I should have made a left at Albuquerque!

Thursday June 11, 2009 cont.
 
We had hoped to get back to Santa Fe in time to grab another GCC at Bobcat Bite, but it was way to late by the time we got to town.  Instead, that gave us the opportunity to try something new and we ended up at Maria's New Mexican Kitchen.  

Maria's looks small on the outside, but has multiple rooms to dine in and they can hold a lot of customers here.  Which was good, because the place was packed.  
  
First up was good homemade chips and salsa.

Both of us started our meals with interesting appetizers.  Johnny went for the Green Chile Stew,

which was a delicious combination of tender pork, potatoes and loads of green chiles.  Johnny loved it!  I was also fond of my posole,

which was a bowl of red chile pods, plus corn posole, pork and cueditos.  BTW, I did ask what cueditos are, but did not write it down.  Anyone out there know?
 
For our entrees, Johnny tried to make up for the disappointment of not making it to Bobcat Bite by ordering the Green Chile Cheeseburger

at Maria's.  The first problem was the chiles came on the side.  He tried to dump the chiles on the burger, but everytime he picked it up, they just went sliding off the other side.  This became rather frustrating.  The second problem was that he ordered the burger medium and it came well done, so it wasn't as juicy as he would have liked.  Johnny did like how thick the burgers were and said the chiles had plenty of flavor, but he wouldn't really recommend the burger here.  Oh, the fresh cut fries got a thumbs up.  I did have better luck with the really good blue corn enchiladas.

 
Maria's New Mexican Kitchen
555 West Cordova Road
Santa Fe, NM
505-983-7929
 
http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/4887/marias-new-mexican-kitchen
 
By this time, we were very tired and just went to the hotel for the night.
 
Much more to come.....

Friday June 12, 2009
 
We were the first ones through the door of Tecolote Cafe

when they opened at 7:00AM.  I have been to Tecolote at least a half dozen times and it has become one of my "must-eats" whenever in Santa Fe. 
 
They do have just about every typical breakfast food you could want, but their pancakes and french toast are so exceptional, I rarely get anything else.  Here is the pancake portion of the menu 

and I started my meal with a single atole pinion pancake. 
 
Made with blue cornmeal, light and fluffy and full of the soft pinion nuts, this was an excellent pancake.  What makes the french toast so noteworthy is that they make their own bread in house.  Here are the breads available for french toast. 

I split an order, with two of the orange poppyseed and two of the honey blue corn. 

The orange poppyseed is the interior pair.  The bread was thick, but soft and was absolutely delicious!  Instead of using syrup, I got a couple of sides of fruit,

one each of raspberries and one of peaches, which complimented the french toast perfectly.  Johnny went for a full order of the cinnamon raisin french toast, which he said was very dense and went well the bananas he ordered.  Typical in the commitment of Tecolote to do the little things right, the orange juice here is fresh squezed. 
 
Tecolote is a big, comfortable place,

with multiple dining rooms and lots of room between the tables.  And the service was as friendly as ever.  Because Tecolote translates to owl, you will see an owl theme


throughout the interior decoration.  I love Tecolote and it is on the short list of my favorite breakfast spots in the country.
 
Tecolote Cafe
1203 Cerrillos Road
Santa Fe, NM
505-988-1362 
 
http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/1422/tecolote-cafe
 
After going back to the hotel to shower and change, our first stop was the Santa Fe Tortilla Company. 

We walked in the front door and asked the first woman we saw that we would like to take a tour.  She didn't seem to know what we were talking about, so she consulted with some of the other women in the office, all of whom were speaking Spanish.  They called a man from the back to speak to me.  Unfortunately, his English was only slightly better than our Spanish.  He did understand the word tour, so he took us into the next room, where were handed hairnets.  This I wasn't expecting, but we have no problem following the rules.  
 
He took us into the back and showed us, mostly by pointing and gesturing, how the tortillas were made.  Considering we were in the inner workings of a business, I didn't feel comfortable taking photos of their machinery and equipment.  At one point, he motioned for us to take a tortilla off the assembly line, so we did and it was very hot to the touch.  We tore it into small pieces, just like he was showing us to do and ate it.  Even all by themselves, these were really good.  He grabbed a bag of whole wheat tortillas

and gave them to us as a gift, which was very generous of him.  
 
Then, he started asking about our business.  It was here that I realized that he thought we were buyers for a food company.  We did our best to explain that we were just stupid tourists, but he still seemed somewhat confused.  On the way out, I had the nice man pose for a photo of us in our hairnets.

I asked if I could buy another bag of the tortillas to take home and was told that they no longer sell them here.  Before we left, I went out to the car and grabbed the printed out Roadfood review of the place.  About a half dozen of the employees were pouring over it when we walked out the door.
 
Needless to say, this was one of the more bizarre Roadfood experiences we have ever had.  No intentional attempt at deception was made, but we still got a free tour and a bag of tortillas.  Oh, and we did offer to give the bag of tortillas back, but were refused.  To make a long story short, they apparently no longer offer tours or sell the tortillas on site.   

Oh man. Now I regret that we didn't make it to Tecolote on our recent Santa Fe visit.

Not to mention a free hairnet!  Cliff, if we see a news item about a guy going around the country representing himself as a 'pie inspector' we will know right away what's going on.  :)

Now I want to go to Tecolote for french toast!  I would have trouble deciding what kind of bread. 

Nancypalooza

Cliff, if we see a news item about a guy going around the country representing himself as a 'pie inspector' we will know right away what's going on.  :) 

Oh Nancy, you really shouldn't be giving me ideas! 

Oh my Cliff, I am laughing soooo hard right now at the comedy of errors that was your Santa Fe Tortilla Company tour.  Classic BB.  wwBBd?  

And as for the rest of this thread, well I don't even know where to begin!  I'll carry yours on Cousin Johnny's bags on your next NM trip if only for your table scraps!  Excellent work as always.  Thanks for raising the bar.

Friday June 12, 2009 cont.
 
Next stop in Santa Fe was the hub of the city, the Plaza.  Priority #1 was to find and eat at Roque's Carnitas, since we have never eaten here before.  My first three trips to Santa Fe were made during cold weather months and Roque is back in Mexico during that time.  In 2005, Johnny and I were here on the Plaza on July 4, but no Roque.  We asked around and a policeman told us he was off working at a festival somewhere.  We were bound and determined to eat there on this trip.
 
Once we reached the Plaza, we systematically started at one end and started doing a circle.  Three quarters of the way and still no Roque.  Despair and a feeling of here we go again was starting to settle in.  Finally, we saw a brightly colored cart

and there he was!  Woo hoo!  The menu is not real long,

but there was never any doubt that we would be ordering the carnitas.  What is a carnita?  Since they undoubtedly have people asking that same question all the time, they have a sign

that explains it better than I could.
 
Roque greeted us and kindly put up with all of my questions and photo requests.  Since there were other customers, I tried my best not to be a pest.  We placed our food order and then Roque asked what we wanted to drink.  He recommended something called a Jamaica (pronounced HA-MY-KA), which is made from hibiscus.  He said it was even better if you mix a splash of the lemonade in, which sure sounded good. Here is Roque

mixing our drinks and one of the Jamaicas on the right. 

We found it to be not too sweet, cool and refreshing. 
 
Here is the grill

with our food being made and Roque

handing us the carnitas.  That is a genuine smile as he seems to really enjoy chatting with the customers.  Since it was my turn to pay, (Johnny and I take turns paying, figuring it will even out over the course of a trip) I looked for a place to set down my food to get my wallet out.  He stopped us and said to come back and pay when we are done eating.  How cool is that?  We walked around and looked for a bench in the very busy Plaza, finally sitting down at the base of the center monument.  The carnitas

were everything we had hoped for.  The incredibly tender beef, fresh tomato chunks, onions and peppers, Roque's flavorful pico de gallo, all inside a soft tortilla.  This was one of the highlights of the trip.  Come to think of it, sitting out in the warm sun, in such a beautiful setting, eating food like this, it was one of my very favorite Roadfood moments ever.  Here is Johnny

enjoying his carnita.  The aluminum foil really comes in handy because this thing is juicy and lots of spillage is inevitable.
 
Johnny loved his so much, he gave serious consideration to going back and getting a second one.  Knowing we had a couple more stops later, including a return trip to Bobcat Bite, he decided against it.  We went back to the cart and paid and since there was no line, Roque was glad to chat with us for a few minutes.  He did tell us that this wasn't his regular cart, since that was away preparing for a festival.
 
When Roadfood announced they would be going to New Mexico for the bus tour this year, I called Johnny and read off the schedule.  When I got to Roque's Carnitas, he let out a long, drawn out, "Ooooohhhhhh".  Roque, if you are reading this, you might want to put a little extra food on your cart.  A hungry group of Roadfooders, led by Cousin Johnny and a certain ravenous Chicagoan will be there soon!
 
Roque's Carnitas
Santa Fe Plaza
Santa Fe, NM
 
http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Review/55-55/roques-carnitas        

Love the photos of El Morro ,White Sands and your train ride. The photos of the food places are incredible. It is always a pleasure to read your reports and look at your most excellent photos.

Damn! Will you cut it out

Michael-
Maybe I should put my lawyer on speed dial!

Cliff, your trip reports have gotten me fired about about this trip.  Only a couple more weeks to go!

buffetbuster


Michael-
Maybe I should put my lawyer on speed dial!

It can't hurt.

Captain Combo looks different with the hairnet...

Forget PMs and emails... I still wanna know why you appear NOT to have stopped and eaten in Taos!

Still, great stuff, as ever & always!

cecif-
This was my seventh trip to New Mexico and Johnny's fourth.  We have both spent plenty of time in Taos.  As much as we like it there, we just wanted to see some new things this time.

So Buffetbuster----- When are you and Cousin Johnny moving out here to God's Country???

Hey Foodbme, I thought Pittsburgh IS God's Country!
 
Actually, New Mexico is high on the list of places I may retire to someday. 

Friday June 12, 2009 cont.
 
Next up on the list of things to do was make a quick stop at the Five and Dime General Store,


a store located right on the Plaza.  The Roadfood significance of the Five and Dime is that here is where Fritos Pie was invented and is still served in fine fashion. 
 
The snack bar

is located in the back of the store.  They do make several other things

beside the Fritos Pie, but that is all I have ever tried here.  Over 30,000 sold a year, that is rather impressive!  They still do it the way it has always been done, where they tear open a bag of Fritos and then warm chile is poured directly into the bag.  After that, a layer of shredded cheese is piled on top.  The combination of the chile, cheese and no longer crunchy chips are unbeatable.  Here is one ready to eat!

Another nice little thing about them all being mixed into the one bag is that they are perfect for strolling around the Plaza with.  In fact, back in Pittsburgh, you will see these listed on festival menus as walking tacos, since you can eat them while going mobile.  One other nice little thing we observed here is that they don't hand the Fritos Pie directly to you.  After they prepare it, they set it in a holder

especially designed for it.  This makes it easier for the customer to pay, instead of juggling the food, your wallet and whatever else you are holding.  And for those of you who like to send postcards back to your loved ones, the Five and Dime has the largest selection in the city.

There was a photo taken here of me in a sombrero, but I don't want to post it and infringe on wanderingjew's domain!
 
Five and Dime General Store
58 E. San Francisco
Santa Fe, NM
505-992-1800
 
http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/1381/five-and-dime-general-store
 
Johnny and I did indeed enjoy our Fritos Pie while walking the Plaza, looking at the sights.  Now, I have been to Santa Fe many times, but strolling the Plaza is still a "must do" on every trip.  From the local Native Americans selling jewelry in front of the Palace of the Governors, to the beautiful architecture, there is plenty to see.  Here are some photos from within a block or two of the Santa Fe Plaza.









 
After a couple hours of exploring, it was time to grab a bite to eat.  A reasonable walk from the Plaza is Bert's Burger Bowl, so we hiked on over.  The place looked cool on the outside,
 

in a retro 1950's sort of way.  They do offer all kinds of different kinds of burgers,

including a Kobe beef burger, but we stuck to the basics and got the green chile cheeseburgers.  And here is where I made a big mistake.  I hadn't called into work for a few days, so I asked Johnny to collect the food and bring it outside, where I grabbed a table.  Anyway, there was some things going on and I ended up being on the phone for almost an hour.  Needless to say, my green chile cheeseburger had grown cold.  It was still pretty to look at

and I can tell you that Johnny came away impressed, but this is not something that tastes as good cold.  No big deal, since I wasn't exactly starving to death.  And we both liked our creamy shakes, mine being the chocolate. 

With us being back in Santa Fe in a few weeks, giving Bert's another shot will be a priority.
 
Bert's Burger Bowl
235 Guadalupe Street
Santa Fe, NM
505-982-0215
 
http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/1379/berts-burger-bowl
 
We ended up doing a little shopping, since I had run short of socks and Johnny some other necessary items, before we headed out for our return meal to Bobcat Bite.  Once again, I chronicled it here,
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/Bobcat-BiteSanta-Fe-NM-m520346.aspx
so no reason to rehash it.  But, I do kind of like this close-up shot taken of the burger.

I'll say it again.....  Both Johnny and I consider Bobcat Bite the #1 Roadfood restaurant we have ever visited and nothing else comes close.  It was that good!
 
The rest of the night was spent in the hotel yelling at the tv.  My Pittsburgh Penguins were playing in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals and my team was fortunate enough to win over an outstanding opponent, the Detroit Red Wings.  Needless to say, I was on Cloud 9!  This had been a great day!
 
Much more to come.....

I'm with Stephen on this one...can't wait for the trip!

my envy of those of you going on the trip grows larger every time I read this report. I hope you will all have a great time. By the way, I've been to a mexican rodeo in San Antonio, Texas and it was a wonderful experience and I hope tose of you who can will take advantage of the opportunity to see 1.

Saturday June 13, 2009
 
For breakfast, we decided to visit a place near the hotel that Johnny had never been to before.  Horseman's Haven was in some of the older Roadfood books and I ate here with my mother about a decade ago.  I remember it being very good, very small and connected to a gas station out on busy Cerrillos Road.  That location closed down and I thought it had gone out of business.  But, some research showed they had moved to a new location just down the road.  When we pulled up and saw that the parking lot was full of police cars,

we knew we were in the right place.  And all the officers

were sitting together at one table.
 
The new Horseman's Haven is much bigger now, with lots of comfortable booths.  It does still has the same attractive Western decor,

including the obligatory tribute to The Duke.

Once again, I went with the huevos rancheros, Christmas-style. 

A few more potatoes were have been preferred, but the chile here was extremely flavorful, including the extremely hot green chile.  I sided my entree with some crispy, greasy and very good chorizo sausage.

Johnny went for the carne adovado. 

The beef was so tender, it just fell apart as you tried to pick it up with a fork.  There wasn't much heat to the thick sauce, but it was some of the best tasting chile on the trip.
 
In doing research for the upcoming vacation, I read that Horseman's Haven does an excellent green chile cheeseburger.  They also have a terrifyingly hot chile know as Level 2, which doesn't appear on the menu.  Not sure if I will try that, but a GCC from this place sounds like a "must do"!   
 
Horseman's Haven
4353 Cerrillos Road
Santa Fe, NM
505-471-5420
 
We headed north and then west to Bandelier National Monument,

where homes of ancient Puebloans have been preserved.  We stuck to the main loop trail, which is only about 1.2 miles, but there was so much to see, we spent over three hours here.  Some of the sights:










As much as we enjoyed the hike, my favorite thing from Bandelier was this sign: 

Is it really necessary to tell people not to handle bats.  I wouldn't pick up a bat, even if someone was actually giving me a rabies shot at the same time! 
 
We really enjoyed out time at Bandelier and if people going on the Roadfood bus tour are looking for someplace not too far from Albuquerque to do some outdoor sightseeing, this place comes highly recommended.
 
http://www.nps.gov/band/
 
After all the exercis in the hot sun, we were ready to eat!
 
Much more to come.....

"a GCC from this place sounds like a "must do"!"

Cliff, it was many years ago but the GCC we had here was our favorite of those we tried.  And the green chile was certainly hotter than all the others!

I love to hear that Bruce!  Thanks.

mr chips-
We sure do wish you could join us on the bus tour this year.  You will be missed! 

Wow, that chorizo has totally left this mortal coil.  Is it typical to see it served like that?

Hello Cliff,
 
I have been following your Albuquerque thread very closely.  My friend Lisa and I will be on the New Mexico tour, and we are spending a few extra days in ABQ and Santa Fe.  Your sightseeing and restaurant  recommendations will come in very handy.

One of the restaurants we are considering in Santa Fe is Coyote Cafe.  Have you ever been there and if so, what are your thoughts?

Thanks,

Karen

Ivyhouse-
Looking forward to meeting you and your friend on the tour.  It has been several years since I have been to Coyote Cafe, but I remember it being very good.  The dishes were very creative and beautiful to look at.  No doubt, a little pricey but worth it.  The rooftop cantina is especially nice during the Summertime.  Now that I think about it, more of my meals at Coyote Cafe were at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, although I think that location is no longer there.

Glad you are going to spend some extra days out there.  You will love it!!!

Nancy-
No, I don't think that is typical for chorizo.  Undoubtedly overcooked, but we liked it regardless.

Saturday June 13, 2009 cont.

We continued north to the small town of Embudo to eat at a place we were eagerly anticipating, Sugar's.  We had driven right past this place earlier in the trip on the way to Taos, but it was already closed for the night.  The reason we were particularly excited about Sugar's in the photo in the Roadfood review of the bulldog sitting on top of the wall, watching the customers eat.
 
We loved Sugar's

just based on how the place looked.  Obviously, just a trailer with a tin front, it was screaming good Roadfood to us.  They have a beautiful framed black & white photo of a bulldog,

who the restaurant is certainly named after.  Being big dog lovers, we loved this touch!  Here is a poor photo of the menu,

highlighted by the bbq and burger options on it.  We placed our orders and then sat down in the lovely little picnic table area nearby.

 
Captain Combo struck again!  His three meat choices

were ribs, brisket and sausage.  The ribs

were very tender, but not fall off the bone, which is what we like.  It provided a nice chew with lots of meaty flavor.  Thumbs up!  The brisket with the clear smoke ring, was even more tender.  It was on the fatty side, but Johnny still liked it very much.  Johnny described the sausage as being more like a kielbasa and not like a Texas hot link, with a crispy exterior and a nice snap when you bit into it.  The only problem with the meats was that it came drenched in too much sauce.  The sauce was very thick, on the sweet side, with maybe some vinegar and did provide a small amount of heat.  We liked the sauce, but less would have been more in this case.  My entree was the brisket burrito,

which also contained green chiles.  The combination was addictive and was on the short list of best things I ate on the trip. 
 
We split up the sides.  The cole slaw

was finely chopped.  I liked it better than Johnny, who thought it was too peppery.  He was much happier with the potato salad,

which was also chopped fine and contained a heavy does of mayo, plus some pickle.  The sweet beans,

with plenty of pork in it, were my favorite side.  Johnny ate the cornbread

in a manner that he picked up from ChiTownDiner when we were in Memphis.
 
Sorry about the food photos having so many shadows.  I have yet to master the art of outdoor food photography.
 
Sugar's gets high marks from us for the food and had we asked them to go a little lighter on the sauce, we would have liked it even more.  The only disappointment is that we never saw a dog the entire time we were here.
 
We got back in the car and headed south, back towards Santa Fe.
 
Sugar's
1799 SR-68
Embudo, NM
505-852-0604
 
http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/1389/sugars
 
Much more to come..... 

Saturday June 13, 2009 cont.

Next stop was the town of Chimayo.  I have been here on several occasions before, since the Roadfood landmark restaurant Rancho de Chimayo is located in Chimayo.  Johnny and I even stayed in their inn, back on our previous trip.  Unfortunately, the restaurant had a fire earlier in the year and they hadn't reopened yet.  This time, we were here to visit El Santuario de Chimayo,

which is a Catholic shrine and is sometimes referred to as the Lourdes of America.  One of the rooms has a round pit and the dirt in it is supposed to possess the power to heal.  I did take a few photos on the way in to the shrine,


including the makeshift crosses on the fence.  But, I eventually decided to put the camera away and just enjoy being at this holy site.  Neither one of us is Catholic, but there is something special about this place. 
 
Now, as long as we were here, we grabbed some late lunch at Leona's,

which is right next to the shrine.  I will go ahead and apologize right now, because my food photos turned out horrible and most are too bad to post.  There have a surprisingly large menu for such a little place.  On each table is a menu stand,

but you actually place your order at the counter

and they bring the food out to you. 
 
Our favorite item here was the delicious posole,

which was considerably hotter than the version we had earlier in the trip.  We got a couple of tamales,
 

wrapped in corn husks and then shared them.  The chicken tamale contained green chiles and was very mild.  The pork tamale had red chiles and was fiery hot.  There were a couple of other items, but my notes are sketchy and my memory fading.  I know that we drank our food down with good Henry Weinhard root beers, a brand we had never tasted before.  And we finished it with biscochitos,

wrapped in cellophane, that were sitting next to the register.  A nice way to end the meal, but these were no way near as good as the fresh ones at Golden Crown Panaderia.
 
Leona's
17 Santuario Drive
Chimayo, NM
505-351-4569
 
http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/1752/leonas
 
It had been a long day, so we went back to the hotel and napped.  We did wake up in time for a late dinner.  As much as we enjoyed all the great New Mexican food, we were ready for a change of pace.  Warning to wanderingjew:  you should just skip past this part of the trip report.  Both of us love Thai food and after a quick search online, we found one right down the street. 
 
The place was called Dara Thai

and the inside decoration is a strange combination of adobe/Asian.  The menu looked pretty standard, but we both got a laugh out of a dish called Evil Jungle Princess.

 
We both got Thai iced teas to drink. 

They were extremely strong, not sweet and we didn't care for them.  Johnny got his usual appetizer, the chicken satay.  The chicken had a strange texture,

but the peanut sauce was very tasty.  For his entree, Johnny got the Gang Ga Puket,

which is chicken in a mild curry sauce.  The dish also had tomato, pineapple, spinach and broccoli.  The name of my dish never got written down in my notes,

but it was another dish of mild heat that contained flat noodles shrimp and broccoli.  One of the things that was different here is that when we order in a Thai restaurant back home, they ask you how spicy you want it on a scale of 1-10.  Here, we were asked on a scale of 1-5.  Since I usually get a 7, I had to ask for 3 1/2!
 
Dara Thai was a nice change of pace for us and the people working there were very nice, but the food was just okay and I would not go out of my way to eat there again.  Right down the street from Dara Thai, we spotted a Baskins-Robbins, so we stopped in for a cone.  Chocolate peanut butter for me and mango tango for Johnny.  From there, it was back to the hotel for the night.
 
Much more to come.....

I think that's a pad see ew?  I'm not spelling that right I know, but basically the wide egg noodles.
 
I think I would feel right at home at Sugar's--all that stuff (with the exception of the barbecue sauce) looks straight out of a barbecue hut here.

Nancy, I think you are right about that pad see ew, since that is a dish I have ordered in the past.  And you would have enjoyed the adobe/Asian decor!