Howling good
Loyal Hound offers short pub-style menu with light meals
Loyal Hound is one of a growing number of pubs that have opened or are planning to open in Santa Fe, providing testimony to the growing popularity of good beer and unpretentious food that is often very good. At the Hound, this recipe runs to macaroni and cheese featuring local cheddar, organic meats, nachos with Colorado bison, and the likes of deep-fried Spanish olives and Marcona almonds.
The menu is short here, running to a few blueplate-style dishes classified as “comfort food,” a couple of burgers, half a dozen sandwiches and enough small snacks to satisfy most folks looking for a light meal with their artisanal beer. I’d never been here, but the Hound is a favorite of a pair of my good friends, who suggested an early dinner as a prelude to a concert.
One of my companions opted for a light meal of snacks and salad, so we started with the olives-and-almonds combo ($7) — about as light as you can get. The olives were of the sharp, green Castelvetrano variety, rolled lightly in bread crumbs and served hot from the fryer.
To add some heft to our first course, the pair also recommended the Hound’s deviled eggs ($5). That’s not a choice that appears on very many menus, but on a hot summer night, they were cool and delicious. The Hound’s variation on this Midwestern classic added a smattering of pickled jalapeño — a nice touch.
Other more caloric choices from this “small plate” list include dirty fries smothered in red wine and mushroom gravy, hot wings and even a Germanstyle soft pretzel.
Salads include a chopped-and-tossed item that draws inspiration from New Orleans’ cold-cuts-and-cheese muffaletta sandwich and a straight-ahead green toss to which you can add a wide choice of meats, including pickled shrimp. The light-meal guest opted for his favorite, the arugula salad, heavily laced with shaved fennel, avocado and pickled onions, and served up with rounds of warm, pecan-crusted goat cheese ($9.50).
At the opposite end of the caloric spectrum, my other guest went for the savory waffles topped with the Hound’s fried chicken ($14). It was really something! The lightest of Belgian-style waffles was lightly flavored with chives.
The chicken was dusted with what seemed to be a combo of panko, nuts and possibly a little red chile that formed a wonderfully crisp crust for the moist meat. But the master stroke seemed to be the combination of maple syrup (with a faint chile heat, we thought) and a nicely vinegary apple and fennel slaw served alongside. Way better than I would have imagined!
I went for the Hound’s turkey sandwich ($12.50) and can report the Hound makes an excellent variation on that deli classic, the Miles Standish. First, the turkey was sliced off the breast, satisfyingly chunky and warm from the oven. The cherryginger chutney was a nice alternative to the usual cranberry sauce. A little brie added some creaminess, balanced by the bite of horseradish in the mayonnaise.
Side choices included fries, pinto beans or peas, a side salad or one of the Hound’s two housemade slaws. I opted for the green salad, a standard mix of greens, cucumbers and tomatoes made interesting by a good blue cheese dressing. But after sampling the slaw on the waffle, I thought that might have been a better choice.
All this amounted to quite a lot of food, but we couldn’t resist sampling the Hound’s desserts. Surrounding diners seemed to favor chocolate (a brownie sundae, for example) but my Southern guests spotted beignets ($6) on the list, and for them, discussion was over. These arrived looking like oversize doughnut holes, and piping hot. The side of caramel for dipping was pronounced excellent.
We also tried the panna cotta ($6.50) — in my book, one of the perfect summer desserts. It’s colder and lighter than the custard-based crème brûlée, and you don’t have to slave over a hot saucepan or turn on an oven to make it. It goes nicely with summer fruit, too — in this case, a nicely juicy berry combo. What’s not to like?
The service at the Loyal Hound flagged a little toward the end of our meal — it took quite a while to get those beignets, although that suggested they were freshly made. We dined early — in fact, happy hour was still in effect, and the Hound was beginning to fill up as we left after 6:30 p.m. My guests, who eat here often, said it was the first time they’d been able to get a table without waiting.
Given the leisurely pace of the meal, we had plenty of time to enjoy the Hound’s uncluttered interior and its big windows, which afforded us a nice view of a monsoon deluge that fortuitously ended just as we emerged.