More food from Taos

I have two more Taos posts and they both will be somewhat of a hodgepodge.

We ate some delicious food while in New Mexico and I wanted to share some of the fabulous eating establishments we visited.

The Love Apple
I had wanted to visit this restaurant since June 2010 when we had a family reunion in Taos.  I had emailed the Taos Farmers Market to see if they had a midweek market.  The Hubs and I wanted to take all the kiddos to the FM, buy what we could, and come back and make dinner for everyone.   Alas, but there was no midweek market open yet.  As I read the email, I was surprised to see it signed by one of the owners of The Love Apple, promptly inviting me to bring the entire family to the restaurant.  I was bummed we didn’t make it that trip and I was determined to make reservations this time around for the two of us.

Even though a cool evening was being forecast, I still made reservations for the outside area.  I was glad I did.  Our server showed off her stylish new winter hat to us and made great recommendations.  Blankets were provided for guests if needed.

The last rose of fall at The Love Apple, a patio view.

The Love Apple is housed in an old adobe church and the patio built around it is charming.   The patio is enclosed with white fenced walls and topped with a tin roof.  Roses and espaliered apple trees line the perimeter.

We started with a Caramelized Onion and Apple Quesadilla (with local asadero and blue cheese, served with chipotle orange crème fraîche).  This was highly recommended by our server and it was delicious.

I started with the Raw Beet, Avocado, and cucumber salad with green goddess dressing and fresh basil.   I didn’t get a lot of “green goddess” dressing in my bites, but the avocado and raw beets were delicious together.   For my entree, I tried the Homemade Baked Tamale and Oaxacan Style Mole (local sautéed greens and sweet corn baked tamale, topped with red chile mole and finished with a farm fresh fried egg and crème fraîche).   They seem to love their crème fraîche at The Love Apple!  I added some local sausage to my plate.   The dish was good, but the tamale was a bit doughy.  Nothing majorly wrong, though, and I would definitely order this again.

The star of the evening was the dessert, a simple vanilla bean creme with fresh raspberries, topped with a tiny short bread.

Whenever we return to Taos, The Love Apple will be on my permanent to-do list.

Orlando’s
Another highly recommended restaurant was Orlando’s.   (Thank you M.J. from M.J.’s Kitchen for helping with the culinary recommendations!)  Again, we dined alfresco.

The Hubs ordered chile rellenos (top) and I tried the Los Colores (three rolled blue corn enchiladas, one chicken w/green chile, one beef w/red chile, & one cheese w/chile caribe).   All dinners were served with beans and posole.  I have never been a big fan of posole. I am now.  (I also LOVE their logo.)

El Meze
For our final dinner in Taos, we chose El Meze, located in a historic hacienda.   Again, our server was excellent and recommended a delicious salad of heirloom tomatoes.  It was so beautiful and large enough to share.  Unfortunately at this time in our trip, I was a little tired of snapping pictures and I regret not taking a photo of this extraordinarily simple but delicious salad.  We also sampled the fried green olives as an appetizer.   I recommend these as well.

I chose the Late Summer House Made Pasta (with local Oyster mushrooms & Heirloom tomatoes, calabacitas, fried sage, garlic, fresh greens, olive oil, lemon, chevre & cracked black pepper).   The pasta was definitely homemade and thick like grandma’s chicken noodles.

Part of the outdoor area at Wired?

This is one of those quirky Taos spots like Taos Mesa Brewing.

Coffee joint? Check.

Book store?  Check

Gallery?   Check

Indoor Koi pond?  Check

Zen garden?  Check

Pigeon in the Zen garden at Wired?

We could have spent every morning here.  (And, we realized, it was within walking distance of our rented casita.)

 

Lantern on the patio at Adobe Bar at Taos Inn.

Just as an aside, we have also visited the Adobe Bar (at the Taos Inn) on numerous trips.  I love the location and the people watching.   We have never had great service here, in fact one time we walked out of Doc Martins.  But I do like to sit and rest awhile, especially with the fall weather we were enjoying on our trip.   We dog sat for a lady while she went inside to check on reservations for that evening and enjoyed a couple of margaritas.

From the patio at Adobe Bar.

And while we sat sipping our margaritas, we starred across the street at a historic property for sale (that I am sure was on the market in 2010 during our last trip).  I love this house.

For a mere $1.5 million, we could move in.

I’ll just have another margarita please and continue to dream.