This week’s merit badge for good government goes to City Councilor Carmichael Dominguez for his efforts to tackle quality of life improvements on Airport Road. The south side is Santa Fe’s bastard son, and is too often relegated to leftovers and afterthoughts, despite its youth, vitality and value to the city as a whole. But Dominguez’ plan ain’t exactly perfect.

In tandem with the cupcake craze that has finally swept Santa Fe, artisanal olive oil, salt and balsamic vinegar shop Oleaceae has brought upscale oil and vinegar tasting to town. How exactly these fads take hold is beyond me, but there’s nothing wrong with spending a gluttonous half-hour swilling vinegar from stainless steel containers in the small, charming shop.

It’s all about pies and macaroons if the fashionable foodie hype is to be believed. Cupcakery is passé, claim the fashionistas—never mind Vogue magazine’s declaration that “owning a cupcake bakery is the career fantasy of our times.” And yet Santa Fe is happily drowning in cupcakes.

Like other American geeks, idea junkies and proponents of innovation, creativity and the slim possibility of a future United States with meaningful, marketable skills, I was inspired and thrilled with the president’s State of the Union commitment to push wireless broadband out to 98 percent of the nation. Then I remembered I live in Santa Fe, where we’re determined to be in that SOL 2 percent.

Santa Fe’s new Taco Bell lurks among historic and innovative new buildings at the gateway to the Baca Railyard and downtown Santa Fe like a tumor among pearls.

At a recent convention in a large coastal city, I hopped in a cab with a colleague to cut across town with a little speed and convenience. My colleague turned out to be the kind of guy who can’t resist chatting up taxi drivers. And he turned out to be the kind of guy taxi drivers can’t resist.

Around the SFR offices, I get hassled for the allegedly frequent sexualizing of the food reviews I write. Apparently, there are a lot of people for whom food and flavors don’t correlate to sex. The result is metaphorical confusion and, occasionally, mild disgust.

According to Edison Research, the company that conducts exit polls for national elections, two out of every five voters in the 2010 midterm elections ranked “spending to create jobs” as Congress’ top priority. Job creation was near the top of the congressional wish list for the remaining voters, as well. But only a sliver of GDP will go toward job creation.

When the Green Onion, more typically called the “Grunion,” shut its doors and left St. Michael’s Drive with a dearth of cheap beer, alcoholic quiz games and greasy onion rings, we lost more than just a skeezy bar. We lost the identity of the road, the soul of St. Mike’s.

There’s no shortage of complaints about nightlife in Santa Fe, but try and wedge all the great bars, clubs, lounges, dives and dance halls into a few pages, and it becomes apparent there’s a lot going on here—more than we can possibly include in one week’s worth of paper.

What follows then is an amended adventure through some of SFR’s favorite bars and haunts.