Best Red and Green Chile-We Call It Christmas
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Best New Mexican Restaurant-Don't You Dare Order That Chile On the Side
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Best Mexican Restaurant for Pescado y Mas
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Best Breakfast Burrito Because It's the Most Important Meal of the Day
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Best Asian Food, 'Cause You Can Never Get Enough
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Best Ethnic Restaurant, as in: Not American
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Best Vegetarian Restaurant Because You Can't Live On Energy Bars
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Best Brunch On a Lazy Sunday Afternoon
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Best Steak, Mad Cow Disease Be Damned
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Best Seafood When You Feel Fishy
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Best Local Pizza, Hold the Anchovies
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Best Restaurant for Kids (and Their Parents)
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Best Dessert, No Matter How Full You Are
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Best Bakery for Cakes, Pies, Cookies, Bread-Now We're Hungry
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Best Grocery Store-and the Competition Is Fierce
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Best Beer Selection for When You're, Um, Buying Beer
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Best Margarita-Yeah, We'll Take a Pitcher
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Best Mixed Drink, as in a Martini or Mojito or Anything That Isn't a Margarita
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Best Local Independent Coffee/Tea House Because Caffeine Is Still Legal
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Best New Restaurant You Already Love
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Best Splurge Restaurant When It's Time to Celebrate
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Best Inexpensive Restaurant Because, Hey, You Still Gotta Eat
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Best Romantic Restaurant-Flowers Not Included
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Best Soup When You Want Lunch That's Liquid
Tomasita's Restaurant
500 South Guadalupe Street
983-5721
You're A Star:
Owner/manager Ignatios Patsalis says that although Tomasitas' fresh, fruity and fiery green chile is more popular than the velvety, complex red, many customers like to taste
both flavors. And by "many," he must mean "a gazillion," because Tomasita's sells more than 80,000 pounds of green chile and 5,200 gallons of red chile every year.
Chew On This:
In January, the restaurant began serving a meatless red chile. Customers have long appreciated the vegetarian green chile, but requests for a veggie red became steady and Patsalis was happy to oblige. The owner says he doesn't notice much of a flavor difference between the red chile sauce with beef and the sauce without. "They're both good!"
Acceptance Speech:
"I think people love Tomasita's because we're unique and authentic. Tomasita was our original cook in 1973 and her recipes are still with us," says Patsalis.
The Shed
TIE: Horseman's Haven Café and Tia Sophia's
Tomasita's Restaurant
500 South Guadalupe Street
983-5721
You're A Star:
For 35 years, Santa Feans have been practically bathing in the chile at
Tomasita's. And really, how else do we judge a New Mexican restaurant if not for its chile? By the quality of the service, Patsalis suggests. "Between the orders coming in the back door and the hostess greeting people up front, we watch the restaurant from one end to the other."
Chew On This:
Check out the Randy Travis Plate, new on the Tomasita's menu. The dish is named for the country star, who is a frequent guest and a pork chop lover. The chops come with posole, refried beans and greens. Does Randy Travis order the Randy Travis Plate? "He eats a variety of things," Patsalis says, "but he likes the pork chops."
Acceptance Speech:
"It's a great honor!" Patsalis says.
The Shed
Maria's New Mexican Kitchen
Mariscos "La Playa"
537 Cordova Road
982-2790
You're A Star:
Santa Fe has an ever-increasing number of delectable Mexican restaurants, but none is
so beloved as Mariscos "La Playa." And when it comes to Mexican seafood, this place is tops. After formally separating from the south-side location, which is now called Mariscos Costa Azul, this seafood haven hasn't lost any of its luster.
Chew On This:
You haven't truly experienced seafood cocktail until you've had one of Mariscos' cocteles. Loaded with shrimp, octopus, fish, oysters and/or scallops, you'll swear you can hear waves lapping at the shore when you eat it.
Acceptance Speech:
"We were very excited when we heard," owner Nora Lopez says. "It's amazing!"
Guadalajara Grill
Mariscos Costa Azul
Tia Sophia's
210 West San Francisco Street
983-9880
You're A Star:
Yes, it's located just a block from the Plaza, but you won't find pretentious food at wildly inflated prices here. Tia Sophia's has been a fixture on San Francisco Street for almost a quarter-century, and they haven't lasted this long by doling out watery chile. This is straight-up, down-home food that's worth standing in line for. Bursting-at-the-seams breakfast burritos and puffy, fluffy sopaipillas keep loyal locals coming back again and again.
Chew On This:
How many breakfast burritos does Tia Sophia's serve every day? "A gazillion!" answers owner Nick Maryol. But still customers ask why scrambled eggs aren't a standard feature of the burrito. "We've always thought that when you put scrambled egg in a burrito the flavor gets lost," Maryol argues. "Personally, I always prefer to have a fried egg on top."
Acceptance Speech:
Maryol says he's thrilled to know his customers are so happy with the breakfast burritos.
Santa Fe Baking Company
Bumble Bee's Baja Grill
Il Piatto
95 West Marcy Street
984-1091
You're A Star:
It is particularly fitting that Il Piatto should be singled out for the best Italian pasta, since chef/owner Matt Yohalem's gnocchi, fettuccine, ravioli, tagliatelle (and
countless other forms of pasta) are all made in-house. But ingredients are important too, and Yohalem is one of many local chefs who find key ingredients at the Farmer's Market. "The spinach for our fillings we get at the Farmer's Market and it is significantly more flavorful than what we can order. The veggies at our Farmer's Market just taste better."
Chew On This:
"I do a wonderful spaghetti Bolognese sauce," Yohalem says, proudly. "Most people think of that as ground beef in marinara, but the truth is that it's a really rich meat sauce that cooks overnight. I use brisket, short ribs, veal breast, lamb cheeks…all of that sort of dissolves with the vegetables."
Acceptance Speech:
"Well, you know I was away for a few years," Yohalem says, "and it's really gratifying to get this award because I feel like the place had maybe slipped a little bit in my absence. I've been really trying to improve things and this is like, 'Wow! People appreciate it!'"
Andiamo
Pranzo Italian Grill
Mu Du Noodles
1494 Cerrillos Road
983-1411
You're A Star:
Chef Mu Jing Lau was born in China, raised in New Jersey, trained at the Culinary Institute
of America and seasoned in the Asian food capital of San Francisco. Here in Santa Fe, her pan-Asian menu sets Mu Du Noodles apart from traditional restaurants. From Thai curries to Malaysian noodle bowls, Vietnamese spring rolls and pan-fried Japanese udon, Mu's culinary curiosity is as insatiable as her customers' appetites for all things Asian.
Chew On This:
Mu is a regular at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market, visiting twice a week to buy ingredients for the restaurant. Sure, she could send someone else to do the shopping, but the chef derives inspiration from the fresh ingredients. Her daily appetizer specials are often showcases for Farmer's Market finds.
Acceptance Speech:
"It's all because I buy the freshest ingredients," says the too-modest Mu.
Chow's Asian Bistro
Jinja
India Palace
227 Don Gaspar Avenue
986-5859
You're A Star:
"In cooking at our place we are very traditional and I try and find out the ways that things were cooked in olden times," owner Narendra Kloty explains. Last year, Kloty found himself reminiscing about a copper pot that his mother had received as part of her wedding dowry. "I asked my mom, 'Do you still have
that pot?' and guess what-she did, so I had it shipped here," Kloty recounts. "In that pot we make lentils, and believe me, we make them the same way she used to." The pot is left over the coals in the restaurant's clay oven and after a long night spent slowly simmering, the lentils are ready for service.
Chew On This:
The advantage of India Palace's lunch buffet is that you get to try a wide variety of dishes, some of which aren't available on the dinner menu. But because of the broad appeal of the lunch buffet, the spice level is kept fairly mild; to get a real taste of the pleasant heat of Indian food, go for dinner and tell your server you like it hot.
Acceptance Speech:
"The pressure to keep winning is greater, so we're very proud that we keep being voted the best. We work hard at it!" Kloty says.
Cleopatra's Café
Mu Du Noodles
Mu Du Noodles
1494 Cerrillos Road
983-1411
You're A Star:
Mu Du Noodles is not technically a vegetarian restaurant, and chef/owner Mu Jing Lau says that not very many of her customers are vegetarian, but the chef says, "I think they like to know that they have the option." And there are options-a-plenty here. According to the chef, about three quarters of the dishes on the menu can be made with either meat or tofu; many of those can be made vegan as well.
Chew On This:
Ingredients like Asian fish sauce are traditional in many Thai and Vietnamese dishes, and as Mu says, "it gives a depth of flavor to the food, the flavor just keeps on coming," but because some customers are "touchy" about fish sauce, the chef is moving away from using it so much. Let your server know whether you love it or hate it and he can steer you toward dishes without fish sauce-or ask the kitchen to drop a little extra dollop in your bowl.
Acceptance Speech:
"To be honest," Mu says, "I never used to care about this award-and then I lost my 'Best Vegetarian' to Annapurna last year. I have to say, losing it really makes you appreciate winning again!"
Annapurna Chai House
Café Pasqual's
Harry's Roadhouse
9613 Old Las Vegas Highway
989-4629
You're A Star:
What is brunch, exactly? Strictly speaking, Harry's Roadhouse doesn't serve a meal called "brunch," but they do serve the foods we normally associate with this midday meal. According to Harry Shapiro, the Roadhouse's owner, "brunch is
what you make of it." And at the Roadhouse, that means bagels, omelets, French toast, catfish po'boys and cold turkey meatloaf sandwiches.
Chew On This:
Lately the kitchen has been experimenting with savory French toast and finding new vehicles for the country ham Shapiro special-orders, so don't pass them up.
Acceptance Speech:
"I'm glad people feel comfortable here," Shapiro says, "and they know they'll get things that are a little different."
Chocolate Maven Bakery and Café
Café Pasqual's
Steaksmith at El Gancho
104 Old Las Vegas Highway
988-3333
You're A Star:
Steaksmith ages all of its beef at the restaurant, a practice that helps to bring out the best in the meat. "I would say if you had to pick one key factor it's that," says Thomas "Tupper" Schoen, Steaksmith's manager. He also credits the fact that all of the steaks are hand-cut daily. "I believe that it gets a little more personal attention and I think you taste it," he says.
Chew On This:
Tupper's favorite steak is the New York sirloin. "It's got a great balance of flavor and tenderness," he says. The restaurant offers several sirloin steaks, two tenderloin cuts, prime rib and a rib-eye that's served in the bar.
Acceptance Speech:
"Yippee!" Tupper says. "It is a darn good steak."
The Bull Ring
Rio Chama
Mariscos "La Playa"
537 Cordova Road
982-2790
You're A Star:
It's only natural that our favorite Mexican seafood restaurant should also be our favorite seafood restaurant. Red snapper is so much sassier spiced up with a chipotle sauce; and where else can you get such marvelous baby octopus?
Chew On This:
Owner Nora Lopez' favorite dish is the Salmon a la Mexicana, grilled salmon topped with a tangy pico de gallo. If you're squeamish about seafood, try some of the fabulous grilled beef dishes.
Acceptance Speech:
"We're from Chihuahua, but we love seafood!" Nora Lopez says, responding to all the love the voters gave Mariscos this year.
Geronimo
Santa Fe Steamer
Upper Crust Pizza
329 Old Santa Fe Trail
982-0000
You're A Star:
Actually, Upper Crust does offer anchovies…and people ask for them! OK, so maybe The
Grecian (with feta, kalamata olives, bell pepper, onion and garlic) is more popular. Seven days a week this Santa Fe favorite serves up chewy, crusty pies, sandwiches and salads-and they deliver. "It always surprises me when people call and ask if we deliver. We've delivered since 1979!" says owner John Nardine.
Chew On This:
Nardine is thinking of adding some gourmet pizzas to the menu by next spring. Until then you can expect to see some trial versions offered as specials. And if you have suggestions for new pizzas, he wants to hear about it.
Acceptance Speech:
Nardine on winning for the ump-teenth time: "It still feels great! We strive for it every year!"
Il Vicino
Back Road Pizza
Cowgirl
319 South Guadalupe Street
982-2565
You're A Star:
Cowgirl's Kiddie Corral came about more than 15 years ago, when the ice cream parlor that formerly abutted the restaurant moved away, taking its giant freezer with them. "When they took it," co-owner Barry Secular says, "there was basically this 8-foot-by-12-foot sandbox left. I brought in all my daughter's toys and thus the Kiddie Corral was born."
Chew On This:
It's not just the play yard that makes Cowgirl so popular, it's the food. The kids' menu manages to offer a long list of things that fall far from "icky" without resorting to dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets. According to Secular, kids love the chicken strips (available grilled or fried), corn dogs, quesadillas, grits and brisket. "They're just smaller people," he wisely observes. "Overall, kids' tastebuds' are way more sophisticated than people give them credit for, especially here in Santa Fe."
Acceptance Speech:
"I really love that people continue to recognize the kid category because kids rule!" Secular says.
Harry's Roadhouse
Zia Diner
Chocolate Maven Bakery and Café
821 West San Mateo Road
984-1980
You're A Star:
Does everyone who lunches at Chocolate Maven save room for dessert? No; in fact, a
shocking majority are so sated by their scrumptious sandwiches that they leave without a single bite of Belgian Chocolate Torte. "A lot of our lunch customers try to come in and get out in a short period of time," explains operations manager Larry Katz.
Chew On This:
"If you work in a pizza parlor there's only so much pizza you can eat," says Katz, expressing a sentiment with which the sushi-loving Upper Crust owner John Nardine could certainly identify. Still, Katz can't walk past the bakery case without pinching one of the Mexican wedding cookies.
Acceptance Speech:
"We're extremely happy!" Katz says. "We put a lot of pride and hard work into the product and obviously it shows."
Harry's Roadhouse
Santacafé
Chocolate Maven Bakery and Café
821 West San Mateo Road
984-1980
You're A Star:
Among the cakes, pies, cookies and bread, Katz believes Chocolate Maven sells more pies than anything else, especially during the holidays. Their gorgeous pumpkin/pecan, chocolate/pecan, mince and Dutch apple pies look better than most moms' pies for sure. But that doesn't mean you could actually resist the brownies, cheesecake, tarts, Bundt cakes, muffins, croissants or cookies.
Chew On This:
Just this month, Chocolate Maven started offering high tea from 3 to 5 pm Monday through Friday. For $15 per person, you can get a pot of tea, scones with clotted cream and jam, finger sandwiches and mini-pastries.
Acceptance Speech:
"It's the consumers who vote and I think we have a really good reputation with them," Katz says.
Sage Bakehouse
Cloud Cliff Bakery, Café and Artspace
Trader Joe's
530 West Cordova Road
995-8145
You're A Star:
Yes, the store is smaller than most houses in Tesuque and trying to defend your
bumper in the parking lot would be a lot easier if you had some fender-mounted car-strength stun guns. But it all seems worth it when you get home with a bag full of roasted cashews, baby artichokes, Niman Ranch bacon and cheap wine.
Chew On This:
All of Trader Joe's products are bought for all the stores through the company's corporate office, leaving individual stores sometimes frustrated that they can't offer local specialties. Santa Fe Store Captain Darren Haines says he's been begging for green chile. "I know we'd sell a ton of it," the Captain laments, "but I can see how trying to sell chiles where I came from, in Northern California, would be pretty hard."
Acceptance Speech:
"Last year we were in second place," says Haines, "and there are a lot of really great stores in town, so it's great to see all of our hard work has paid off!"
Whole Foods Market
La Montañita Co-op
Trader Joe's
530 West Cordova Road
995-8145
You're A Star:
Trader Joe's is a great place to buy beer even when you're not actually shopping for beer. You might be out picking up, say, cheesy poofs free of artificial colors and flavorings, or organic pretzels, or frozen gourmet pizza, in which case beer starts to look pretty good all of a sudden.
Chew On This:
Part of TJ's strategy is keeping prices impossibly low. "If we're not the best price in town, we won't carry it," explains Santa Fe Store Captain Darren Haines. It's easy for them to have the best price on beers that no one else carries (ah HA!), so look here for lower prices on stuff you already know and a wide selection of brews you've never heard of.
Acceptance Speech:
Trader Joe's win in this category was a surprise for Haines, but as he says, "We strive for it. We are constantly reacting to what the customers are looking for," a strategy that propelled them to the top of the beer game.
Liquor Barn
TIE: Kokoman Liquors and Whole Foods Market
Maria's New Mexican Kitchen
555 West Cordova Road
983-7929
You're A Star:
It's been years since Bobby Flay came to Santa Fe with his
Food Nation
TV cameras, but the episode featuring Maria's Special Margarita still airs from time to time and pilgrims still make the voyage to Maria's to try one of the hundred-and-some versions of the cocktail.
Chew On This:
The multi-page margarita menu at Maria's "reads like a novel," Manager Bernie Salazar says, but he finds that most people tend to order by price. Although the most expensive margarita costs $45, Salazar's personal favorites are in the $11 range.
Acceptance Speech:
"I've been here 17, 18 years and I can't remember how many times we've won, but it's still great!"
Tomasita's Restaurant
Cowgirl
Swig
135 West Palace Avenue, Level Three
955-0400
You're A Star:
Santa Fe's swankiest nightclub has changed hands since last year's competition, but the bar's cocktail prowess is as potent as ever. The top-shelf well means you never
have to look like a cheap drunk giving the thumbs-up to a Wolfschmidt and tonic.
Chew On This:
One of the first things the new team did was drop the drink prices and institute a daily happy hour. "We had this reputation for being very expensive," bar manager Frank Bond says, "and we wanted to make Swig more accessible to everybody." And hey, everybody likes a $4 martini, right? Get yours, along with sushi specials, every day from 5 pm until 8 pm.
Acceptance Speech:
About his win, Bond says, "It's great! We're really trying to be rediscovered." So seek killer cocktails, Santa Fe, seek and ye shall find at Swig.
Rio Chama
Cowgirl
Ohori's Coffee
1098½ South Saint Francis Drive
982-9692
507 Old Santa Fe Trail
988-7026
You're A Star:
What makes Ohori's different from, say, Starbucks, is exactly what makes Second Street Brewery
different from Anheuser-Busch. Ohori's beans are roasted on a totally manual machine that hasn't changed much since it was designed in 1906.
Chew On This:
You won't find a Triple Mango Moccachino at Ohori's, but you will find a significantly increased tea selection. "We've tried to make our tea fit the quality of our coffee," says General Manager Tai Ayers. "We've brought in high-end teas, lots of green teas, white teas and oolongs."
Acceptance Speech:
"We won four or five years in a row and then last year we got second," Ayers says, giving props to last year's winner, Aztec Café. "They've done a lot to improve that place," she says, admiring the competition. "I think if anything we're just excellent at maintaining the quality of our product. We've been in Santa Fe 23 years and people think our coffee is outstanding."
TIE: Java Joe's and The Teahouse
Santa Fe Baking Company
The Railyard Restaurant and Saloon
530 South Guadalupe Street
989-3300
You're A Star:
For fans of chef/owner Louis Moskow's other restaurant, 315 Restaurant and Wine Bar, the Railyard's meat-and-potatoes menu may seem impossibly incongruous. How can you go from pâté and bouillabaisse to burgers and baby back ribs? Moskow says he thought long and hard about what kind of restaurant Santa Feans most wanted and needed. The answer: A truly great Chinese
restaurant. "But I'm not Chinese, so that wasn't an
option," the chef says, sadly. Instead, the Railyard champions American classics. "People can get cutting-edge cuisine all over town, but somebody needed to bring back the classics."
Chew On This:
Do you know what the people like? The people like pork. And it is all over the menu at the Railyard, from the BLT salad to the Smokestack Lightning Burger, pan-fried pork chop and baby back ribs. And if you want fries with that, you can have 'em. Soon, Moskow will be serving up the Railyard's delights to diners in Boulder, where he plans another location of the concept.
Acceptance Speech:
"Quite honestly, cooks are egotistical," Moskow says. "We cook for ourselves, to make an imprint and to let everyone know how great we are and individual we are." But the chef sounds totally humble when he says, "I'm so pleased!" about this honor.
The Flying Tortilla
Rooftop Pizza
Geronimo
724 Canyon Road
982-1500
You're A Star:
Does Executive Chef Eric DiStefano have a problem with being pigeonholed as a "splurge restaurant?" "No, it's fine. It's a compliment!" he says, although the he does argue that people think Geronimo is more expensive than it really is. For DiStefano, the changing seasons bring a rotating variety of foods to celebrate, from summer's soft shell crabs to fall's game birds.
Chew On This:
"Our elk," DiStefano says, referring to his signature dish, "we could never take off the menu." The house-cured, mesquite-smoked tenderloin is served with garlic mashed potatoes and a morel mushroom sauce. "We used to change it around now and then, but people would lambaste us! 'We just flew in from Dallas to have the elk we had last year!' So now we leave it alone."
Acceptance Speech:
"We're grateful and we feel privileged," DiStefano says, "We just keep trying harder."
The Compound
Santacafé
Harry's Roadhouse
9613 Old Las Vegas Highway
989-4629
You're A Star:
It isn't that Harry's is just cheap. It's certainly not the least expensive restaurant in town, but owner Shapiro aims for the highest-quality product at the most reasonable
price. "We're very conscious of our prices and we experiment with different things," says Harry Shapiro, reflecting on his new honor. For example, lately the Roadhouse has been bringing in local eggs, for which they charge extra. "Sometimes people go for it and sometimes they don't," he says, and you can hear the "Whaddyagonnado?" in his voice.
Chew On This:
If you see soft shell crabs or lobster tails on the menu, by all means order them. They're more expensive than your usual meatloaf dinner at Harry's for sure, but certainly a better deal than at some fancy-pants place. "I have a vision of a roadhouse," Harry says, "where you can go sit at picnic tables and get lobsters-like in Maine-and it's not a fancy experience, it's just what you get at your little roadside place."
Acceptance Speech:
"I think we offer a lot of value for what we do," says Harry. "We're not Denny's and we're not Fuego."
Bumble Bee's Baja Grill
Counter Culture Café
Julian's
221 Shelby Street
988-2355
You're A Star:
It seems mysterious and strange, but could it be that so much of Julian's allure is…the paint? The warm, creamy walls-not peach, not gold but somewhere in between-are crucial to the dining room's winning ambiance. What with the little twinkle lights, the sunset peeking through the stained glass windows,
and the rich aromas wafting in from the kitchen, it's a wonder Pepe LePew isn't courting a pretty pussycat at the next table.
Chew On This:
How can you not feel sexy when you're slurping up some spicy Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, a slippery sheen of olive oil glistening on your lips? Lovers love to share the mussels steamed in olive oil, garlic and white wine, the shrimp with mascarpone, basil and tomatoes, and the lobster pasta. And when oysters are on the menu…look out!
Acceptance Speech:
Manager Marni Rhea says she's thrilled with the "Best Romantic" honor, even though it doesn't say much about the fabulous Italian food at Julian's. If there were a category for "Best Osso Buco," she's sure Julian's would take first place.
Geronimo
La Casa Sena
Bobcat Bite
420 Old Las Vegas Highway
983-5319
You're A Star:
Since 1953, Bobcat Bite has been feeding hungry folks (and a few felines) the kind of burgers that make a lot of fans and some flat-out fanatics. Chef/owner John Eckre says that part of his secret is the meat itself. Bobcat's burgers are made from
all-natural beef raised without hormones or antibiotics-just boneless chuck and sirloin that's ground fresh daily. "There's no odd cow parts in there, if you know what I mean," according to the Burger Master. He also gives much credit to his grill. "It's an antique cast-iron grill that's been here for 50 years. Even this same meat never tastes as good on another grill. It's even got a crack in it-like the Liberty Bell!"
Chew On This:
If you feel like a change from the burger, consider a pork chop. Bobcat recently switched to Berkshire pork, a rich, flavorful and well-marbled breed that makes for an extraordinary chop. Eckre also switched to a natural apple wood-smoked bacon for his bacon cheeseburger and he's thrilled with the results. "I just love being here when that bacon is cooking!"
Acceptance Speech:
"It's always nice to be appreciated!" Eckre says sincerely.
Dave's Not Here
Bert's Burger Bowl
Mucho Gourmet Sandwich Shoppe
1711 Llano Street, Suite G
473-7703
You're A Star:
For the past 17 years, the brother-and-sister team of Nathan and Shannon Curenton have been adding extra mayo and holding the onions for Santa Fe sandwich eaters. Service is key, Shannon says. "Our customers feel like we know them. We greet them by name and know their orders by heart. We have a lot of people who are single or older and it makes them feel like they have a second home when they come here."
Chew On This:
For the Curentons, consistency is a major goal. "When you go to a restaurant one time and you really like something, but you go back and it's not up to par, it's hard to say that place is worth going back to again," Shannon says. Still, they do make changes from time to time. Mucho recently added salads to the menu-including Greek; spinach and egg; Oriental chicken and grilled chicken Caesar.
Acceptance Speech:
"Customers let you know when they're happy and when they're not," Shannon Curenton says. "Winning this shows me that people want to say thanks and they want us to keep up the good work. It's a nice pat on the back for us."
Carlos' Gosp'l Café
Counter Culture Café
Back Street Bistro
513 Camino de los Marquez
982-3500
You're A Star:
With up to 10 soups on the menu every day, Back Street seems to have a near lock on
the city's market for soup. And proprietor David Jacoby makes it easy for you to explore the soup menu, offering them all by the cup or bowl. In the heat of the summer, matzoh ball soup and clam chowder start to take a back seat to the restaurant's subs and sandwiches, but come those summer rains, Santa Feans have soup on the brain again.
Chew On This:
Jacoby is particularly proud of his light-enough-for-summer stracciatella, an Italian egg-drop soup made with Parmesan cheese, bitter greens and chicken.
Acceptance Speech:
"This is a big one for us, our 10th year winning!" Jacoby says gleefully. The secret of his success? "I'm here all the time, making sure everything comes out right."
Whole Foods Market
Counter Culture Café
