It's been almost two years to the day since we were last in Santa Fe, much too long. We'd been twice before around Labor Day, weather is just absolutely spectacular at this time of year:
Landed, checked into the hotel and walked right over to
Del Charro's to sit in front of an open window, breathe in the mountain air and inhale a margarita and a fine green chili cheeseburger. I'd never eaten here before, just stopped in to have a beer and watch some college football. Will definitely make this a regular stop in the future:
Tried to make it to a couple places we hadn't been before.
Tabla de los Santos is Chef Estevan Garcia's relatively new place in the St. Francis Hotel. I really enjoyed his cooking in the past at the now shuttered Cafe Estevan. Very clean flavors, Italian in it's simplicity and reliance on a few key impeccable ingredients and masterful technique. Just loved everything we had here, starting with excellent craft cocktails:
Moving on to tamales and carne adovado ravioli:
A deconstructed chile relleno (unbattered, unfried, stuffed with a mix of rice, goat cheese and local greens) and a combination plate of tamale, enchilada and sopapillo stuffed with carne adovado (sopapillo was a revelation). Both came with a side of seasonal squash:
The waitress insisted we leave room for the goat cheese flan, good call - great end to a fantastic meal. Hope he keeps up this level of quality, my memories of Cafe Estevan were of a maddening inconsistency. I think he's Santa Fe's version of Gino Bahena, I suspect he gets bored easily.
Breakfast next day was at an old favorite,
Tia Sophia. They get raves for their breakfast burrito, but it's not my favorite thing. For breakfast, it's give me huevos rancheros or give me death! New Mexican cooking may look like a train wreck half the time, but it sure tastes damn good:
This beast of a breakfast tided us over until dinner, which was at
Luminaria - conveniently located where we were staying at the
Inn at the Loretto. This is another relatively new place in town that's opened since our last visit. The outdoor patio is beautiful, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner:
Santa Fe has jumped on the craft cocktail bandwagon since our last visit. Here we started with an unusual mojito-like concoction of muddled sage, vodka, lime and simple syrup. Sage wouldn't be the first thing you'd think of adding to a cocktail but it worked, bravo!:
Happy eating on this trip, the great food kept on coming. An amuse of scallop, tomato and caper, followed by an outstanding tortilla soup:
My wife made a meal of starters, polenta fries (beautifully crisped with just the briefest bath in the deep fryer) and grilled romaine caesar:
I had a delicious grilled beef tenderloin, a fine beefy cut of meat perfectly cooked. Beautiful room, gorgeous evening weather, great service, wonderful food - they nailed it. Very nice restaurant, highly recommend it if you're looking for a special meal:
Since half this thread is devoted to
Rancho de Chimayo, how could I resist? Well, let me throw in my two cents. Lunch was good, started with the quesadillas and then had the Enchilada Pequeña (with fried egg):
But good God, the flies! A plague of flies. Never seen anything like this at a restaurant, anywhere in the world. In the high desert of New Mexico of all places, where I've never seen a window with a screen because flying insects (supposedly) don't exist at this altitude. I can only guess that some exorcist cast out Beelzebub from some poor soul looking for a miracle at nearby the nearby
Sanctuario de Chimayo, and he and his minions decided, fine, we'll just hang out here at the restaurant. Very strange.
Finished up the trip with Lyle Lovett and his big band at the Santa Fe Opera, the farmers market for some pinto beans to bring home and huevos rancheros at
Tecolote Cafe, and then flew home over the top of the remnants of Hurricane Isaac. Magic:
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. The service was glacial and the food was mediocre. Since then, when we take visitors to the 
