I ate two toasted slices of bagel smeared with cream cheese and garnished with the freshly cured salmon I made this week. It was delicious. At 9:30 I rode about 40 minutes and showered and dressed.
At noon I heated the PPI Bun Cha Gio from yesterday’s lunch. I then went to the bank and Trader Joe’s where I bought twelve bottles of wine: two Aquino Chianti Reserva, a Gruner Vetliner, a Tavel, a Rose, a new New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, a Montaigne-Saint Emillon, a Grand Cru Saint Emillon for $17.95, two white Cotes du Gascogne Domaine Touch, and a couple more old favorites.
I drove home and put away the wine. I felt better that the fridge in the garage and the wine racks were filled.
I read until Suzette came home around 2:00, she was hungry and made a lovely salad plate of Gravad Lax on 1/2 of an avocado, a sliced pickled egg with a mayo and avocado dressing she made with the other 1/2 of the avocado. This was probably the best dish of the day.
She encouraged me to change my shirt to a white shirt, so I put on my favorite white Mexican shirt.
We napped until 4:20 and left for Santa Fe at 4:40 and arrived at T.R. and Linda’s home on Old Pecos Trail at 5:40. After a quick drink of Negro ??? Whiskey made in Puerto Vallarta they brought home with them in May, we left for Jimmie D’s Restaurant and Bar in the Old Garrett’s Motel across the street from the State Land Commission Building on Old Santa Fe Trail. The property has recently been bought or exchanged with the Land Commission according to Linda by an Albuquerque hotel group and is undergoing renovation, but the bar is finished in a Mid-century modern style including a lava lamp in the entry. This restaurant has had many metamorphoses over the years. I liked it best when it was a French Bistro about twenty years ago and even afterwards when the Le Chantilly folks in Albuquerque had the space. Unfortunately, its latest emergence is mainly as a fancy Hamburger and fried chicken joint
We ordered drinks and talked and then walked the three or four blocks to Don Gaspar to the El
Callejon Restaurant for dinner. The El Callejon has also gone through many changes as a restaurant. T.R. And Linda told us that the nice Mexican fellow serving us as bar tender was the new owner who had been the bartender in the earlier incarnation of the restaurant, although now it has only a beer and wine license. We sat at the bar perusing the menu and ordered beers until our table was ready. T.R. and Linda have been to this restaurant once and liked the tacos. A quick viewing of the menu indicated that it was a fancy taco joint, which is okay for all of us because we like tacos. We all ordered tacos. T.R. ordered calabacitas and Carne Assada tacos. Linda and I ordered Barbacoa tacos and Suzette ordered Two fish tacos and a Calabacitas taco. If you order three tacos you also get a small ramekin of guacamole and a small cup of black beans, which we all did.
Suzette and I shared our fish, Barbacoa, and calabacitas tacos and they were all delicious. Each taco had its own distinctive flavor profile and I had the feeling that each meat had been cooked for hours in a richly flavorful sauce except the fish taco which was a warm corn tortilla filled with chunks of white fish floured and quickly sautéed or fried and enveloped in a light red chili sauce. I liked all the tacos. Suzette ordered an extra fish taco and Linda and I ordered an extra Barbacoa taco. As Ssuzette so aptly stated, “It is just like Mexico, except for the price.”
El Callejon is an authentic Mexican Taqueria in downtown Santa Fe. We were satisfied and drove back to their home. I drank a glass of Amaretto and we talked until 10:00.
A very pleasant evening with folks we are very simpatico with.
I had a cup of tea and cookie when we returned home at 10:45 and watched SNL for a while. Suzette went to bed immediately.
Bon Appetit
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