Check out Santa Fe’s food scene
Northern New Mexico fare and chile peppers top the list of must-tries in this vibrant city
Even if you’re not a foodie — and don’t post pictures of your every meal to Instagram — you can’t help but learn something about a destination by sampling the local cuisine.
Nowhere is that more true than Santa Fe. The small city has more than 200 restaurants that serve most types of food, but visitors are well advised to visit at least a few specializing in northern New Mexico dishes.
My recent visit began with dinner at Tomasita’s — a Santa Fe institution — where our group learned that, in this part of the world, the chile is king. (And in this part of the world, they spell chile with an “e.”)
Locally grown green and red chile peppers are roasted, skinned, seeded and made into sauces that accompany just about everything on Tomasita’s traditional menu.
Patrons who can’t decide between the milder green chile or the spicier red chile can order their meal “Christmas” — accompanied by both sauces. And for those who can’t decide between a burrito, an enchilada or tacos, there are combination plates that let you sample several dishes.
Visitors who want to dig deeper into Santa Fe’s food scene have many great options. Two of the best are The Santa Fe School of Cooking and the Santa Fe Farmers Market.
The cooking school offers a variety of classes — both demonstration and hands-on — plus special programs such as a culinary “boot camp,” restaurant walking tours, even a class inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe that features the artist’s longtime assistant Margaret Wood.
Presented in partnership with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, a chef guides participants through some of the recipes in Wood’s cookbook, A Painter’s Kitchen: Recipes from the Kitchen of Georgia O’Keeffe.
Our workshop was focused on traditional New Mexico dishes. Chef Michelle Chavez introduced us to the “three sisters” of New Mexico cuisine — corn, beans and squash — while we chatted and sipped local wine.
With Chavez doing most of the heaving lifting, we helped prepare a multi-course dinner: Red chile and pork tamales, spicy corn soup, green chile sauce, green chile enchiladas, calabacitas (a squashcorn-chile side dish) and a berry crisp. We did get a little hands on and learned how to roll the tamales in corn husks and roast some peppers.
Classes fill up fast so book in advance.
Even if you are staying in a hotel and not preparing meals, a trip to the Railyard farmers’ market is a fun day out. Come hungry so you can sample all of the yummy bites and nibbles on offer — fresh breads, savoury tarts, sweet treats, artisan cheeses, farmers sausage, the list goes on.
The market has been around since 1960, when local farmers brought their wares to town each Saturday and sold them from the back of trucks. Today it has a permanent home at the Railyard, a 20-hectare redevelopment project that is fast becoming the city’s go-to spot.
With more than 170 farmers, food producers and artisans, the market is ranked as one of the best in the U.S. The market is open year-round on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.