Restaurants & Chefs
Favorite local Santa Fe eateries
Once you've had your fill of Indian tacos from the street vendors, check out these local favorites hand-picked by Katharine Kagel of Cafe Pasqual's.
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The Bobcat Bite
"A round since 1953, this is the place to go for Santa Fe's best burger — 9.5 ounces — with crispy cottage fries. This is an incredible, tiny 22-seat ultimate-hamburger find. It's family-owned and has a down-home atmosphere — and it's just a 15-minute drive from the plaza, southeast on Old Las Vegas Highway. Don't blink or you'll pass it. You'll find it next to the Bobcat Ranch entrance, housed in an old, flat-roofed adobe building that's sunset-pink, with the best neon sign around and painted Indian kachinas flanking the doorway. Inside, the cheek-by-jowl customers are treated to a beguiling scene with a counter along a long window that looks out into a rock and juniper ‘garden' with lots of bird feeders, where the finches and robins and juncos flit about. There will be a wait, so go at off-times if you'd rather not stand in line. But be forewarned: They close at 7:50 every evening and are closed Sunday and Monday."
• Info: 20 Old Las Vegas Highway, 505-983-5319, www.bobcatbite.com
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The Tea House
"On Canyon Road, The Tea House is in an old adobe with a wonderful garden along the south side of the house. You can sit under the trees and sip one of the 200 tea concoctions and eat a swell BLT or have a great big bowl of soup and a fresh salad. There is usually a gi-normous strawberry shortcake on a cranberry-almond scone that is fun to share. They also serve a light breakfast — my favorite is the shirred eggs made with the espresso machine steamer and scones with jam. It's a great summer scene with excellent people-watching. They close around 9 p.m., with their all-day menu in force."
• Info: 821 Canyon Road, 505-992-0972, www.teahousesantafe.com
Deanna Nichols
Sugar Nymphs
"Up on the high road to Taos, there's another 'find.' It, too, is down-home and serves some of the most delicious food anywhere. It's run by two very savvy, highly experienced chef-owners in the tiny mountain village of Peñasco, about a half-hour's drive through the rugged Sangre de Cristo mountain range. At the tiny cafe there's always an array of fresh salads made with local organic greens, an excellent daily soup, and specials that are just plain yummy and always worth the drive. My favorite was an Easter Sunday brunch of chicken and dumplings with the most extremely moist carrot cake, redolent of cinnamon and vanilla aromas. This is not a fancy place, but the food reward is incredible."
• Info: 15046 State Road 75, Peñasco, 505-587-0311
Cafe Pasqual's
Katharine Kagel wouldn't brag on her own restaurant, so we will.
Courtesy Pasqual's
In downtown Santa Fe, one block from the plaza, Cafe Pasqual's is an impassioned pick of locals and an instant favorite for visitors who come in droves to this small — 50 seats — and beloved historic pueblo-style adobe for the super-yummy offerings within.
Named for the folk saint of Mexican and New Mexican kitchens and cooks, San Pasqual, Cafe Pasqual's is proof that Katharine Kagel — who founded the place 30 years ago — has some kind of in with the patron saint.
The summer dishes are many and varied, with an international flair. Lunchtime boasts a Bengal salad of mounded curried chicken with mango chutney that fills a halved pineapple shell. At dinner, beef-cheek barbacoa tacos, with guacamole and a drizzle of roasted tomato chile d'arbol salsa, are great for sharing.
Other summer offerings include chiles en nogada, poblano chiles stuffed with a mushroom picadillo and topped with a walnut goat-cheese sauce; ceviche with lemongrass and halibut; and "Pigs and Figs," fresh black Mission figs wrapped in bacon and grilled atop a green salad of mizuna and Cabrales blue cheese, with a reduced balsamic dressing.
For dessert, there's Meyer lemon ice cream with comb honey oozing down the mound of lemon bliss; blackberry pie and fresh peach pie; and the world's best flan, with nuanced flavors of orange, caramel, or coconut.
• Info: 121 Don Gaspar, 505-983-9340, www.pasquals.com
Issue: September 2009
