There is a place where you can go to get out of the hustle and bustle of city life that is right downtown. The Southwest School of Art and Craft is a beautiful campus on the grounds of a historic convent founded by French nuns back in 1851. On campus, there is a delightful restaurant called the Copper Kitchen that I was able to visit recently with a friend on her suggestion.
The campus itself is worth going to see as it is an oasis in the middle of downtown. When you go into the restaurant, if feels like you are in a time warp with beautiful wood floors and stone walls. Being a restaurant on the campus of an art school, there are awesome paintings that flank the walls of the dining room.
I went on a Friday and got the lunch special of a grilled poblano and turkey sandwich served with almond squash soup. The sandwich was very tasty, and I am going to have to start putting poblano peppers on my sandwiches at home. However, what really stole the show was the almond and squash soup. While I marginally like both almonds and squash, combined together they form a really tasty soup. It was nice and thick with a hint of sweetness, and I can see just ordering a big bowl of it on a cold day.
Even more fun was the atmosphere. The restaurant is very conducive to sitting down, relaxing, and visiting with a friend. There are no TVs blaring, or even piped in music, which is a nice reprieve from our world in which we are constantly being bombarded by media. While it would be a great spot to bring a book and relax, I think having someone there to have a good conversation was even better.
Value: 8/10 (Wish they would have thrown on another side with my meal, but my friend got the Friday fish special and had a ton of food on her plate)
Atmosphere: 10/10 (My favorite part of the meal; you are on a beautiful building on a beautiful campus and feel quite removed from the hustle and bustle of the world)
Service: 7/10 (It is cafeteria style service so nothing amazing; one of the younger servers was giving an older server a little lip that put me off a little bit (even if it was in jest))
Taste: 8.5/10 ( Pretty tasty food; the sandwich was solid but not out of this world, however, the almond squash soup was really good)
Website: http://www.swschool.org/?option=com_content&view=article&id=68
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