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 Zinc Wine Bar and Bistro, Albuquerque, NM
by Demian Ginther
 Zinc is a new addition to the upscale Nob hill neighborhood in Albuquerque. Laura and I were very excited to try it, as we love to find a new place to eat in our neighborhood. We ate there tonight, and overall, I give the restaurant a D+.
The main reason you might go to this restaurant is to peoplewatch, or perhaps if you are well known enough, to be watched by others.
Initially, our group ordered some crab cake bites (2 plates at $10 each,) an apple, pear, cheese, and sausage salad ($8,) and a seared ahi appetizer (at $15). The crabcakes came 5 to a plate with some greens, a spicy sauce and they were about the size of a silver dollar. They were tasty, if a little bit bland, but at $2 each, they were on the small side. The seared ahi was dry and tasteless, as well as having a very strange calamata olive jelly smeared on the bottom of the plate. The person eating the ahi made the comment that the flavors on the plate didn't mesh together very well and that the jelly just tasted weird. There were no comments made upon the salad.
For our main course, we ordered Beef Bouruginonne (2 plates at $17 each,) Chilean Sea Bass cooked in parchment paper (the nightly special at $20,) Half a chicken with mixed root vegetables ($16,) and Lamb Chop medallions ($17.) The beef dishes were quite good, but a little oversalted. The beef was extremely tender and the noodles were perfectly al dente. For $17, I would have liked a larger portion. The person who ordered the lamb chops medallions remarked that underneath the sauce that they were swimming in, the lamb chops were probably very good. The sea bass was the worst of the lot. The portion was large, but the fish was overcooked and very dry, and almost completely tasteless. A remark was made about being unable to get the fish chewed and swallowed within a reasonable amount of time. This dish was returned to the kitchen, and another plate of the Beef Bouruginonne was ordered.
With dinner, we ordered a bottle of 1998 Ruffino Chianti Classico Riserva Ducale ($41,) and a bottle of 2001 Montes Cabernet/Carmenere ($25). I've had the Chianti before and it was again a wonderful treat. Big and bold with lots of complexity, it went very well with my beef dish. The waiter arrived late with the Montes Cab, and he uncorked it and offered it to one of our party. At first, we thought the wine needed some time to breathe, but as it turned out, the mildewy wet newspaper smell of the wine was not merely the alcohol content, it was indeed a 'corked' bottle of wine.
The Sea Bass and the Montes Cabernet were comped to our table, however, the replacement beef dish was not. In my opinion, when the original dish is not acceptable, there should be no charge for it's replacement.
The service was very good, our waiter was attentive and deserved his 20% tip. He accepted our complaints with a smile and sent the owner over to check our bottle of Montes. He could have been a little faster with refilling water and bringing the second bottle of wine, but overall he was quite good.
The total tab for the evening was $173 before tip, and $213 and some change after. For this kind of money, we had a very mediocre experience overall. I think it will be a while before we return to this restaurant, maybe by then they will have worked out some of their kinks.
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