My first night in Santa Fe began with an al fresco cocktail party that was anything but ordinary. The happy hour flowed with award winning concoctions shaken and stirred by famous mixologists from the Secreto Bar in the St. Francis Hotel. Famous indeed; Daniel Gonzales won the 2010 Shake it Up! Cocktail Competition in Las Vegas, Nevada. He and fellow bartender, Chris Milligan, infused top shelf liquor with in-season, local New Mexican produce.
Continue reading Feasting and Fun in Funky Santa Fe
La Fonda on the Plaza sits at the corner of the Old Santa Fe Trail and East San Francisco Street in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The location is one of the oldest hotel corners in the United States hosting an inn or fonda for more than 400 years. In the past cowboys came to water their horses in the fountain, Russian spies supposedly lurked the grounds during the days of the Manhattan Project bomb development, and guests have always mingled with locals at La Fonda’s bar. The hotel’s signature restaurant, La Plazuela, is “the gathering place” in Santa Fe and I decided to make a visit.
Continue reading Santa Fe Southwest Breakfast
Chef Estevan’s Garcia prepares what he refers to as monastic food. He ought to know; he’s a former member of the Franciscan Order. But Garcia no longer cooks in the monastery, he rules as the Executive Chef at the elegant St. Francis Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Both the hotel and their restaurants feature beautifully simple but refined taste.
Continue reading A Friar’s Flan