Category: Santa Fe

Closed in 2020Gone But Not ForgottenSanta FeSouthwestern

Eloisa – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:00 PM

Expansive views bathed in salubrious, sun-kissed air punctuated by languid breezes. Cerulean skies graduating in depth and brilliance the higher they climb above the horizon. Surreal topography of unnaturally contorted, dappled sandstone formations and juniper laden foothills. Lush, well-tended gardens blessed with an abundance of vegetables, herbs, flowers and shrubs. Such was the idyll Georgia O’Keefe called home. On Sunday, July 19th, 2015, another transcendent artist–one whose medium is food and whose canvas is the palate—spent the day at the home of the legendary doyenne of American painting. He went there to pick apricots from the Abiquiu property on which she had lovingly doted. It wasn’t John Rivera Sedlar’s first visit. Much of the chef’s upbringing and many of his happiest memories were at his family’s ranch in Abiquiu, not too far from where O’Keefe had lived and where she had painted the stunning macro perspectives of floral sensuality which captivated the world. Chef Sedlar’s aunt, Jerry Newsom, was Georgia O’Keefe’s personal chef for more than a decade, but it was under the nurturing influence of his grandmother Eloisa Martinez Rivera that his interest in cooking was kindled. Not only did she teach him how to prepare traditional New Mexican…

AmericanBrunchNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

Cafe Fina – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:33 PM

Living in the Albuquerque metropolitan area, my nieces expect to stay home on those blustery winter days in which (gasp, the horror) two or more inches of snow accumulate on the highways and byways. Because, they reason, sane people don’t have to risk such ”treacherous conditions,” they don’t buy the dramatic “exaggerations” my brother relates about his experiences growing up in Peñasco. After all, how could they be expected to believe such obvious “embellishments” as my brother having walked to school in a foot of snow and having read by the light of kerosene lamps and candles when weather knocked out electrical power for hours? They certainly don’t buy what he tells them about gas stations and the service rendered during a typical fill-up and they roll their eyes when he tells them how much gas cost “way back then.” He may as well have told them he hunted dinosaurs in the woods. There are times we look back upon our “primitive” upbringing without PCs, iPhones and satellite television and our youth seems like an episode of The Twilight Zone, a program much too bumpkinly for my worldly and sophisticated nieces. Back then, you’d pull up to a gas station…

Fine DiningNew MexicoRating: ExcellentSanta Fe

Santacafe – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:30 PM

Is there anything as pure and simple as the innocence of a child, especially during the most magical time of the year? When my then six-year-old niece penned a heartfelt letter to Santa Claus, there was no doubt in her mind that her letter would be delivered and her wish would be granted. After all, she had been extra good all year long and what she wanted for Christmas was so reasonable. My niece’s fondest Christmas wish was that her family dine at Santacafe—not because of its reputation for inspired cuisine, but because she was sure she would meet jolly old Saint Nick at his restaurant “Santa Café.” It’s entirely possible my niece may have been the only person ever to have suffered a crushing disappointment at Santacafe, an elegant edifice which has been fulfilling wishes of discerning diners ever since it launched in 1983. In its three decades plus of pleasing the refined and pedantic palates of Santa Fe’s residents and visitors, Santacafe has been consistently regarded as one of the City Different’s very best, an institution the New York Times called “a restaurant to love, offering perhaps the best combination of inspired food and attractive surroundings in the…

Closed in 2018Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew MexicoSanta Fe

Chris’ Cafe – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:14 PM

“Food, in the end, in our own tradition, is something holy. It’s not about nutrients and calories. It’s about sharing. It’s about honesty. It’s about identity.” ~Louise Fresco (Scientist and Writer) Santa Fe and its denizens are an accepting lot, open to new ideas and different ways of doing things. When such pioneers as Mark Miller at the Coyote Café and Ming Tsai at Santacafe began fusing other culinary styles, techniques and ingredients with the traditional foods of New Mexico, tradition didn’t go out the window. It helped birth a new genre—an evolutionary fusion that coalesced existing and diverse food cultures and invited experimentation with exotic and beguiling spices, sauces, fruits and produce as well as preparation techniques. More importantly to local tastes, New Southwestern cuisine introduced different chiles with their own invigorating personalities and varying degrees of piquancy. New Southwestern cuisine isn’t for everybody. There are many New Mexicans who stubbornly resist any evolution of, or alteration to, the traditional foods with which they grew up. They express the sentiment that you shouldn’t mess with perfection and that New Mexican cuisine, especially our sacrosanct red and green chile, is absolutely perfect as it is. Fortunately, Santa Fe is blessed…

Diners Drive-Ins and DivesFood Network Eats New MexicoNew MexicoPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

Back Road Pizza – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:37 AM

My brother George has the right idea! Rather than braving the motoring madness that is traversing New Mexico’s highways at breakneck speeds and risking life and limb contending with America’s worst drivers (according to a 2014 report by Wallet Hub), he’ll take the back roads every chance he gets. Not only does he avoid frazzled nerves and minimize potential encounters with distracted, drunk and demolition derby caliber drivers, he gets to enjoy the scenery of enchantment and arrive at his destination unscathed. His blood pressure is better than mine. George will enjoy Santa Fe’s Back Road Pizza and not only because he doesn’t have to spend much time on Cerrillos to get there and not only because the street on which it’s situated has a posted speed limit of only 25 miles-per-hour. The pizza is very good, maybe even “worth risking rush hour to get there” good. Who says it’s good? The pizza-loving denizens of the City Different seem to accord it “best pizza” honors perennially in the Santa Fe Reporter‘s annual “best of” polls. It’s been one of Santa Fe’s “top 40 favorite restaurants” for more than eleven years running according to The Reporter who has also designated it…

Bar & GrillBrazilianClosed in 2017Gone But Not ForgottenRating: OutstandingSanta Fe

Omira Bar & Grill – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:59 PM

HOLLY: I can’t believe you’ve never taken anybody here before. JERRY: Well, I’m not really that much of a meat eater. HOLLY: . . . You don’t eat meat? Are you one of those. . . JERRY: Well, no, I’m not one of those. ~ Seinfeld “One of those!” Around my Chicago born and bred Kim and her family, that term fits me to a tee. As with many Midwestern families, my in-laws are rapacious carnivores. Their dining room table is a pantheon of pork and a bastion of beef. It’s a Bacchanalian feast of multitudinous meats. Similarly, meals at Windy City restaurants are veritable meat-fests where diners unleash their innermost meat-eating-machine. In the city’s chophouses (what every other city calls a steakhouse) heavily marbled flesh is displayed under glass, trophies of edible excess. Is it any wonder the city’s defining foods include humongous Italian beef sandwiches, slabs of Flintstonian-sized ribs and steaks the size of manhole covers. This obsession with meat isn’t solely a Midwestern phenomena. People throughout the world are eating more meat and fat than ever with worldwide meat consumption expected to double by 2020. In the western world alone, the per capita consumption of meat is…

Closed in 2015Gone But Not ForgottenMexicanRating: ExceptionalSanta Fe

EPAZOTE ON THE HILLSIDE – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno3:37 PM

Epazote. That’s a word that can make an intrepid chef’s toque blanche resemble the white flag of surrender. If you’re a culinary savant and haven’t heard of epazote, it’s probably because the chefs at restaurants you frequent might just be afraid to use it. Would you want to use an ingredient also known as “skunkweed” and “wormseed”…a word derived from a Nahuatl term for an animal with a rank odor…an ingredient perhaps best known for reducing the after-effects of eating beans? When Chef Fernando Olea chose to name his fabulous new world restaurant Epazote, it signaled a bold departure from the stereotype too many diners have of Mexican restaurants. In the Chef’s inimitably gentle manner, he was declaring his passion for the cuisine of the pre-Columbian peoples of Mexico, signaling his embrace of historically authentic ingredients and preparation styles. At Epazote, he marries Mexico’s indigenous culinary traditions with those of New Mexico, especially its agricultural bounty. Oh, and he’s daring and talented enough to incorporate epazote into several recipes. Originally from Mexico City, Chef Olea has been enthralling savvy diners in Santa Fe since 1991 with his sophisticated interpretations of contemporary Mexican cuisine. In nearly a quarter-century, the Chef has…

Fine DiningNew MexicoSanta Fe

Anasazi Restaurant – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:00 PM

As you gaze in awe and wonder at the luxurious trappings surrounding you everywhere you turn at the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi, you can’t help but contemplate the irony. Inn of the Anasazi? Throughout their existence the Anasazi never knew luxury or leisure, focusing solely and at all times on survival. Shelter, food and water were of paramount concern in the Four Corners area of the Southwest, a desolate environment which was often brutal and unforgiving. Amidst the ravages of climatic extremes, the Anasazi scratched out an existence and an lasting legacy. While the subsistence living of the Anasazi civilization and the opulence of the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi are at polar extremes, even stodgy historians might appreciate that this intimate world-class retreat “celebrates the enduring creative spirit and traditions of the regions early Native American.” This boutique gem also embraces Santa Fe’s rich cultural heritage and ongoing legacy as an artist colony. An extensive art collection is a vivid blend of Native, Hispanic and Anglo influences. In the Anasazi Restaurant and Bar luxury travelers have a restaurant worthy of the stunning three-story Inn. Richly appointed with the tricultural art of New Mexico, the restaurant is decidedly rich,…

Food Network Eats New MexicoNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: GoodSanta FeThe Best Thing I Ever Ate

Five & Dime General Store – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:35 PM

The late Fray Angelico Chavez, New Mexico’s preeminent historian once wrote about Santa Fe’s growth, “The only threat to her own distinctive glory, and something to guard against these days, is the kind of hurried “progress” which has, not history or humanity, but only money as its sole aim and purpose.” Perhaps nowhere in Santa Fe has that hurried progress been more in evidence than in the world-famous Santa Fe Plaza which has seen significant changes over the years. One of the bastions against progress had been the Woolworth’s department store, in place for several generations, but which finally gave up the ghost just before the turn of the 21st century. In its place stands the Five & Dime General Store which retains much of the charm that made Woolworth’s a throwback to better times. Best of all, the Five & Dime retained the lunch counter in which the Frito Pie was invented by Teresa Hernandez in the 1960s–nearly 60 years ago. Few, if any, do it better. The Frito Pie is served the old fashioned way, in an open bag of Fritos smothered with meaty red chile and shredded cheese. While filming “Parts Unknown” for CNN celebrity glitterati Anthony…

New MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa FeSouthwestern

Del Charro Saloon – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:12 PM

Can it truly be that the more things change, the more they stay the same? In 1776, Fermin de Mendinueta, governor and captain-general of the Spanish province of New Mexico, declared that “Santa Fe settlers are “churlish types” who are “accustomed to live apart from each other, as neither fathers nor sons associate with each other.” In 2013, Travel & Leisure published a list of America’s “snobbiest cities” and Santa Fe made the list at number five. The list was based on surveys of the magazine’s readers. Mayor at the time David Cross attributed the perception of Santa Fe snobbery to the enjoyment of the arts, a point validated by the article which quoted a writer as saying “without a certain appearance or air about yourself, gallery owners barely acknowledge you when you walk in.” Then there’s the former Santa Fe restaurateurs who had a very strict “no fragrance” (as in no eau de toilette, eau de parfum and even no Old Spice) policy at their splendorific Italian restaurant. Even some food snobs believed that was taking haughtiness too far. Fortunately Santa Fe has its own version of the place where everybody knows your name…and if they don’t, they’ll still…

AlbuquerqueBarbecueNew MexicoRating: Very GoodSanta Fe

Whole Hog Cafe – Santa Fe & Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:03 PM

While the etymology of the expression “whole hog” appears to be American, its progenitor is actually an English slang word. Americans in the new world employed the slang use of hog as a word for dime, intending the term to mean “spend the entire coin at once.” The word hog had been previously used in the Mother Country as slang for a shilling and came from the depiction of a hog on one side of the English coin. To barbecue fanatics, however, the term “whole hog” can only mean one thing–the whole hog category in Memphis in May, the annual world barbecue championships in Memphis, Tennessee, an event which has been called the “Superbowl of Swine.” If you win the whole hog category in Memphis, you have every right to call yourself the very best in the world. It means you’ve mastered ribs, pulled pork and sausage–virtually snout to tail. When we saw a restaurant on Cerrillos Road billing itself as the “Whole Hog Cafe,” we wondered if it was an audacious pretender to the pinnacle of pork or the real deal. The restaurant’s trademark image of a portly porker subtitled “World Championship BBQ” cued us in to the fact…