The Santa Fe Reporter from Santa Fe, New Mexico • Page 12

Top Continental Jftward "Nowhere else has better basics straight-ahead steak, lamb, jrcsh jish, chicfxn and qarqantuan mounds of onion rinqs than this Continental- stcakhoiisc; but fantastic food is not the only draw the festive atmosphere includes a way cool, crowded piano 1998 JZaqat Southwest Surrey NEW YORK SIRLOIN FILET NEW ZEALAND RACK OF LAMB ROTISSERIE CHICKEN FRESH QRILLED FISH QRILLED SHRIMP, ROCK LOBSTER TAIL SURF AND TURF Dinner Entertainment Nightly 434 W. San Dinner Continued from page 21 and efficient. Check out Santa Fe Kitchens Bath, and Now We're Cooking, the kitchen Academy and Wyoming in Albuquerque. JinwoA The best knives, serious cooks swear, are high-carbon stainless steel with beveled blades. You'll fee! like you need to refinance the house to buy a set, but they'll last forever and be a legacy to your kids if you take care of them.

And keep 'em sharp. The old adage is true: a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one. Where to buy them? Cookworks, Las Cosas Kitchen Shop, Cutlery of Santa Fe and get Santa Fe Stoneworks. And if yours need sharp- eningj call Keen Machine Sharpening Service. La Tierra Wools sells it in the spring, up in Los Ojos.

It's expensive and it's worth it. Don't cook it yourself. Just go to Luby's. They know how to do it, either chicken or beef. At Tomasita's by the pitcher, at Garduno's (Oh.

Oh. Try their happy hour), at the Pink. At the Bell Tower bar on the roof at La Fonda, watching the sunset. It's just the Santa Fe drink, that's all. Kaune's, always, for beef, pork pr veal.

Or try Valley-Superette in Espanola. We're talkin' Santa Fe meatloaf with green chile and pinones. Garlic mashed potatoes. You know, Zia Diner's blue plate special. That expensive salad mix.

It's at Wild Oats or Alfalfa's, or The Marketplace. Great under entrees; makes a dynamite hot-meat salad. For the real thing and not New Mexican food, you want to go to Old Mexico Grill (is there anyone who doesn't know about the Friday special? Whacha might call a chicken Or check out the tiny, storefront Mariscos La Playa on Cordova Road. P.S.: Mariscos for Mexican-style seafood, absolutely. Order the shrimp cocktail.

You won't be sorry. Here's a tip: try the produce section at Furr's big store. Not just the commercial white buttons, but actual cepes, big slices of portobellos impressive. Traditionally? Tortilla chips, cheese jalapenos. That's the classic.

Well, and some folks add refried beans. OK, the truth is, anything you can pile on the chip (and heat in the microwave) is fair game. Go for it. OmsJucan Corn Dance Cafe serves Native American food cooked in imaginative and delicious ways. But'also be aware that you can get good, Native American-grown and prepared foods like green chile stew, black bean stew, posole stew, from San Juan Farms (www.puebloharvest.com you gotta get over the aren't-they-quaint thing) and TrujiJJo Family Farms at Nambe Pueblo.

Flat enchiladas, queso bianco, frijoles, calabacitas. The corn-beans-squash of the Native Americans, with the chiles, oregano and garlicof the 16th-century- variety- Newcomers. TryitatTomasita's. Maria's. Not the Coyote Cafe, which is doing the nouvelle-New-Mexican thing.

JoAnn's Ranch-O-Casados in Espanola. The Rio Grande Cafe in Espanola, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. And Teresa's, right off the last exit into Las Vegas. Order your enchiladas with green. -There's the official one, the pifion, that grows more or less wild in the highlands, plus a vast volume (the greatest in the U.S.) of Valencia peanuts produced around Portales on the east side of the state, increasing numbers of pistachios coming from the south-central desert between Tularosa and Alamogordo, and some pecans still being harvested near Las Cruces.

r. TheZia's. That enormous loafatVanessie's, practically a meal in itself. And many folks swear by Lotaburger's meaty, crispy Big Os..