Blue Corn Brewery set to rebrand to barbecue
Blue Corn Cafe and Blue Corn Brewery are history. Not done in by the coronavirus, but rather retired as concepts in the midst of the pandemic.
Blue Corn Brewery, shut down in July, will reemerge Wednesday as Hidden Mountain Brewing Co.
The beer will be the same, crafted by brewmaster Paul Mallory, but Santa Fe Dining, which owns both establishments, as well as several other dining establishments, reimagined the property at Cerrillos and Rodeo roads as a barbecue house.
“Between barbecue and beer, how can you possibly go wrong?” said Rick Pedram, president and chief operating officer at Santa Fe Dining.
Meat lovers will have reason to celebrate; Pedram hired a seasoned barbecue enthusiast, Joey Rogers, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and former executive chef at Isleta Resort & Casino, as executive chef for Hidden Mountain.
“For years, in the back of his mind, he’s thought about this: ‘This is exactly what I’ve been wanting to do,’ ” Pedram said. “For months, he’s been experimenting with meats and methods.”
The kitchen’s smoker will be put to work — Pedram said brisket, pork, sausage and turkey will be smoked for 14 to 16 hours.
“We are using New Mexico oak,” he said.
The pandemic has given opportunities for Santa Fe Dining to rethink several of its concepts. Blue Corn Cafe downtown opened in 1991, but closed when the pandemic began in March and didn’t reopen.
Blue Corn Brewery on the south side reopened for takeout but closed permanently in July after operating since 1996.
As Hidden Mountain takes off, Santa Fe Dining plans to lease the Blue Corn space downtown to a third party.
“We thought it would be best to end the Blue Corn concept,” Pedram said.
Santa Fe Dining’s La Casa Sena reopened with a menu spanning the Mediterranean, and the company merged its neighboring Rooftop Pizzeria and Draft Station.
“In Santa Fe, there is not a broad Mediterranean concept,” Pedram said of the temporarily closed La Casa Sena. “La Casa Sena had an identity crisis.”
Santa Fe Dining also owns La Cantina and 35° North Coffee.
The Hidden Mountain barbecue idea came to Pedram in summer. What sort of concept could draw customers in the middle of a pandemic? Barbecue occurred to him — it’s much more portable to take home than plated delicacies.
The Hidden Mountain name literally came from a drawer.
“The organization had a branding specialist a few years ago thinking of some names,” Pedram said. Hidden Mountain has “been in a file for a few years. It was just sitting there.”
Hidden Mountain is the only craft brewery between Meow Wolf and Interstate 25.
“We wanted to go after the market outside downtown,” Pedram said. “We just think it’s time for a special high-end barbecue for the south side. We wanted to bring something new to that community.”
From the outset, Hidden Mountain will join Santa Fe Dining’s “paying forward” campaign. Every Sunday for the time being, Hidden Mountain will close from 3 to 4 p.m. and the brewery will hand out 50 meals for a family of four at no charge to the first families that drive up, Pedram said.
Since New Year’s, Santa Fe Dining’s Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen has given away more than 3,000 meals to health care workers, and the company’s Rio Chama Prime Steakhouse has given out 500 “appreciation vouchers” to first responders to be redeemed for free meals, Pedram said.