The Jetsetting Fool Cooks (and Eats!): Foodies in Santa Fe part 1

During the 2007 holiday season, we drove out to So Cal via Santa Fe, NM (and Phoenix...not that exciting). Chris and I ended up loving this foodie destination, so we ended up doing it again for two nights this trip. We have not had a bad meal in this city and the quality of the ingredients is very evident at the restaurants that we ate at. Being a foodie, the thought of having Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and Wild Oats within a very small 1-mile radius makes me very happy because it's a sign that the people of Santa Fe care about their food. I have often read in food magazine about the Santa Fe chefs who insist on fresh, local ingredients, which means usually means quality food. This does mean that eating in the NM capital won't be cheap, but it's worth it for a foodie.

This time, we also had my foodie son in tow (he flew last time), who is a very vocal food critic. After being a picky eater as a little child, he has grown into a young teenager, who will try everything at least once. We started with a Roadfood.com find that we had ate at the year before, The Plaza Cafe. I have actually been dreaming about eating there again since we decided to drive to CA again (heck, I am still thinking about it). The restaurant is in the plaza (go figure) and was packed when we got there at 8 PM. Everyone was very happy with their meals (including the food critic child, who happily ate the entire plate). The one thing that I wished that I would have taken a pic of was the dessert that Nathaniel got to go (there was no way that even my two endless pit boys could eat another bite at the restaurant). He picked the chocolate cake, which consists of multiple layers of cake and frosting. It was so big that the chocoholic couldn't finish the cake and only ate half of it (he did manage to eat the rest in the morning).

There are our pics from our first meal in Santa Fe:
My dinner salad. I hate when you order a dinner salad and they bring you iceberg lettuce, a couple of shavings of carrot and a big tomato wedge. This was definitely a major improvement on a dinner salad--jicama, lots of carrots, homemade ranch (I think it might have been a Southwestern one, but very tasty. I need to start taking notes at restaurants) and a small scoop of a tasty bean salad (I ate the green beans, but not the pinto).

Nathaniel's dish was fish tacos. He has recently discovered that he loves fish tacos. I believe this picture was taken after he had actually already eaten one. BIG plate of fish tacos. Very tasty. He ate all of them, but not the plate of rice and beans that also came with his meal. The two little cups of sauce are homemade green chile sauce (my favorite) and fresh salsa.

Chris ordered a pork dish, the Anchiote Pork Plate--browned pork with Yucateacan spices and topped with your choice of chile (always green for us) and grilled onions. It was amazing. My favorite out of all of them, but then they were all really delicious.

Cashew Mole enchiladas--chicken enchiladas with mole sauce and sour cream. There is two in there and they were big. I could barely eat one (my hubby happily finished number two after cleaning his plate).

I did not get a chance to take a picture of the HUGE sopaipilla that comes with the Southwestern meals (there is also a good variety of Greek stuff since the owner is Greek, but we never get that far in the menu). They are always freshly made and come hot from the fryer. Nathaniel had never had one and I told him fried Mexican doughnut that you can pour honey on. Sold. Another sopaipilla fan. Maybe I couldn't finish my meal because I ate my sopaipilla and most of Chris', but I'll never admit it. :)