Make a Reservation Today
Hey Fork fans, hello. Now, we know you always look forward, rabidly, probably, to the intro section of The Fork. We get it, it's a well-wrought read just chock-full-o' nuts (and also good tidings and sentences), but we want to level with you folks today, because you always level with us:
We're slammed. Zibby's gone, and that's been a whole…thing (we're on top of it, though), the weather has taken a real turn to the point that a friend in Phoenix told us they were going to be sweating buckets today, and we were like, "Oh, dang, that sounds OK, actually."
So while we might usually take up this space with tons of information about, like, history and restaurants and the history of restaurants, we decided the most helpful thing we could do with limited amounts of time is provide this three-word piece of advice:
MAKE. A. RESERVATION.
"But, The Fork!" you just screamed at your screen. "It is only February the sixth! Prithee, why doth thou adviseth such an early course of action?!?!"
And then we're like, "You bunch of ding-dongs—because if you wait much longer, there'll be none left!"
Just remember these Valentine's Day keywords and keyphrases when looking for a nice dinner:
-Prix fixe? If so, what's been fixed prix your arrival?
-Sommelier
-Wine sweats
-Güd-Talk Hearts
-"Is dessert included?"
-"Is desert, with one S, included?"
-Seating times
-Amuse-bouche
-Tip well
-Diamonds are for suckers
-"What do you recommend? Oh, it's prix fixe?"
-"The Fork said you guys were cool!"
-"It's a newsletter I read sometimes!"
-"What do you mean you don't know what that is?"
-"Hey, wait!"
-"Stop!"
-"Unhand me!"
-"Where are you throwing me!?!?!!"
-"I'm sorry I ruined our big night, babe."
In less jokey news, many Santa Fe fine dining establishments offer up special V-Day dinners, so if that's your thing, start making phone calls ASAP.
You if you don't make the right moves.
Also
-You know that guy Bobby Flay from the Food Network, and how we hate him because he shows up places and starts jibber-jabberin' about how he makes food better than other chefs? Welp, Santa Fe's own chef Paddy Rawal (of Raaga-Go) took Flay down, and for that, we love him.
-OpenTable.com released its list of the Top 100 Most Romantic Restaurants recently, and Santa Fe's Geronimo is on the list. Go forth and get hot (especially since they do Valentine's Day stuff).
-Congratulations are in order for L'Olivier, the little French eatery that can and does and did win the recent Souper Bowl event from the Food Depot. 'Twas a chocolate cherry Espelette pepper soup that won the prize.
-While we're handing out congrats, how about some for Louis Moskow of 315 Restaurant & Wine Bar, a place that has now been around for 25 years. Wow! Did you also know they do a killer steak n' frites on the bar menu? Congratulations on all them years, Louie! As for the rest of you, they'll do V-Day, you just know it.
-Some more notable birthdays include Santa Fe Spirits, which turns 10 this year, as does Restaurant Martín. If that milestone's not enough, chef Martín Rios was also asked to cook at the James Beard Awards in Chicago this May. Excelsior, right?!
–Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery now has a food truck. What?! Yeah, that's right, they do. They also throw great shows over there, but really, the food truck thing is cool. It's called East Root and we hear it's going the Pan-Asian route.
-Finally, in local news this week, let us bid a fond farewell to chef John Rivera Sedlar of Eloisa, the Drury Plaza Hotel restaurant named for his grandmother. The tacos were glorious, the environs were spot-on, we imagine those things will stay the same, but we hope Sedlar enjoys whatever comes next. Come party with us, John…if you promise not to reveal our identity, we'll tell you who we are (though we could still be Zibby, right?). Anyway, the new executive chef is none other than Mario Mendoza-Martinez, a Sedlar co-worker who's been working at Eloisa for three years.
More Tidbits
-Riding the plant-based wave is KFC, and following a pretty successful pilot program so far, the chicken chain is expanding its reach this month to include markets in Tennessee and North Carolina. C'moooooooon, New Mexico!
-If you're one of those people who read about the KFC thing and thought, "Lousy vegans always shoving their fake meat down my throat," please read this cool piece from eater.com wherein Caleb Pershan makes a strong case for the meatless chicken nugget.
-Listen—it's imperative that you understand how acting racist toward Asian people over coronavirus is a bunch of BS (especially for white folks since their people spread disease across the planet like it was going out of style), so be cool while we report that more then 2,000 Starbuck's locations have closed in China because of the virus. We just think it's notable.
-Bit of an older news item, but we wanted to let you know Americans drank less wine in 2019 than it has in 25 years. Are we feeling better? Worse? Are we lying when we say we can tell any of it apart? All of those things? Either way, lots of news outlets are gonna pin this on millennials, probably.
-Lastly, in news beyond our specific sphere, find out how much sugar you can ingest if you've gone keto riiiiiiiiiigggggggghhhhhhht here.
Finally
In the print edition of SFR, food talker-abouter newcomer Cole Rehbein breaks down the glory of the Three Sisters.
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A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork’s Correspondence
Number of Letters Received
38
*Y’all are really gonna miss Zibby, it seems.
Most Helpful Tip of the Week
“That’s”
*Literally got an email that just says “that’s”
Actually Helpful Tip
The one about the new bakery. We won’t spoil it yet, but it was helpful!
*Yeah!
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In a while, alligators,
The Fork
