We woke up for our first whole day in Santa Fe (hey! that rhymes), and we both felt like we were run over by a truck. I suppose age, time zones, travel stress, altitude changes all took their toll, and resulted in a slow start to the day. We did however manage enough gumption to venture over to the “plaza” area and got breakfast at Cafe Pasqual's a hands down choice for breakfast according to various sites (yelp, trip advisor, and so forth – yes, I know but a guide). After flailing around with parking some we found the place and went in. As advertised it was crowded and loud but it was very obvious people were enjoying themselves. I think I counted about 15 tables including a big community one in the middle of the room. The walls are decorated with tiles and typical Mexican paintings and piñatas and various other stuff are hanging from the ceiling. All the reviews said to expect a wait, but when we walked in and announced “two” he said “sit right over there” at a little table by the bottom of the stairs to the upper landing… see if you can spot MFO
There is a long list (21!) of stuff on the (served all day til three) breakfast menu. MFO settled on the smoked trout hash, and I went with the traditional Huevos Rancheros.. I would have tried the much praised corned beef hash, but figured traditional should be tried. I was asked if I wanted red, green, or tomatillo sauce and settled on red which I was assured was not too hot. Water and coffee were supplied and we had a good time just watching the bustle of the place, presided over by the guy at the front who took great pride in giving people options: “you can sit right now at the community table, or five minutes for that little table on the landing or maybe 10 for your own table”, stuff like that..
The food arrived fairly smartly, mine a big bowl of deep red dark sauce with two eggs perched atop, and MFO’s a nice plate of small pieces of smoked trout over a gruyere potato cake, and green tomatillo sauce. Most readers know that I am not a fan of overly spicy things (good job feeder – go to Santa Fe!!) and a tentative taste of the sauce revealed that it was pretty much okay, spicy but with good chile flavor. Now, without getting too indelicate here, my system was in not too robust shape to begin with, and I was fearful of pelting it with large doses of chili pepper. We were, after all a good ways away from home.. So I mostly ate the eggs nicely sauced with the sauce but largely left the (large bowl) untouched. It was, after all research more than dining. MFO finished hers and when the server came to clear he spied my almost full bowl. I stammered out some excuse like just wanted to try it, but was early for us, etc., and assured him it was no comment on the quality. Next time I’ll go for the hash.
After breakfast we shopped a bit around the square peering in windows and windows of southwestern “art”, pottery, jewelry, large hats, boots and so on. Some were worthwhile and some was, well, IMHO junk. After a bit we both decided that rest was needed as the rarified air at 7000 feet was pooping us out.
The rest of the day was spent mostly inside the digs. We wanted to be ready as possible for Big Deal Dinner one so mostly we rested, and read, and listened to music. Later in the afternoon, we thought a light lunch seemed enjoyable so we decided to have some bread and cheese and a bottle of wine on the back patio
It was very pleasant.. that's ciabatta, double cream gouda, whole foods "home made" guacamole by the way with the Chamisal Unoaked Chardonnay... quite tasty
I also had time and played a little with the camera shooting some stuff around and in the house..
So feeling a little better, we made ready for big deal meal one at Martin’s which we will discuss tomorrow.. as I always say, doing gets in the way of blogging.. oh yeah, we made sure we were
DFD
PS - nice relief job last night Card's bull pen!!
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