While in Taos during our trip to New Mexico last summer, we decided to get something to eat for lunch. We stopped at a burger and beer place and had a a cold one while we looked over the menu. Nothing tripped our trigger at that stop, so we took off for an Itailan restaurant near the Taos Plaza in the downtown area. Well, it turned out that the Italian restaurant was closed. We had noticed a small little Mexican cafe when we first came into the central part of Taos and decided to give La Cueva a try. It turned out to be a winner all around.
Horacio Zarazua and his wife, Juana, are originally from Guanajuato, Mexico. Both were accomplished chefs and they ended up moving to Colorado a number of years ago to work in restaurants in the Denver area, then in Pueblo. The couple moved to Taos in 2008 and found work first at Graham's Grille, then later on at Relleno's Cafe by Antonio. The opportunity to buy Relleno's Cafe came about and the Zarazua's jumped at the chance to buy the place. It had been a dream of the couple to own their own restaurant and it came true when they renamed the restaurant La Cueva ("The Cave") and opened the doors in 2011.
Since day one the Zarazua's have relied upon fresh and local ingredients for the food they make in the restaurant. Their food is not from purveyors and is made fresh in house each day. All their foods are gluten free and La Cueva offers a handful of vegetarian dishes.
It was around 1:30 when we got to La Cueva (see map). We found parking down Quesnel street that runs past the restaurant to the west. The Taos Mesa Brewing Company was across the street to the south of La Cueva. We'd had a couple of their beers in Santa Fe and was sort of hoping to be able to go to the source, but it turned out that it was closed during the mid-week.
Inside the small adobe building was a very small and cozy dining area. It sat - maybe - 12 people and had an old adobe fire place in the corner. It did sort of seem like a little cave in there. But it was too nice to sit inside that day, so we decided to eat on the patio out back of La Cueva.
The patio area is more than double the dining area inside La Cueva. The wrought iron tables and chairs were shrouded by a colorful sea of umbrellas that offered shade from the brilliant sun that Taos sees over 300 days a year. At nearly 7000 feet, the deep blue sky above Taos was free from clouds that day.
Our server that day was a young man by the name of Giovannie. He gave us a couple menus to check and wondered what we wanted to drink. We started out with a couple cold beers - a Dos Equis for me and a Negra Modelo for my wife. We also got some chips with salsa. Giovannie also brought out some guacamole for us - even though we didn't order it. The salsa was wonderful with a smoky flavor with a slight spicy tingle on the tongue. The guac was fresh and offered a nice cool alternative flavor to the salsa.
They had ceviche on the menu - white fish marinated in lime juice which cooks the fish, mixed with pico de gallo and served with avocado slice and their house-made chips. A chipotle mayo came on the side with the ceviche. The ceviche was top-notch, fresh seafood with a lime flavor with fresh chopped onions, tomatoes and cilantro all mixed together.
The menu was an interesting mix of Mexican and New Mexican specialties. In addition to the ceviche, they had a handful of seafood offerings on the menu including chipotle shrimp tacos, shrimp enchiladas and Seafood Enchiladas Enchipotladas - two enchiladas stuffed with crab meat, shrimp and salmon. That sounded pretty good. Fajitas, burritos, chicken mole enchiladas and chimichangas smothered in either the red or green chile sauce (or both - Christmas-style!) were featured on the menu.
We didn't really want to have much for lunch since we were going to have dinner back in Santa Fe that evening, so we decided to split the Hatch chile rellenos - two Hatch chiles stuffed with Mexican cheese, then battered and deep-fried. We got the green chile sauce on top of the rellenos. A side of pinto beans and rice came with the rellenos which were also topped with a pico de gallo.
The Hatch chile rellenos were simply outstanding. More than once I sat there for a moment shaking my head because of how great they tasted. My wife is the chile relleno connoisseur in the family and she declared the ones we had at La Cueva to possibly be the best she's ever had. Fresh Hatch chiles probably played a large part in that, but I'm sure the preparation with the fresh Mexican cheese baked inside the chiles had something to add to the punch of the flavor.
Sometimes taking a chance on a small place yields big dividends when we travel. That was certainly the case with La Cueva. The quaint little cafe featured some excellent Mexican food along with a comfortable and relaxing outdoor patio. Giovannie was an excellent server for us that afternoon and we didn't mind that he brought us guacamole that we didn't order, but subsequently paid for. Everything we had - chips, salsa, guacamole, ceviche and the Hatch chile rellenos - was superb. If we ever make it back to Taos - and I hope that we do - La Cueva will definitely need to have a follow-up visit on our part.
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