by Adele Oliveira on
WOLF ’N’ SWALLOW HAS only been open since August, yet the pink-painted, plant-filled wine bar in downtown Albuquerque already has the aura of an established neighborhood favorite.
On a typical evening, the spot’s husband-and-wife owners, Ryan Houlihan (aka Chef Houla) and Jennifer Jane, can be found in the kitchen and behind the bar, respectively. An eclectic mix of patrons enjoys small plates, such as deviled eggs topped with chili crisp and caviar, and unusual sips—orange wine from Slovenia or a Japanese umami IPA brewed with bonito flakes. With a menu stacked with fresh, Cajun-inflected takes on classic hors d’oeuvres; a rotating cast of larger plate specials like steak frites and fried catfish for Lent; and one of the most ambitious natural wine programs in the state, Wolf ’n’ Swallow attracts seasoned foodies and the culinarily curious alike.
“People get really excited about the caviar,” Jane says. So the kitchen always offers three sustainable varieties at different price points. “We change it up a lot,” she says, noting that first-timers are often surprised by the variety and accessibility. “It’s neat because they expect it to be this bougie, unobtainable thing.”
That sense of approachability extends from the menu and wine list to the cozy dining room, which features a charming wall of porcelain plates. It’s a bit like having snacks at your most stylish friend’s house, where sardines in olive oil, smoked Chilean mussels, and house-made chicken liver pâté served with fresh potato chips all delightfully mingle.
Jane directs the wine program, which showcases natural and biodynamic bottles from the U.S. and around the world, with a particular focus on women winemakers and brewers. Most of the wines on the list, she says, lean bright and acidic to balance the richness of the dishes, like the restaurant’s hot, buttery oysters, broiled in their own tin under a bed of breadcrumbs and served with sliced lemon, crostini, and a tiny bottle of Tabasco.
The couple met in New Orleans in 2012, where Houlihan was working as a bartender and wooed Jane by cooking her dinner one evening. “He made me this amazing Massaman curry, and I saw him turn into this different person,” Jane recalls. “He lit up and was able to express himself in a way I hadn’t seen before.”
During the COVID-19 lockdown, the pair leaned into homesteading, spending their time baking bread, churning butter, growing vegetables, pickling, preserving, fermenting, and learning to make charcuterie. In 2021, they relocated to Albuquerque, where Jane has family ties and had previously worked in the hair department for Breaking Bad. They started an outdoor pop-up series centered on colossal charcuterie boards. “It was fun because we were still learning and figuring out what worked,” she recalls.
The irreverent, experimental spirit of those early pop-ups still shapes Wolf ’n’ Swallow’s playful brand of what they call “chaos cuisine.” And the restaurant’s name? “It was us with a bottle of wine and a thesaurus trying to come up with a fun way to describe eating,” Jane says. “Because it’s fun for us, too, to play around. We won’t get bored because there’s always more wine and there’s always more food.”