52 posts tagged “restaurants”
Location:
208 Santa Fe
La Junta, CO 81050
I didn't get lunch today, so about four o'clock I was looking for a place to eat early. La Junta, CO, isn't exactly a metropolis, so I was ready to satisfy myself with fast food, and I didn't want Mexican food since I had that for dinner last night.
So, I was very surprised when I saw Tast of Tuscany Italian. When I went in, however, I found it closed, until the owner/manager/chef saw me. She said they are usually closed from 2 to 5, but she'd make me an exception. She turned on the lights, sat me at a table, and served me personally - which is good since no one else was there. I had a great balsamic salad, garlic bread to die for, cheese ravioli with marinera, and some pinot noir. As unlikely as it is, if you ever find yourself in La Junta, CO, check it out.
atmosphere: 4
service: 5
food: 5
presentation: 4
selection: 3
Last night, we ate at Las Tapas, a Spanish restaurant on King Street in Alexandria. It was awesome and delicious. I'd never had tapas before. They're basically appetizers of various sorts that people order in a combination to make a meal. Mine consisted of steamed mussels and clams in a sherry tomato sauce, potato-stuffed veal in a Spanish brown sauce, artichokes, and slices of Spanish cheese. Nummy.
With dinner, we each had a glass of Amontillado sherry. We basically did this so we could toast each other with "For the love of God, Montresor!"
We went geocaching today, but didn't get to the cache. The road was way too rough. While we've been down here in Truth or Consequences it has rained nearly non-stop, and the dirt road to the cache was a slimy, slick, red clay mud. There was more than one time that I hit a washed out rut in the road a little faster and harder than I should have, but I was afraid that if I slowed down, Strix's little midnight-blue PT Cruiser was going to get stuck, and then we'd really be screwed. You haven't been stranded until you've been stranded in rural New Mexico. Finally, the road got so rough that we turned around and came back, only about a half mile from our goal. We could have walked the rest of the way, but we would have looked like mud-creatures when we were done.
In case you've ever wondered, now you know. PT Cruisers make lousy off-road vehicles. We really need a Jeep.
On Friday night, we ate at a restaurant called Bella Luca, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. First of all, this is an Italian restaurant here in this little resort town of less than 2,000 people. Farmington, which has a population of about 50,000, doesn't have a decent Italian restaurant. And, my God, was this good Italian food!
I had penne puttanesca (yes, Patricia!) so full of deliciously roasted seafood that I simply purred through the entire meal. Strix had roasted grouper that looked delicious, as well. For dessert, we shared tiramisu, which was served different than I had seen it before. It was basically the lady fingers, mascarpone cheese, and chocolate shavings on a plate. The espresso and brandy sauce was served separate, so that we poured it over the desert ourselves. This had the effect of keeping the lady fingers from turning to mush before we ate it. Excellent!
We're in Santa Fe this weekend, and yesterday evening I Strix and I joined some friends at a restaurant downtown called Pranzo.
Whenever we're out of town, we like to try to get types of food we can't get in the restaurant-deprived Farmington area. Since, believe it or not, Farmington doesn't have a single Italian restaurant that doesn't nuke its food from frozen entrées, this was a special treat.
And what a treat it was! Strix agrees that this was easily the best Italian food we have ever had. I had gnocchi with lobster in a saffron cream sauce. Yeah, you heard me right. We started with a grilled polenta and a gorgonzola tomato sauce (yum!), some of the best minestrone I've ever had, the main dish, and some wonderful tiramisu with some espresso. The only part of this meal that wasn't outstanding was the tiramisu. It was good, but just nothing to write home about... although I guess I did just write about it.
Anyway, it's Indian food today.
We went to a Mensa lunch at Guido's Favorite Foods in Durango, yesterday. People in the Four Corners area of New Mexico frequently cross into Colorado to eat. It's an hour drive each way, but hey, they have a much better selection of restaurants. My County doesn't even have an Italian restaurant, except for one that I wouldn't insult the Italians with by calling it Italian.
Anyway, we both had paninis. Strix had the portobello mushroom panini, and I had the "Guido's Favorite" panini, which was pastrami, onions, roasted red peppers, provalone... God, I'm hungry again.
SBC is an old favorite of ours here in Springfield, Missouri. It was great to have lunch there, yesterday. I had the jambalaya linguini, which was to die for, and a locally brewed stout beer. Very, very tasty. It will have to hold me over until the next time we visit.
We ate at a pan-asian restaurant called Tasia a couple of days ago for lunch. I had szechuan chicken, and Strix had some tofu stir fry, and we both enjoyed our meals. The atmosphere was nice for a quick lunch, and the service was prompt and polite.
Big thanks to Queen of Fractal Beauty for being our gracious host in Oklahoma City tonight and introducing Strix and I to Queen of Sheba, a terrific Ethiopian restaurant. Ethiopian is a type of cuisine that you can't get just anywhere, and Strix and I hadn't had any of it since our last visit to the D.C. area seven years ago. For those of you who haven't had it, it's a lot like Indian food in the preparation and seasoning, and it's served with a spongy bread that's used to eat the food in lieu of utensils. The bread is really good, and is a big part of what makes it special, as is the honey wine called tej.
The service was a little spotty, but the food was great, and of course so was the company!
For lunch today, Strix and I ate at Riverside Pizza. We had both heard that it was good, so we decided to try it out. We had the Greek-style pizza, which had pepperoni, gyro meat, feta cheese, olives, onions, and mozzerella. It was very tasty, and I'm sure we'll go back there again today.
After pizza, we went geocaching for the afternoon, and found every cache went looking for, so overall it was a good day.
So... tired... must... blog...
Strix saw the Golden Compass earlier this week with her little sister (BBBS), but I hadn't seen it yet, and she said I would definitely want to see it on the big screen. At any rate, I had to see it to exercise my First Amendment rights, as I know a few people who would just as soon ban the thing because of it's supposed anti-religious themes.
That's not to say it was a chore to watch. I found it highly enjoyable, and am looking forward to the adaptation of the rest of the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman. There was far too much storyline packed into the feature run-time of the movie, but I felt that it flowed well enough considering the richness of the story.
And, although I know what Pullman's comments are regarding religion and how his books relate to them, I can't help but think that religious leaders are being stupid for becoming defensive and offended by these stories. The books could only be offensive to people of the religious persuasion if you feel the description of the religious authority in the fantasy world of the book, The Magisterium, accurately describes your religion. If it does, then you have a problem; if it doesn't, smile at the talking bear and shut up.
And, at any rate, if your faith can be shaken by a movie with a talking bear in it, it probably wasn't that strong to begin with.
And, besides, replace the Magisterium with the Catholic Church and Dust with Scientific Advancement, and you have a pretty accurate portrayal of the relationship between the two in our world. So there.
On a down note, Strix and I ate at Fuddruckers before the movie, since it was right across the corridor from the theater in the mall. The food was good, once we finally got it, but I waited half an hour for my little restaurant pager/coaster to vibrate before going up to the counter to see what the hold-up was. It turns out they lost my order. Strix's salad was sitting there under the heat lamp, wilting, but they never got my sandwich. The manager made a point of getting it prepared immediately and bringing it to my table, but didn't offer any refund, coupons, a swift kick in the pants, nothing. It was my first time eating there, and I probably won't eat there again.
