Wednesday
I flew into the Albuquerque International Sunport at 10:40 PM Wednesday evening and was greeted by my father. He drove me to my hotel but the night was still young so we decided to grab a beer at nearby Stone Face Tavern, 8201 San Pedro Dr NE, Albuquerque, NM 27113. I have been to Stone Face once before with some girl friends of mine and recalled their delicious green chile cheese fries (YUMMY) and could think of absolutely nothing that sounded finer at 11:30 at night to go with my La Cumbre Elevated IPA.
Décor: The tavern is your average sports-themed bar. TV's, memorabilia, billiards and darts, volleyball courts, and beer posters.
Food taste: Unfortunately for me, we arrived too late to partake in the glory that is green chile cheese fries so we settled for the fried sampler platter. It was your average fried delights: fried zucchini, fried mushrooms and mozzarella sticks with marinara and ranch dressing for dippers. It was ok, nothing to rave about. Maybe I'm just a little salty about the lack of green chile cheese fries.
Food appearance: As with the taste, the appearance wasn't anything special - red plastic boat lined with wax paper and plastic sauce cups.
Service: our waitress was less than attentive...or friendly. The bar was far from busy yet she seemed very keen on spending as little time as possible with us. We had to stop her several times from running off while we were still giving our orders. I guess a middle-aged man and his daughter aren't nearly as fascinating as the group of younger men a few tables down. We also happened to be visiting the bar on Bikini Top Wednesday. There's just something inherently uncomfortable about being served by scantily clad women when you're with your parents.
Cleanliness: everything looked reasonably clean, didn't pay too much attention to be honest though. After the 6 hours I spent traveling preceded by the 7 hour workday I endured, the cleanliness of this bar was the last thing on my mind.
I would recommend heading to Stone Face during their food-serving hours and eat a plate of green chile cheese fries in my honor, or head there for a beer if food isn't your fancy. The Tavern has a great selection of New Mexican beers for pretty reasonable prices.
Thursday
Thursday morning I woke up bright-eyed and bushy tailed at 6:00 AM. I had slept about 4 hours but just couldn't sleep anymore so I decided to check out the hotel's gym. Of course I had forgotten my running shoes so I opted for a 30 minute elliptical workout followed by 15 minutes of squats/core exercises. After I showered and got ready for the day, I met my "big sister" Monica for breakfast. It was lovely to catch up with her after so long! We went to Weck's because I just couldn't stand the thought of not eating a delicious meal made from potatoes, chile and cheese for at least another year.
After breakfast my father and I decided to take a trip to the Albuquerque Museum near Old Town. The museum hosts 7 galleries with especial rotating exhibits and New Mexican and Native American art. I wanted to go because they are currently showing an exhibit about the New Mexican film and television industry. Did you know New Mexico has been used as a filming location since the '40s?! I can't even count how many old Westerns were filmed in my beautifully diverse home state! More recently, however, it has been used for a variety of projects, and no I'm not just talking about Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul!
New Mexico has been used as a stand-in location for Afghanistan and Iraq, for alien planets and Mexico. Now if you don't find that impressive than I don't know what will impress you. Ever heard of Transformers? How about 3:10 to Yuma? Maybe the Avengers? Yep, my state has been featured in all of these films along with around 800 others. This exhibition features movie posters, actual props and costumes and scripts complete with edits!
You may be asking yourself, "Lindsey, if there is all these great things at this exhibit, why didn't you take pictures?" Well, let me tell you, I took exactly 1 picture at this exhibit of some recognizable Breaking Bad objects and no sooner as I had pressed the center button on my iPhone's camera had a very diligent security guard approached me and told me to "delete that picture along with any others immediately". In my defense, there were no signs I saw that indicated picture-taking wasn't allowed but I followed the rent-a-cop's orders. There you have it, my brush with the law.
We also saw an exhibit about tuberculosis and New Mexico; now if that doesn't just thrill ya'!
After 2 hours of museum we decided to go to lunch and just happened to pass by a restaurant I'd been wanting to try for years: Golden Crown Panaderia!
The Panaderia, located at 1103 Mountain Rd NW, Albuquerque, NM 27102, is an adorable little building with a bright and sunny patio and you can unfortunately easily miss it if you're not watching closely.
Décor: everything is funky and homey. The chairs and tables don't match and there are wind-catchers on the patio.
Food appearance: everything looked and smelled divine! The Panaderia is foremost a bakery. They make gigantic loaves of bread, biscochitos, polvorones (Mexican Wedding Cookies), and conchas in addition to pizza dough and empanadas.
Food taste: I ordered the Avocado Wonder Sandwich on Famous New Mexico Green Chile Bread and it was just incredible! The bread was smoky and spicy and perfectly paired with the creamy avocado. My sandwich was accompanied by tortilla chips, spicy queso and a pickle (side note: I hate pickles). My dad ordered the Golden Crown's Combination pizza (pepperoni, sausage, black olives, red onions, bell peppers and mozzarella cheese) on Famous New Mexico Green Chile Crust and while I only tasted the crust, I knew it must've been marvelous. Our meals were also served with biscochitos. These, for you non-New Mexicans, are traditionally eaten during Christmas-time and are crisp and flavored with cinnamon and anise.
Service: the ordering process involves ordering at a window, taking a number and then having your food served to you. The staff was friendly and patient with us while we read the chalkboard menu. We were even treated to 2 free biscochitos before we even ordered!
Cleanliness: the restaurant was clean and free of dirty tables.
I would definitely recommend a trip to Golden Crown Panaderia! They have apparently been in business for 25 years (though, truthfully I hadn't heard of them until maybe 4-5 years ago). Definitely go and grab yourself a giant loaf of Famous New Mexico Green Chile Bread and stay for a pizza and a few biscochitos.
After lunch we had some time to kill so we took a trip to Green Jeans Farmery. This is a small collection of restaurants and shops at the intersection of Carlisle and I-25 and constructed out of shipping containers. It a very interesting concept but could definitely have a better location. We grabbed a beer at the Santa Fe Brewing taproom and sat on their rooftop patio and got a 360 degree view of cars exiting the interstate, the neighboring hotel, and the traffic jam forming on Carlisle.
Then came the time I was waiting for: FINALLY SEEING MY HUSBAND! We met up at the Don Quixote tasting room at 18057 US 84/285, Santa Fe, NM 27506. You may or may not recall that we attempted to visit their Los Alamos tasting room on my previous trip. I bought a bottle of blue corn vodka to tide me over for the next year (vodka is my drink of choice).
We were invited to dinner by Nate's advisor at North Carolina State University that night. We decided to go to Gabriel's of Santa Fe. Nate had eaten here before but I had not so I was anxious to see how they stacked up to my New Mexican standby's.
Décor: everything was very traditionally "New Mexican" meaning adobe walls, carved wood chairs, Georgia O'Keefe-style paintings on the walls, and a large patio.
Food appearance: everything was presented well. It's hard to make New Mexican food look gourmet because it doesn't really need to. Let's face it: anything "smothered" isn't going to look pretty but it's going to taste excellent and that's what matters.
Food taste: we began with the Guacamole Especial, which was amazing! I love guacamole and would consider myself somewhat of an authority on the subject so when I say their's was good, best believe it was great.
Nate ordered the Cochinita Pibil, which was pork so I didn't try it but he said it was good. Meanwhile I ordered the Veggie Taco Salad, which I probably wouldn't do again. The restaurant has an entire vegetarian menu but I was trying to eat light and made a mistake.
The salad itself was ho hum, but the presentation was weird. I thought it was just going to be a mix of veggies put into a salad but it was a mix of steamed veggies put on top of a layer of rice and mixed greens. Let's do some thinking here, shall we? Fresh greens + steamed veggies = wilted salad. Maybe we should rethink that one Gabriel's...
Friday
Friday began with breakfast burritos and non-disappoint-muffins at Morning Glory. I was beyond thrilled to finally eat my Morning Glory muffin. It was incredible.
After breakfast Nate and I took the exciting hour and a half drive to Albuquerque where we were rear-ended in Santa Fe. It was extremely minor, zero visible damage to the Jeep and the GMC that hit us had a small dent from the impact. Still an inconvenience regardless.
Once in Albuquerque, we took a trip to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History (601 Eubank, Albuquerque, NM 27123). This museum is right up my husband's alley and fun fact: the first place he visited when he visited New Mexico before college (how adorable!). The Museum is filled with information about the Manhattan Project, the Cold War, and the nuclear industry today. It's a great little museum for science or history buffs. The back of the museum is also home to several airplanes, jets and rockets in various states of repair. Some are far nicer than others.
After the museum, Nate and I went to one of our college haunts: Gyros.
If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that I adore Mediterranean food. It's just so great! It's fresh, it's tangy, it's full of flavor! ALL THE BEST THINGS! I also appreciate how well it lends itself to vegetarianism.
Nate and I used to go to lunch at Gyros weekly when we began dating (5 years ago). Actually, I think we ate there before we took our engagement pictures as well.
Décor: the restaurant has a collection of 10 tables in the front, and a narrow hallway of tables near the back. The restaurant has a large painted map of the Mediterranean region on one wall and that's about it as far as décor goes.
Food appearance: food is served on brightly colored plastic plates but there is some attention to detail made. But once again, the taste is key here, right?
Food taste: we began our meal with Saganaki (flaming cheese). If you haven't eaten this delightful delicacy, you're not really living. The cheese is melty, gooey, cheesy, citrusy from the fresh squeeze of lemon juice used to extinguish the flame and let's face it - cheese is just good. My main dish was the Spanakopita salad. I adore spanakopita - the layers of flaky pastry, the delicious spinach and feta mixture and, when topped with a small drizzle of Gyros' house made Greek dressing, damn near heavenly! I have no idea what they do to this dressing but it's so good I'd drink it.
Service: similarly to Gold Crown, you walk up to place an order and then it is brought to your table. The staff is friendly and efficient. Everything is served quickly and hot and tables are cleaned with such speed you hardly even knew they were dirty.
Cleanliness: very clean even during lunch rushes.
I would recommend Gyros. It's a cozy spot with cheap food (all dishes under $10) and good service. Nothing is gourmet or too fancy but you're going to leave full and with a smile.
We came to Albuquerque for my "twin" Stephanie's birthday party and decided it was a good idea to stay at a hotel for the night to avoid driving back too late. Hotel Parq Central was the obvious choice. I love this hotel and will shamelessly promote it whenever I have the opportunity. STAY AT THIS HOTEL IMMEDIATELY.
Also for funsies, here's a picture of Nate and I and my cephalopod travel friend (I'm basically 5, so judge me).
Also for funsies, here's a picture of Nate and I and my cephalopod travel friend (I'm basically 5, so judge me).
Saturday
After a delicious breakfast at the hotel and a dip in the hot tub, Nate and I went to the Rio Grande Zoo. I love the zoo, I always have! Zoos and aquariums are my favorite places to visit! I love seeing all the animals, imagining what it'd be like to own an ocelot as a pet (they're just big kitties, right?), and watching all the little kids experience so much joy and excitement!
They've recently updated a few of the exhibits too so it was nice to come back to the zoo and have it be slightly different than when we left. They did however get rid of the chameleons, major disappointment!
After returning to Los Alamos, Nate and I walked to Papa Murphy's pizza and picked up dinner. The evening was spent eating pizza and watching movies. It was lovely to just spend time enjoying each other's company. Oh and drinking beers. Look at this super cool beer from Santa Fe Brewing. Delicious blonde ale with a pretty dope label.
Sunday
We wanted to delay the down time in Albuquerque so we spent the majority of the day in Los Alamos. There is very little to do in Los Alamos on a Sunday morning. We went on a long walk around the town and Fuller Lodge, had breakfast at Ruby K's Bagel Shop (snagged myself a couple bagels to take back to Raleigh) and then just lounged around until it was time to head to 'Burque and the airport.
I hope you enjoyed the recount of my trip! Albuquerque will forever be my home and my heart and I will always love visiting, but I'm glad that all my traveling this summer is over and my husband will be back in Raleigh in a few short weeks! I promise I'll do better at posting more regularly!
Until next time!
Glad you had a fun trip!
ReplyDeleteI agree. The salad sounds weird!
ReplyDelete