Another morning, another Mexican breakfast. We had wanted to go on a hike early in the morning but needed to fuel up and get some breakfast first. We tried to go to a few other places first and even at 10AM, there were long lines everywhere (this is what you get for going to a city that's mostly older). The Plaza Diner also had a wait but it was only 15 mins, so we stuck with that instead of hopping around.
The Plaza Diner is the oldest restaurant in Santa Fe and it shows, but not in a bad way. It's just very old school and full of locals and tourists alike. This was actually the first place on the entire trip where I saw chilaquiles on the menu - which is one of my favorite Mexican breakfast dishes. I was on the verge of getting it when I realized that the huevos divorciados ($10.50) was a similar dish but also came with guacamole, sour cream and salsa - sold.
Honestly, at the end of the day, it was another really solid Mexican breakfast with beans, chili and eggs. I got my eggs sunny side up and they were perfectly cooked - very very runny and yolky. Delicious. The service was great and the location is convenient (right off the local square), what more could you ask for?
I was definitely getting sick of this kind of food after eating it for 4 days straight but now that I've been home for a few weeks, I really do miss having this kind of flavorful hearty stuff for breakfast. Lesson learned to never take green chili for granted. Total bill: $58 for 3 people
Photo Credit: Yelp
Iconik Coffee Roasters 1600 Lena St., Ste A2, Santa Fe, NM 87505 4 Forks
Every city, even Santa Fe, has to have a hipster coffee shop and I found it in Santa Fe at Iconik Coffee Roaster (I mean, even it's name is kind of hipster with the "k" instead of "c"). It's located in a really random part of town behind all these non-descript office buildings but if you're on your way to the insane interactive art experience Meow Wolf (which I HIGHLY recommend - and even more so if you are on drugs - not that I advocate for that), this is a great pit stop. It's super spacious and has a real artisanal feel to it - it actually reminded me a bit of Blue Bottle, which I love. It's also got a similar mission of working direct with coffee farmers and creating coffee that's not mass produced and crafted with love.
They had a nice small food menu, so I got an iced latte and a veggie stir-fry dish but they had all sorts of yummy sounding sandwiches, bagels and other snacks too. My traditional opinion about stir fry is that I can make it at home myself so why would I order it out? And while that's still true, I haven't made it at home in a long time so it was actually a very welcoming and nostalgic meal to have. It was made with brown rice, a nice medley of fresh vegetables and lots of sriracha in it. There was nothing mind blowing but it was just done right and it was super satisfying. Despite eating a bunch of rice, it felt healthy because it was brown rice and chock full of veggies. I could really see myself hanging out at a place like this if I ever lived in Santa Fe - it was one of the few places in the city that really seemed more geared towards younger people - although it does close at 5pm, so I guess that still makes it kind of geared towards the older crowd/early birds!
Photo Credit: Yelp
Cafe Pasqual's 121 Don Gaspar Ave., Santa Fe, NM 87501 3.5 Forks
Cafe Pasqual's seems to be THE place to eat in Santa Fe. It constantly had a line out the door and we were only able to get a reservation at 9pm (which is super late in Santa Fe) on Sunday night. While it was a fine experience, I'm not sure that I really get what all the hype is about and with other options so close by, I'm not sure if I would wait 45 mins in line for it. In any case, we made our way there late on a Sunday and even though we had reservations, they were not ready for us and it took them almost 30 mins to finally seat us. It would have been ok if there was a bar or some place to wait, but there is pretty much no lobby, so we had to stand outside. Even though Santa Fe is a totally safe city, there were a few teens cruising the street with loud music and a crazy homeless person screaming at the top of this lungs so not a super pleasant waiting experience.
We finally got seated and it was definitely getting late - even for us New Yorkers, to have dinner. Not surprisingly, the menu here has a Mexican slant but unlike some of the other places that we ate at, they actually had other types of dishes on the menu, which was a relief to us. For starters, we got the little gem salad ($13) and the warm french brie ($17). For a main entree, I was torn between getting something totally different like the Warm Thai Rain Noodle Salad vs. something traditional like the Bison Burger. In the end, the bison burger won out because I knew that once I came back to NYC, I wouldn't really indulge in burgers that often and even more rarely with ones that had green chili on it. Plus I can't imagine that the Thai food here would be better than what I could get in NYC. I opted to get the sauteed mushrooms ($7) toppings - which I highly encourage anyone who orders this dish do. Aarti and Deanna ended up getting the Thai Noodle salad ($26) and the Plato Supremo with chili relleno, enchilada and a tamale ($29). As you can see from the prices of the last two dishes, this was definitely the most expensive meal we had on the trip.
The little gem salad was served with romaine, rainbow carrots, sugar snap peas, radishes, chives and then tossed with a homemade ranch dressing. It was a nice intro salad and dressed nicely with a ranch that wasn't too heavy or creamy. The brie was served with an entire oven roasted head of garlic and crostini. I'm usually a huge lover of brie, but this dish was actually a bit underwhelming. The brie was luke warm so it wasn't gooey and I would have preferred something a bit softer than the thin crostini bites. It could have also used some honey or extra sweetness to it.
The burger was served on an English Muffin but I ended up not even eating it because I still felt full from all the rice I had earlier. The burger came with green chili, jack cheese, caramelized onions, tomato, salsa, and the pile of mushrooms I added. While I enjoyed the burger, I didn't find it to be in the top 10 of best burgers I had. It could have been a bit juicier - it's probably because it's bison meat which is leaner and not as fatty (hence delicious) as a beef burger. The best part of this dish was actually the side of kale salad I got with the burger. It felt like the first clean veggie dish I had eaten all trip. It was nicely massaged kale with lemon juice and olive oil that didn't taste rough or tough to chew. It was actually a really great kale side that I would have gotten as a main if it was offered with some chicken or another protein.
If I had stopped my meal here, I would have given this place a solid 3 fork review. Good but over-hyped and over priced. But what bumped this place up a 1/2 fork was the amazing dessert we had. Since it was our last meal of the trip, we went all out and got the fresh mint ice cream AND the berry shortcake ($11 each). OMG - that ice cream was freaking amazing and saved this review. It was totally fresh natural mint that pretty much punched you in the face with freshness. It was amazing yet somehow not overpowering at all. The shortcake was wonderful and served with fresh cream, a variety of berries and a delicious vanilla ice cream as well. We should have totally skipped the brie to save calories and room in our stomachs. By the time our meal ended it was well after 11pm and we were exhausted and literally the only people left in the restaurant. I definitely had better meals for less on the trip, but I'm glad I stayed til the end and enjoyed the best dessert we had all long weekend. Total bill: $210 for 3 people with tax, tip and drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
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