Today was a travel day so this will be a fairly short entry. Slept in until in until about 6:30 and took our time packing and getting ready to leave. Went downstairs to the breakfast room, nothing to report there. We were on the road by 10:30. The route was 285 through Roswell until in intersected with then right to Albuquerque.
We stopped for lunch in Roswell, yes that Roswell home of the UFO festival and aliens. The only alien we saw was one with a poncho outside of a Mexican Restaurant. We had lunch at Martins Capitol Caf. The best meal since Cloudcroft. After two days of just barely tolerable food it was finally nice to have actual decent Mexican (not New Mexican). It was a busy place and was a pretty quick lunch.
The salsa served with the chips was very good just the right bite to it. I had a stuffed sopapilla with rice, sour cream and guacamole. The sopapilla was stuffed with chicken, beans and cheese, then smothered in green chili sauce. Jerry had a chicken enchilada and with chili rellenos, rice and beans, also with green sauce. They were both very
After lunch it was a drive to Albuquerque. We found the hotel quite easily, of course with navigation help form google maps. We are checked in; Tarragon is exploring the very large room and has already had his dinner. It is approaching so will be signing off soon. Dinner is in the hotel tonight with some of Jerrys relatives. We are here for three nights, so kitty will get a good chance to relax, he already loves the window sill.
Dinner was in the hotel at Mas Tapas y Vino, a Spanish tapas style restaurant. Jerrys aunt, uncle and cousin met us for dinner. We had a nice high top directly in front of the kitchen. Jerry had already picked out what we would be eating so there would not be any time wasted looking at the menu and everyone could just visit. We started with a bottle of Gruet (NM sparkling) and 5 tapas that arrived over the course of an hour. The first to arrive was the Bacalitos (cod fritters) or should I say fritter. It was one
big piece of cod battered and friend crispy served with a nice romesco sauce. The next two were Patatas Bravas and Crispy Brussel Sprouts. The Patatas Bravas were not the traditional method we are used to but, fried potatoes with a garlic paprika aioli sauce, good but the traditional method when smothered in a spicy paprika sauce is better. The Brussel Sprouts were the best ever, perfectly crispy and a chunky version of romesco.
Before I go into the last two tapa, a on style of cooking here. First, the executive chef is a former contestant on Hells Kitchen, he didnt win but he is an excellent chef with some very creative ideas. Second, while the restaurant is Spanish in theme, there is nothing traditional about the cooking style. All of the standard dishes are present but all are (some would say elevated) prepared in a very trendy style and with a 20 something twist. I am not saying it was bad, because everything was incredibly good, but Traditional Tapa really does not need to be updated or made in a trendy LA manner.
con tomate. The traditional method is a crispy piece of bread spread with a light mixture of tomatoes, garlic and olive oil. The presentation here (again it was very good) was toasted bread covered with what can only be described as a tomato jam. Garlic was not present nor was any paprika (to me key ingredients in the dish.) The last tapa was the very traditional Gambas al Ajillo con Chorizo (Shrimp in a garlic sauce with Chorizo.) This dish was totally done in the traditional fashion, as it should be, there is simply no reason to change anything about shrimp and crispy chorizo in a wonderful garlic sauce.
The conversation during dinner was lively and entertaining, learned a bit about the balloon festival held here every year from Jerrys uncle TJ. The conversation and food were aided by two bottles of a fairly decent Spanish Rioja.
