Skip to main content

San Luis Valley Brewing ~ Alamosa, Colorado


First visit: Jun 2022

As noted on the Jan's Restaurant (Buena Vista) review, the end destination of this trip was to go to Crestone. The town itself sits right at the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. It's exactly what I thought it would be - something of a hippie enclave. It looks more like a commune than an Old West town. It's current fame is that apparently it's a vortex/energy area for those looking for spiritual enlightenment. And there's a large amount interfaith entities represented here. Mrs. RJG and I didn't get the vibe I guess, but after walking most of the town and environs, we did stop in for a beer at a new brewery that hasn't yet started brewing their own beers (T Road) and enjoyed a couple of beers from nearby Three Barrel Brewing (hey - 6 uses of beer and brew in the same sentence - wow!). Maybe after our first beer we became a little more spiritual....

We knew Crestone wasn't going to be our hospitality stop so we continued down south to Alamosa. For dinner I had circled San Luis Brewing. Local brewpubs are usually a destination for me, and Mrs. RJG agreed and off we went.

After enjoying a couple of beers (cataloged in the Bier Reise), I ordered the Chicken Cordon Bleu sandwich with a side of green chili. I found this to be a nice variation of the classic recipe, with a crispy chicken patty, ham slice, and Swiss cheese on a tasted buttery roll. The green chili was entirely white and way too starchy. However I found it to be flavorful with a nice kick. It seemed like I was eating clam chowder. Weird but good.

But Mrs. RJG... sigh. Oh boy, this particular evening did not go well at all. She couldn't figure out what to eat, and when an order of the Philly Cheesesteak walked by she stated that looked good. And she also went for the green chili. As soon as the food arrived, she made a huge frown and said "I'm full". And refused to eat any of it. Ay-yi-yi. She wouldn't trade with me either - it was going to be that kind of night. I already described the chili, but she had 2 bites and said "yuck". The Philly Cheesesteak is definitely not standard. It's not chopped and grilled but rather they use slabs of what seem like gyro meat (or roast beef more likely) with cheese, and the hoagie roll wasn't toasted. It came out a bit wet. I ended up eating that sandwich too. I thought it was good! Haha - I probably didn't help my cause much by saying that. So there you have it - one thumbs up - one HUGE thumbs down. 

I also like the setting - the restaurant itself is cavernous and there's streetside cafe seating as well. Probably won't be going back anytime soon though.

6/28/22 (new entry)

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Five Guys Burgers and Fries ~ national chain : Colorado Springs, Colorado

Latest visit: Oct 2023 (Colorado Springs - Interquest) First visit: Jan 2007 (Reston, VA) Locations: 49 states + DC. Only Alaska is missing. There are 30 in Colorado (4 in the Springs). That's +3 from last year. Texas has 68 (our former locale of Southlake is closed, so Hurst would have been the closest). There are 123 in California which is their largest state presence. The original Reston location that I first went to is still going.  In what appears to be a recurring theme, I state each year this will be my last visit to Five Guys. Only to return anyway. This year's excuse is I wanted to try their new location, which very recently opened up close to our house. This is definitely the closest we've ever lived to a Five Guys - even the Reston location was further from my office at the time. And I thought maybe it would make a good choice for a weekday lunch while working from home, thus putting Five Guys back into the rotation. I put that idea to the test here this Saturda...
2 comments
Read more

Denver's Old School Italian Restaurants

I know, I know... I haven't posted anything in 6 months. You were checking back every week, then every month and now I've fallen completely off your radar. Sorry about that. My only lame excuse is that I've been "saving up" for a good one. I've been wanting to write about Denver's Italian restaurants since we returned part-time last year. And you all know how the RJG feels about this style of restaurant . As someone who grew up in Dallas, perhaps I've been more drawn to cities that embrace their history rather than completely demolish it. Only recently has Dallas become more acutely aware of their past. Previously, any buildings not in use have been razed as fast as possible, to make way for the next brand new shopping center - all in the latest architecture naturally. Contrarily you have cities like St. Louis that are 19th and 20th century industrial ghost towns - places frozen in time because for most everyone who could, they just up and left to ...
8 comments
Read more

Taco Casa ~ regional chain : Keller, Texas

Latest visit: Oct 2018 (Keller, TX)  First visit: 1992 (Durant, OK) We snuck into DFW to move the RJG's official Mom to Colorado Springs this past October. This was our only restaurant visit, as we were on a tight schedule. Could this be the last RJG visit in DFW (other than the airport of course)? It could very well be... wow, seems strange. Hard to believe the majority of the below review is now 10.5 years old. --- The RJG likes him some tacos. We mentioned in other posts that while Italian and Thai probably constitute our favorite restaurant experiences, taco places represent our favorite fast food excursion. And we'll boldly admit that it isn't even the authentic Mexican taco / taqueria stand that has been in vogue these last 25 years (though we like those too!). No, we like the good old fashioned American styled, crunchy taco. Taco Bell may be its iconic image, but it's hardly the best representative. Most taco chains are of the regional variety. And we've ...
10 comments
Read more