Marfa, TX

Marfa, TX was the last stop on our trip through the Southwest this summer. We experienced crazy weather, crazy art and a frustrating food scene. There aren't very many restaurants in Marfa to begin with and it seemed like every other one we tried to eat at was closed for renovation, for the summer, or because they just felt like being closed.

Dinner our first evening was at Maiya's, located on the busiest strip downtown, meaning there was a post office, book store and a couple art galleries. We started with a really wonderful corn salad. The juicy niblets of roasted corn were marinated in a juice of lime kicked up with some chili flakes. There was Mexican cheese sprinkled on top, creating salty, tangy, spicy bites. It was basically elote but off the cob and in a bowl. So yummy.

I can't remember what Dan got (maybe the sausage dish?) but I got the steak paillard over radicchio. I also can't remember if we got dessert or not. I think there was a pistachio ice cream that sounded good, but I might have been too stuffed.

Before heading over to the Chinati Foundation for a tour, we tried the Brown Recluse for breakfast, which turned out to be a huge disappointment. The coffee wasn't very good. Our food took a while to arrive and when it did, was barely lukewarm. Dan and I both got the migas and have had much much better. The tortilla was good, though and they had Wi-Fi, which was needed since our hotel failed to live up to expectations and provide services it claimed to provide.

Our favorite meal in Marfa came courtesy of the Food Shark food truck. It's located in covered lot right by the book store and train tracks. There's communal bench seating constructed in the modular style of Donald Judd. I think we spotted everyone we had seen around town here. We put in our orders and waited with our beverages - a Coke for Dan, a Topo Chico for me.

The standard menu is Middle Eastern vegetarian heavy but we opted for two of the day's specials. I went with the adobo chicken breast tacos with tomatillo salsa and avocado, served with a side salad of greens, pickled onions, cucumbers, olives and feta cheese.

Dan ordered the salpicon - marinated shredded brisket served over a salad of greens, pickled jalapenos, red peppers, avocado, queso fresco, peperoncini and tortilla strips. Both the tacos and salpicon were super yummy and I'd have trouble picking a favorite.

We ate our final meal at Cochineal, located a few doors down from the Brown Recluse, but tucked in towards the back of the street. There was some miscommunication with our reservation time, but since it was still early in the evening, there was no problem getting seated. We shared the gnocchi appetizer, which they split into two portions. I really like when restaurants do this. At this point, my camera begins to inform me that it is dying. So I'm able to get off one more shot...

My chilaquiles! I've never had them served like this before, but it was a really nice blend of chicken, cheese, chilies, cream and tortillas baked in a clay pot. It wasn't too rich, which was what I initially feared. Dan ordered the steak which came with yummy greens and even yummier onion rings. For dessert we shared a ginger pot du creme that was so outrageously delicious. Spicy, smooth, cool and creamy.

Smitty's Pit Bar-B-Q in El Paso, TX

Our last stop before Marfa was in El Paso, TX for some down home barbeque. Nothing says quality like a strip mall near the airport.


If restaurants were judged by their menu covers, then we were guaranteed a yummy meal. Dan may look like he's pontificating, but we all know he'll just be a copycat and order the same thing I do.

The beef sandwich lunch plate! With German fried potatoes, beans and cole slaw.

Close-up of the grill marks and smoke ring.

You could say we liked it! The beef was a hair on the dry side, but still incredibly delicious and flavorful. And nothing a little sauce couldn't fix. I loved the soft Portuguese roll-type bread the meat was tucked into. The beans were some of the best I've ever had, maybe even the best. They were smoky with just the right amount of saltiness and not too sweet. The cole slaw was super yum, too. All the components were chopped very finely and there were even bits of pineapple in the mix! The potatoes were essentially two huge wedges that were fried to extreme crispness on the outside but managed to remain soft and fluffy on the inside.

Yay Smitty's!

green chile in new mexico pt. 1 - enchiladas and eggs

Green chile is EVERYWHERE in New Mexico. Our first taste came in Albuquerque, at the Frontier Restaurant, a dive-y institution that sits right across the street from the University of New Mexico. We originally wanted to head to Monte Carlo Liquors and Steakhouse, but they were unfortunately closed on Sundays.

I got an order of the green chile stew, which had a really fierce heat level. It was a lot hotter than I expected. The stew had chunks of vegetables like potatoes and little nobs of ground pork. I also got a little side salad, which was pretty basic, but had a sprinkling of sunflower seeds which lent a saltiness and nutty crunch to each bite.

Accompanying my food were warm and fluffy homemade flour tortillas.

Dan got a half order of chicken enchiladas with green chile. It was pretty substantial and again, really, really firey. To wash things down, we ordered the intriguing sounding "raspberry rush" which turned out to be really bad, overly sweet raspberry flavored lemonade.

Exterior shot of the Frontier, established 1971. Afterwards, we drove over to Isotopes Park to watch the home team take on the Triple-A affiliate of the Mets, the New Orleans Zephyrs. Instead of spending the night in Albuquerque, we drove back north to Santa Fe.

Our first meal in Santa Fe was breakfast at Tia Sophia, just a few blocks from our hotel. I went with a breakfast burrito smothered in what else, but green chile. Tia Sophia's green chile was milder than the Frontier's, probably a good thing for our stomachs.

The insides reveal a carb love fest of has browns and bacon.

Dan ordered the huevos rancheros with blue corn tortillas. My dish was better so I shared. He asked for his eggs over medium, but they came out more like over easy and the entire dish turned into a runny mess. Also, it wasn't apparent from my food since everything was mushed together into a salty, cruncy, chile covered, delicious mess, but his potatoes tasted like they were fried in some sort of fake butter or butter flavored oil. I was not into the taste and much to my chagrin, it would be a recurring theme in Santa Fe.