An online acquaintance of the British sort, Julia, penning (typing? doesn't sound as good) the Ethical Paleontologist, and her husband is going to be blowing through our state in about three weeks. She was going to stay in Alamogordo (good grief! Alamo?! hack! patooie!). I put a small bug in her ear to try LC instead especially for the food. Now I now that many of my old hang outs are gone, but I am sure that there are many that are still there and still good. I recommended La Posta[1], since it seems to be still open and in Mesilla's plaza which is easy to find using Google Maps[2], but IDK if the quality is good or bad or whatnot for sure these days. They'll be there for a night and that's it.
Do you all have suggestions for either nicer or cheaper but good places to eat?
1. New Mexican, not Mexican, not Mission style, and if you call it TexMex, Julia, I will find you and make you watch ID propoganda for the the next year 24/7 with Barney singing in the background, ok?
2. I'd give a direct address with a link, but google maps has gone and done something stupid by only doing embedded links now.
Do you all have suggestions for either nicer or cheaper but good places to eat?
1. New Mexican, not Mexican, not Mission style, and if you call it TexMex, Julia, I will find you and make you watch ID propoganda for the the next year 24/7 with Barney singing in the background, ok?
2. I'd give a direct address with a link, but google maps has gone and done something stupid by only doing embedded links now.
13 comments:
La Posta looks really good (husband was particularly taken by the mention of steak). I've already been scared out of ever referring to TexMex (unless it's being applied to Chili's or Chevy's, in which case it's just shorthand for "like nothing else on this earth") by my Texan friends. But the threat of Barney will focus my mind on the New Mexican food.
I hope you like it. I'm more a green sauce than a red sauce kinda guy. It's not the heat. It's the flavour.
Okay, I'm really showing how ignorant I am. What is the difference between green sauce and red sauce? I'm sure a very kind waitress at Lucy's once explained it to me, but I was probably a good 20oz into the goldfish-bowl margarita.
iirc, green sauce is made from chiles that are picked when green. The red sauce is when they are ripened further into the red color. iirc. For some reason I thought it was made from dried chiles too.
Alrighty then. Best Western Alamogordo has become Hampton Inn Las Cruces (how do you pronounce Las Cruces by the way so I don't make a fool of myself?). It says it's a mile away from Old Mesilla (I've worked out that the "ll" is a "y" sound - we learnt French and German at school...), but that mile is along a state highway and crossing an interstate, so I'm not sure how easy it'll be to walk to dinner (I try to avoid needing one of us to be DD as I usually lose). Anyway, thank you for your recommendation, and for your insights into the world of chilli sauce.
You pronounce it L-ah-s Crew-sez.
NEVER call it chili sauce. It's Chile. :) :P
You're going to have to drive, but the food is well worth it. Take a camera. The lobby is definitely interesting.
Ok, Ok, Herr Baird! Message received... over email. I haven't gotten to get to my "hourly" check in on your blog and didn't see this. PLEASE forgive me! JUST KIDDING!
Julia, as much as it pains me. . . Will is right in suggesting that you stay in Las Cruces vice Alamogordo.
And yes, La Posta is still open and is still very good.
I am also a green guy vice red. Red chile sauce always gives me heartburn and green has much better flavor.
I hope you enjoy your time here in Las Cruces, it really is a pretty cool place actually.
And just as a word of caution, Don't believe everything Will tells you . . .especially since you haven't met him. I've been friends with him for years, and I still don't know what to think! HEHEHEHEH Of course I am kidding!
La Posta is good, but I like El Commodore(2190 Avenida de Mesilla-524-7002) or Andele (2184 Avenida de Mesilla-526-9631) in Old Mesiila. Both restaurants are side by side. Green chile is the bomb this time of year....mmmmm...I am drooling just thinking about it. And plus Old Mesilla has tons of shops to visit!
Cool - thank you all for those suggestions. I'm not sure how much time we'll have to look round Old Mesilla as I'm determined to show Paul sunset over White Sands (so it'll be dark by the time we get to Las Cruces), and we have to drive to San Antonio the next day (!!) so it's an early start. Regardless of how long we have, I gather green chile is the must-have on the menu anyway!
erm. Julia, the Organ Mountains are to the West of White Sands. They block the view of a sunset, iirc. If it's one of teh sky on fire sunsets, things will be fine, but otherwise it's gonna be a bit dull. IMO.
Yeah, I know that. Even though I didn't have a sky-on-fire sunset when I was there in March 2001 I still really loved the silhouette of the mountains. Sunrise would be even better, of course, but Him Indoors really doesn't do that time of the day well.
By all means stay in Las Cruces, not Alamogordo. Green vs. Red depends upon the restaurant: some have better red chile, some better green. And never spell it "chili" unless you are referring to something like you get in Texas or Cincinnati with a bunch of beans and ground beef in it. Real chile sauce is the veggie itself. In Mesilla, La Posta is a cool historic restaurant but the food is considered mediocre, touristy. Mesilla has several top New Mex restaurants right there. El Comedor, Andele, and Los Mariachis are highly recommended. All three are casual and inexpensive. Cafe Don Felix on the Plaza of Mesilla is also decent. In Las Cruces visit Si Senor, Cha Chi's by the University, or Chilito's. And finally, please, please for God's sake, never use the expression "TexMex" as you will only be referring to something that doesn't exist. It is a term with propaganda value only and only serves to make Texans believe that they have something special or unique or worth talking about in that most overrated of all states.
Thanx for the update on restaurants, but the need passed a while ago. This is a good reference for anyone else that stumbles across the blog though, thank you.
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