Since I am a little short on time lately, I am going to have to share a few of my latest restaurant experiences all at once. I honestly can't even remember all the places I've eaten at since my last entry, unfortunately, but there are definitely a few that stick out.
1899 Bar & Grill
This place IS going to get their own blog entry eventually...but first, I have to try out the rest of the menu, since literally everything sounded delicious. First off, we ordered the bruschetta, which was covered in a gooey balsamic reduction - to DIE for! The only thing is, we probably wouldn't have ordered an appetizer had we known what we were going to get with our meal.....Homemade focaccia paired with not only olive oil & balsamic vinegar (my fav.), but prickly pear butter, pesto butter, and regular for you purists. HOLY MOLY! Okay, I still haven't gotten a good enough camera to take with me to restaurants yet, so I can't show you the picture of the beautiful presentation that this bread and butter came in. It was impressive, to say the least.
For dinner, I wound up ordering the salmon, which was covered in a delicious sweet chile and coconut milk sauce and served with wild rice and broccolini. Ty ordered the Achiote Chicken, which was smothered with a vibrant red rub and topped with some sort of creamy jalapeno amazing-ness. Not only that, but the mashed potatoes were ever so carefully posted up in a fried potato cylinder. This was not only crucial to the presentation of the dish, but also the flavor and texture of the normally boring mashed-potato side.
We finished with the beignets served next to chocolate gelato. Sure, beignet is just a fancy word for fried yeast dough, but these were spectacular, and the gelato acted like a yummy chocolate sauce. It is easy to say that this student and teacher-run establishment has already made its mark with exquisite presentation and dishes that are far from ordinary.
Cafe Ole
This locally owned and eclectic "Cafe" is also far from ordinary. When you walk in the restaurant, you are greeted by an ambiance that is hard to describe. It feels homey, comforting, and smells incredible. You can buy T-shirts, homemade aprons, and prickly pear syrup by the front entrance. Once past this first area, you are taken through what feels like an elaborately decorated family room of sorts. The first thing that ran through my head was "Wow, I want my house to look and feel like this when I'm a grown-up."
Even though it was a windy day, we decided to sit outside in the sunshine of their lovely outdoor patio area. I remember their special of the day being something like a chicken enchilada with creamy mushroom sauce, which I tasted, since Ty ordered it, but MY dish was taking up ALL my attention. I ordered the Calabacitas Enchiladas...First of all, they have an entire Calabacitas area on the menu! For those of you who don't know what calabacitas is, there will be a fabulous recipe for my version at the bottom of this blog entry. Theirs was exceptionally delicious, and so was their Blackberry Iced Green Tea. Oh, and the tea is huge and comes with free refills...if I hadn't drank 3 glasses I might not have had any leftover food for lunch the next day.
I have yet to go back and buy some prickly pear syrup, but it is in my thoughts almost daily for some reason, so once I get it, I will share some sort of awesome recipe with you!
These two restaurants are very different...Cafe Ole is comforting and welcoming, homey, and down right delish Mexican, not to mention a long time local favorite. 1899 Bar & Grill is new and fresh, has modern and sophisticated decor and a menu full of Southwestern inspired choices and delectable eats.
I HIGHLY recommend both! In fact, I am going to have a hard time deciding between the two places for dinner tonight...any voters?!
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