Hollow Happyween!

Speaking of trick and treating, did you look at the google doodle today? Those folks are so clever.

Anyway, lest people think that the Feeder is limited to thinking with his stomach and only focuses on food, I should point out that nothing could be further from the truth. Well, not far, but not entirely either.

Santa Fe is home not only to some great restaurants (more to come) but is also considered one of the premier “art” colonies in the country. There is a plethora of museums, and more galleries than one could imagine, and the famous Plaza where there are street displays of Indian art. Turquoise, pottery, silver work, and woven rugs are everywhere. One of the more famous areas is Canyon Road, which has become a Mecca for American crafts, home to many celebrated galleries and artists. Most have the “real stuff” which comes with astonishing, but common prices.

But it doesn’t cost anything to shop, so we decided to spend the morning “doing” Canyon Road area and it’s hundreds (yes) of galleries. Of course the first thing you have to do is find lodging for the car which is handled discreetly.

But then you start down the unassuming quaint little road,

 which is lined with the galleries.

Once you get over your reluctance to enter them, there are lots of things to see:

No matter what your taste there’s something for you

Most of the people in the galleries are very nice and will chat with you, learn where you’re from and generally are nice. And after a while you develop the ability to turn over the piece, or look at the tag, and not utter anything when that little print or statue is $7,000 or more. “how nice, look at this dear” and move along.

We talked to one lady who was displaying some very nice bird drawings, and not too dear, like framed ones you could get for around 300 and unframed a lot less. As it turned out, the artist was there that day because she was pulling out of this particular gallery because her pieces weren’t selling. The gallery owner told us that in her gallery she had no problem selling $10K paintings, but the market for things like the prints wasn’t there. Go figure..

But one of the nice things about gallery row wasn’t what was inside, it was what was outside. You want art? How can you not like things like this:

 And although people create nice art, so does good old reliable Mother Nature!

And the price is free! Anyway any trip to Santa Fe should include a stroll down that road.

okay, back to food...

After building a hunger (pretending we had huge amounts of disposable income), we decided to have lunch at Mucho Gusto a small informal Mexican restaurant tucked in the back side of a little shopping area near one end of Canyon Road. It shows up on a lot of searches for places to go in Santa Fe. It is quite small, very plain, clean, and has tidy green tables, there are large paintings on the wall of (what turned out to be) life in the Yucatan. A very pleasant server approached and asked about drinks. We’d like a Margarita please! Well, guess what? THEY don’t have a liquor license either, but did a feature a “Margarita” made with Agave wine. Actually they were very good and didn’t pack the wallop of Tequila, maybe a good thing at lunch.

The menu was divided into Appetizers, Soups and Salads, Main Dishes, and House Specialties. Here again, if you wanted chips and salsa, please consult the menu. House madeTomatillo salsa with roasted tomato arbol chile salsa: $3.95. Add homemade Guac for another 4 bucks. We demurred. Anyway the menu contained the usual suspects within each category: Tacos; Burritos; Chalupas; Fajitas; and Enchiladas. Within those dishes were further choices of veggies, chicken or beef, and shrimp if appropriate. The Specialties included Flautas, Chimichangas, Carnitas, Mole and Suiza Enchiladas, and a Stuffed Chicken Breast, AKA “The Bomb”. That dish was a chicken breast stuffed with jack cheese, poblano chiles, almonds, sun dried tomatoes, topped with a mushroom chipotle chile cream sauce. Most all dishes came with black beans, rice, and/or pico de gallo. I suspect the same menu serves both lunch and dinner.

MFO decided on a luncheon special green chile burger, and I meekly went for the Suiza Enchiladas, rolled chicken enchiladas with tomatillo sauce, feta cheese (?), sided by rice, beans, and the pico.

We supped the faux Margaritas, and sort of went over the mornings adventures, and eventually the plates appeared. While the names of the dishes may be the same as you can get around here (Maryland), what was on them definitely was not. No amalgamous plate of everything run together covered with a glop of melted cheese, everything was separated, and each was fresh, tasty and just fine. The enchiladas had real chunks of chicken, not diced or shredded, the sauce was bright and flavorful, and the (fresh) feta cheese added a nice bite. The beans were not “refried” but rather just placed on the plate, the rice wasn’t “blown out”, and the pico de gallo was green, fresh, and tasty. MFO’s burger was exactly medium rare and the chiles were flavorful.

Although this was the second of…I forget, “Mexican” places we tried (more to come!), we found it to be typical of what we encountered. Fresh ingredients, nicely prepared and tasty. We definitely would recommend and return to Mucho Gusto with much gusto!! Just very pleasant.. and you didn’t much have to worry about

DFWhatever, although Gallery cruising would demand some sort of nice dress. Despite what others seemed to feel was appropriate..

more meals to come!! oh, and diversions as well.  I'm NOT one dimensional, see....