And That’s That

I packed twenty five pounds of Hatch chile into my luggage.  88 cents a pound!  My clothes have been perfumed with their incomparable fragrance.  Thanks, Albertson’s.

In summary…I’m looking forward to the future of NM food more than I’ve enjoyed its present.  I think you can divide the food into three categories, historical, traditional restaurant and creative restaurant.

Too much of the historicall food seems to have been forgotten altogether…chicos, panochas, calabacitas, good blue corn, so on and so forth.  I’m not sure why the pantry has been dispensed with.  I believe there’s a lot of room here for exploration.  Different preps of chicos?  Actually good blue corn tortillas?  An insightful version of capirotada?  Seems like nobody’s interested.

The traditional restaurant is tasty, but damn the menu is almost identical *at every single one.*  Tamales, rellenos, burritos, enchiladas, hardshell tacos and combinations thereof.  It’s stultifying.  Apparently, it’s a formula that works.  You would think people would tire of the sameness, though.  Apparently, they’re  reassured by it. 

Similarly, the creative restaurants are stultified, just in the Eighties where sundried tomatoes never passed and flavors are designed to not transgress.  (To be fair, I didn’t dine at Trattoria Nostrani, The Compound, Geronimo or other non-NM/SW ilk.)  The lack of daring is palpable.  I have a hard time imagining a special trip to eat upper-end in Santa Fe.

But I did enjoy a lot!

I don’t want to sound negative, because I ate a lot of great food.  First on my list is Cafe Pasquals.  The chefs seem genuinely observant, enjoying some of the chile of NM, some dishes of Old Mexico, some of  the weird new age diets of Santa Fe and bringing it all together.  The dishes I ate were balanced and flavorful.  If it’s got a line out the door, well good for them.  They seem to be one of the few places in town sewing together past, present and future.  (Employee spinoff Tuneup Cafe also gets my enthusiasm, though they seem a bit more Old Mexican in style. )

Maria’s is my favorite closer-in restaurant for their delicious margaritas, magnificent carne adovada and tasty tamales. 

My third favorite is simply Cerrillos Road.  I never ate anything bad out there and somehow everything seemed more New Mexican and less Santa Fean.  (I know that’s probably not fair.)  But you can hop on a bus and visit Horseman’s Haven, Plaza Cafe South, El Milagro (taxi driver rec), El Campanario, Tecolote Cafe or Pantry Restaurant.  It’s grub!  Lots of choices and good eating.

Thanks for reading along.  The Lipid Harvest is complete.

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