Blog Archives
seven, at el pilar
We were in Española. And we were hungry. (“Hungrig” in German, which I only mention because I have completed 40 days IN A ROW of online German classes.*)
Our criteria was “something that looks good” and to mix it up a little bit, our actual criteria for “good” was not defined at all. Just up the road from a bar called Saints and Sinners** we noticed El Pilar Restaurante so we pulled in and had a nice New Mexican breakfast.
Española, New Mexico
photographed 9.20.2026
*Ja. German. My granddaughter Hannah is taking German this semester and her sister and I decided that we needed to learn German so that when Hannah comes home for the holidays we could all converse in German. Goals are important, I guess, even if they are doomed to failure from the start.
**Yes. That’s the actual name. You’ve probably seen pictures of it.
four aces
As it turns out, “Four Aces” could refer to a variety of things:
- A popular American traditional pop music quartet formed in 1950 known for hits like “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing” and “Three Coins in the Fountain”, OR a different group by the same name that had hit in 1947, OR a even different group with the same name that was a popular backing band in Jamaica.
- A famous American tournament bridge team from the 1930s that popularized a dominant bidding system. (To be honest, the only part of that sentence that I understood was “1930s”.)
- A group of four American Export Lines ships known as the Four Aces that ran Mediterranean routes before serving as WWII troop transports.
- A literary allusion popularized by Mark Twain regarding “the calm confidence of a Christian with four aces.”
- Or, in this particular case, an apparently out-of-business place near Española, New Mexico.
Española, New Mexico
photographed 9.20.2026
stop (and eat)
I’ve driven right by this place before. A lot of times. So I don’t know why this was the trip where I noticed it.
It might have been those clouds over the mountains, making it feel more dramatic. Or the particular arrangement of that car, the waste bin, and traffic barrels. Or maybe it was the sign with the jumbo burger that was indeed jumbo.
The reason doesn’t matter as much as at the fact that I did notice the place and we braved the wonkiest intersection in all of Española to get to the place.
(When I was a kid and we’d drive through Española on the way to our camping vacations in Colorado, it was guaranteed that my dad would get lost. Every. Single. Time. He rarely got lost, but Española always won. Now, as an adult, I think the “It’s Española so I’ll definitely get lost” mindset is winning: as recently as last week, I continued that proud family tradition.)
Española, New Mexico
photographed 9.19.2026
After dinner
Our genial hosts at the B&B handed us a stack of menus from local restaurants, then gave us a short rundown on each one. Based on their phrase “…and he’s trying to make a go of it.” we ended up at Ken’z Cuisine* for dinner.
The food was good, and the place was totally of the 1970s as far as interior design motifs went.
Española, New Mexico
photographed 8.31.2019
*Yes. That is indeed an apostrophe-z.
cross/walk
I am not sure why all these crosses were lined up along the street on the outskirts of Española.
I’ve stopped at a lot of roadside crosses, and almost all the time they indicate a place where someone lost their life along the roadway. But this seemed different, somehow. For one thing, there were so many of them. And the death dates were different. Maybe over time, this has developed into the most dangerous roadway in the state. Or maybe over time, this has developed into an ad hoc location to put up a cross for a deceased loved one, if you can’t afford a traditional gravesite.
Española, New Mexico
photographed 9.1.2019
