Red or Green - take 3

 Another skew sign...(or rather, the photo is skew, not the sign)

Del Charro, located in Inn of the Governors, was our last lunch in Santa Fe. As mentioned on the previous post, 2 different locals suggested that we go there for lunch and the local score was 2 out of 2. (1. Tia Sophia, 2. Del Charro).

Del Charro is a saloon with a great big welcoming bar and an outside patio with a fireplace. We walked past the place (before we got the recommendations) and I thought, "This would be a cool place to come to for a drink", and the idea of having a meal there didn't cross my mind, but luckily those lovely locals told us how yummy the food was (and how extremely well-priced the menu was - nothing was over $9 or $10.)

The Bar at Del Charro

I love me some buffalo wings. This is not something that is very big in South Africa, people enjoy it, and you can find it at a few places, but my true love affair with buffalo wings and blue cheese dressing started when I worked at a ski resort in Winter Park, CO, just after I finished university. The staff all went to a dive bar on Wednesday-Wing-nights (if I remember correctly), where they served wings at 10cents each. That was so cheap, even us sorry underpaid hotel folks could go and pig out on the yummy wings. (off course they more than made up that money with the copious amounts of alcohol that we consumed with the wings, so it was a win-win deal).

Del Charro from the outside

Now the whole reason for my "trip-down-buffalo-wing-memory-lane" is the following: I had the BEST wings EVER!!! at Del Charro. They were not Buffalo Wings. Instead, they were Chipotle Wings - Yum yum. (Chipotle is a smoke-dried jalapeno chili). The wings were served with ranch dressing (very American) and even though I usually prefer to eat my wings with blue cheese, I didn't miss the blue cheese at all on this occasion, because the wings were awesome. In fact, they were so awesome that I asked the chef for the recipe, which he gave to me and no, I will not share it with anyone - I made a promise. (if you want the recipe, you'll just have to go eat there and earn the right to ask them yourself).

The rest of the food, was also great. I had the salmon wrap served with a red pepper coulis, creme fraiche and cucumber relish and my hubby had the chef's burger with guacamole and bacon . Both excellent dishes and extremely well priced.

We will go back to Santa Fe, NM one day, and when we do, we will definitely go back to Del Charro, Cafe Pasqual and Tia Sophia!

Red or Green - Take 2

We saw the sign...okay - in real life it is upright, but you get the idea...

 

The best dining tip I can give anyone in a new city is to ask the locals. They usually know where you can get the best food at great prices and that way you can stay away from the typical tourist traps. I will admit, there are times, that I don't mind dining in touristy areas, because the view might be stunning or it might be a great vibe, but very often, I find mediocre food at tourist hangouts, because the restaurants know that they don't have to rely on returning business.

As we were walking around in a great little shop called The Chile Shop, we started chatting to the guy who worked there. He was very friendly and eager to help us by answering any questions we might have had without being pushy to get a sale. We asked him for some restaurant suggestions in town and he immediately said "Tia Sophia" and "Del Charro". That night, we had drinks in the hotel bar and as we were chatting with the bartender, she told us that if we were looking for great food at excellent prices, we should go to "Tia Sophia" and "Del Charro", and that is exactly what we decided to do. After all, 2 locals suggested the exact same places...it was a sign.

That night I googled both restaurants and I'm very happy that I did, because I realized that Tia Sophia was not open on Sundays and they only served breakfast and lunch. That helped us plan our second day in Santa Fe. (yes, I am that girl who will plan my day around the restaurant that I'll be visiting.)

The door to yum-ness

We arrived at 12 noon sharp. The reviews for the restaurant were very positive for the most part and all of them said that you had to be prepared to wait if you arrived a bit later, so we got there early and got a table within 10 minutes. Now let me tell you about the decor...I wish I could, but I don't really know what to say about it. It looks like that is the way the restaurant looked when it first opened up and nothing has changed. There are no frills, no fancy things, just basically tables and chairs or booths and a few odd things hanging on the walls. Someone called it “homey”, I don’t know what to call it. Even though I usually like a bit of a nicer ambience, the unpretentiousness of the place just really appealed to me. They don't really care about faffing the place up, or over-friendly service - their goal is to serve excellent New Mexican cuisine, at fantastic prices – and that is exactly what we got. The clientele was a great mixture of visitors and locals and that, mixed with the “let-it-be décor”, the fact that they are not open on Sundays, the fact that people are willing to wait for a table and the great food, are all the clues you need to know that this place has a winning recipe. (or a few, from what we tasted)

The sopapilla was fab - just a bit of honey and I was in doughy-goodness-heaven. In fact, right about now, I'm seriously craving one. The rest of our meal was great too. We both ordered combo’s, the chili rellenos and enchilada combo and the enchilada and chicken taco combo (both come with sopapillas – a type of fried pastry served with food or as a dessert). Both combos were great, both super tasty and both well priced. In fact, I don’t think I saw anything on their menu over $10. Bargain!

In my opinion, every visitor who comes to Santa Fe and would like some honest traditional New Mexican food, should come to Tia Sophia – they won’t be disappointed.

Red or Green?

 When hearing the question "Red or Green?", my answer is "Both!".

Santa Fe is famous for their Green and Red Chile and usually people like one of them, but I love both. On the same place. Right next to each other, on the plate.  (Chile is a sauce made from either red or green chillies). In New Mexico, they serve chile on everything from enchiladas, burritos and rellenos to pizza, burgers and chips.

South Western cuisine is very similar to Mexican food, but have many differences, and since moving to America, I've come to love both. Similarities would be: the use of beans, tortillas and spices but Southwest Cuisine also includes Native American, Spanish Colonial and cowboy food. (and they don't use much tripe and brains)

During our trip to Santa Fe, we had some awesome food. We were starving after our 6 hour drive and started looking for a restaurant as soon as we arrived. We were walking around and I saw an entrance that just called me, but we decided to walk around for a little bit longer before committing to this establishment for our first meal (plus they looked really full) and after a bit of walk around the block, I insisted that we go back. Luckily for us, we arrived at a good time - the first few lunch tables had already left, so there was a table available for us. The first thing we noticed about Cafe Pasqual, was its fabulously colorful and somewhat over-the-top decor, then our attention was gripped by the menu. It was not an easy decision to make, especially after waiter told us what the specials of the day were.

Cafe Pasqual is one of those places where the same waiters work for years, which usually means, the place, food and service is great (the servers are not overly-friendly, so don't expect to make a friend for life, but they were very efficient and knowledgeable about the menu and the service was well-timed). The James Beard awards and cookbooks in the window might give you the idea that there is something special inside the doors, and that is what what we found, so I was thrilled with our selection for our first meal in Santa Fe.

We decided on the salmon burrito and chicken mole. I love mole! It is a sauce made from 36+ spices and chocolate and takes forever to make, so whenever a restaurant serves it, I usually order it and the mole at Cafe Pasqual did not disappoint. I would definitely recommend that anyone visiting Santa Fe, should go eat at Cafe Pasqual, which by the way is named after the Patron Saint of the kitchen - great name for a great place!

Now...I have to admit something shocking...I am one of those food obsessed people who take photos of my plate if I'm feeling particularly inspired, and even though I felt inspired by most of the plates that I received in Santa Fe, the hunger overpowered the desire the take a photo, so I didn't really take any food photos. Shocking - I know! Next time...

Santa Fe in photos

Below are just a few of the photo opportunities in Santa Fe:

Red or Green in Santa Fe

 

I was planning on writing about Mexican food on my next blog - perhaps make some food, take a few photos, post it with some recipes - but things have been so crazy that I didn't get around to doing it and now I'm going to have to put it off for a few more weeks.

The reason for pushing back my blogs on Mexican food is due to our little mini-road-trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico this past weekend.

We have never been but have heard some great things about the place. The first "review" I got about Santa Fe was from an ex-colleague who went to the Opera festival that takes place each year. She explained that the town was full of art galleries and because she was a bit pretentious, I had an image about what to expect from the place and thought "Yes, I will go there one day, but I'm in no hurry". Luckily my husband had also heard some great things about the place and decided that we had to take the 6 hour drive down south form my birthday weekend.

I'm so glad he got this flash of inspiration and booked the hotel before I could throw a spanner in the works, because we had an awesome time.

Santa Fe is not pretentious at all, the town is great with interesting architecture, art galore (any kind that you can think of, paintings, jewellery, sculptures, etc), friendly locals, fabulous food and copious picture snapping opportunities. The town truly caters for everyone: the rich, the budget traveller and everyone in between.