The Restaurant Pad Formerly Occupied by Cedar Salad, in Cedar Crest, New Mexico.  Do you like a long menu?  You'll love this place.  A full page of seafood, a full page of dead cloven-hoofed animals, a full page of birds.  Their wine list is growing, but their beer list is short.  Soup and salad is always included, as are your choice of several veggies.

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We ordered the Talus chardonnay 1996 from Sonoma.  I lack the vocabulary, but it was a good wine.  Our entrees, however, would have been better complemented by a more robust selection.

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The house offered a lobster tail as a side dish.  We split one as an appetizer.  It was excellent.

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Their soups are excellent.  The beef and barley was fine; the beef was finely ground but not skimpy; the result was reminiscent of an oxtail base. The broth's consistency from the rendered barley was perfect.  The clam chowder was even better.

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The salads pass Mirhaxa's fork test, and are good.  You get your choice from two grated sins to sprinkle on top.

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Good warm bread.

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Two and a half pound chunk of duck in a Grand Marnier, flamed at your table. 'Nuff said.

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The rainbow trout, sadly, was kinda fishy.  The "light, white wine cream sauce" was too healthy to mask it.  Extra salt and lemon weren't enough to redeem it.

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Baby carrots were good; unfortunately, the snap peas didn't.  Guess they have to cater to different tastes on that side of the mountain.

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Four courses and wine came out to $30 a head.