Recently I saw a FreshDirect ad for skirt steak, lime and cumin. That sounded good, so I added cumin to my very limited supply of spices and tried seasoning a burger with it. This was really good--I also added a slice of New York cheddar cheese, green pepper and vine-ripened tomato. It was a hearty burger with a Latin twist.

Speaking of Latin twists, brunch today at Sandia was disappointing. It took 50 minutes for them to prepare three orders of French toast and an omelette. Only a few other tables were also eating at the time. There was clearly a screw-up somewhere and, to the restaurant's credit, the manager gave us a break on the bill. Also, the small starter fruit platter was very good. But we didn't like when we asked the waiter about the status of our order and he proceeded to go behind the bar, not promptly to the kitchen to inquire.

In addition, the French toast entree itself was somewhat puzzling. It was titled guava French toast on the menu; we expected a more integrated dish with guava somehow in the French toast; but instead, it was essentially some kind of thin French toast with some guava paste and strawberries on the side. This isn't necessarily bad and the dish was fine, but we were somewhat confused.

A band, with keyboard, bass and drums, cranked out engaging (if slightly loud) south-of-the-border music. The overall atmosphere was nice enough. We all agreed that while today's brunch experience was marginal, we'd give Sandia a shot for dinner. I suspect the food is probably much better because the entrees provide better opportunity to show off the declared "Latin Asian fusion."