Los Mayas

Here is our 2nd restaurant rating. It is for Los Mayas which is just 2 blocks off the square and about 1/2 mile from our apartment (we walked). This was my birthday dinner. Los Mayas is a higher priced restaurant. It appears to aspire to be like Javiers in Dallas. There is a big difference, however. Javiers is worth the price, Los Mayas is definitely not!

Here are the ratings:

Chips - 2  They were cold, bland, and not very tasty
Hot sauce - 3 The highlight of the meal. It was thick, pureed (chili sauce style), some heat with a heavy
                      hint of cumin
Margaritas - 2.5 The taste was ok, but it was heavy on lemon (with a lemon). Margaritas are supposed
                     to be lime based (sweet & sour is a combination of lemon/lime, but lime is the dominate
                     flavor). Plus, do not garnish a margarita with a lemon. It is just wrong.
Tortillas - 1 not offered with our meal.
Food - 1 The presentation of my food was good. That was the end. It was not hot and extremely bland. I
            do not believe there was any spice used in either the chicken or beef fillings. I am not talking just
            heat, I mean salt and pepper. Lisa had filled jalepenos. She said that frozen poppers were as
            good, or better, than what she was served.
Service - 3  The service was acceptable
Atmosphere - 2 We ate on a patio that was fine. The overall feel in Lisa's words, though, was "low
                       energy".

Overall Rating - 2  Won't return!

Mexican Food Ratings

Alright, here it begins. Lisa and Charles' great Mexican food adventure.

As we begin our ratings, we realize that "great" mexican food is in the eye of the beholder. What we are judging is the whole restaurant picture from our humble, but extremely experienced and knowledgeable, background. We will rate each restaurant in seven categories, with each category being rated on a 5 point scale.  If Lisa and I disagree, I will list our individual ratings. The top 3 are weighted the heaviest and will be given twice the value for the overall rating. The categories are:

1. Chips
2. Hot sauce/green sauce
3. Margaritas (we drink the house ritas)

4. Tortillas
5. Food
6. Service
7. Atmosphere

So to our first stop, Maria's:

Chips - 2.5  They were thick, which we like, but tasted and felt bagged, not fresh (a downer)
Hot sauce - 4  It was tasty (and pureed, important). Could have had more "flame".
Margaritas - 3.5  On the better side
Tortillas - 3  Too large for regular handling (burrito sized vs enchilada sized) Fresh, but bland
Food - 4  Both our meals were tasty. The meat was tender and spicy.
Service - 2.5   Chips were delivered on time, but margaritas were delivered far too late (a major
                       blunder!). They picked it up later, but the mood was set.
Atmosphere - 3  Comfortable, decor was fine.

Overall rating: 3.25   A little better than average. Hurt by their chips and slow margarita delivery.

There you have it. As I said, Lisa and I realize this is a very subjective survey. If you try a restaurant on our survey and our rating doesn't match yours,either higher or lower, what the heck. Differences in tastes are what make this so much fun and stimulate conversation.

Santa Fe

Lisa (my incredibly beautiful, wonderful, exciting, interesting, stimulating wife) and I just moved to Santa Fe. How do I like it???

It feels like I have come home!! It is beautiful. It feels like a combination of San Antonio, Austin, San Francisco area (East Bay, of course), and Colorado. A few reasons in no particular order:

I love Mexican food. I live for Mexican food. Living in Santa Fe is living in one of the great mexican food meccas in the U.S. Lisa and I have committed to eating in a different mexican restaurant each week. Unfortunately, or fortunately based on my weight loss, we have decided to limit ourselves to eating out only once a week. We will rate each one as we go. We will not repeat until we have visited all the mexican restaurants in a 5 mile radius from our apartment. Could take a couple of years, but what the heck! Ratings will be absolutely subjective and not up for discussion; unless, of course, you want to join us for margaritas. Then we can hold a raging debate!

My morning walk. It feels great! I walk up a hill to the neighborhood dog park. The view of the mountains surrounding Santa Fe is incredible. As I walk down the hill home, I get a view of downtown and the square nestled against the mountains.

The city and the area fills my soul with a sense wonder and positive energy. Nothing that can be explained, just a great feeling. My soul city??!!

I am not good at taking pictures, but I will take a few and post them. Maybe you can get a sense of what I mean.

Religion

 Well, I have decided to start with what is probably the most personal and potentially devisive subject in the world. Why? Well, the burning of the Koran is as good a reason as any.

Religion, or more precisely religious beliefs, is one of the greatest forces for good and for evil. The good is shown in education and charity. The deal is , however, as people become more passionate about their religion, they generally move from good to evil. The facts are that as they become strict in their religious beliefs, they become close-minded and intolerant. They feel threatened by those that feel and live differently. This covers all religions; Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc.

Burning Korans, stoning women, trying to build a theocracy (the ultimate enforcement of your beliefs), etc. These are all evil things. If you hold deep seeded religious beliefs, live them for yourself, but do not place them on anyone else.

Let me be as clear as I can be. If someone holds a belief, I want them to be able to live it, unless it requires other folks to follow their belief. That is when it crosses the line from good? and acceptable to evil.

Began my blog with a negative post. Sorry, msnbc was on with the koran story. Try to do better.