Vacation food: Albuquerque, NM The Grove and Cosmo May 3, 2012

Yelp again helped us find The Grove--a great lunch spot that was crowded when we had a late lunch there.  I like that my salami and cheese sandwich came with fruit and sweet pickles.  I have never had a sandwich put right on a tray like this but it was delicious. 

For dinner, we ate at Cosmo. The owner greeted us and he was very welcoming. This was the smoked salmon cigar. Sam rearranged it before I took this picture. During the entire meal, he sat in my lap so my ability to be a photographer was limited. We had asparagus wrapped in beef, artichoke, chicken skewers, calamari, and tuna. These fairly standard tapas were jazzed up with chiles and other New Mexico flavors.

Vacation Food: Santa Fe, NM La Casa Sena and The French Pastry Shop May 2, 2012

I had quiche lorraine to go from the French Pastry Shop in Santa Fe.  The day before we had stopped by and gotten a biscochita.  From the travel book that we lost among Sam's book and we didn't find until today, I learned that biscochita is Northern New Mexico cuisine--a cookie with anise.  The quiche was good too. 

The meal at La Casa Sena was one of the best we had on our trip.  Mooma kept our kids while just Scott and I went to dinner.  Scott had trout that was wrapped in banana leaves and baked in clay the above picture is after the waitress took one swing at it.  It was clay the consistency of a thin bowl or plate.  The other pictures are the next two steps in the process of getting it to the plate.  I had salmon with a oven-roasted tomato sauce.  In addition to the great food, it was an interesting atmosphere.  We sat outside in a courtyard under an umbrella that was large enough for more than four tables to sit under comfortably.  Ours was the only table for two. Most of the tables had four or more people.

Vacation food: Santa Fe, NM Gabriel's April 30, 2012 and May 1, 2012

We ate at Gabriel's for lunch on Monday April 30, 2012 and we got take out at closing time on May 1, 2012. We decided to go to Durango, Colorado after lunch so we could ride the train from Durango, CO to Cascade Canyons on Tuesday. After our train ride, we went back to Santa Fe. I had quesadillas both times. Scott had Charro beans as a side dish to tacos. I admit that I had to use wikipedia to figure out what Charro beans were. Apparently, they are named after the Charro, a traditional Mexican horseman and are spiced pinto beans, like Cowboy beans. All of our food was great but the guacamole was the best I had ever eaten. It was made tableside with the usual ingredients: tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, onions, and garlic. They used a whisk and a large metal spoon to combine the ingredients.

Vacation food: Albuquerque, NM El Modelo April 29, 2012

After two weeks, I am finally getting around to posting about our vacation food.  While we did have some fast food and other food that was just okay.  I am only going to post about the places we really liked.  Yelp helped me find El Modelo.  It is takeout only but there are picnic tables outside.  Some tables were close to the other side of the building and some were across the parking lot on this side.  The ones across the parking lot in the shade were the ones we chose. The call-ahead line was longer than the walk-in line.  Both were not short on a Sunday when we ate there after arriving in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I had a great bean burrito--it was spicier than the ones I have had outside of the Southwest.  It is shown below.

I also tried a watermelon drink from the fountain below.  I saw several people getting drinks from this fountain and I decided to try it.  But it tasted like what I remember watermelon Kool-Aid tasting like.  My memory could be fuzzy as I have not had Kool-Aid in more than 20 years.

Midtown Market

We went to the just opened Midtown Market. We hope it is successful because it is walking distance from our house. For the last couple of years, we have been getting grits out-of-town. Weisenberger is one that we often get in Lexington and is not sold here (or anywhere near here). We also have ordered or gotten at Whole Foods: Logan Turnpike Mill. We were excited that Weisenberger grits were sold at Midtown Market. While in there, I asked about veal. The butcher told me that they would be getting veal, lamb, and mahi mahi in a few weeks. Lots of the products were from Kentucky companies and had the Kentucky proud stickers. This seems like a great place to shop to support our state's economy. The biggest draw there seemed to be the prepared food in the deli. It looked like the food at Whole Foods and looked delicious.