Takeout treasures
Three very different and enjoyable pickup dining experiences
The past two pandemic years have proven that takeout can be whatever you want it to be, at least here in Santa Fe.
To-go meals these days aren’t necessarily just dine-in dishes dumped into plastic containers. Chefs I’ve talked to in the past two years say they’re spending time thinking about the experience of eating at home because we’ve all been doing it so much more. That means offering dishes like pizza, dosas, pastas or even meats that the customer finishes cooking at home rather than reheating. It also means focusing on higher-end or more environmentally friendly packaging options. And it means thinking about the food itself: what travels well and how it looks when it’s unpacked.
Then there’s the sheer variety of our options. Consider this: In the past few weeks, I’ve brought home an artisanal twist on a Midwestern pizza specialty; a themed, multicourse, finish-at-home dinner for two; and an affordable and soul-satisfying Mexican chicken meal that fed the whole family and then some.
Next time your domestic dining companion grumbles about “another night of takeout,” remind them that these days, to-go can mean anything from down-home comfort to at-home gourmet. Let your imagination — and your appetite — be your guide!
Pizza with a twist
Detroit-style pizza has been having a bit of a moment in Santa Fe recently. Backroad Pizza has been making an excellent (though intermittent) variety of the deep-dish, square-cut pie for pickup on Wednesdays only. Cosmic Pizza Pie, a pop-up vegetarian sourdough pizza joint, has been selling pies with a variety of toppings, with thin or Detroit-style crust, at Betterday Coffee.
Now, there’s a spot on Burro Alley dedicated solely to the art of Detroitstyle pizza. Door 38 (in the former home of B&B Bakery) serves a mix of a halfdozen traditional and more inventive options, along with a few choices of salads and snacks.
What is Detroit-style pizza? A variation of Sicilian pizza, this rectangular pie with a thick but airy crust is traditionally baked in an industrial steel pan (like the ones used by Detroit’s autoworkers). It’s topped with Wisconsin brick cheese, which is similar in taste to a mild cheddar and oozes to the edges of the pan to create a gloriously caramelized, crispycheesy crust. A bright tomato sauce goes on top rather than underneath.
At Door 38, we ordered the more traditional 38 Special, with red sauce, brick cheese, mozzarella and gooey globs of ricotta ($12); and the inventive mushroom and arugula ($15), with white sauce, mushroom blend, Gruyére and a veritable forest of tru±ed arugula on top. There’s also a pepperoni option; the Al Capone, with sausage, eggplant, onion, tomato and white sauce; the Green Light, with spinach, kale, mushrooms, ricotta and a sunny-side-up egg; and the Sausage Tapenade, with housemade sausage, sauce, cheese and spicy giardiniera relish.
These pies are small but mighty — don’t be surprised if two square pieces fill you up. Packed with flavor, they offer a welcome addition to the already wide-ranging Santa Fe pizza scene.
Dinner and a show
Arroyo Vino recently relaunched one of the most creative takeout options in town: a dinner-and-a-movie pairing that changes completely from week to week depending on the film. Preorder this $85 dinner for two early in the week
for pickup Saturday, and be prepared for a multicourse meal, a wine pairing and a true movie buff synopsis of the chosen film.
Our meal was designed to complement the 1967 Sidney Poitier classic In the Heat of the Night, which takes place in Mississippi. The order came with a sheet outlining directions for each course — some requiring more prep work than others. We assembled the carefully packaged broccoli salad, a comfortingly familiar medley of almonds, raisins, grapes, bacon, broccoli and a creamy cider vinaigrette that pulled together all the sweet, savory, tangy and earthy flavors beautifully. The mac and cheese with white cheddar and peas required just a bit of baking; the deeply flavorful smoked pork tenderloin needed searing and roasting in the oven. Finally, a simple, satisfying banana pudding made for a sweet conclusion.
All of it came with a luscious bottle of Central Coast pinot noir from Land of Saints; our menu gave us a bit of background on the winery as well as why it was chosen. (Arroyo Vino, of course, knows its wines, with a lovely wine shop adjacent to the restaurant.)
To illustrate the sheer difference in menus, here’s the Valentine’s Day version: dumpling medley, duck ramen and a matcha white chocolate mousse, served with sake and a cabernet franc and paired with the romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe.
Chicken is king
On a recent brisk winter afternoon, I headed to Airport Road to finally bring home El Rey del Pollo’s fantastic family feast. I passed the 10-minute wait browsing the impressively stocked convenience store and Mexican deli next door, then came back to grab a massive, fragrant bag of one of the best dinner deals in town.
El Rey del Pollo specializes in Sinaloa-style chicken, which is butterflied; marinated in citrus, chile and spices; and grilled. (They also serve burgers, wings and other Mexican dishes.) I picked up the pollo entero asado ($21.99), which is a whole chicken cut into pieces and served with tortillas, one baked potato with cheese, a small container of refried beans and a generous carton of pink pickled onions. Our family of four (with two small children) enjoyed dinner the first night, then my partner and I used the leftover chicken for soft tacos with our own grilled onion, bell pepper and avocado.
Here’s the key: All three of these meals were satisfying in their own wildly different ways. Whether it’s comfort food or gourmet cooking, the new spot in town or the favorite joint you go back to again and again, that’s the ultimate goal of perusing the menu, picking up the phone and bringing somebody else’s cooking home.