Sharon & I met Bev, Audie & Patty at the fairgrounds to carpool to Patagonia for lunch at the Velvet Elvis. None of us had been to their new location.
There’s plenty of parking in that area. I called to see if they took reservations but they said only for parties of 6 or more. Kathie & Liz were sick so we only had 5. I was told it was the slow time of the year and we wouldn’t have a problem being seated. They open at 11:00. We arrived at 11:30 and were their first customers. They gave us a choice of two tables, both able to seat 10. We always seem to stay about 2 hours chit-chatting and eating. The restaurant started filling up around 12:30. They seated a party of 3 at the other table accommodating 10. By 1:00 they had people waiting to be seated. I saw two waitresses conversing looking back & forth from our table to the other table (for 10). The waitress finally went up to the other table and asked them to move somewhere else – I think at the bar. They were down to their drinks. They proceeded to seat a party of 5 there. The guys didn’t seem to mind but all of us thought that was a really tacky thing to do. Good to know they are doing a good business though.
We all ordered 10″ pizzas and all of them were very good. Four of our group ordered “The Good, the Bad & the Ugly” ($15.00). Sharon didn’t want the pepperoni, Audie didn’t want the Canadian bacon, Patty didn’t want the sausage and Bev wanted it “as is”. I ordered a standard pepperoni pizza ($12.00). Mine seemed to be missing some flavor but adding the red pepper flakes made it very good. I was going to order the “Santa Fe Baby” salad but I didn’t know what manchego cheese was. None of my friends knew either. Although they have cell service in Patagonia, none of us had cell service inside of the restaurant. Thus, I couldn’t look up the cheese. The waitress came over and I asked her what manchego cheese was. She said she didn’t know and didn’t offer to find out. So, pepperoni pizza it was! We all ordered water.
The service was excellent, everyone was friendly and the prices were very reasonable. Not to mention the fun of walking around looking at all of the artistic features, the woodwork and the very expensive gift shop.
We all agreed that we would be returning to the Velvet Elvis.
FYI: (glad I didn’t order it)
According to Wikipedia:
Manchego (officially Spanish: queso manchego, is a cheese made in the La Mancha region of Spain from the milk of sheep of the Manchega breed. It is aged between 60 days and 2 years.
Manchego has a firm and compact consistency and a buttery texture, often containing small, unevenly distributed air pockets. The colour of the cheese varies from white to ivory-yellow, and the inedible rind from yellow to brownish-beige. The cheese has a distinctive flavour, well developed but not too strong, creamy with a slight piquancy, and leaves an aftertaste that is characteristic of sheep’s milk.
The designation queso manchego is protected under Spain’s denominación de origen regulatory classification system,[2] and the cheese has been granted Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status by the European Union.[3]
Editor’s Note: Last month, Ms. Karen and I went to the Velvet Elvis in Patagonia for pizza. And we wrote a review. Sally, our friend in Sonoita read the review and told us she and some lady friends were going there on the 29th of December, 2022. I asked her to send us a review, which she had now done. Enjoy. Sadly, Sally, who communicates beautifully in photography, took no pictures, but you can see these and the ones we took on our review of last month. 