This was the New Mexico restaurant on Lombard Street near our house.
Nice decor, informal setting. Kid-friendly.
Starters:
Sopapailla the good old deep fried hollow bread. Three of them, served with squeeze bottle of honey and similar in taste to churros. These were not handmade; they were as regular-shaped as dinner rolls. Tasty, but I remember Gosh Feel (elephant's ear pastry) at an Afghan place and sopapaillas at Mexican restaurants that were more effective.
Charred hanger steak with mushroom ceviche - Tiia-Triin was tempted by the word ceviche -- memories of Mazatlan, where just before leaving, we bought the seafood cocktail from a street vendor. Immaculately hygienic, fresh, delicious.) Encanto's starter is a standout. Steak was certainly black. Seemed to be rubbed rather than marinated. Mushroom salad was tinged with tropical tasting fruit juice, something like guava, couldn't quite place.
Entrees
Chicken enchilada (kids menu) - Great chicken -- full, country flavor. Just like south of the border. With masa tortilla and what tasted like a Tillamook cheese.
Carne adovada - my wife's selection. The pork was lean, tender, with the familiar stringy BBQ pulled pork texture. Red New Mexico chile sauce was very serviceable.
Online reviews have put down the house rice and beans. Yes, they were mild, but far from flavorless. There was a mild aniseed-epazote thing going on here that is very welcome. It's supposed to be this way, as I remember from New Mexico.
Chile relleno -- in places like these, this is almost never the Tex Mex type -- deep fried and stuffed with cheese. The one in question came with black beans and rice and was topped with chevre. Sitting on the patio at 9 pm, with most of the dish's components dark (poblano, black beans) very dark, I couldn't tell what was what or even how many peppers there were. I was left with one stem at the end so I assume there was one.
Chaotic presentation but delicious -- and a generous amount of food.
Summer squash on the side was tender but butaney -- flame must have gone out. Oops. Still, a tasty dish.
Beer selection -- I like it. Small but quirky -- three or four standards (like Negra Modelo), then a Polish porter, Black Boss.
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3 comments:
You have seemed to favor Mexican cuisine for a number of years now. Never been one of our favorites though Tia makes the best enchiladas we've ever eaten. I'm partial to Italian and I guess your dad would choose fresh fish over most things - rare tuna steak being a real favorite. Very nice review though - made me hungry! Maybe our cleaning people will taking on site cooking as a new capitalistic venture ; )
You are traveling on your own quite a bit. Does TTT get equal large chunks of time (with you being baby caregiver)to work on her master's? I remember it taking clustered hours of time to get anything of value done. Just curious - haven't heard her mention her stuff lately.
Well, keep writing here - we enjoy it.
Well, I'm not a special fan of Tex-Mex, which covers so much of "Mexican" restos in the states, including Guadalajara in Cville ("made by authentic Mexicans"). But New Mexico as in the state has its own very distinctive dishes (chile stews, spice blends) so I was pretty excited to see this restaurant up here. Hard to say what Zapata's in Wyoming was, it had some of the typical Tex-Mex combination plates but a lot of authentic (for all I know) touches -- stuff from the Yucatan.
Well, the only way to get "real" Chinese food in C-ville was to work at a place and eat with the staff after hours.
Regarding travelling, as long as Morgan is this young, I get maybe one trip a year, maybe two. Lucky if either is a week. This year I had the ski trip in Austria in January (during which I also worked fulltime on 7 of the 8 days) and the week in the Olympics, which was truly a vacation away from the computer. Until the youngest kid in our hypothetical future family is about 3 I think there is no hope of a major expedition anywhere.
I do take a few overnighters here and there, but they tend to be clustered around my birthday or Father's Day.
TTT does not get equal large chunks of time, though where possible, she should now since Morgan is weaned.
The master's may be a separate issue. TTT's job in Tallinn and volunteer work comes first for her. And she says she certainly has no desire to lecture or be in academia. I'd love for her to find a way to integrate all of it -- job, her beliefs, practical social work -- into a kick-ass crossdisciplinary thesis. She could go on to found a thinktank or a social work foundation. Whatever. I don't want her to end up a housewife or working as an accountant for my translation company, that's lame. And I'm so domestic in many aspects, it's not as if I couldn't be a househusband, as long as I get enough time in the States and fresh air.
But I don't see any perfect options - yet. Translating is lucrative right now but it does require massive amounts of activity to counteract the sitting at the computer. It really makes a difference -- eating fresh food, exercising. Only in that way can you stay at the top of your game. And in my case, the activity comes pretty cheap -- usually a hike in the woods.
I could take a physical job that would pay one-eighth, but then I would be away from home, maybe even more. And eventually we would face the cash crunch.
This is partially why I have thought about buying (semi)rural land and making a move. Nothing extremist but it would be easier. Kids are so much better off being close to nature. I could conceivably work while TTT could commute by car most days.
We weren't questioning your trips, or what our friends would call your hikes and such as a vacation within a vacation. They all see your six month visit as a super vacation. :-) It is great you have a job that allows you to do that, and no one is envious or resentful you can do that. Your wording however, of taking a vacation while on vacation puts a little smile on peoples faces. :-) Our question was that hopefully TTT is getting equal time to pursue her master's thesis as was her stated plan when you began your trip. We can't imagine with you gone, and her with Morgan, that it would allow for much research or writing. I had sent her a link that seemed to have a good bit of information as to what I thought her research was about. Statistically more education equates to better income equating to a better life, and not necessarily lecturing in academia. There are always exceptions.
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