We were in Taos the other day and it was time for us to eat. I was given the task of locating a good lunch spot and I needed to do it on the drop of a hat. I turned on Yelp and began my search. A restaurant turned up called La Cueva. It had 113 reviews and was rated with 5.5 stars. I knew we had a winner. There was only one problem...we don't know Taos and we could not even figure out where we were let alone find the restaurant. It was located on Paseo del Pueblo sur. There you have the problem.
Yelp has thought of everything though and if I had read the directions for the application I would have know about the map and the bar at the bottom of the page that said Orient the Map. This little tool works a bit like your car's compass.
Okay, you know how the new cars have a compass in the mirror and in order to get it oriented you have to drive in a circle? The salesman tells you to take it to an empty parking lot and just drive round a lamp post. After you have done that you look at the little red symbol on the rearview mirror and sure enough it will say NW. That is the way that Yelp's map tool works.
It goes like this:
- Find the restaurant in the Yelp app. (Notice the $$ to pick what you can afford.)
- Click on the restaurant's name.
- Click on the map.
- Click on the nearby button in the left hand corner at the bottom of the page.
- See your little blue dot.
- Click on orient the map.
- See the dial in the middle of the page.
- Twirl your phone and watch the lines fill in around the circle.
- Your phone will say stop twirling the phone (or something like that.)
- The blue dot will now have a search light pointing in the direction you are facing if you were standing on the map.
- Turn until you are facing the right direction.
- Walk (or drive) to your location.
The app. works like a charm...don't give up if you don't see your destination. That is the point of this Yelp thing. Many times these restaurants are not big or in plain sight. We followed the blue dot for quite a distance and the place was around a corner at the bottom of the hill. Not a location that would draw people in ordinarily.
La Cueva was a very small restaurant with a ugly exterior. I would not have chosen it if I hadn't found it on Yelp. When we walked in we faced a very small room with seating for 12 people. In the summer the majority of their tables are outside. Our table was up against the cash register stand and wires were coming out of the wall. On a scale of 1-10 I would have rated it at a 3 for beauty! There was something about the whole experience that made me smile. But the food...oh my gosh. People were calling for reservations and it was packed even though it was about 3:30 in the afternoon.
As for Taos...everything you have read about it is true. Need I say more.
b+
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| On the High Road to Taos |
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| Taos at Sunset |
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| The colors of fall and sunset in Taos. |
