Goods eats in New Mex/Ariz

We just returned from a great trip to southwest New Mexico and southeast Arizona. Specifically, Silver City N.M. and Bisbee, AZ.

Beautiful country and lots of interesting things to see and do. But on to the most important part, the food! The first night we ate at a Mexican restaurant in Silver City called Jalisco's. It was okay, not anything to brag about. The next night we drove the 6 miles north of S.C. to Pinos Altos, a cute "ghost town". The Buckhorn Saloon and theater are on the main street and is probably the best place to eat in the area. We both had very good steaks with baked potatoes and a fresh salad with homemade dressing. The restaurant is in an historical building with a great old bar up front. On the weekends the theatre presents a melodrama which is supposed to be quite good.
We then drove on to Bisbee, Arizona. What a charming old town! Lots of historic buildings, the old copper mine, and some great places to eat. We were only there for one night, so we decided to eat at the Cafe Roka. Not roadfood, but if you don't mind spending a little money, well worth it. They serve a four-course meal from 14.95-22.94. This included soup, salad, sorbet, and the entree. The soup that night was a potato and corn chowder with chiles, very tasty, the salad was nice, but the sorbet (lime) was excellent. My entree was spinach, mushroom and artichoke lasagna and my husband had Gulf shrimp. All very well done. But the real gem in Bisbee is Dot's diner just off the roundabout outside of town. Dot's has been there since 1957 and is the tiniest diner I have ever seen. There is only room for a counter and 10 stools with a little space behind the counter and a small kitchen. We were the only non-locals in the place, but you feel a home since everyone is sitting touching elbows and knees! The food was very good, especially the hashbrowns, crispy on the outside and soft and buttery on the inside. The prices were good too.
We also had a great Mexican dinner at La Posta in Las Cruces, New Mexico (at the Mesilla Plaza west of town) and very good barbacoa tacos at La Poblanita Cafe (Airway blvd.)in El Paso, Tx. All-in-all a great trip with some good food along the way.

Allison

I just noticed that no one had replied to my travel log of our trip to New Mexico and Arizona. I was disappointed because I looked forward to discussing what we did and ate with anyone interested. I guess some people just read it, but didn't feel a need to reply. I understand that, as I read almost all the topics, but have only replied a few times. I guess I am shy and not sure if my opinion is worthy. Anyway, we had a great trip and ate some good food too.

Allison

Hi Allison.....guess I missed seeing your first post about your trip to NM and AZ. But it was very interesting, especially since we had lived in AZ for nine years and loved visiting all the interesting places there are in that part of the country.

We stayed at the Copper Queen Hotel in Bisbee, a couple of nights once to attend a wine tasting. Had very good meals and a fun walk around the town, taking pictures all the way. So much history and such beautiful surroundings.

We too have eated at La Posta in Mesilla, NM. In fact, I think I read about it in one of Michael's and Jane's first books.

While living in AZ we tried to see as much as possible of the state...the only places we did not go required 4-wheel drive which we didn't have. But we did see a great deal of the state and stayed in some really wonderful places. And had some truly great meals. Thank you for the great report on your trip and I hope you get to return for many more adventures out there.

Donna

quote:

Originally posted by Donna Douglass


While living in AZ we tried to see as much as possible of the state...the only places we did not go required 4-wheel drive which we didn't have. But we did see a great deal of the state and stayed in some really wonderful places. And had some truly great meals. Thank you for the great report on your trip and I hope you get to return for many more adventures out there.

Donna

Since I'm wintering in Green Valley, 20 miles south of Tucson, how about letting me know if you had any "truly great meals" in this vicinity.

Thanks for the reply! I grew up in California and now live in Texas, but the southwest esp New Mexico and Arizona are some of my favorite places. We will definitely keep returning for more visits and great roadfood.

BT,
Since you are 20 miles south of Tucson, you should head down to Bisbee and check out that historic and charming town. As I mentioned in the post we had some great meals at Cafe Roka (dinner) and breakfast at Dot's diner.
Allison

Allison, I have traveled in that area many times over the past 25 years of visiting friends in northern NM, we always tried to explore NM on every visit. Silver City is one place I remember for having places to eat that were not worthy of remembering! You'd think that for a college town they would do better but it is a place to get a decent steak. I've also eaten at La Posta a few times. Another good side trip is to Socorro NM to the Owl Cafe for a green chile cheeseburger.

My favorite, totally unexpected Roadfood find ever was in Arizona. I took a driving vacation along/near Route 66 through Arizona and New Mexico. At one point, after driving on a major highway for a while, I decided to pull off at a random exit in a town called Seligman.

After a while of just driving down a narrow road with absolutely nothing in sight, I suddenly saw a little shack with a sign that said "Dead Chicken." It's a tiny place called the Sno Cap restaurant that had (has?) incredible characters, good burgers and shakes, and barely standing outhouses that, unusually enough, have TVs in them. The guy serving us made pretty much every corny joke on Earth, which was fun.

I've since researched and read a lot about the place, but to have discovered it by accident was a blast.

A fun note: The walls of the place are plastered with the business cards of prior visitors. Literally thousands of them. I happened to come across a card that said Lance Ito, which indicated he was a judge in California. No doubt Judge Ito of OJ fame. Ironically, this was during the OJ trial, so he must have left the card before he was famous.

Yes, kland0ls, we were surprised by the lack of decent food in Silver City, especially considering it is a college town. We found the best food in the area was at the Buckhorn Saloon and Theatre in Pinos Altos.

The Sno Cap, Seligman, Az



Now this looks like my kind of place. A 'cheeseburger with cheese'. What a concept! Malts too.

This place is definitely on my list for the next time I get in those parts. Thanks for the report Spudnut.


Dino

quote:

Originally posted by DinoS

The Sno Cap, Seligman, Az



Now this looks like my kind of place. A 'cheeseburger with cheese'. What a concept! Malts too.

This place is definitely on my list for the next time I get in those parts. Thanks for the report Spudnut.


Dino

Thanks for the memory, although this photo makes the place look downright sparkling.

The outhouses are out back (where else?) And there's nothing else in sight of the place. At least, that was the case six or seven years ago.

Hi all,

I came upon this particular discussion while searching for recommendations for Tucson, where my wife and I are scheduled to spend four nights before two nights on the road doing a circuit including Bisbee & Willcox. Three years ago at this time of year we found ourselves lunching in Bisbee on two consecutives days, the first at Dot's, the second at the Copper Queen (where we have lodging reservations this time). We had a good dinner at some multi-Asian cuisine place on the main drag in Sierra Vista. Dot's is a basic Valentine diner, produced by the only manufacturer west of the Mississippi River (in Wichita, I think). I love how tiny Valentines are. Let me know if you're interested in the location of other Valentines. Thanks for the suggestion of La Roka.

We're also thinking of visiting Silver City over Easter. I discovered that an old friend of mine, whom I probably haven't seen in 20 years, was co-owner/chef of a restaurant called Shevek & Mi (he's Shevek). My family enjoyed our night in Silver 5 1/2 years ago, although whereever we ate dinner wasn't memorable enough to lodge retrievably in my memory, and I had already been looking forward to going back even before discovering another reason to go. I don't think that Shevek & Mi qualifies as roadfood either.

We had Saturday night dinner in Mesilla in September, the weekend of their big fiesta. Pleasant New Mexican place off the plaza on the main road, but I keep forgetting the name.

Still open to more suggestions southeast of Tucson.

Cheers,

Rocky
Santa Fe, NM

I'm not sure of what routes your "circuit" will take and I suspect it won't take you down I-19, but if it does I can heartily recommend Wisdom's Cafe in Tumacacori and Elvira's in Nogales, Sonora (just over the border). Also in Nogales (on the Mexican side), for an interesting ambience (and OK food), there's La Roca which is essentially in a cavern hollowed out of the rock of a hillside. You can also get an excellent (and LARGE) burger at the Longhorn Grill in Amado and fair to good "American" chow across the street at the Cow Palace. And for very pleasant white tablecloth dining I can recommend the Amado Inn--especially out on the patio on a warm evening.

In Tucson itself, you might want to stand in line at Mi Nidito (I have only once--there are numerous other places to eat along S. 4th Ave.) and you probably should check out Cafe Poca Cosa. I know it's an odd choice in Tucson, but as a lover of Indian/Pakistani food, the only other place in Tucson itself I've tried and can recommend is the New Delhi Palace. Oh, and I've had tasty pork BBQ at a small place on N. 4th Ave. (Tucson's "Bohemian" strip--near the University) whose name I can't recall (plus the owner was threatening to pack up and leave because of all the "homeless" folks harrassing him).

I wanted to follow up on our late December trip to SE Arizona & thank Allison/minilops & BT for their suggestions. We had Christmas Eve lunch at the Longhorn in Amado & dinner of a sort at Wisdom's in Tumacacori (we thought that we'd get there a little after it opened for dinner at 5:00 and have a relaxed light meal topped off with a fruit burro before heading down the road to see the mission church at the National Monument lit by 2,000 luminarias. However, it turned out that 100 other people had had the same idea and had gotten there first). In between, we had wandered around the Arizona side of Nogales but didn't cross the border, so didn't get to check out BT's recommendations there.

We almost had Christmas dinner at New Delhi Palace, but ended up instead at a sushi place just a couple of blocks from out lodgings.

Allison, thanks for the heads up on Café Roka in Bisbee; we had a great dinner there. We were disappointed to find Dot's closed for breakfast; we retreated back to town & the Daily Diner (in an industrial type space), where the proprietor, a former owner of Dot's, said that they were going through another ownership change. The Daily Diner provided a reasonable breakfast & a wide range of pie options at $2.25-$2.75 a slice. We enjoyed the Bisbeeberry (a raspberry/blackberry mix) at $2.50.

In Willcox we ate at the Desert Rose, the only restaurant that shows up in the AAA book. It's on the business loop, and again we were astonished to find a place packed before 6:00 PM. The food was reasonable & the place seemed to have an interesting mix of locals & transients (we saw what seemed to be a party of UTexas students en route to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl). Someone in another forum had recommended a place called Carter's, but I had neglected to print out the information & couldn't remember the name of the place when we were looking for dinner.

Back to Tucson on the last day, where we thought we might minimize the wait at Mi Nidito by eating there in mid-afternoon before heading back to the airport and our early evening flight. There was still a mob and projections of a 45-minute wait when we got there, but it actually only turned out to be 20-25 minutes. We enjoyed ourselves. Mi Nidito is the favorite Tucson restaurant of one of my wife's friends but another of her friends said that we should have eaten at Poca Cosa.

May not decide for a while whether we're doing Silver City for Easter or going to visit my brother's family in Denver.

Happy eating!

RockyF
Santa Fe, NM

quote:

Originally posted by RockyF

I wanted to follow up on our late December trip to SE Arizona & thank Allison/minilops & BT for their suggestions. We had Christmas Eve lunch at the Longhorn in Amado & dinner of a sort at Wisdom's in Tumacacori (we thought that we'd get there a little after it opened for dinner at 5:00 and have a relaxed light meal topped off with a fruit burro before heading down the road to see the mission church at the National Monument lit by 2,000 luminarias. However, it turned out that 100 other people had had the same idea and had gotten there first). In between, we had wandered around the Arizona side of Nogales but didn't cross the border, so didn't get to check out BT's recommendations there.

We almost had Christmas dinner at New Delhi Palace, but ended up instead at a sushi place just a couple of blocks from out lodgings.

Allison, thanks for the heads up on Café Roka in Bisbee; we had a great dinner there. We were disappointed to find Dot's closed for breakfast; we retreated back to town & the Daily Diner (in an industrial type space), where the proprietor, a former owner of Dot's, said that they were going through another ownership change. The Daily Diner provided a reasonable breakfast & a wide range of pie options at $2.25-$2.75 a slice. We enjoyed the Bisbeeberry (a raspberry/blackberry mix) at $2.50.

In Willcox we ate at the Desert Rose, the only restaurant that shows up in the AAA book. It's on the business loop, and again we were astonished to find a place packed before 6:00 PM. The food was reasonable & the place seemed to have an interesting mix of locals & transients (we saw what seemed to be a party of UTexas students en route to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl). Someone in another forum had recommended a place called Carter's, but I had neglected to print out the information & couldn't remember the name of the place when we were looking for dinner.

Back to Tucson on the last day, where we thought we might minimize the wait at Mi Nidito by eating there in mid-afternoon before heading back to the airport and our early evening flight. There was still a mob and projections of a 45-minute wait when we got there, but it actually only turned out to be 20-25 minutes. We enjoyed ourselves. Mi Nidito is the favorite Tucson restaurant of one of my wife's friends but another of her friends said that we should have eaten at Poca Cosa.

May not decide for a while whether we're doing Silver City for Easter or going to visit my brother's family in Denver.

Happy eating!

RockyF
Santa Fe, NM

Gosh, it's humbling to realize that people actually take suggestions posted here. I guess I should have warned you about how popular Wisdom's is. I first heard of it from the guy who painted my house (name of Torres)--it's the place his wife demands they go when he offers to take her out for dinner (or so he told me). So did the "dinner of a sort" include any food? I personally really like their food.

Starving on I-25, we pulled off and drove through Socorro. One of my rules for good Mexican (especially NM style) food is that the restaurant name must be a person's first name.

So....we stopped at Rita's, on the loop through town. Excellent choice! I had stacked beef enchiladas smothered in (fairly hot) green chile, and I dared to "top it with an egg". Even though I'm not an egg fan, the combination was great.

My travelling companion had a Navajo burger with green chile, which was basically a green chile cheeseburger on a large sopa.

The only thing I wouldn't recommend was the little sopapaillas that came with the meal; their grease needed changing, so the flavor of the little sopas was "off".

Kris

quote:

Originally posted by BT

Gosh, it's humbling to realize that people actually take suggestions posted here. I guess I should have warned you about how popular Wisdom's is. I first heard of it from the guy who painted my house (name of Torres)--it's the place his wife demands they go when he offers to take her out for dinner (or so he told me). So did the "dinner of a sort" include any food? I personally really like their food.

I had a bean burrito & my wife had (tortilla?) soup. We would have ordered more if we hadn't had a substantial lunch at the Longhorn a few hrs. earlier and wanted to save room for the fruit burro, not to mention the homemade cookies at the National Historic Park festivities.

Cheers,

RockyF

We recently took a weekend visit to Bisbee. I had been there many years ago before the renaissance of the old town area, and wanted to see how it had changed. Generally we were very pleased and found the town charming and interesting.

We had two good meals at the recommendation of a shop owner. (Cafe Roka was closed until sometime in February.) Lunch was at Cafe Cornucopia, a small place on Main Street that serves soups, sandwiches and salads, and house made breads, pastries and desserts. My husband and I both had the corn chowder, and he had a meatloaf sandwich. We sat at the counter facing the pastries and the scones, cookies and berry crumble looked wonderful, but we didn't try them.

Dinner was at the Striped Stocking. This is another upscale kind of place, apparently somewhat on the order of Roka. Our appetizers were excellent -- I had the Thai shrimp cakes and my husband had the pear and gorgonzola salad, which was nearly large enough to be an entree salad. My entree was the penne pasta with butternut squash and other vegetables. It was good, but I would have liked the butternut squash to have been cooked a bit more, and it was rather heavy on the garlic. My husband had a special of grilled salmon which he liked but he isn't sure what the sauce was ("yummy sauce" he says). We shared a very dense slice of brownie (more like a flourless chocolate cake) with a scoop of ice cream and drizzled fudge sauce.

The down side of the trip was our lodging. We stayed at the Inn at Castle Rock. I'd tried to research local B&Bs and wanted something in the central area, and the only advice I had been able to find was that the Copper Queen isn't worth the price. That advice was apparently correct, but Castle Rock was definitely not the answer -- it reminded me of going to stay at the house of someone's grandma -- that is, a grandma who is less than tidy and has been living in the same home for about 80 years. It was disorganized and shabby and the piles of miscellaneous stuff everywhere made me think it could be a fire hazard. The description on the web site referred to the acre of gardens, flowers and paths behind the inn -- what it didn't mention was that said acre is situated nearly straight up on a very precipitous hillside. For the $100 our room cost I'm pretty sure we could have found something better. I met someone the other day who told me that she sayed at the Schoolhouse Inn, and it was excellent. It's up the hill from the main part of Bisbee and not in easy walking distance, but it's a very short drive.

We had a drink at the bar in the Copper Queen and found it looking worn and shabby, and the service was inefficient. We think the first place we would look on a future visit for accommodations would be the hotel that's affiliated with the Striped Stocking.

We took the mine tour and found it worthwhile and interesting, but definitely don't recommend it to anyone who is claustrophobic. The tour takes you quite a way into the mine down some very narrow tunnels.

Further on the subject of Arizona -- On our way to and from Bisbee, we had a couple of good meals in Tucson. We had a very good dinner at a restaurant called Cocoyaya (see www.cocoyaya.com). My husband loves good mole, but he finds that it's often bland, bitter or watery in restaurants; however, he really liked Cocoyaya's chicken with mole sauce. He said the sauce was complex and flavorful, and the portion was generous. I had the chicken poblano pasta, which is only available on weekends, and liked that a lot too -- my only complaint would be that the morsels of chicken were a bit too dry, but I think that is pretty much always the case when chicken is added to a pasta dish; I could happily dispense with the chicken altogether. I didn't think I could finish the whole thing but when I was done there was only some chicken left and I was thinking of licking the rest of the creamy sauce off the plate. The restaurant is fairly small but cheerful and nicely decorated, and the service was friendly and prompt.

On the way back on Sunday I wanted to see if the tortilla place on Grande between St. Mary's and Speedway was open. It wasn't, but if you go on a weekday there is a takeout menu with burritos, etc. in addition to the famous thin Tucson style flour tortillas (I think there are a couple of tables inside and outside). So instead, we had lunch at nearby El Sabroso. It is semi-gringo-ized for that usually fairly authentic part of town, but we had decent Mexican seafood. When we visit Mexican seacoast areas I usually subsist on shrimp or fish prepared "al mojo de ajo" -- simply sauteed with butter and garlic -- but when I've ordered the dish in Mexican seafood restaurants in Arizona I've been disappointed to receive various types of battered, heavily sauced preparations. The version at El Sabroso was much closer to what I like, and served with the steamed vegetables as it would be in Mexico. Again, a very clean and bright place, with good service (although we were there in the middle of Sunday afternoon so there were very few customers). El Sabroso is located at 610 N. Grande Avenue, not far off the I-10.