When my family moved to Santa Fe circa 1990-something, we were but a loosely confederated cohort of Southern Californians who both hated and were vexed by chile. Red and green spiciness was an alien concept to a bunch of jerks whose only forays into hot, hot heat came in jalapeño and/or Pace salsa form (can you hear it in your head if I type out “New York City?!?”). Still, the folks we met kept spinning the same yarn: If you eat chile enough, one day you’ll realize you can’t live without it.
In those days, La Choza was not nearly as popular as it is now, and spots like Tomasita’s came with massive wait times (still does, btw, and the Choza wait is wild sometimes), but a friend of a friend had a solid workaround. I’ll never forget it, either: “You should check out Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen,” they said. “Best margaritas in town.”
Hear and believe me that Maria’s was excellent back then. The Cordova Road eatery had yet to be bought out by restaurant conglomerate Santa Fe Dining for one thing, and even though I was too young to drink then, I do remember being wowed by the huge-ass margarita list. More memorable was the tortilla burger. For a California type who’d never dreamed so high, that tortilla burger became the meal that kickstarted my chile lust. Even my father, who doesn’t much care for chile to this day, sat hunched over his carne adovada plate; sweating and practically shouting, “This hurts, but it tastes so good!”
Imagine my sadness, then, to watch the restaurant slowly succumb to its lesser status. Fact is, you can ask just about anyone who isn’t a diehard regular of Maria’s, and they’ll tell you some iteration of this story: It used to be good. We used to go there a lot. We miss the margarita options. What happened? Well, what likely happened—and this is pure conjecture—is what happens to lots of places over time. The story is almost always the same, and something about how rising costs, fewer workers and changing times leads to cut corners. The last time I ate at Maria’s was in 2013, and it was awful. Then, over the subsequent years, other wild happenings. In 2019, a woman slipped in the Maria’s lot and wound up injuring her spine so badly that a jury awarded her $31 million. Just last year, numerous Santa Fe Dining restaurants (including Rio Chama, La Casa Sena and, you guessed it, Maria’s) temporarily lost their liquor licenses.
Cut to today, and something changed in me. Regular readers might recall that I’d long loathed Tokyo Café until a recent meal taught me that it has fully gotten its act together. That spirit of second chance…ness got me thinking about other places I might have judged too harshly, or that might have evolved for the better over time. That, coupled with a small handful of anecdotally positive reviews from friends, catapulted me to Maria’s one recent evening. And I have thoughts.
First off, let me be clear that the service at Maria’s is excellent. Is it a fine dining caliber “Good evening, my name is [Insert Name], and I’ve never wanted to do anything more than bring you a friggin’ glass of wine?” service? No. Is it prompt and friendly and courteous? You bet it is. And even better, the laid-back attitude of the host (a man whose name I didn’t catch) is precisely what I want when dining out, which is to say that he spoke to me like I’m a human person.
The food, however, remains another story. Hats off to Maria’s for handing out free chips and salsa, but it would be pretty cool to taste some salsa that had flavor. Sadly, this was not to be, even if the thin and crispy chips tasted quite nice on their own.
For my main, given my early experience with the tortilla burger (which, the menu states, was created by original owner Maria Lopez at some point in the 1950s), I knew straight away that’s what I wanted—nay, needed. Coming in at $16, the price is trés affordable, especially when you consider the included Spanish rice and charro beans, plus the smothered goodness of chile, which I ordered Xmas, duh. At Maria’s, the green still works for me. Obviously, chile is a day-to-day consideration that can taste completely differently at any given moment. My burger had the perfect combination of spice and taste, especially with the subtle twinge of garlic popping in to counterbalance the acidic tang of the green. The red was another story, and one that I’ve started to see more regularly around town—the name of that story is a weird taste akin to marinara sauce, and a chile that errs too far into watery territory. Even so, the burger itself was cooked to a perfect medium, and the charro beans within the tortilla added a most excellent variety to the textures of the dish. The rice was…fine. It was fine.
My companion’s combination plate ($22) was, and I quote, “Better than last time—because last time was inedible!” It also came in literal mountains of food form, from the beef taco and cheese enchilada to the veggie tamale, refried beans and rice, it was honestly borderline shocking to see so much food for the price. Of course, not all of it was a winner. The taco was reportedly not bad, while the enchilada might have been better if not for the strange tomato-esque red chile issue I’ve already described. Two bites into the tamale was enough to teach my companion she’d be better off without it; we did not take any leftovers with us, which is kind of insane since next day New Mexican is as fine a breakfast as one can get. We also skipped dessert, but that was more about being full than anything, and I must admit the fried ice cream sounded super-tempting.
I cannot speak to the margaritas, though I heard from friends in the following days that while the list isn’t as mighty as it once was, you can still reliably get a nice drink at Maria’s.
But where does this leave us on the will/will not return scale? While I appreciate the service and cleanliness of Maria’s, I’m not sure why it would be on anyone’s can’t-miss list. With so many killer New Mexican options in this town, I’m not even sure it’s on my Plan B list. I would like nothing more than to have a local’s-focused spot in that area of town from which reliably delicious New Mexican food flew into the hands of the townsfolk—this, sadly, ain’t it as it stands. Best of luck to everyone over there, though, because you’re all super-rad.
Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen
555 W Cordova Road, (505) 983-7929
+Solid burger; good service; local vibe
-Inconsistent food; strange chile flavors; more quantity than quality
MEDIUM