Brewing Company Downtown.
It was a tough act to follow, but Sinclair has proven up to the task. A Tijeras native and Cordon Bleu graduate, Sinclair first came to local attention as head chef of Farm & Table. Since taking over at Level 5 last summer, he has earned rave reviews and recently followed Quiñones as a James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef Southwest. Having Best Chef semifinalists in consecutive years is a remarkable feat for any restaurant.
Sinclair has said he relishes the opportunity to cook at a rooftop spot that offers matchless views of the city. That excitement was evident on a recent Saturday night, when the chef circled the dining room checking the place settings and chatting with diners.
Sinclair’s vision, as he elucidated to us during dinner, is to connect the dining experience at Level 5 with the history and people of Chaco Canyon, a major Native American cultural center in northern New Mexico that reached its peak 1,000 years ago. As part of that effort, Sinclair deploys pre-Columbian ingredients like pumpkin, corn, beans and squash in his dishes. Whenever possible, he uses herbs and vegetables grown at the restaurant’s onsite garden. He told us there are plans to add a second garden to an adjacent rooftop.
Level 5 is located on the top floor of the hotel across the street from Sawmill Market. It’s a busy area but parking is amply available on the streets and in lots around the hotel.
The indoor dining area adjacent to the bar is decorated in subdued earth tones. The much larger space on the patio features couches and chairs set around fire pits looking out on the Sandias to the east.
Level 5 is open for dinner seven days a week and brunch on Saturday and Sunday. We made a reservation for two at 6 p.m. Saturday night through Open Table and were seated inside at one of the two-top tables set along the curving wall. The accordion doors that separate the dining room from the patio were open when we arrived, but staffers closed them when the sun went down and the temperature cooled.
The drinks menu features an extensive wine list mostly from California and Europe. There are plenty of bottles affordably priced in the $40 to $60 range, unless you’d rather drop $550 on a bottle of Dom Perignon 2015.
The cocktails menu is divided up into four signature selections for $15 each and five classics for $15 to $17. The Botanist ($15), one of the signature drinks, is a twist on a gin and tonic that pairs Botanist Gin from Scotland with kombucha made by a local operation called New Mexico Ferments. Served in a stemless glass, the pink-colored drink was tart and a little fizzy, with the kombucha slightly overpowering the gin.
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Starters are broken up into snacks and appetizers. The five snack selections run from $6 for ABQ Style Popcorn, a mix of Chimayó red chile kettle corn and green chile cheddar corn, to $20 for a Colorouge Tart with pear, blueberry and cream cheese.
Based on a look around the dining room and patio, the most popular of the six appetizers appears to be the Chicken Wings ($16) tossed in Chimayó red chile and served with house-made buttermilk sauce and crudités. Several parties shared this around the fire pits on the patio.
We opted for the Sweet Potato Soup ($14) with apple puree, sweet cream, maple syrup, cayenne, pumpkin seeds and savory buñuelo, a fried dough fritter. The soup was served in a big, steep-sided bowl. Normally, the buñuelo sits on top of the soup, but we had it on the side to accommodate a gluten-free diner. Given all the sweet ingredients listed, the first spoonful of the soup took me by surprise, as it had a real kick from the cayenne. I quickly got used to it and really enjoyed the soup. The crunchy, flower-shaped buñuelo was pretty to look at and quite tasty, especially when dipped in the soup.
Clothbound Cheddar Fondue ($17), another appetizer, is a departure from the melted-cheese-and-croutons version you get at restaurants like the Melting Pot. In chef Sinclair’s incarnation, the cheddar cheese from Wisconsin-based Deer Creek is whipped to a fluffy consistency. Like the name indicates, the cheese is clothbound, meaning the wheels of cheese curds are wrapped in cheesecloth instead of plastic, allowing a more complex flavor to develop. This was a very successful dish, the sharp cheese balanced with the sweetness of the apples and the three sticks of crisp brioche that serve as implements for scooping it up.
The six entrees priced from $29 to $56 include black cod, trout, duck and confit suckling pig. A seventh entree, USDA Prime Ramon Perez Ranch Beef raised in Vaughn, is listed at Market Price. The night we were there, the two cuts available were skirt steak and New York strip.
The Grilled Half Chicken & Hominy ($35) displayed the complexity of chef Sinclair’s dishes. The chicken arrived cut up on a rimmed plate that was dazzlingly colored with posole verde broth speckled and framed with red chile oil. The chicken was smoky and juicy with some crisp skin on it, and the thick broth studded with hominy was lively with spice. Sliced avocado helped cool the heat. It’s one of the best chicken dishes in the city.
The entree of Tres Tamalitos ($29) was even more complex. The three small tamales stuffed with spaghetti squash and green chile were set over an Anasazi bean salad and layers of black bean puree and salsa verde. A nest of fried tortilla strips on top provided some crunch. Like the chicken, this dish was generously apportioned and had lots of heat. My only complaint was that some of the roasted winter squash was leathery.
The dessert menu has five items ranging in price from $12 for the Sorbet Trio to $18 for Pear Sticky Toffee Pudding. We tried the Campfire Pot de Crème ($16), a nod to s’mores that combines dark chocolate with a graham cookie and housemade toasted marshmallows. The marshmallows effectively cut the dense, rich chocolate, even if they were a little too gummy.
Our server was friendly and displayed an impressive knowledge of the menu. The pace of service slowed as the night wore on, and we were there almost two hours in all. Not that we minded all that much. It was enjoyable to talk with chef Sinclair and pleasant to watch the sun set and the lights coming on all over the city.
Under Sinclair’s direction, Level 5 offers food that matches its views. The menu has enough variety for a special night out or a casual hangout with friends.
