Dining in New Mexico is really more like exploring. Every chile is a little different, every mole offers an unexpected twist and every enchilada plate is nothing like the last. But something always stands out. In a nondescript adobe abode just outside the touristy plaza of downtown Taos, El Taoseño serves traditional New Mexican food that ranks at the top of this diner’s list. El Taoseño has won awards for its breakfast burrito. The tamales and chile rellenos are superb. But it’s the chicken enchiladas at El Taoseño that cull tears of joy. Tender, slow-cooked chicken wrapped in surprisingly intact corn tortillas, swimming in just-hot-enough red or green chile with a dollop of sour cream and topped with a fried egg. From that first bite, you realize the enchiladas in your past – drowned in cheese, glued with wet paper-towel tortillas – were dalliances that can never happen again.
Get there 819 Paseo del Pueblo Sur, Taos.
