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)
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No complimentary chips and salsa? How lame. Here in Oregon, I've always had them at pretty much every Mexican restaurant. On the other hand, I haven't been in one for a while. Maybe the economy is making them more parsimonious.
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