The Fork

Patio Update!

We were so pumped by how many folks wrote to [kindly] tell us about what patios they’ve for sure visited in town that we figured this could be a good place to update the list. We want to continue being clear that while this is an evolving list of places that are for sure offering patio dine-in options, it’s not an exhaustive list. There are more things in heaven and Earth for The Fork to worry about than one list. But if you keep sending us stuff about places where you’ve for sure gone to eat, we’ll do our best to keep adding them to ye olde list. We like this list, because it’s places people tell us they’re visiting, so that rules and also lets us know it’s actually happening service-wise if it’s on the list. Let’s take a look, huh?

"But, The Fork!" This isn't every restaurant in town?" OUTTA HERE! IT'S A LOT OF THEM! Naw, but for real, we'll try to get more going by and by. Just let us know where you've been. Thanks to everyone who offered their sage wisdom about places they like to eat and that are for sure open. Word? Werd.

Seems apropos. And before you write us, we know it's not real. Jeeze, when are you dorks gonna believe in us? Just once, OK? ONCE! TRY IT ONCE!!!!!!! BELIEVING IN US!!! DANG!!

Also

-Sad news out of Second Street Brewery's Rufina Taproom location as management announced earlier in the week that two employees tested positive for COVID-19. How'd they learn this so fast? Well, we'll straight up commend Second Street for being one of the most cautious and diligent restaurants in town when it comes to the virus—they regularly test employees and they've since closed the taproom until further notice. All other employees tested negative, and you can still get beer at the original spot.

-More sad news over at French eatery L'olivier as its ownership announced via email blast it will close at the end of August. Founded in 2013, the project of Nathalie Bonnard Grenet and her husband, the chef Xavier Grenet, everyone we know who ever went there was pretty much like, "The Fork, it's RULL good." In said blast, Nathalie says "It has been a great adventure filled with beautiful encounters and friendships. Chef Xavier and I are proud of these past seven years as we worked hard to serve you and to share our French culture."

-Nonprofit Kitchen Angels, which goes into the world and feeds people who need help, is pushing forward with its annual Feasting With Friends initiative wherein people host lunch and/or dinner parties in their homes to raise funds and build community. They're looking for 50 volunteers, and if you're down, you can get a little more info on the website.

-Tomorrow (being Friday, August 14), Vinaigrette/Modern General host a pop-up event wherein produce from owner Erin Wade's Nambe farm will be made available. You ever had a Vinaigrette salad? If so, you know that produce is out of this world. This'll go down weekly on Fridays, we hear, until further notice.

-Not strictly food, but there's a new drive-in movie theater in Santa Fe called Motorama (it's at The Downs just outside the city proper) and one of its founders/organizers told SFR that she's expecting food trucks to be parking and serving there on weekends through October 31. If all goes well, it's possible they'll continue hosting movies next spring.

-Hey, we're trying to find out where the best place to get FRESH lobster might be. And on what days. It's not for us, it's for a friend, and we figure y'all did so great with the patio stuff so far, you might know something.

More Tidbits

-Mayhap you've been wondering aloud to yourself from time to time, "Fork...I think I'm a good person, but I also think I could help people more during this trying time." And so you can—and so you will—by checking out this guide from the staff at Eater.com. It's like a little survey and should help folks zero in on how to best provide assistance to those in need.

-If you want something a little more zeroed in, the HMAN mutual aid network is providing free tinctures for Black organizers, and certainly if you wanted to send a few bucks you wouldn't hurt any feelings (unless you count racists, which we absolutely, positively, 100% do not).

-Things are looking grim for former McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook as the fast food megalith filed suit against him for lying to investigators about sexual relationships with subordinates to the tune of $40 million—also known as Easterbrook's exit package. Must be amazing to get rich by firing. Anyway, sorry, old white dude—your day in the sun may be coming to an end.

-Over on TikTok (that app Trump hates because it's a lot of kids dancing and he's basically a real-life Jon Lithgow from Footloose), the cloud bread trend is taking over. What's cloud bread? It's bread that's, like, cloudy looking. It apparently only needs three ingredients and is becoming quite the online staple with new recipes popping up all the time. If you make some, will you send us a photo or two?

-The Dinner Club summer camp is a pretty awesome remote learning experience for would-be culinary superstars stuck at home. Kids all over the dang world can get in on the lessons from Chef Pascal Simon (ugggh, we LOVE the name Pascal) and NPS has more info.

-If you’re looking for more stuff to do with your kids, check out this recipe for Pizzadillas—half-pizza/half-quesadilla/all amazingly gross looking but, like, we want it bad, y’all. The fine folks at Delish.com actually have a whole section dedicated to kids, and we think that’s great since our parent friends are about two seconds from losing their minds.

This is just Shonen Knife singing about ramen. If you don't know Shonen Knife, you're welcome. If you do—yaaaaay! So good, right?

Finally

In the print edition of SFR, we went all the way down the street to speak with La Boca's Chef James Campbell Caruso about how he rose to the challenge of the pandemic.____________________________________________________________A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork's Correspondence

Number of Letters Received49*Patiiiiiooo!

Most Helpful Tip of the Week (a barely edited letter from a reader)"You thought about drinking more?"Oh, all the time.

Actually Helpful Tip”Hello, Patiooooooooooo!”*Oh, Ann Margaret.____________________________________________________Bye, bye, hhreaders, we’re gonna miss you so,The Fork