I ate rattlesnake at Mesa Verde.
It sounds like a pitch for a Halloween horror show, but when I was offered a bite at the Metate Room in Mesa Verde's Far View Lodge, I was pretty sure I heard the chef say "rattlesnake-infested sausage." What I ate was rattlesnake-and-pheasant sausage. It tasted nothing like chicken. It was delicious.
It takes a commitment to drive to Mesa Verde National Park because it isn't a stone's throw from wherever you might live. Yet every time I go, I ask myself why I don't visit more often. The Metate Room, the park's premiere restaurant, is an additional half hour from the park entrance, in the Far View Lodge.
Despite the drape of haze that hung from the sky that day, there are few perspectives that can beat the jaw-dropping vistas as you wind your way up to the Far View Lodge at 7,600 feet. The word "breathtaking" is overused, but there's no better word to describe the views as you climb each switchback.
"Destination" is another word overused to describe just about any product or service, from grocery stores to campgrounds, that offer everything a consumer might want or need. The Metate Room arguably falls into the category of a destination restaurant. While not a guarantee of a seamless experience, it's worth piling into the SUV for a dining opportunity you are likely to savor not just for the food, but for the fun of getting there.
Most people do not go to national parks to eat. Destination dining is more closely associated with Michelin Guide restaurants with long waitlists for tables that are reserved months in advance by guests eager to witness the creative genius of a renowned chef.
The Metate Room doesn't have a waitlist, although it is likely to be full during peak tourist season, so a reservation is a good idea. Open for dinner from April to October (this year through Oct. 24), the Metate Room is managed by Aramark, a global food corporation with 270,000 employees in 21 countries.
More than 60 years ago, Aramark first served the aviation industry with vending machines, but it is now more commonly associated with institutional food services in health care, prisons and public education.
Aramark also has a lesser-known leisure and recreation division that holds nine contracts with the National Park Service, including the hospitality and food and beverage programs at Denali and Yosemite National Parks, Glacier Bay Park and Preserve, Olympic National Park and Glen Canyon and Lake Meade National Recreation Areas. You'll eat Aramark food at Pikes Peak, the Hearst Castle and Gettysburg National Military Park, too.
The Metate Room's executive chef, Derek Fontenot, has formal training in classical French cuisine. A native of southern Louisiana whose family settled there in the early 1700s, Fontenot is among the first generation of his family to speak English as a first language. He has spent the past decade refining and expanding his culinary and management skills in diverse kitchen environments, including Louisiana fry shacks, bistros, beach resorts and conference centers.
This is Fontenot's first season at Mesa Verde, what he calls his "inherited year," in which he's free to tweak things but not to make broad changes to menu or staffing. He has been working to increase the number of fresh, local and sustainable offerings, not an easy feat when food delivery trucks make the trek up the switchbacks only twice a week. But the Metate Room's menu still offers a wide range of choices.
The Southwestern regional influence is apparent. Squash, beans and corn are paired with Hatch green chiles, red pepper coulis, poblanos, prickly pear and pine nuts. You'll see Dove Creek black beans, jicama, cremini mushrooms, pico de gallo and cilantro enhancing popular favorites such as beef tenderloin, wild-caught salmon, pork, trout, duck, shrimp, pasta and New York strip steaks.
I sampled the elk shepherd's pie - sliced elk tenderloin with regional vegetables atop chipotle mashed potatoes with caramelized sweet onions and ancho demi-glace. Its straightforward name does not do this excellent dish justice. The tortilla-crusted chicken with poblano cream, red pepper coulis, black bean corn salsa and cilantro rice was just as good.
The Nanescatha flatbread combines black bean hummus with mushrooms, Cotija cheese, pico de gallo and red pepper coulis. The bread basket includes two types of house-made pita bread - corn and chipotle and a European-style focaccia.
Baking good bread at sea level is one thing, but mastering it at high altitude is trickier, and baker Dele Mercer nailed it. He also did an impressive job with the Cliff Palace dessert, a Southwestern play on cannoli made with fried tortillas, chocolate chips, cream and berries, all beautifully presented with a mint garnish.
I have no idea who nabbed the rattlesnake for the sausage, but the guy who pulled it from the freezer assured me it was from a New Mexico sausage supplier and not something I might encounter anywhere near the asphalt parking lot. (I was about to make up a story that it was a talking rattlesnake that first complained that the ancestral Puebloans built their dwellings too far from the highway, but I will stop myself here.)