Dee Johnson
While the menu at Escondido is still under construction, the experiments look incredible.
Last January, chef Fernando Ruiz became the inaugural chef of Palace Prime, the steakhouse inside the former Palace Saloon on—get this—Palace Avenue. That position lasted for only a short time, with Ruiz and his staff exiting some months later. And though Palace Prime continues to be a downright beloved restaurant, Ruiz now tells SFR he’s got his sights set on something all his own. That something is Escondido, a new Midtown spot at Agua Fría Street and Harrison Road with a target open window of next summer. Ruiz will, for the first time in his career, be an owner alongside his fellow investors, Stewart Alsop, James Johnson of web development agency Mindshare, who also serves as the eatery’s producer (think of him like a biz-dev guy), and former Meow Wolf CEO Vince Kadlubek.
“I don’t want to say I’m glad [about Palace Prime], but things happen for a reason, and looking ahead, looking at the future, there’s no bad blood and I wish everybody the best,” Ruiz tells SFR. “I’ve just had the carrot dangled in front of my face so long, and it took people like Vince, like Stewart and James, to say we’re going to do something—it’s my restaurant.”
“This is the first restaurant Fernando owns,” Kadlubek adds. “This is his concept, this is his restaurant.”
Kate Russell
Of course, it’s early yet, and Ruiz is rightly known as a bit of an experimenter and innovator. This is the guy who learned how to cook while in prison in Arizona, and who went on the Food Network to win shows like Guy’s Grocery Games and Chopped. Ruiz even toppled the ever-smug celeb chef Bobby Flay on his own damn show. In other words, as a chef, Ruiz is a bit of a perfectionist, and he’s still developing the Escondido menu. Kadlubek and Johnson say narrowing down the options has not been a difficult task, however, more of a delicious one.
“We’re going to do...think ceviches, tacos, moles, tequilas and mescals,” Ruiz explains. “Everything else around that realm; clean, fresh ingredients, and affordable, too—no downtown prices.”
Escondido joins the ever-burgeoning Midtown movement, though that particular area of town has been described as burgeoning for so long that Santa Feans will eventually just have to accept it has already arrived. Elsewhere nearby, you’ll find legendary local haunts like Tortilla Flats and Alicia’s Tortilleria, but Ruiz’s new spot should go a long way toward the neighborhood’s perception as a dining destination. It’ll be sit-down and elegant, he says, though not hoity-toity. The building, which Ruiz and company are renting from local nonprofit Homewise, will also allow for rooftop dining—one of the few across the entire city, Ruiz points out.
“There are maybe four in Santa Fe,” he estimates. “To be able to see the city from that angle, to get the different views, there’s so much potential there, and [once we open], people from the Southside won’t need to drive downtown and won’t have to find parking. We’ve got a parking lot.”
For Kadlubek, who maintains investments with Palace Prime and who has, of late, been described as a serial entrepreneur, Escondido is the continuation of something he says he learned when initially developing Meow Wolf: New developments should look for myriad ways to engage community. He envisions Escondido as a mixed-use space where, in addition to Ruiz’s tacos and ceviches, Santa Feans might be able to catch a show or take a class on mescal or tequila. Together, the ownership pictures live music, one-off experiential dinners and even collaborations with other restaurants. A Meow Wolf collab seems inevitable, and Kadlubek says they’ll stay open late—til 11 pm.
Equitable pay for workers is also high on the to-do list.
“Pay is one of the first things we spoke about,” Ruiz says.
“We know the industry well in Santa Fe,” Kadlubek says, “and we want the best people to work for Escondido, and the way you do that is paying them well.”
Douglas Merriam
Ruiz, for example, says he has a group of workers “on standby” for when Escondido gets closer to opening.
“And we all know what it’s like to be a server in Santa Fe and show up for a four-hour shift only to leave with $8 because you make $2 an hour plus tips,” Kadlubek says. “We want to figure out a pay scale for those working off tips.”
Let’s hope that comes to pass effectively. If the pandemic taught us anything about foodservice, it’s that the old ways don’t work so well in case of emergency. People wind up working sick, for example, and winter shifts come with paltry tips. If Ruiz and company can lead the way in terms of decent pay, that would really be something. As it stands, though, there’s still much to plan and things could change at any time. Even so, as Santa Fe diners become more willing to eschew the long-held downtown restaurant obsession, it’s locals who stand to benefit the most.
“I feel like everybody in Santa Fe has business along Siler Road,” Johnson says. “Everybody goes there for something, and when I’m there, I’m constantly asking myself where to get food, what’s for lunch? It’s nice to see a restaurant opening down there.”
Ditto.
