Culinary Escapades

Besides eating some very good food cooked right in the family homestead (Partner’s peach cobbler on the Fourth of July was very memorable and yummy), we also ate at several restaurants on our New Mexico voyage.  A note about method: when we travel, we try very hard to avoid places we can eat at home (i.e. chains and franchises), unless we just need to use the bathroom.  

I’ll alphabetize them—for no good reason other than it suits me just now.

Blake’s Lotaburger, Albuquerque.  So yes, ok, this is a chain but it’s not a chain we get at home.  This was pure fast-food nostalgia for us.  I had the Itsaburger, their mid-sized burger, with onion rings.  Really good stuff.  Just the right amount of greasy, raw onion, sharp mustard, crisp rings experience.  For those with an absurd appetite, you could get a triple Lotaburger.  Sonar X8 surprised us by ordering a chili dog, and eating the WHOLE THING!

Farley’s, Roswell, New Mexico.  Strikes me as a place that’s been around for a while, but recently got a facelift, a boob job, and liposuction.  It was shiny, and slick, and I bet they have live music regularly.  They had a great green chile cheeseburger.  The children’s menu disappointed—chicken fingers, burger, mac and cheese, pizza.  The food was good, and the children’s portions were huge for the chicken and pizza (and Sonar X8 again ate the WHOLE THING), but absurdly small for the mac and cheese (what’s up with that).  But we all went away happy.  

Isaaks, Junction, Texas.  This was our attempt to get off the highway on our way home.  Not easy with a tiny town very near to the middle of nowhere.  But we found this smoky little diner a mile or so off of I-10.  A solid place, with a fine selection of typical diner fare.  It could have been a little cleaner, and the teen waitress was clearly terrified of the wrinkled woman behind the grill, but the grilled ham and cheese sandwich with chips and the bottomless cup of coffee seemed somehow perfect on our weary trek home.  The ambiance was fascinating.  A wide array of dead animal heads supervises the dining room, and the front entrance has a display of knife and hunting gear in a glass case.  Good stuff.  

Little Anita’s Grill at Corrales Rd, Albuquerque.  Little Anita’s in Old Town Albuquerque is an institution.  This outlet out on the north side did not disappoint.  I had a shredded beef stuffed sopaipilla that was, so, so yummy.  The children’s menu was much more satisfying and challenging than we get in (too) many restaurants.  The children’s chicken enchilada was easily the best thing I tasted on the trip.  When we go back, we will save room for the cherry empanadas in the case next to the cash register.  

Los Ojos Bar, Jemez Springs, New Mexico.  I think we were the only people in this great little bar who did not arrive there on a hog.  And by that I mean a motorcycle of course.  Nestled up in the mountains, this little bar is a great surprise.  It was lunchtime and the bar was full.  We meandered through to a table in the back, where I was treated to super-good chicken enchiladas.  The vegetarian tamale consumed by Partner almost made me like tamales.  Almost.  The kids’ menu left a little to be desired, but the kids did get a little jello shot (alcohol free) with whipped cream at the end of the meal.  It rained in the middle of the meal (we were inside), which filled the restaurant with that truly delicious ozoney smell of rain that I associate with rain in the desert in the summer.  Awesome.  A great complement to the lazy mountain drive in the rain.

La Salitas West, Albuquerque.  This place had great salsa.  Great service too.   Another really good children’s menu.  Child-sized portions of the good, rich, and interesting food on the adult menu.  Gotta love it.  And the chili rellenos were very very good.  Oh, and great sopaipillas at the end of the meal.  With the thickest and tastiest New Mexico honey.  In fact, the sopaipillas at all of the restaurants were great.  I love sopaipillas.  I miss sopaipillas.  There are  no sopaipillas at the Mexican food restaurants in Texas.  I want more of them. 

Maybe I can make my own sopaipillas.  Maybe.

Comments

[Anonymous]

Mmmmm. I miss the sopaipillas too.

I'm glad you got lots of yummy ones.

:)

Welcome home, lovey.

Astraea