It's been soooo long since I got back from New Mexico, I wonder if I'll even remember all the food experiences we had there. Also considering the fact that I've been avoiding thinking about the trip all together, I'm not sure I'll remember anything good about it - but that's a different post for a different blog :)
The big food experience I was looking forward to in New Mexico was in Santa Fe. I had done my research, read reviews and done due diligence... or so I thought. Our first dinner in Santa Fe was supposed to be in the restaurant at the Inn of the Anasazi. All the tripadvisor reviews raved about it being one of the best restaurants Santa Fe has to offer. What the reviews didn't tell me though was that a. this place is fancy! and b. It doesn't have a single vegetarian dish on it's menu. Fancy I can take... but when fancy means a plate of boiled vegetables thrown together to look pretty, I can't. So, we walked out of there, and went to, of all places, a Thai restaurant, Ginja! Definitely not what I had in mind for an authentic Santa Fe dining experience... but I have to say, the food was really good.
The next day, after the fiasco of the previous night, I was beginning to doubt my restaurant shortlist. Should we go to Pasqual's which in addition to being on tripadvisor was also recommended by my clay teacher, Shelley. Or should we settle for the french crepe place on the square. Decisions... decisions.. I tell you, I have a tough life. In the end, we decided to take our chances on Pasqual's, and sure enough it was an awesome place. The waitress knew a few words in hindi, the decor was funky and they had some really interesting breakfast items. Overall definitely worth a visit if you are in Santa Fe.
Hmmm... so the rest of the trip is a little hazy in my head... selective amnesia? The only thing I seem to remember is the restaurant in El Paso, Texas. It was the last evening of our trip... and there was really no better way to spend it than drinking margarita's, listening to a Spanish band and eating authentic mexican food. Los Bandidos de Carlos & Mickey's, is the name of the restaurant, and if you are ever in El Paso, it's definitely worth a visit. The restaurant is huge, and looks to be immensely popular, we were there for close to 3 hours that evening, and it was packed throughout. The band was really cute... they played these obscure spanish songs that none of us had heard of, Nilu totally embarrassed them by requesting La Bamba, but they obliged. And got a roaring round of applause from us, and one other guy at the bar :)
Ohhh wait... there are some more hazy details resurfacing. The first restaurant we went to on this trip was in Chimayo - Leona's restuarant. It's right outside the Chimayo chapel. Run by Leona, it was this really cozy restaurant, couple of tables, completely unpretentious, with some really good food.
And of course there was Bamboo Garden - Carlsbad's finest Chinese restuarant, right next to the bowling alley where Nilu scored her highest bowling score (with no help whatsoever from the side rails ;-)).
I guess that's enough rambling about New Mexico... in a nutshell though, the two places I would really recommend are Pasqual's in Santa Fe, and the mexican place in Texas.
The big food experience I was looking forward to in New Mexico was in Santa Fe. I had done my research, read reviews and done due diligence... or so I thought. Our first dinner in Santa Fe was supposed to be in the restaurant at the Inn of the Anasazi. All the tripadvisor reviews raved about it being one of the best restaurants Santa Fe has to offer. What the reviews didn't tell me though was that a. this place is fancy! and b. It doesn't have a single vegetarian dish on it's menu. Fancy I can take... but when fancy means a plate of boiled vegetables thrown together to look pretty, I can't. So, we walked out of there, and went to, of all places, a Thai restaurant, Ginja! Definitely not what I had in mind for an authentic Santa Fe dining experience... but I have to say, the food was really good.
The next day, after the fiasco of the previous night, I was beginning to doubt my restaurant shortlist. Should we go to Pasqual's which in addition to being on tripadvisor was also recommended by my clay teacher, Shelley. Or should we settle for the french crepe place on the square. Decisions... decisions.. I tell you, I have a tough life. In the end, we decided to take our chances on Pasqual's, and sure enough it was an awesome place. The waitress knew a few words in hindi, the decor was funky and they had some really interesting breakfast items. Overall definitely worth a visit if you are in Santa Fe.
Hmmm... so the rest of the trip is a little hazy in my head... selective amnesia? The only thing I seem to remember is the restaurant in El Paso, Texas. It was the last evening of our trip... and there was really no better way to spend it than drinking margarita's, listening to a Spanish band and eating authentic mexican food. Los Bandidos de Carlos & Mickey's, is the name of the restaurant, and if you are ever in El Paso, it's definitely worth a visit. The restaurant is huge, and looks to be immensely popular, we were there for close to 3 hours that evening, and it was packed throughout. The band was really cute... they played these obscure spanish songs that none of us had heard of, Nilu totally embarrassed them by requesting La Bamba, but they obliged. And got a roaring round of applause from us, and one other guy at the bar :)
Ohhh wait... there are some more hazy details resurfacing. The first restaurant we went to on this trip was in Chimayo - Leona's restuarant. It's right outside the Chimayo chapel. Run by Leona, it was this really cozy restaurant, couple of tables, completely unpretentious, with some really good food.
And of course there was Bamboo Garden - Carlsbad's finest Chinese restuarant, right next to the bowling alley where Nilu scored her highest bowling score (with no help whatsoever from the side rails ;-)).
I guess that's enough rambling about New Mexico... in a nutshell though, the two places I would really recommend are Pasqual's in Santa Fe, and the mexican place in Texas.
No comments:
Post a Comment