Giant Skillet - Las Vegas, NM

While traveling through New Mexico by car we listened to an audio book by Stephen Fried, called "Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West - One Meal at a Time." It was a great book for this trip because much of it related to New Mexico. I was particularly looking forward to Las Vegas, New Mexico, which had two old Fred Harvey hotels: the Hotel Castenada (which let us in the main lobby for a look around even though it was booked by a crew from Amazon filming a movie), near the train station, and the Montezuma Hotel, in Montezuma, a few miles north of Las Vegas and now part of the United World College and not open to visitors without an advance appointment. We also drove by New Mexico Highlands University, a school I'd heard of but knew nothing about. It has an enrollment of about 3,750 students and focuses on students of Latino and Native American backgrounds. 

Giant Skillet

But most of all I was looking forward to eating at Giant Skillet. I'd searched it out ahead of time and loved their menu. I was a little surprised to walk in and find that it was full of young people and music was blaring. But I quickly adjusted my expectations and the atmosphere was fine. We ordered at a counter and then food was brought to our table. 

We got Brussel sprouts that were sauteed with butter, salt and pepper. The taste was fantastic, but I prefer them a little more cooked. 

The elote fries, which included hand cut fries and roasted corn coated in queso and sour cream, feta cheese, spicy mayo and red child powder were wonderful. One of my favorite dishes of our trip. The fries were moist, they were well covered by toppings and were spicy. 

Finally, we got the three sister burrito which included corn, beans and squash, the three sisters, along with green chile, rice, cheese, lettuce, sour cream and pico de gallo. Apparently Native Americans referred to corn, beans and rice as the "three sisters" as they grow and thrive together. Corn provides a structure for the beans to climb, eliminating the need for poles. Beans provide nitrogen to the soil that the other two sisters use, and squash spreads along the ground blocking the sun and prevents weeds from growing. The burrito was a bit crunchy, but I enjoyed alot. 

I would love to eat at Giant Skillet again. It was very vegetarian friendly, the food was creative and it was very good.