Joy Godfrey
Fall=Brunch. Deal with it.
While heading to work today enjoying the crisp breezes and changing light of the late year … lateness, our mind started wandering, as it so often does, to things we might eat at some point. We shan't bore you with the bizarre stream of consciousness that led us to a thing we already knew but we relearn every fall: brunch rules. Is it the warmth of a local restaurant following the mad dash from the car in the cold? Is it just that brunch rules all the time, but the warmer months leave us self-conscious about eating a nonstop parade of croissants and eggs and breakfast meats both real and fake? Who knows, we just know that we've got brunch fever. To answer your next question, yes, we want to know your favorite places to brunch, but we also wanted to give you a taste of our personal top 3 in case you didn't know about them or in case you're a weirdo who has never thought about brunch. Y'dig? Yeah. Y'dig.
Honestly, we'd have assumed this one was a no-brainer that everybody knew about, but in living our lives and mentioning our brunch lust, numerous people we know and love said they'd never been. Fix that, suckas! Fix that! Owned by the positively adorable Ligier family, Clafoutis sits on Cordova Road (click the link above for exact coordinates) beside Body of Santa Fe, and boasts a small but powerful menu of breakfasty/brunchy delights. We're partial to the croissant with egg and green chile (you can get ham in it, too; $5.95), but us never forget Les Omelettes menu, a wild and wooly breakdown of your fave eggy morning meals ($5.95-$8.95). Find also about a million cakes and cookies and other French-inspired treats.
Pro Tip: Breakfast service stops right at 11 am. Seriously. Oh! Also, the Ligier family is awesome about giving employees vacation time, so you might wanna call and make sure the place is actually open before you head over there.
Also Nearby: If you didn't get enough treats, pop across the street to Dulce, easily one of the best bakeries in the world—and yeah, we've been to EVERY BAKERY IN THE WORLD. They're closed Sundays, though.
In the hallowed halls that formerly housed hotspot The Green Onion, Sunrise Family Restaurant serves up the greasy spoon diner goodness you'll know and love if you aren't a big fat crybaby about fanciness. No, this isn't the most gorgeously appointed dining room in town, but what it is is fast, affordable and consistent—glorious hallmarks of glorious brunch. Now, to be fair, The Fork happened upon this spot some years back while being childishly impatient over a 15 minute wait at a different restaurant, but we're so glad we did. The chile is solid on the brekkie b's ($7.95-$9.25), the French toast ($4.95-$5.75) is fluffy as you like and the overall gestalt is one we like, namely, that one needn't attend some sort of diamond-studded, candelabra-clad affair to get sick-ass brekkie potatoes. Suck it up and believe us.
Pro Tip: Where else can you find a carne adovada brekkie b? Maybe a couple places, but still!
Also Nearby: Assuming our advice about not suckling at the teat of fanciness jives with you, hear us when we say that Weck's is better than you think, especially the Bowl o' Papas—a literal gigantic bowl of hash browns with chile and cheese and … oh, dang, we're getting the urge now!
Look, we don't like the parking situation on Canyon Road any more than you do, but one can't argue with the results, dammit! Do your best to find a spot in the adjoining city lot and try the oatmeal ($8-$10), which comes with a whipped cream. Which, if you didn't know, is about the smartest thing you can do to oatmeal. You'll also find all kinds of eggs, like numerous Benedicts featuring crispy bacon or brisket ($14.-$14.50; add $1 for gluten-free English muffin). Then there's the tea—so much tea. In fact, we couldn't even begin to include everything on the tea menu, but if you're looking for tea, this is the place.
Pro Tip: Seriously, though—whipped cream on oatmeal. Believe that.
Also Nearby: Across the street sits El Farol, a more lunchy/dinner-ish kinda joint owned by the same people as The Teahouse, and one that serves us live music allllll theeeeee tiiiiiiime.
So yeah, those are some of our favorites, but we also thought we could give you some cool and pointless information about brunch itself.
For example, did you know that the term was apparently coined in British magazine Punch in 1895? Setting aside the portmanteau aspect (it's obvs that brekkie+munch=brunch), a writer for the mag reportedly said at the time that it was like breakfast for "Saturday night carousers." In other words, you brunch because sleeping in is nice and you need to grease up that hangover belly.
The term "brunch" hit the Oxford dictionary the following year. Another fun fact? The word "gullible" is not in the Oxford or any other dictionary.
Did you also know that there actually aren't that many interesting brunch facts out there, and that most have to do with specific days or language use in different parts of the world? Anyway, get that Teahouse oatmeal, and you'll be fine.
Also, where do you brunch?
Here. Now you can brunch around the world, or at least feel bummed that you never go anywhere.
Also
-Word on the street is that Bonsai Asian Tacos has indeed been sold—and that the li'l truck that could and did is now painted blue. We're gonna pop by ASAP to try and get more answers, but let's all be bummed together, friends. Bummed forever. Y'know, unless the new place is amazing. If someone knows anyone from Bonsai, give 'em our email? Or, if you're one of the people who bought the thing, do you want to tell us what you're doing?
-Can't make it to the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta? Prefer one that's just about chile? Never fear, Forkers, the town of Madrid has the fix for what ails you with the Madrid Chile Fiesta, a big ol' day of music and chile and food and music and museum tours and music and chile and food and chile and music. Find it in Madrid, next week, meaning Saturday Oct. 5. Holy smokes—we're in October?!
-BREAKING: Trader Joe's has pumpkin-flavored tortilla chips, and they're way better than you think.
-Santa Fe's fine dining champions at Geronimo have been pickin' up the accolades of late, including its 15th AAA Four-Diamond award. This happened in February, but someone just told us today. We'll try to do better. We know not everyone can afford it (The Fork included), but dammit if it's not the kind of thing that sounds amazing. Like, we're not NOT saying it's NOT not amazing to eat there. We heard. Anyway, back to this microwave vegan burrito…
-Is Sazón reopening soon? By all accounts, yes. In fact, we hear it could be any second. In case you missed it, a small fire shut down the Shelby Street eatery earlier this year. Luckily, none of the wine was damaged, and our spies tell us to keep an eye out for a reopening announcement. Whew!
More Tidbits
-We thought we should bring up those pumpkin tortilla chips again. Just in case you forgot. Meanwhile, and not that we're complaining, but the pumpkin situation at The Fork's house is outta control. We've got cookies and cake mix and those chips and, like, ice cream sandwiches. Ah, fall.
-We do not, however, have Pumpkin Spice Spam in homes (shouldn't it be called Pspam?). Yes, it's real, and yes, this can only mean one thing—the final seal is broken, and from the gaping maw that is the Hellmouth, an age of darkness unfolds. Choose your path—to die, pointlessly? Or will you stay and fight until your blood turns brown on the rocks of glory?
-If you're curious about where all the pumpkin spice goes, the HuffPost people found out the states who order it the most. Surprising no one, California is on the list.
-If you're planning a trip, USA Today, being the People Magazine crossword puzzle of newspapers, has hot tips on what they're calling the 30 Best Pizzerias in America. Or maybe it's 30 *OF* the best, which is a big difference. Anyway, if it's pizza you're after, click that link.
-Here's a little tip from the people at popsugar.com: Seems that if you are curious about a recipe found in a Disney park, they'll email it to you if you ask. At first we were like, "There are plenty of churro recipes!" But it turns out that in the 25 years since we actually visited Disneyland, the food options have grown. For example, boozy booze apple cider floats and brownies crammed with Reese's candy.
-Meanwhile, if you're looking for a gift, you can get personalized packages of Toblerone, the only triangle-shaped candy around (as far as we know). And sure, you could use your name or a friend's name, but why not get creative with phrases like "Bigg Butts" or "Poison" or "CHOCO!!!!!!!!" We don't know if they do profanity, but if someone gifted us a bi ol' Toblerone with the words "Sweet-Shits" on the side, that person would obviously know the way to our heart.
-Also, since late-stage capitalism is entering a nexus wherein everything feels awful and like a headline out of The Onion, applying at McDonald's just became doable through Amazon's Alexa and Google's Google Assistant. Seriously. You can just be like, "Alexa? Apply at McDonald's, please." You'll be asked a few questions, a text is sent out and then you'll get a link to complete the process at some point. We don't know exactly why, but this sucks.
-Lastly today, a bit of sad news as The Fork has learned celebrity chef Carl Ruiz died at 44. No cause was given for the owner of New York City's La Cubana, but we wish solace for Ruiz's friends and family.
¡International Coffee Day Alert!
Oh, dang—it's International Coffee Day on Sunday September 29, and that means you can probably weasel a free cup or bag from some place. Here, we'll help you: At the subscription-based Atlas Coffee Club, new subscribers get a free full bag just for signing up. There are probably small print things to think about, but if coffee's your jam (and it should be), this is a great way to expand your horizons and stay all jacked and stuff. Please note this is not a paid thing, we just happened upon the information and thought it might help people get at some coffee.
Of course, if you wanna keep it local, you should, and we can heartily recommend so many places, from Opuntia and Sky Coffee to Iconik, Ohori's and Java Joe's. Then there's Holy Spirit Espresso, 35˚ North, Ecco, REMIX, Tribes, Sagche's … yo, there are some seriously amazing coffee shops here.
In summation, shop local, but score free beans if you can. This has been The Fork, your guide to the world of facts.
Whether you remember or you don't, we suddenly recalled this little ditty from the Homestar Runner people involving soup and a baguette. Enjoy.
Finally
In the print edition of SFR, wine thinker-abouter Zibby Wilder enlisted the experts at Kokoman’s in Pojoaque to help her plan a one-woman wine and chile fiesta. Find no less than 10 recommendations for pairings.
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A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork’s Correspondence Number of Letters Received
38
*The number of times we cried while writing this.Most Helpful Tip of the Week (not edited for content)
“Can you not?”
*We can’t not. Sorry.Actually Helpful Tip
Nothing. Nothing good, anyway.
*C’mon, readers! Help us out!
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Good jorb (yeah, jorb),
The Fork
