If this is Saturday, we must be in Santa Fe. We got here early in the afternoon and after checking into our hotel, we went for a walk around the plaza downtown and visited the Palace of the Governors. The Palace is the oldest continually occupied building in North America. We also went into the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. The church established their first congregation in 1610. Driving out Old Santa Fe Trail we saw the homes of many of the Hollywood folks that have moved here. The locals tell us that some of the celebrities have moved to Taos, when Santa Fe became too common a place to live. Be proud of me folks, I have just erased a two paragraph rant about those folks and my opinion of same. Back to Santa Fe, it is a wonderful historical City with beautiful adobe architecture. Jeannie and I both love how it looks and no one could pick a more gorgeous place. The elevation is 7,000 feet and the nearby Sangre de Cristo Mountains are such a dramatic and magnificent backdrop for this historic City.
But enough sightseeing, I know what is being said all over the country. Larry! where did you and Jeannie eat? and more importantly, what did you eat? OK, so it is not being asked all over the country. I am going to tell you anyhow. We went to the "Tune-up Cafe". Now how strange is this place? Try this, the owner will not allow the name to be posted or painted anywhere on or in the business. He says if people can't find it, to hell with them. A couple owns the joint, the wife is a self-described "hippie from East Texas and the husband is from El Salvador. Evidently during one of their revolutions, he bet on the wrong side and ended up in Santa Fe. Folks this is the hole in the wall cafe that gave birth to the term. The food however, is a whole other thing, they got it going on! We ordered one meal and one side dish and split them. The main course was called a "pupusa." I am going to try and describe it, bear with me. It is a masa tortilla (I was told that masa is a fine corn flour). They take the masa tortilla and put sliced steak, peppers, corn and chopped tomatillos on it. Then they put another masa tortilla on top of it and they have a press that compacts it into a kind of sandwich. It is then fried in clarified butter and becomes almost like a pastry. Finally, it is covered in a light tomato based salsa. The side dish was Curtido, it is made with pickled cabbage, onions, beets and just a hint of red pepper. Had I been told what was in it, I would not have eaten it and I would have missed an unusual but tasty treat. Our server came over and I asked about the food and the description above is my recollection of what he said. We could not have asked for better hosts or nicer people. He said their cafe produces a Salvadorian style of cooking combined with "High Mexican cuisine". They buy everything fresh, grind their own meat and get virtually nothing from any grocery. He went into a lot more detail about the cheese and peppers but I have already bored the hell out of everyone. I will close by saying this, if ever a place could look one way, and taste the exact opposite this it it. All of their pride and careful attention to detail and most of all, taste, begins and ends with the food. Given the result, I guess that is how it should be. P. S. Jeannie has a list of five more restaraunts, however she is lying in bed showing no signs of being able to go to even one more diner, drive-in or dive. Tomorrow, Albuquerque and then the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
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