Alex De Vore
Crispy avocado tacos from the Plaza Café not only taste amazing, they prove vegetarian dishes need not be boring.
At some point, if you find yourself sitting on the new-ish patio outside the original and aptly named Plaza Café (54 Lincoln Ave., (505) 982-1664) on, well, the Plaza, you might realize there have been some small silver linings to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Don’t get it twisted—the pandemic has been awful in so many ways, but when things got really hard for local restaurants, the city opened up a new permitting process which allowed foodservice businesses to expand seating out onto the streets. It’s trés European and helped a lot of people conduct business during challenging times. Plus, when it comes to early summer Santa Fe, a bit of al fresco dining is kind of glorious. Now, as the Plaza Café enters its 75th year under Razatos family ownership, me and SFR’s Riley Gardner found ourselves on that very patio to take a look at the new-ish, more concise menu, sample stellar dishes and to hear about a new line of takeaway chile sauces now on offer from the long-beloved community institution.
We have very few notes.
First off, you should know that both the downtown and Southside iterations of the Plaza Café now operate under the ownership of Leonardo Razatos, the son of original owners Dan (Dionysus) Razatos and his wife, Beneranda Saiz, and his husband Juliano. The elder Razatos died in 1996, with Beneranda making it all the way to 2021; Leonardo bought out the downtown business in 2020. He’d always owned the other location, and though that satellite version of the café has Southside roots dating back to a small location within the Quality Inn on Cerrillos Road circa 2003, it ultimately found its permanent location in the San Isidro Plaza shopping center in 2009. Side note? It was also the first restaurant in Santa Fe to regularly offer the plant-based Impossible Burger. Score. The original location, meanwhile, spans back as far as 1905, according to Razatos, though likely earlier; his dad took ownership in 1947, however, and that’s why they’re celebrating 75 years now (imagine the sound of a party horn here) and changing up the menu a bit.
“We all grew up in the restaurant. There have always been family members around there,” Razatos tells me by phone some days later. “And the menu...the pandemic sort of forced owners to concentrate on the essence of their businesses. We had to simplify, plus I thought it would be fun to do New Mexican dishes.”
On the day we visited the original Plaza location, the menu did look slightly shaved down, but I could not identify a single thing I missed. Razatos and his husband greeted us warmly as the sun shone through the partially covered patio dining area. Waiters bustled around in bow ties and didn’t even make us feel bad after I spilled a huge glass of water like a jamoke. Razatos’ brother, Andy, even made an appearance to say hi, and while I get that a big time food critic like myself can’t go anywhere without being recognized, I overheard the workers and owners and family engaged in kind conversation with normies more than once as we dined. In other words, they’re kind to all.
We started with guacamole and chips—almost always a must. One loves when a restaurant makes its own chips, and the Plaza guac is no joke in texture, taste or generous portion. At $13.50, it’s a bit steep, but this is downtown Santa Fe, folks, and we gots to get them tourist bucks.
For our entrees, young Riley selected a chicken stuffed sopaipilla ($16.95), which came smothered red and with sides of rice and beans. While he reported the flavor to be excellent with the chicken coming in a satisfying shredded-esque style, the chile was apparently lacking in the spice department. With almost any other food this might be an issue, but when it comes to chile, spice and flavor can evolve day to day. Next time, perhaps, will result in a better balance between the two, and it certainly won’t hurt conducting that research.
I was excited to see crispy avocado tacos on the menu ($17.95). Razatos later told me the dish has been popular at his Southside restaurant, but that its addition to the downtown menu has already garnered fans. A massive pair of tacos brimming with avocados coated in quinoa, sesame and poppy seeds, the dish was not only big on flavor, it was a texture triumph. Topped with pickled onions, the contrasting flavor profiles formed a fantastic range of taste and crunch, while sides of rice and beans rounded out the dish nicely. A little metal caddy on the plate kept the tacos upright, preventing spillage, and that the Plaza even has a single well-considered vegetarian item to begin with is notable, though Razatos rightly points out his Southside restaurant has long served more enticing meat-free dishes.
“Not that it’s a big secret, but one of our dreams is to open another restaurant—and I know it’s crazy to think about another restaurant in Santa Fe—that’s a version of the Plaza that’s almost meatless,” he adds. “I won’t say 100% vegan, but vegan-friendly and very plant forward. I think it’s the future. We already have a lot of the elements in place, but the thing about vegan and vegetarian places is they get a little esoteric, and I think people want to have regular food they’re familiar with, so it would be approachable.”
As we wrapped up our meal, we sampled the caramel apple pie ($7.25), which proved a delicious capper thanks to its layer of warm caramel covering the top. You’ll find coconut cream and key lime pies on the menu as well, plus a quatro leches cupcake (take that, tres leches!) and biscochitos (all $7.25). Still, the most exciting part of the meal might have been leaving with the Plaza’s newest item: bottled red and green chile sauces. Razatos partnered with Verde Juice owner Kelly Egolf to develop the 16 oz. product ($9.95), which not only comes ready-to-go, it lasts for up to four months in the fridge.
“Kelly has this processing plant in Albuquerque, and that allows us to offer something that doesn’t exist, or at least that I’ve never seen,” Razatos explains. “It’s exactly the way we make the chile in the restaurant, with no preservatives, and it’s going to taste fresh.”
Sure, you can get sealed jars of chile from local restaurants, but this is something different—it really tastes fresh and you can just pour it out of the bottle.
“I think it’s something we haven’t seen yet,” Razatos says.
Indeed we haven’t. Now then, let’s get going on that new vegetarian joint.
