Sugar Nymphs sticks to ‘solid, good and fresh’ food
Favorite Peñasco breakfast spot serves up simple dishes with complex flavors
Over the last 21 years, Sugar Nymphs, a breakfast spot in central Peñasco, has built a reputation as a tasty spot to stop while traveling the High Road to Taos, and currently is the only restaurant to stop and sit down for a meal in this little censusdesignated community in the mountains south of Taos.
With a population of about well. Being closer to Santa Fe the 1,200 people, Peñasco has long year prior, they had already begun served as a stop along the High to attract that crowd. “When we Road to Taos, with art tours moved [to Peñasco], the artists throughout the summer, leaf peepers from the High Road that were in taking drives to admire the Truchas just sent people farther fall colors and skiers from nearby on,” she said.
Sipapu Ski & Summer Area stopping They have been enjoying the by on their way to or from the change of community ever since. area. “It’s a very authentic experience
Sugar Nymphs is just one more of communities that have reason many visitors now stop lived here for thousands, tens-ofthousands and check out Peñasco. With the of years; communities restaurant’s cozy, artistic vibe and that have lived here for hundreds; judgment-free atmosphere, they and then hippie communities that are showing the unique side of have lived here for half a century,” Peñasco through food and community Holste said of Peñasco. “It’s a wonderful involvement. tri-cultural flavor.”
California or New Mexico?
Serving up food with a “California-bent,” owners Ki (pronounced ‘key’) Holste and Kai Harper are no strangers to the kitchen. Harper, who is the executive chef of the restaurant and has now retired to spend time on her paintings, which color the walls of the cozy dining room, was the former head chef at Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, a world-renowned vegetarian and vegan restaurant.
Holste now manages Sugar Nymphs and was for many years a pastry chef in California, Minneapolis and Albuquerque. When Holste and Harper (who are partners in business and life) decided to make the move away from Minneapolis, they were torn between California and New Mexico — both states they had previously resided in.
Holste and Harper ultimately decided on San Francisco, but quickly realized it just wasn’t the right fit. They came back to New Mexico thinking they would put down roots in Albuquerque, but upon their return to the state, friends showed them areas around Truchas, another popular stop on the High Road to Taos just 15 miles from Peñasco, and closer to Santa Fe.
That is where the couple originally settled, opening up the predecessor to Sugar Nymphs. Holste said all was well until a bar was set to open across the street from their Truchas location, and they were warned about the possible crowd it could attract to the area.
After looking around, they chose to move into a space adjacent to the Peñasco Theater, owned by Alessandra Ogren, who operates an aerial dance theater out of the other side of the building. When they made the move to Peñasco, they decided to upgrade the name to Sugar Nymphs Bistro. The bistro settled in nicely to the atmosphere, with locals and tourists alike flocking to the establishment. Holste said many of their Truchas patrons followed them as
Fresh before it was cool
While Sugar Nymphs Bistro may appear like a roadside, dinerstyle stop for passersby, its menu goes far deeper than eggs, toast and muffins.
Holste explained Harper comes from a background that was very focused on farm-fresh produce, “way before anyone else did. We’ve had relationships with farmers for 20 years.”
The restaurant tends to take advantage of seasonal produce as well and adapts its menu as needed. “In the summer and fall we have tons of local fresh produce,” said Holste. “The majority of our produce in the summer and fall is local.” She said it’s hard to maintain a menu that has 100 percent locallysourced food, but said they do their best.
They have been in collaboration with much of the local farming community, including One Straw Farms, the Diamond Sow Garden and Old Gem Farm. They also tend to buy a lot of produce from “back of the truck” sellers, Holste said. “They’ve picked their tree and they have extra apples and ask if I want to buy any and I say, ‘Yes, I do.’”
Holste said she prepares a variety of desserts, such as carrot cake, chocolate cake “and all the other chocolate stuff.” She said she has designed her desserts to be flexible in terms of the fruit required, and tends to stick with what is fresh and available.
Holste’s and Harper’s California influence comes into play in much of their food, with brunch offerings often including goat cheese, locally-sourced eggs and meals cooked to order. Holste called it “elevated comfort food, kind of before that was a thing.”
While they come to the table with West Coast ideas, they have been open to adaptation, adding burgers to the menu after Holste said a man entered the restaurant years ago demanding “Hamburguesa.”
Since then, she said the burgers have been a hit because of the way she seasons the meat. “We season our meat so it tastes like what everyone remembers hamburgers tasted like when they were a kid in response to what people like and what they want,” she said.
Otherwise, their menu is constantly changing. “We add menu items and then take them away,” said Holste. For example, she added a green chili Alfredo pasta made with fresh-cut noodles that she plans to keep seasonal due to its warm and creamy nature. In the summer, the noodle dish will often
‘We’re not fancy. We’re just solid, and good, and fresh.’
KI HOLSTE
Sugar Nymphs co-owner
switch to their homemade version of sesame noodle salad.
When it comes to their menu and their take on food, Holste said they aren’t “reinventing food,” like lots of other modern gastronomyfocused American restaurants try to do. Instead, their presentation is more humble and focused on satisfying their customers with simple dishes that have complex flavors. “We try to get the best flavors that we like,” she said.
“We’re not fancy. We’re just solid, and good, and fresh.”
A safe place
As the sign in the parking lot states up front, Sugar Nymphs is a “safe place.” It’s also more than just a restaurant. Holste said the community of Peñasco has been
accepting of the open lifestyle choices the restaurant and the Peñasco Theater cater to. “You know, we’re queer,” said Holste of herself and Harper. “We don’t really get a lot of pushback about that.”
She attributes the acceptance of the people to the close-knit sense of community. “Even in the oddest rural community — the ones that we think are deep red — when people get to know people, they’re just people,” she said.
Much of the openness of the community comes from the Peñasco Theater, she said, which acts as “a magnet to people who feel maybe a little alternative… There’s a little queer mecca feeling to it,” she said.
The workforce at Sugar Nymphs is primarily made up of older
women and younger high school students, perhaps working their first real job. “It’s self-selective,” said Holste of the hiring process. “Everyone knows who we are. We’re Kai and Ki, we’re the Sugar Nymphs and we’re lesbians.”
“If you feel like your family’s a little more progressive, or if you just don’t care about this stuff [and] you want to make some money, or you’re exploring your identity, you know that you’ll come here and it’ll be safe and you’ll be valued for your work and for your sense of humor and for being the person you are, and so that’s a really positive thing,” she said.
Holste acknowledged the importance of small businesses in helping foster a sense of community and togetherness.
“Small business is so important because each small business has its own identity. And then young people and people of all ages come and work for those small businesses and feel embraced by the community,” she said.
According to Holste, New Mexico was interesting in this way as a rural community because there is more of a “live and let live” feel to society.
Throughout the rest of the country, Holste said she tends to see the idea of a corporate work setting as too structured and suppressing a person’s individuality. “[Corporations] are trying to have people look less individualized, and small businesses are often trying to have an individual identity.”
As a college student majoring in women’s studies, Holste said she feels she is doing solid fieldwork through her efforts at Sugar Nymphs. “My friends who went to university with me always say, ‘You’re doing the real women’s studies work ... having real conversations with people about, like, being open and supportive.”
Overall, she said “having people be able to talk about their truth within a setting of work is very helpful and essential, and that’s what small businesses do, not just mine.”