Eating Santa Fe and Exploring the Land of Enchantment… at brunosdream

… or what I did on my summer vacation. A few weeks ago I went to New Mexico for 5 days w/ my best friends, Bob and Kristin. We stayed in Santa Fe and took day trips to explore the beautiful places that surround that enchanting city. We also found some great places to eat and drink. I took many, many pictures but I won’t bore you w/ all of them… just some of my favorites!

Day 1: Drove up from Albuquerque, checked into the hotel and got settled. Walked along Canyon Road to look at the galleries and visit the leather shop, Desert Son, to have a belt made for a silver belt buckle I bought 4 years ago. We then had dinner at Bert’s La Taqueria which was recommended to us by the owner of Desert Son. The food there was not your typical Mexican fare and the chef/owner, Fernando Olea, took time away from the kitchen to explain the cuisine he was preparing that evening. We sampled pork w/ a traditional red mole from the Puebla region of Mexico; beef tongue w/ a spinach based green mole from the Quintana Roo region; and some unique desserts that we promised not to share the main ingredients so other customers can guess as we did. The food was so good we went back the next day for lunch!

Bert’s sign, front door and patio

Beef tongue w/ green mole; pork w/ red mole; desserts

Day 2: Started the day w/ a cup of coffee from Holy Spirit Espresso, which uses delicious beans from Caffe D’arte (their northern Italian roast called Firenze), then went to Desert Son to pick up my belt. In the afternoon we drove to Chimayo and Taos. We visited the Santuario de Chimayo where miracles have occurred, then headed up to Taos to see the famous multi-level pueblo there. Unfortunately the pueblo was closed for the day so I don’t have any pics. Got back to the hotel late in the day, starving, looked at the menus at a few restuarants, then settled on a great Japanese place that had a fantastic price for bento box dinners. Kohnami Japanese Restaurant – another great find! Didn’t take any pics but click the link for their menu.

Outside of Holy Spirit Espresso; window shopping; picturesque window

Santuario de Chimayo

Day 3: In the morning we drove up to San Ildefonso Pueblo to look around and check out the famous black pottery made there. Had lunch in at La Casa Sena which has a beautiful courtyard and a great wine shop next door. Spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Santa Fe. then stopped in at a new restaurant that had just opened that weekend, Milagro 139, for appetizers and a glass of wine.

San Ildefonso Pueblo

…more pics from San Ildefonso

La Casa Sena courtyard and wine shop

Walking around town

Day 4: Drove up to Bandelier National Monument to hike around the cliff dwellings of the Pueblo Indians that date back to the 11th century. A very interesting and beautiful area! After hiking the dwellings and having a picnic lunch there, we drove back to Santa Fe for our last dinner of the vacation. We decided to eat at a restaurant that we looked at earlier that had a great menu w/ great prices – Dinner for Two. We chose their Monday dinner special which is a three course meal for $19 – the food and service was excellent! What a perfect way to cap off our last evening in Santa Fe!!

Bandelier National Monument…

…more Bandelier

…and more

… and more

Dinner for Two

Salad; grilled dry aged New York Strip; stuffed chicken breast & tornado of beef

Day 5: Said goodbye to Santa Fe and drove back to Albuquerque. Before heading to the airport we stopped at a winery – Casa Rondena – to sample some New Mexican wines. The estate is beautiful and the wines are very good!