The Fork

Go Fourth

Feel the Patriotism?

A quick note before we get started, because when we were putting together last week's Fork and adding more Black-owned businesses to your consciousness, we couldn't figure out if this one place was open yet. And then, sure enough, it opened, like, a day or two after our Thursday appearance, so let us remind you that Freezie Fresh (an ice cream truck that's, like, soooo much better than your average truck) is reportedly back up and running, and its proprietor Xzavian Cookbey is one heck of a dude. So, if you click the link above (the one that says "Freezie Fresh"), you'll reach Cookbey's Instagram, which is a good indicator of where you'll find the truck. Word? Word.

Now then—let's get into it. And the "it" to which we refer is none other than the Fourth of July, a grilling/drinking holiday that we're down with for grilling/drinking purposes, but which has a strain of patriotism we're just not so down with right now. It's hard to love America in this moment (we can just smell the "Stick to restaurants, you liberal cuck!" emails now...), so we're gonna circumvent that part and say that we're proud of the people enacting change in America right now, you can keep the "liberal cuck" stuff to yourself (yeah, we suck, we already know because our mom tells us ALL. THE. TIME.) and it's time for everybody's favorite Fork tine (by which we mean element, but we're trying to be cute): A TOTALLY ACCURATE AND IN NO WAY JOKEY HISTORY LESSSSSSSSSON, YEAH!

If you thought the declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, you were wrong—DEAD WRONG. It was just notarized that day in 1776 at a Kinko's. And that is why, every year, you're supposed to make a bunch of photocopies of things on the wrong size paper.

In New England, where freedom was invented, there's a big ol' salmon-eating tradition tied to July 4. We don't really do this other places. In New Mexico, for example, instead of eating salmon, we observe the lighting of fireworks outside the Fork's house for hours and hours and hours. Hey! This one was actually kind of food related!

Rhode Island has the country's oldest July 4 celebration, but in Aptos, California (a suburb of Santa Cruz and where The Fork's dad lives, no fooling), they celebrate the shortest parade—it's just .6 miles.

If you're looking for more food related info, we've got it—and it's about how this dang country eats something like 150 million hot dogs on July 4. That's a lot more than our annual eating of zero, but we sure do miss a good dog. It's also estimated that we spend something like $6.7 billion on food overall for July 4, and that's a lot of corn on the cob and, probably, burgers or something.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826. For more information on that, check the video below. We don't know what they ate that day, if anything. Oh, and James Monroe was born on July 4, 1831, so...president information!

History, history—Fork's talkin' history, but really it's this other show talkin' bout that history!!! We hope you sang that to yourself in whatever melody felt right.

Also

-Getting back to actual food information in this food newsletter you subscribed to to read about food but that comes with so many cool history facts on and around holidays, did we mention that Arroyo Vino is offering up a pretty amazing series of to-go menus on the regular? Is true, is cool, you can sign up to their newsletter (which sends you menu info and is awesome) right here.

-You ever been to Café Mimosa? If so, word. If not, you should. Either way, everyone should know the spot has evolved with the times and rebranded as Marquez Deli, a counter-service sandwich joint still run by chef/owner Alex Hadidi and still totally down with social distancing. Word is, you'll find pastrami sammies, beef au jus, an absolutely bonkers grilled cheese and stuff like pizzas and soups and salads. We already loved the place for its long-standing support of the Santa Fe LGBTQIA2+ scene, and we're for sure gonna order up some sandwiches ASAP. Check the site and report back to us if you eat there!

-Since you know we love the Santa Fe Farmers Market, you should know the Midweek Market is open as of this week. That means Wednesdays from 4-7 pm for folks who hate getting up early (like us) or who work all the time or who just like to do stuff on Wednesdays. That's in the original location in the Railyard, BTW, and runs through September 30.

-Congrats to Sazón and Sassella, two awesome local eateries that each picked up a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence last week. That issue of Wine Spectator is out next month, but for more on Sassella right now, check out our recently released 2020 Restaurant Guide.

-Just in case you didn't know (because it opened in May, which is really unfortunate timing, obviously, but that's OK because they're tough), the Root 66 food truck is now a brick-and-mortar Root 66 at 1704 Lena Street. We're talkin' all vegan, all delicious.

More Tidbits

-A barista at a San Diego Starbucks went viral recently when a customer who refused to wear a mask got all up in his face—needless to say, she did not tip. But then someone set up a gofundme page for Lenin Gutierrez, and what once was no tip has now blossomed to more than $84,000. We wish people would get in our faces about stuff which then resulted in tens of thousands of dollars coming our way. We jest—Gutierrez is allllllright.

-Walmart has recalled bags of their Marketside iceberg salads due to concerns of cyclospora (which sounds like a 1980s hair metal band). The recall mostly pertains to Minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska, North and South Dakota and Wisconsin, but be careful out there, New Mexico.

-In efforts to reduce people getting right up next to each other at, like, parties and stuff, Costco has stopped selling half sheet cakes. "What if I want to eat one of those bad boys by myself?" you may be wondering. Well, they still have smaller cakes at Costco, so...

-If you’ve been a regular reader of The Fork or SFR’s food coverage, you probably know that we’re MAJORLY on the side of foodservice workers during this pandemic, and eater.com’s Ellie Krupnick has joined our mission of pointing out how customers may not always be right—even if an ancient school of customer service thought says they are.

-We're really down with Food & Wine's Queer as Food series, which explores the role of food for theLGBTQIA2+ set. No, 'phobes need not apply, but for people who can muster the smallest amount of humanity, find some very cool info about folks like John Birdsall, Melissa King and Paxx Caraballo Moll. Whoa are those people? Read and find out.

Finally

In the print edition of SFR, a series of interviews with local restaurant folks continues, this time with Back Road Pizza's Piper Kapin. With the COVID-19 thing continuing, it feels important to listen to people on the front lines.

A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork's Correspondence

Number of Letters Received: 39 *Everybody loves cherries.

Most Helpful Tip of the Week (a barely edited letter from a reader): ”So, did you really write ‘George Washington didn’t chop down shit?’ Shit? You composed shit in a food article about cherries? Wow, articulate journalism reaches new heights.” *We sure did, reader Jay C. And since we already told you, we’ll bestow upon the rest of the class sage words from The Fork Sr., who once opined “Shit ain’t shit but shit and shit.” We think about that a lot when we’re feeling overwhelmed.

Actually Helpful Tip: Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen is now 100% gluten-free. *Go forth and avoid gluten!

Affecting systemic change through rioting and protest after years of bullshit isn’t just patriotic, it’s an American obligation, The Fork