margaritas - Living The Q Life Travel Adventures

New Mexico is known for its chili peppers and the southwestern food that is made with them. We were only in Santa Fe for a couple of days, but that didn’t keep us from trying as many different options as we could. As a town, Santa Fe has a growing reputation for having a food scene with creative chefs and restaurants with interesting menus. We focused our attention on the historic downtown area, but there are excellent restaurants throughout Santa Fe.

Southwestern food is generally Mexican inspired food with an American flair. We had burritos filled with pork marinated in red chilis as well as Huevos Rancheros. We also had tempura battered green chilis as well as a delicious grilled corn and chipotle soup. Obviously there is more to the food in Santa Fe than just southwestern, it is just that they are known for that style of food. We also had a wonderful prime rib dinner at the Ranch House, although we were so hungry that we didn’t end up taking any photos of the dish. We stopped at a place called Harry’s Roadhouse on our way out of town, which featured traditional diner food that was so popular that cars had to park on the road as the parking lot was full.

Pork Burritos with Spicy Green Chili Sauce

Needless to say, we needed to have something cold to drink while we ate, especially with the hot summer temperatures. New Mexico has a variety of local breweries and brew pubs and we enjoyed a few different beers at the Blue Corn Brewery as well as the Second Street Brewery, which is in the Railyard Arts District. Perhaps as popular as beer are the margaritas, so we made sure to stop into the San Francisco Street Bar and Grill for a couple of their happy hour margaritas. They were a perfect mid-afternoon treat and weren’t too sour, which can sometimes be the case.

Clearly we didn’t have enough time to sample everything that Santa Fe has to offer, but we definitely enjoyed the meals that we did have. Anyone visiting Santa Fe will be pleased with all of the offerings. As always, be sure to ask your hotel staff and cab drivers for recommendations, you will often find that pleasant surprise. We ended up at Harry’s Roadhouse based upon a recommendation and we certainly weren’t disappointed. We look forward to recreating some of these wonderful dishes in the very near future.

Oatmeal with Apples, Walnuts, and Brown Sugar

As we mentioned before, our latest trip to Las Vegas was really about getting some down time and relaxing. When traveling to Las Vegas, food is always a highlight of any trip and this trip was no different. We went to a few of our favorite places to eat, but also purposely chose to go to some places that we hadn’t eaten before. Obviously, there are a plethora of celebrity chef owned restaurants, each one having multiple restaurants in several casinos, but there are other choices that are not as expensive.

One of the places that we returned to was The Yardbird at the Venetian, a restaurant specializing in eggs and chicken. We had fried chicken with hot sauce, chilled spiced watermelon, and a fresh baked biscuit. Another place that we returned was Jardin in the Encore, which has an open-air feel overlooking the pool area as well as some creative meal choices. We also went back to Gordan Ramsey’s Pub in Caesars, which offers traditional British fare and a nice variety of beers and ales.

One of the new places that we ate at was a Mexican restaurant called El Segundo, which is at the Fashion Show Mall and features wonderful food at reasonable prices as well as happy hour margaritas. Another new restaurant for us to eat at was Morels in the Palazzo where we had quiche and a very large omelet as well as two for one drink specials.

We always love a good deal on Oysters, so we even had a dozen oysters at the Oyster Bar in Harrah’s, which was nicer than restaurants in Harrah’s used to be. All in all, we enjoyed a wonderful variety of food and even found a few bargains along the way. The buffet seems to be making a comeback as several casinos offered them as well, but since we aren’t heavy eaters, it doesn’t make sense for us to sit down at an all you can eat buffet. Las Vegas has so many food options that you could spend a month on the strip and never eat at the same place twice, although you might go broke in the process.

Isobar Expeditions

Tag: margaritas

Southwestern Flavors in Santa Fe

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