Best Restaurants in Santa Fe area (Chama, Lamy: house, living in, train)

[Vinegaroon]

SANTA FE: FAVORITE RESTAURANTS

BREAKFAST

Adelitas Restaurant, 3297 Cerrillos Rd. (You can have a cerveza with your eggs and no one will notice).

Bagelmania, 420 Catron Street. (Good parking, coffee, bagels, service)

Horseman's Haven Cafe, 4354 Cerrillos (no-nonsense Mexican-American family food, scorching hot red chile)

Pantry, 1820 Cerrillos (good parking, inexpensive and filling, try the corned beef hash)

Plaza Cafe, 54 Lincoln Ave (on the plaza, good mix of tourists and locals, traditional breakfast and New Mexican foods, if going for lunch try the giros)

Santa Fe Baking Company, 504 West Cordova (Good parking, huge burritos, this is where the yuppies hang out)

Saveur, 204 Montezuma (Quaint little place with buffet style delicious food)

SPORTS BAR

Blue Corn Cafe & Brewery, 4056 Cerillos Rd. (Pretty good microbrewed beers, decent selection of food, many televisions in the bar with different games)

Catamount Bar & Grille, 125 E. Water (Traditional american food, large screen t.v.s, and they usually will put a game on for you if they can find it, very nice pool tables upstairs, good place to hang out in the summer on the porch and watch people)

Green Onion Sports Bar, 1851 Saint Michaels Drive (The one and only tavern in town, many televisions, excellent chicken wings, great beer specials, good parking, very casual)

FAST FOOD

Bert's Burger Bowl, 235 N. Guadalupe (You gotta have the green chile cheeseburger)

Chicago Dog Express, 600 Cerrillos Rd. (Try the Santa Fe Dog, no amenities, take it to go or eat at their picnic tables)

Home Run Pizza. (Delivery).

El Parasol, 1833 Cerrillos (Carry-out only, inexpensive and great New Mexican)

STEAKS

The Bull Ring, 150 Washington Ave (more formal dining, bar is comfortable, great steaks, on the pricey side)

Rio Chama Steakhouse. (Nice bar. You might rub elbows with politicians here when the legislature is in session.)

Steaksmith at El Gancho, Old Santa Fe Trail & Old Pecos Trail, then left 1 mile on Old Las Vegas Highway (Awesome steaks, great appetizers, cozy bar)

OTHER DINING

Cowgirl Bar & Grill, 319 S Guadalupe St. (Great atmosphere, best place in town to take kids as they have an outdoor playground where you can sip a margarita and watch them, good BBQ, outdoor patio that is fun to hang out at in the summer, can be a long wait for food)

Del Charro Restaurant, 101 West Alameda (Good place to get a burger and a margarita, inexpensive lunch spot)

Il Vicino Wood Oven Pizza, 321 San Francisco W. (creative pizzas, good beer, nice lunch spot)

India Palace, 227 Don Gaspar Ave. (Yeah, no one comes to Santa Fe to eat Indian food, but if you are hankering for some, this place does it right)

La Casa Sena, 125 E. Palace (Excellent, formal dining indoors, more casual outdoors as weather permits)

Maria's, 555 W. Cordova (An institution in Santa Fe, best enchiladas and margaritas in town in my opinion, across from Trader Joes)

Piccolino Italian Restaurant, 2890 Agua Fria St. (Casual, moderately priced, consistently good Italian food).

Second Street Brewery, 1814 Second Street (Outdoor patio, great beer, good tavern menu, this is where the hippies, yuppies, wanna-be musicians, poets and all the rest of the pseudo-bohemians in town congregate)

The Shed, 113-1/2 E. Palace St. (Great New Mexican cuisine, usually crowded at lunch, poor parking, just follow some tourists and they probably will go eat here)

Zia Diner, 326 S. Guadalupe St. (Great meatloaf and comfort foods)

[Vinegaroon]

Originally Posted by Dancingearth

Has anyone been to Whole Hog on Cerrillos? Must be the 4th of July--I'm hungry for BBQ and I don't have a grill yet. Any good BBQ places?

The Whole Hog is very good. I love the ribs.

[Towanda]

Originally Posted by Dancingearth

Renates in Glorieta--worth the drive--I never knew German food could be so good and I lived in eastern PA for 30 years. Good idea to make a reservation just in case you hit a busy time.

Hey Dancingearth - Have you been to the Galisteo Inn? Every time we drive by there I want to stop for dinner ... it is such a charming place and I wonder if they have good food.

[Dancingearth]

Originally Posted by Towanda

Hey Dancingearth - Have you been to the Galisteo Inn? Every time we drive by there I want to stop for dinner ... it is such a charming place and I wonder if they have good food.

No, never been there. You might have to do a review for us.

[Towanda]

Okay - here is my response to Vinegaroon's list - at least to the restaurants I have been to:

Adelita's - had breakfast there one time. Liked it a lot!

The Pantry - yumm yummm on the breakfast burritoes smothered with green chile!

Blue Corn Cafe - It was good; my husband had one of their microbrews, I had a margarita. Food was good.

Rio Chama - upscale, very elegant, wonderful wonderful (expensive) food.

Maria's - one of my long-time favorites; been going there for years. BEST margaritas in town.

All of the rest of the places on Vinegaroon's list I still have to try.

[Devin Bent]

Vinageroon's list is impressive.

A couple of additions from the north from Tesuque thru Espanola.

Breakfast and Lunch

Roadrunner Cafe in Pojoaque. Not impressive looking and allows smoking. But a good and inexpensive breakfast. Other meals are chancy, but the charbroiled hamburger is good and also inexpensive.

Fairview Diner in Espanola on the main road on the right north of Walgreens. (Dos Amigos used to be here.) They have espresso and latte in addition to breakfast.

Lunch and Dinner

Sopapillo's in Pojoaque. Not fancy but inexpensive and freshly made. The Saturday special pork chops are to die for. If they can't find quality meat, then they don't have them.

Tesuque Market (and Restaurant) in Tesque. Excellent. Same menu but new management that does a better job. Offers covered outdoor dining. Gets crowded during opera season.

El Nido. Also in Tesuque. Excellent and expensive.

Paragua. In Espanola. Go up main road and turn right before Long John Silver's. Authentic New Mexican food and run by one of the old-time Hispanic families. The same family runs the Parasol fast food chain, but it's not the same food. An excellent side salad comes with a dinner.

Gabriel's north of Tesuque. Not my cup of tea, but many like it.

Rancho de Chimayo in Cimayo. New Mexican food. Again, IMO not great, but many like it and if you are in Chimayo, it is certainly the best. Outdoor dining -- mostly covered.

Even further north.

Embudo station in Embudo of course. Take the bridge across the river. Riverside dining. Good food at moderate prices. (Don't be crazy and let your small children wade in that river. It is fast, strong, and muddy.) Open Thursday thru Sunday in season. Check before you go.

Sugar's also in Embudo. BBQ -- excellent considering where we are.

PIZZA? And if you can believe it, there is a home run pizza in Pojoaque. You will not think you are in NYC, but it is not bad.

[Devin Bent]

Intersection of Cerrillos, Read, and I forget.

Limited menu, Italian inspired, but inventive, excellent and moderately priced. Spumoni is to die for.

Friendly wait staff.

They even have a few parking spaces.

[Vinegaroon]

Devin, I'm one of those that likes Gabriels, or used to anyway. Their Guacamole Especial is really good. However, I was treated poorly by one of their waitstaff, and I am one to bear grudges once that happens. Same reason I don't go to other Santa Fe restaurants that are absent from my list. They have good food, but I was mistreated there and hence they do not appear.

[Devin Bent]

Originally Posted by Vinegaroon

Devin, I'm one of those that likes Gabriels, or used to anyway. Their Guacamole Especial is really good. However, I was treated poorly by one of their waitstaff, and I am one to bear grudges once that happens.

That's two of us with the same grudge against Gabriels -- except that my wife and I were treated with deliberate rudeness. And my wife speaks Spanish and understood exactly what was being said -- the host was making fun of us -- loudly for all to hear. Even I, with abysmal Spanish, got the drift.

I am never going back.

[Towanda]

Wow, you two.

Gabriel's goes OFF my list.