Sunday, September 7, 2008

Saturday in Las Vegas, NM

We drove up to Las Vegas, New Mexico yesterday to go to the Tapetas de Lana weaving shop on the Plaza. It is a wonderful place with woven items made by people in the Mora-Las Vegas area, subsidized by a government grant to provide jobs in this depressed area. Well, it WAS a wonderful place. The whole store had been transformed - practically no local woven items, but other additions to the store - souvenir stuff shipped in from all over the world, a coffee bar-cafe in the back, and even a woman in the front of the store giving chair massages. The girl operating the cafe said they had run into "some hard times" and most of their weavers had stopped producing. She anticipates things might pick up in the coming months. We were very disappointed.

Since we didn't want our trip all the way out to Las Vegas to be wasted, we stopped for lunch at Charlie's Spic & Span Restaurant and Bakery. Ridiculous name for a GREAT place. It was packed which was a positive sign it was going to be good. It was my first visit to a restaurant since I got sick after eating in one in Santa Fe, and ended up in the hospital, so I was a little nervous. But -- oh this food was GOOD!!! I had cheese enchiladas which were smothered in green chile sauce which was perfect. John had a chicken sandwich with green chile on top and onion rings which were fantastic. No wonder there was such a crowd in there.



They make their own tortillas in the back of the restaurant and they have a wonderful bakery - we didn't buy any baked goods but we admired all of it in the bakery cases. The long Johns looked too big to eat, and the cinnamon rolls, well .. yummmmm...

We had heard it was a good place to eat, so we were glad we tried it. It will go on the list for a return visit the next time we are in Las Vegas.

6 comments:

Jenny said...

That's too bad about the weaving place. Last weekend when we went on our annual camping trip to Mora I noticed a weaving shop in Mora, but of course we didn't stop.

Labor Day weekend is Mill Fest in Mora. Some arts and crafts stuff at the old mill, which is a museum. Not sure of it's hours of operation or if it's just a seasonal museum, but you may find it interesting.

Speaking of arts and crafts, in mid October is Peanut Valley Festival in Portales. I haven't been real impressed with the booths the last couple of years (seems to be alot of pampered chef/candle people), but there are still a few good vendors. Cowboy Fudge is always good, and so is the homemade kettle corn!

Oh, and speaking of Las Vegas. Have you ever seen the movie Red Dawn, about 1984 with Patrick Swayze (who has a ranch around LV)? The movie was filmed in and around Las Vegas and you can pick out many landmarks in the movie (the Cheveron station, a park, the drive-in movie). My husband saw some of it being filmed when they were on a hunting trip up there when he was little.

Towanda said...

Jenny, the girl yesterday told us the weaving shop in Mora is still opened, and we considered driving up there, but she said they had the same amount of stuff as the Las Vegas shop did, so we declined. We were so disappointed; I was going to get some Christmas gifts there.

I like the area up around Mora; maybe I should find out more about the old mill and we can take a ride up there sometime.

Cowboy Fudge --- oooh, sounds delicious!

Val said...

Glad to hear you found the Spic and Span! It is going to be in Breakfast New Mexico Style - a must stop place in Las Vegas. Also good to hear you braved the world of restaurant food again!

Towanda said...

Oh Val, I am glad to hear it is going to be in your Breakfast NM book - although we had lunch there, I noticed you can get breakfast all day long there and I was tempted - they have a huge breakfast menu ... and the pastries in the bakery section looked just scrumptious.

Buck said...

Didja stop into the Plaza Hotel while you were there, Sharon? The ex-GF and I just happened into the hotel bar while a PR shoot was in progress once upon a time, with interesting results, LOL!

To say we had a good time is classic understatement.

I'm glad you're out and about and back into sampling the cuisine. Food poisoning is a scary, scary thing. I've spent some time in the ER because of it, as well. I'm SO glad you're better!

Towanda said...

OH MY GOODNESS!!! I thought you were going to say the picture was your ex-GF up on the bar!!!!
Nope we didn't go in .... that will have to wait until another trip. Thanks for the link - at least now I can see what a cool looking bar that is .... kind of an old West feel, eh?