November 14, 2013 (Albuquerque, NM) – On Friday, November 15, Hotel Andaluz will celebrate the grand opening of MÁS, the hotel’s full-service restaurant and tapas bar. Coupled with the opening, Hotel Andaluz will welcome award-winning Chef James Campbell Caruso as he officially begins his role as Chef of MÁS.
“I am looking forward to presenting this traditional-based, but modern Spanish cuisine to Albuquerque, as well as the surrounding cities,” said Chef James Campbell Caruso. “I think guests will really enjoy the way in which the new dishes and atmosphere at the restaurant compliment the property. I’m excited to be heading up a restaurant in a hotel with such a rich history.”
With the opening of MÁS comes a new design and a new menu to Hotel Andaluz’s premier restaurant, which takes the place of the hotel’s previous award-winning Lucia restaurant. The hotel’s lobby bar has undergone a massive expansion that opens it up into MÁS, with custom built wine storage throughout. Included in the bar expansion is additional lounge seating, featuring imported European furnishings. To accentuate the Spanish atmosphere, MÁS has been repainted and has seen the addition of rock and glass décor wrapping around the existing columns in the restaurant. Community tables have been added, and great detail has also gone into the lighting of the new restaurant.
All dishes at MÁS are variations of traditional Spanish cuisine, and many ingredients are sourced locally in New Mexico. The menu features over twenty varieties of tapas, such as Grilled Artichokes with Spanish goat cheese and mint, Smoked Salmon Nachos, Seared Sea Scallops, and Flat Iron Steak with sea salt caramel sauce, among others. In addition to tapas, MÁS features flatbreads, soup and salads, entrees and desserts.
“Chef Caruso is delivering an authentic Spanish-based dining experience to the Albuquerque dining scene,” said Gary Goodman, Owner of Hotel Andaluz. “We have been thrilled to have him on board through this process of opening a new restaurant at the hotel, and are confident he will lead MÁS to become one of the main attractions among Albuquerque restaurants.”
About James Campbell Caruso
James Campbell Caruso is the chef and owner of La Boca and Taberna restaurants in Santa Fe, which have been acclaimed by the New York Times, the Food Network, Travel and Leisure and Esquire. He is the author of Espana: Exploring the Flavors of Spain and El Farol: Tapas and Spanish Cuisine. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife Leslie Campbell. Leslie is a pastry chef and will also be involved in MAS. A native of Norwood, Massachusetts, James Campbell Caruso was “home-schooled” in cooking and eating Mediterranean foods in his large Italian-American family. Moving to New Mexico in 1988 inspired him to learn more about Latin American and Spanish foods, which he did through experience, research, and cooking tours of Mexico and Spain.
About Hotel Andaluz
A leader in eco-friendly hotels, Hotel Andaluz has a rich history in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. The fourth hotel ever built by Conrad Hilton, Hotel Andaluz was returned to its former glory in 2009 by current owner and local resident Gary Goodman. Ho