Valentina's ~ Santa Fe, New Mexico

Latest visit: Nov 2024

First visit: Apr 2022

I forgot to mention this on the Perea's update: We found a new trail in Albuquerque too. Out east in the mountains, the Embudo Trail which "funnels" (haha) into the Cibola National Forest. We run straight uphill for about 20 minutes (huff puff), take a short break, and run back down casually. A perfect workout that allows us to continue to eat like teenagers. In case you were wondering how we manage to continue to do this... I'm 60 and don't want to give any of this up. That's the task that must be done every morning, like 350 days a year task. And with that...

We cleaned up at the hotel and left Albuquerque, and hopefully we'll be back next year as usual. The plan was to have Sunday breakfast in Santa Fe at Horseman's Haven, a place we haven't been to in many years. Mrs. RJG usually puts up resistance at the last minute. Not sure why, but she insists it isn't as good as I've documented. I think it's a misplaced memory. And sure enough, while driving north on I-25, she wanted to pivot to another restaurant. In fact, she really wanted to go back to Valentina's. Twist my arm.

By the time we got here, I was ready to eat the tires off our SUV (an interesting image...), so my appetito was huge. And some of the breakfast houses in Santa Fe are tough to get into on a Sunday morning, but that's not a problem with Valentina's, which remains something of a local secret (don't worry fans, our readership is too small to have much impact). I have to admit, Mrs. RJG was right, Valentina's was the better choice. It's going into the RJG Rotation, and while that wasn't official before, we've gone for three straight years anyway, all documented below.

We started with the chips and salsa. Oh my gosh, so so good. I love their red salsa. Mrs. RJG thinks it might be a combination of Chile de Arbol and Guajillo. The chips are real corn. Learning my lesson from last year, I went back to Christmas. I'm so glad I did. The green was loaded with chiles, and was knock-you-down spicy. I always eat half the dish, flip the plate and then the other. I then tackled the smooth red. One could argue it's better than La Choza. If not, it's in the competition. Otherwise my burrito was egg, potatoes, cheese, and ham. The latter, once again, is a ham steak cut up and stuffed in there. It's brilliant. Mrs. RJG ordered the Huevos Rancheros with whole beans and Spanish rice. Hers also came with a sopaipilla. She had most of it, but I grabbed about a quarter. Very good and fluffy, and made for a nice dessert with the honey.

Best meal of the trip. Go here.

---6/2/23 update

Valentina's is a restaurant that I was very excited to revisit. Last year was our first try, and we had a great experience. We also knew that it would be a lot of food. Having eaten sensibly the night before at The Ranch House, and getting our three mile run in, we were ready to tackle the big breakfast that Valentina's offers. And I'm happy to report everything is just as it was in 2022. Incredible chips and salsa and a monster burrito smothered in red, which was blazing hot spicy as was the salsa. With a big ol' ham steak jammed in there too. Last year I mentioned the green was more typical, but Mrs. RJG persisted to try it again and this time it was better than I remembered. And honestly burying everything in the red is just too much of that one flavor. I'm going back to Christmas. Valentina's is currently one of our favorite Santa Fe restaurants. No trip can go without at least a visit here.

If you read at the bottom of the below review, neither Sunrise nor Tortilla Flats made it to the itinerary. Just too many great places to eat in Santa Fe!

---original 4/14/22 review

Despite going to a number of restaurants in Santa Fe this week, we had yet to try something new. Our Airbnb host left a sheet behind of recommend places to try. La Choza was on there for example, so we knew the recs were probably spot on. This was the only other New Mexican place on the list. 

Oh yes, this is definitely a great recommendation!

First off, Valentina's sits in a shopping center, so there's actually a place to park. In fact it's the same one that houses Pho Kim, a Vietnamese place we enjoy but haven't gone back to in some years (it's in the RJG). Walking in, you'll see a relatively large restaurant painted in bright colors with unique art. Very much an Hispanic atmosphere pervades. 

Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you'll be provided with a large menu. We ordered chips and salsa to start on this particular breakfast outing. Whoa! These are some of the best homemade corn chips we've had in sometime. And the salsa is very spicy and has an incredible chile flavor. In fact the taste experience reminded us of a place in Nampa, Idaho called El Rinconcito. It's a combination of a blazing salsa against the corn taste that just explodes in your mouth. We were regulars to that restaurant when the RJG had a consulting gig at Boise State in the latter half of 1998 and early 1999. On a return visit in 2014, it wasn't the same, and I see now it's out of business. What a shame. In any case - thank you Valentina's for ensuring that flavor still exists! Both Mrs. RJG and I remembered it exactly the same without leading the witness. Well that certainly set the mood right.

Now time for the main entries. I had the breakfast burrito with eggs, ham, and potatoes, smothered in Christmas. OK, these guys are just showing off now. This is larger than the others ones we've tried, and the ham is not just diced but rather cut slices from a fully cooked ham steak! Wow. The green was good, but rather non distinctive. It's the red that gets the shout out. A very dark variety loaded with flavor. I'll be sure to smother my next ham & eggs burrito in the red only on my next visit. Mrs. RJG went with her staple of Huevos Rancheros. Her experience was similar, though she was more favorable to the green, but preferred the red as well. She liked the refried beans, only lamenting she wished they were of a hotter temperature. We always want Abuelo's hot!

All in all, a super first encounter. With Tortilla Flats making a comeback, and now Valentina's, did Sunrise just get knocked out of contention? 

4/14/22 (new entry); 6/2/23; 11/17/24