Mini Vacation

Last week we took a Mini vacation to Denver by way of Albuquerque.  Lauri and I drove over and picked up the kids and rented a mini van for the trip to Denver.  The plan was to stop at all of our favorite restaurants and take photos and talk about them a bit.  Well after the first one the rest just seemed kind of pointless.  Our first stop was our old home town of Los Lunas for lunch at a place we use to frequent every Thursday, Teofilos.  We had not been there in over a year and walking is was like walking into a good friends home, warm welcoming and the smells from the kitchen were almost overwhelming with the smell of fresh chile.  Not the bean and meat Texas chile, we are talking about the green and red New Mexican chile that will warms your heart from the inside starting with your mouth to your stomach.  What really blew us away was our waitress.  Like I said we had not been there in over a year and the first thing she said to us was “Where have you guys been? Did you move to Hawaii or something?”  It was kind of funny and made us feel even more like we were at home.    The first thing that came to the table was the chips and salsa.  Fresh chips, thick and salty and the salsa was just like we remembered, a bit on hot side and just the right amount of cilantro. 

I ordered my usual the Chile Rellano combination plate.    Again it was just as I remembered.  I always had it served Christmas (both red and green chile) I could never make up my mind what I like best, green or red.   Lauri had a beef and been burrito covered with green chile.  It was huge and covered with cheese.    The entire meal was served with fresh hot sopapillias with a thick, dark local honey.  The perfect end to a perfect New Mexican Lunch. 

The rest of the meal we had on the trip were good but none of them were on scale even close to our lunch at Teofilos.  So if you are ever in Los Lunas New Mexico stop by and have a great meal.