Food Tour New Mexico celebrates 10 tasty years
Motivated by the sudden death of his father, Nick Peña was determined to create a business of his own. Peña had just graduated from the University of New Mexico with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts at the time of his father lost his life due to a tragic accident 12 years ago.
Peña was 25 years old and working as an art gallery director on Canyon Road in Santa Fe and soon found himself the executor of his father’s estate.
“My dad was a laborer,” Peña said. “He later worked for the city but I just saw him work so hard his whole life and when he passed away he didn’t have anything, like he didn’t have assets. I was always taught to work really hard and maybe felt bad that he worked and gave everything to his family and he didn’t have anything to pass on. That kind of made me rethink my route in life and where I was at. I wanted to work for myself. I wanted to start a business.”
Peña, who had no business experience, created Food Tour New Mexico with a $1,500 credit card budget and advice from a friend who runs a food tour business in Arizona. The advice and Peña’s determination paid off and Food Tour New Mexico is celebrating 10 years.
In the beginning, Peña supplemented his income by bartending for about two years. When he was not making cocktails, Peña dedicated his time to Food Tour New Mexico and approached restaurants he would frequent to be part of the tours. The restaurants jumped on board and Food Tour New Mexico started making its mark. By the third year Peña had his first employee.
The business also began receiving TripAdvisor’s certificate of excellence and this year was placed into the TripAdvisor Hall of Fame.
Peña now has four people on staff and is considering bringing on a couple more in 2020. There are also tentative plans to add another Albuquerque tour.
Food Tour New Mexico currently offers one tour in
Albuquerque and several tours in Santa Fe.
The “New Mexican Flavors Tour of Old Town” in Albuquerque features stops at restaurants in the historic area.
“We do a posole at Garduños and we do it broken down with all sides — cilantro, onion, lime, chips and salsa and we’ll do a cucumber margarita pairing there,” Peña said. “I think it’s important because we tell you the history of posole, ... why posole is such a traditional
New Mexican dish and where it came from.”
The tour later makes stops at Seasons Rotisserie & Grill for green chile cheeseburger sliders paired with either a local beer or Gruet sparkling wine followed by a walk to High Noon Restaurant and Saloon for red chile beef tenderloin bites, a tortilla and a taco served with a classic margarita. The tour includes a tea tasting at Old
Barrel Tea Company and ends with natillas, a Spanish custard dish, for dessert at Church Street Cafe.
“Everybody loves them, but they’re very nostalgic for people,” Peña said of the natillas. “I’ve heard people from all different countries say this reminds me of something my grandmother used to make.”
In Santa Fe, there is the “New
Mexican Flavors Tour of Santa Fe Plaza,” that is more casual and showcases New Mexican inspired foods, margaritas, local beers and more at about five stops.
The “Taste of Santa Fe: Wine Pairing Tour” is the most popular. It features a combination of New Mexican cuisine with food offerings from higher end restaurants.
The “Savor Santa Fe Wine Pairing Dinner Tour” is a fourcourse wine pairing dinner that takes place at three restaurants. Tour information can be found at foodtournewmexico.com.
“Throughout all of our tours we give the history and information about the area, restaurants, and things to do,” Peña said. “We’re kind of like personal concierges. I think all of our guides tend to treat it like family like we’re taking our family around . ... All our guides are local people and super well knowledgeable about our culture and our history.”