El Paragua, Espanola

Location

Located on Santa Cruz Road, Espanola

Review

One of the most memorable culinary excursions I took in New Mexico was my visit to the restaurant called El Paragua ("The Umbrella") in Espanola. It is a spacious place; nice Spanish decor, with much black wrought iron and heavy wooden beams. We sat in an interesting room where the bases of the tables were constructed of old treadle-type Singer sewing machines!

In one room is a cast iron wood cooking stove. A woman is there preparing fresh homemade flour tortillas, and cooking them on the stovetop. We ate some of these delicious tortillas with an exciting green chile stew. This stew was simple, yet very flavorful. And, it brought tears to my eyes! (Our server admitted that the green chiles were particularly spicy that year.)

For excellent food, in a pleasant atmosphere, I heartily recommend El Paragua as a "must stop" in Espanola.

Jacqueline Blakeslee
Huntsville, Alabama
jjblakes@hsv27.pcmail.ingr.com