When visiting restaurants in New Mexico, chips and salsa are the complimentary appetizer – ALWAYS; or at least, that’s the way it used to be. A few years ago, I started to notice a disturbing trend amongst New Mexican restaurants in Santa Fe. It started at some of the more touristy restaurants – the disappearance of chips and salsa! While perusing my menu at one of these restaurants, I suddenly looked up and scanned the table for the usual chips and salsa. There was none to be found. When the waitress returned, I asked her about it. The response was that it was no longer complimentary. If I’d like to pay a mere $3.00, I could have some. I decided it wasn’t worth it, especially since guacamole and chips and salsa could be had for just a couple dollars more.
Figuring that the missing chips and salsa was isolated to this one restaurant, I vowed to frequent the ones which still carried this iconic appetizer. Over the next year, free chips and salsa pretty much became extinct. I don’t know of any Santa Fe restaurant that still offers it.
Luckily, this trend has not seemed to spread to other cities. Complimentary chips and salsa is still widely found in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Las Cruces (and, I’m assuming, most other NM towns).
Where to find good salsa...
I recommend the following restaurants for salsa:
La Choza, Santa Fe
Blue Corn Cafe, Santa Fe
Sadie's, Albuquerque
Red Ball Cafe, Albuquerque
La Posta, Mesilla (Las Cruces)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Let the games begin!
Welcome to my new blog!
I was 10 when my family moved to New Mexico and I’ve now been here for over 25 years. When I first arrived, everything was a complete culture shock. We’d moved from the heavily Mormon city of Idaho Falls, ID to the small, mountain town of Los Alamos. Granted, “LA” isn’t the typical NM town but it was still completely foreign to me.
It took a few years for me to stop missing my former hometown. I think I’d even vowed that I’d NEVER call Los Alamos home. 25+ years later, Los Alamos IS my hometown. New Mexico is my home. I’ve had opportunities to move out of state but turned them down. For the time being, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. The blend of cultures, the amazing scenery, the amazingly beautiful, unsurpassed scenery and the chile that define our state is what keeps me here. No, the state’s not perfect but it’s home and I love it.
I’m sure that blogging about NM is nothing new and maybe this one will turn out to be typical and mundane; however, I suddenly feel compelled to write about our lovely state from my perspective. I thought about limiting the subject matter to just chile but I can’t do that. There’s more to the state than just red or green.
I was 10 when my family moved to New Mexico and I’ve now been here for over 25 years. When I first arrived, everything was a complete culture shock. We’d moved from the heavily Mormon city of Idaho Falls, ID to the small, mountain town of Los Alamos. Granted, “LA” isn’t the typical NM town but it was still completely foreign to me.
It took a few years for me to stop missing my former hometown. I think I’d even vowed that I’d NEVER call Los Alamos home. 25+ years later, Los Alamos IS my hometown. New Mexico is my home. I’ve had opportunities to move out of state but turned them down. For the time being, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. The blend of cultures, the amazing scenery, the amazingly beautiful, unsurpassed scenery and the chile that define our state is what keeps me here. No, the state’s not perfect but it’s home and I love it.
I’m sure that blogging about NM is nothing new and maybe this one will turn out to be typical and mundane; however, I suddenly feel compelled to write about our lovely state from my perspective. I thought about limiting the subject matter to just chile but I can’t do that. There’s more to the state than just red or green.
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