Chef Joseph Wrede of Taos, New Mexico Goes Green
Joseph's Table Restaurant Serves Locally Produced and Organic Food
Aug 11, 2009
“The world is our country, cooking good food our religion, organic and wild our mission” is Taos, New Mexico Chef Joseph Wrede’s motto.
Chef Joseph tries to keep his restaurant, Joseph’s Table (and the other three kitchens he oversees), as natural as possible. Joseph’s Table is located in the historic Hotel La Fonda on the Taos Plaza—right next to the gallery with D.H. Lawrence’s ‘erotic’ paintings. Actor Dennis Hopper can often be seen eating there.
Chef Joseph Wrede of Joseph's Table
Joseph Wrede was selected by Food & Wine Magazine as one of the “Best New Chefs” in 2000 and recently he was selected best chef in The Taos News’ Best of Taos 2009.
Wrede was born in Phoenix, AZ in 1966 and was educated at Peter Kump's New York Cooking School in Manhattan. He started his career at Denver’s Highlands Garden Cafe and Aubergine Café.
He wanted to be a chef because “There were a lot of restaurants in our neighborhood. I remember walking down a street in summertime, hearing noise and plates and silverware, and people talking and laughing, and thinking, That's where I want to be." Now he claims that if he weren’t a chef, he would be a poet.
Chef Joseph's Philosophy
Wrede, who ran his Taos kitchen well enough to receive national accolades and honors as well as rave reviews relates in his essay Looking a Cow in the Eye, “I do know this: ingredients, timing, and technique dictate the quality of a meal. Timing and technique can be learned, therefore they can be taught to the members of my kitchen brigades. But as for the ingredients...These days all the large food companies have handsome food, but they still deliver by long-distance semis and the opening and closing of those truck doors cause microclimate changes along the route from farm, to warehouse, to restaurant door. The result is stressed fruits and vegetables with taste undertones that are reminiscent of water from the backyard faucet. These companies' default solution is to deliver under-ripe products, which lowers their liability for losses but increases the likelihood of chefs serving foods with underdeveloped flavors and getting bad reviews.”
So Wrede, “decided that to improve the quality of food in my restaurant I would buy from local farmers, where there's rarely a middleman and specifications are more likely to be met... My latest solution has been to grow my own herbs, vegetables, and fruits. I'm in the fortunate position to be partners with a ranching family that has plenty of space for growing fruits and vegetables. At the very least I can stop paying for the marketing expenses and delivery fees of those large food companies. And the best part is that I can gain some control over the quality of my ingredients while taking responsibility for the growing and harvesting of the food I serve.”
The Challenge of Overseeing Four Kitchens
Wrede now oversees four kitchens, one of which is in Denver, the others in Taos, New Mexico which he says is “a hell of a challenge.” It seems that Chef Joseph is meeting that challenge and getting rave reviews while doing it.
Joseph’s Table
108A South Taos Plaza
Taos, New Mexico
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