Ages ago, when spa/yoga center/boutique BODY of Santa Fe (333 Cordova Road, (505) 986-0362) took up most of its building on Cordova Road, the business boasted a rather popular and healthful café that was often packed with diners.
In the years that followed, BODY scaled back, celebrated French bakery and café Clafoutis took over roughly half the space (it’s great, btw, try the croissant breakfast sandwich) and BODY owner Lori Parrish attempted several times to kickstart various food offerings at her wellness mecca.
None of these efforts proved quite as popular as the short-lived vegetarian Moroccan café Tajine, which operated for several months last year but ultimately closed when its proprietors failed to obtain a business license. But now that Parrish has teamed up with La Lecheria ice cream shop founder and longtime chef Joel Coleman (formerly of defunct restaurants like Fire & Hops and Mu Du Noodles) for the 100% plant-based BODY Café, Santa Fe finally has another option for those who eschew meat.
Coleman and Parrish announced their partnership in December, with Parrish promising the restaurant would focus on a small menu dedicated to local ingredients. Coleman, meanwhile, said he missed cooking after selling his stake in Fire & Hops in 2022. “It’s not like I gave up being a chef,” he told SFR at the time, “I just needed the break.”
After sampling a number of dishes from BODY Café alongside a stalwart dining companion, it would seem the break did Coleman some good—whether you’re a militant vegan, dedicated vegetarian or even a devout meat-eater, there’s plenty to like, with at least one dish hitting downright excellence.
First off, the options are a tad more robust than Parrish originally let on. The menu at BODY Café is fairly varied and broken up into categories like salads; noodles & grains; small dishes; and baked goods. The restaurant also serves chocolates and truffles from Kakawa Chocolate House, plus numerous fair trade teas and coffees, including a classic chai; a golden milk elixir with turmeric, oat milk and maple syrup; matcha; the baseline Kakawa Chocolate House elixir and Joe’ys Adaptogen Roast, the last of which being one of those mushroom coffee-esque drinks you might have seen advertised on social media.
The trend here is that BODY Café aims for options that are healthier than those at your average eatery, while making vegan dishes that aren’t boring or unimaginative. Coleman’s food mostly backs up the concept.
We began with balsamic-marinated beets and a melange of pickled seasonal veggies ($6 each). Though the pickled veggie dish was tasty and familiar to us as an offering similar to one Coleman served at Fire & Hops, the briney cauliflower, celery, onion and cucumber paled in comparison to the balsamic beets. The immediate tangy zip of the balsamic accentuated the sweet but earthy beet flavor so well, I’m surprised I haven’t seen the dish elsewhere
For our main courses, we selected dishes from the salad and noodle menus. My companion opted for the soba noodle salad served cold with seasonal vegetables and greens ($20, plus $4 for added meat alternative tempeh), while I immediately zeroed in on the udon noodle bowl ($19, plus $4 for tofu). At the suggestion of our cashier/cook/server, the udon came hot (though the café will serve it cold or even gluten-free if that’s your deal), and, when offered an array of spiciness options, I went with the lowest tier.
Even with the mild description attached, BODY Café's udon bowl packs a welcome punch. Served hot, it was also a steamy delight of smells and colors crammed with thick udon noodles served atop roasted bell peppers, carrots and an invigorating soy-ginger sauce for a noticeable but not overpowering sweet and almost flowery note. The bowl also came with a generous serving of tofu that was clearly prepared with an eye toward replacing meat. Many restaurants don’t bother to press the moisture from their tofu before cooking it—BODY Café doesn’t have that problem. Instead, the firmer texture gave the dish some welcome chewiness.
The soba noodle salad was semi-disappointing by comparison. Now, my companion insisted they suffer food envy in most dining situations, but the cold, thin soba noodles couldn’t compete with the warm and thick udon.
We closed the meal with a chocolate-almond matcha tort ($12), a visually pleasing and not over-sweet option composed of two layers that might each work better on their own. For fans of bitter chocolate or a thickness that surpasses even the thickest mousse, this tort would be a home run, but its density defeated us, forcing us to leave a healthy bit behind. Even so, there are other sweets options and BODY Café even has a part-time pastry chef who, we were told, has more ideas.
Ultimately, BODY Café feels like a winner, but could be more of a take-out situation. Had the dining room been bustling with life, perhaps I’d have felt differently, but it almost felt like we were trespassers. The café's daily operating hours are also limited to 8:30 am-6:30 pm, when most folks are either heading to work or not far enough into their post-work evening to dine. I won’t turn my nose up at taking it home some night, though.