I recently visited with Executive Chef, Jonathan Perno at Los Poblanos Farm. A native New Mexican, Jonathan trained at the California Culinary Academy and spent time at Postrio under Wolfgang Puck, Splendido and Alain Rondelli in San Francisco, Sweet Basil in Vail, Colorado, Splendido at The Château in Beaver Creek, Colorado, and Metropolitan in Salt Lake City, Utah. His résumé also includes the requisite European culinary tour, a return visit to work at La Tante Claire in London.
In addition, he spent a year in Berkley, California at an organic farm learning raised bed farming.
Jonathan is the perfect fit for Los Poblanos. His first few months here found him doing everything from harvesting honey from our bees for his homemade chocolates to preparing a 6-course chef’s meal for an anniversary dinner for 75. He is a strong advocate of the Farm to Table philosophy and the Slow Food Movement. While he’s absolutely content to let the fresh ingredients take all the credit, Jonathan has already impressed the most critical of foodies with his own unique perspective on food.
The Los Poblanos land was originally inhabited by the Anasazi (ancient pueblo Indians) in the 14th century. Many of the original settlers in this area were thought to have come from Puebla, Mexico, a citizen of which is called a “Poblano.” The land became part of the Elena Gallegos land grant around 1716. The original ranch land was owned by Ambrosio and Juan Cristobal Armijo through the 19th century but was reassembled by Albert and Ruth Simms in the 1930s. Los Poblanos today encompasses the original headquarters of the 800-acre ranch owned by the Congressman, Albert Simms, and his wife, Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms that extended to the crest of the Sandia Mountains. Our historic inn was their private residence and the center of operations of their dairy, farming, nursery, art businesses, and dynamic cultural and educational endeavors. In 1932, Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms commissioned architect John Gaw Meem and numerous WPA artists and craftsmen to renovate the ranch house and create the Cultural Center for political and community events and recreation with gardens designed by Rose Greeley.… Read More