Anticipating a flurry of, “You didn’t include such-and-such place!” emails, we (being The Fork) would like to preface this missive with a disclaimer about how the following words are in no way meant to imply that the restaurants included therein are the only ones to continue existing. Cool. Oh, and also, while we’re straight up here to dunk on chains that traipse into town like nothing and are all like, “Hi, we’re Panera and our food is absolutely not Subway-quality bullshit for your mom,” we’ll remain staunchly-pro local businesses as long as those people aren’t a bunch of jerks who treat employees badly.
So now to the thing. The things? Now to the thing(s) wherein we’d like to extend the heartiest of congrats to a pair of Santa Fe eateries we’ve known and loved and patronized for a long-ass time: Back Road Pizza and the Cowgirl BBQ! Back Road, so’s you know, celebrated 20 years in business earlier this month, and the good ol’ C-Girl will hit the big Three-Oh on June 17.
These are actually big deal things if you think about it, especially in a world wherein people are like, “Just go to Chipotle, The Fork!” Pshshshst. Like we’re gonna do that. Anyway, Back Road is a place with ownership that not only stepped up during the pandemic to create a pizza place that also offered groceries and personal protective equipment, it’s a bit of a punk rock bastion where we literally saw some of the coolest shows of our lives (uhhhh, Mirah, anyone?!?). Owner Piper Kapin has also been a community-minded pizza champ every step of the way. Like, this is someone who actually gives a shit about the community and proves it often. Back Road has also provided a job for more local friends than we can count, the first place (we’re pretty sure) to introduce Santa Fe to Detroit-style pizza and, when the weather’s nice, a place with a serene little outdoor dining space. It’s the place from which SFR staffers order pizza on long election night shifts, the place where we once kissed a babe while it rained outside and the cornmeal crust pizza smelled so good. Good on ya, Piper and the Back Road crew—20 years is an amazing accomplishment.
As for the Cowgirl BBQ, what can anyone even say? Owner Patrick Lambert is a hell of a nice guy for one thing. It’s funny, he doesn’t even know he’s met us (like many of you don’t), but we’re a fan of what he’s got going down over there for a number of reasons. How many local musician cut their teeth at the ol’ C-Girl? How many times did we drink beers and belt our hearts out at karaoke? Many. In both cases. We saw Lou Barlow on the Cowgirl patio, and it’s still one of the most magical memories we have—we DEMOLISHED BBQ and burgers and chips and dips; nachos and chile and on and on and on. We played pool and befriended bartenders, bonded with friends we still know to this day. We knew or know the servers, the hosts, the people who make it special. The locals love it in all seasons, the visitors love it, too. It’s consistent, a standby, a bastion of Santa Fe-ness that just keeps on enduring—and it’s a pretty good place to take your dumb kids or your dumb grandmas (we do...or, like, we would if we had dumb kids or a dumb grandma). Anyway, this is all to say that some things become so long-lasting in a community that you can start to take them for granted. May we never do so with the ol’ C-Girl. Congratulations to you all over there, too.
...and she came to Back Road Pizza!
Snack Corner
We’re still on a Trader Joe’s kick right now, because snacks are expensive and blah blah blah, so this week we’re suggesting Cheddar Rockets. They’re like Goldfish, only way less salty and far more cheesy. Also, they’re rockets.
Also
-If you hadn’t heard, Santa Fe’s HoneyMoon Brewery has closed, and it happened kind of suddenly with SFR breaking the news just a couple days ago. Of course, it’s a long story, but owner/founder Ayla Bystrom-Williams told our dumb boss that it’s been a long, tough road, and everyone involved is just kind of beat now. There is some possibility that the company could live on through the help of commercial brewers, but we just don’t know yet. Rest assured, we’ll tell you here.
-There’s a new face in the executive chef position at Rio Chama Prime Steakhouse, only, like, it’s a familiar face, man. Chef Tony Smith comes to Rio Chama form Luminaria, the restaurant at The Inn and Spa at Loretto, so you pretty much know he knows what he’s doing. Say hey for us, like he’ll know what that means. But y’know, someone’s gonna have to suck it up and go eat over there, it might as well be us.
-Remember Father’s Day falls on this weekend (Sunday, June 18), and if there’s one thing we’ve learned from how we’re marketed to around this time of year, your dad’s going to want to drink beer and watch sports and barbecue on some ridiculous fucking contraption no one ever heard about let alone needs. GOD! Look, take your dad out for a meal and tell him you love him. And don’t forget that there are plenty of parents who don’t fit into the reductive constructs of gender in this world—get them gifts, too. In fact, give money to queer causes in dad’s name and be quiet. Or, like, take him to Denny’s; we don’t know your dad. Actually, no—take your dad or your parent to someplace local. Do it.
-Here’s a local query for you: What the hell Santa Fe restaurants are open 24 hours anymore? Reader Dallas R. reached out to see if we knew, and our suggestion of Denny’s (we swear we aren’t some kinda Denny’s shill) didn’t pan out, because apparently they close at 3 am now. So is there something we don’t know? We don’t think there is one in Santa Fe anymore. Does anyone know something we don’t?
-While we’re asking the class questions, reader Sue B. is curious about what’s up with food options at Fuego games. If’n you don’t know, the Fuego are/is Santa Fe’s baseball team. Apparently Sue stopped by recently and was shocked and chagrined to only find one food truck slangin’ snacks. Anybody know if this gets better deeper into the season? We don’t do sports, so we’re not about to go look. Someone tell us. Just tell us. GOD, TELL US!
-Down Mexico way, in the Sierra Madre del Sur Mountains of Oaxaca, a small coffee farm/collective called Finca Las Nieves is coffee-ing it up for your pleasure. Or the world’s pleasure, maybe. Just recently, the collective/farm’s product was named the best in Mexico during the Cup of Excellence competition, and that is pretty mind-blowing. History-wise, this particular coffee farm dates back to 1880, too, so you know it’s pretty good if it has existed that long. Why are we telling you all this? Two reasons, really—that the place had ultimately been abandoned at some point until it was revived in 2006 by the Cleaver family of Santa Fe. Finca Las Nieves is also now the official house coffee of Modern General, so you can pop on by and taste Mexico’s best-ass coffee whenever you like. Or whenever they’re open or whatever. Congrats to all involved!
-We know we’ve mentioned chef Dakota Weiss up in here a few times before (she’s the mastermind behind Catch Poké if that helps you remember), but we’re about to do it again, because word on the street is that Weiss and longtime partner Rich Becker will take over the old Zia Diner/Café Sonder space on Guadalupe Street for a foodhall kind of concept. We don’t have a whole heck of a lot of other information just yet, but we understand it won’t be a million things so much as a curated and specific experience. We’re down as heck and will tell you more when possible. And while we’re talking about Weiss, please note that the Instagram account for Catch Poké (which has thus far been @catch__santafepoke, and we’re only telling you so you know which one NOT to follow) was hacked and overtaken by hoodlums. Instagram apparently does not give a shit, so if you wanna unfollow that one and move on to the new account, it’s @catchsantafepoke.
-Word on the street is that popular French spot Mille will share some parking spots with nearby restaurant/hotel Vanessie moving forward—a net gain as we hear it because parking over there on that weird little stretch of Water Street is tough, but Milles has tasty...everything.
-Lastly in local news this week, a bit of sad information from the folks at Beer Creek Brewing, who announced their own Ryan Murphy McArdle has died. We want to extend our condolences to the whole Beer Creek team while they contend with their loss. In lighter news, the popular brewery will celebrate its fifth anniversary a little later this month.
...and he came to the Cowgirl!
SHOUT-OUT FROM A READER!
Last call for shout-outs before we ditch this section and act like it never existed...
Did you get killer service someplace? A shockingly great meal? Do you want to mention a bartender who took their time mixing you something fancy? Hit us up and together we can give props where props should..be...given...like, where...like, to where the props should go.
More Tidbits
-Heinz is really out here ripping off American quarters by dropping 50 limited edition condiment packets, each based on a state in the freakin’ union. We don’t know what the New Mexico one is, we don’t want to know in case it’s, like, some kind of ranch dressing thing (for some reason, everywhere outside NM puts ranch on something and suddenly calls it a Santa Fe sandwich or whatever). Still, it’s happening and nothing any of us can do will stop it.
-Cheers to New York City for passing the first-ever delivery app minimum wage hike in the country. OK, it doesn’t go into effect until 2025, but according to Food and/or Wine-dot-com, drivers will be making three times more than they have been. In case you were curious or didn’t know, those apps are pretty much predicated on screwing workers AND restaurants, so this is a good step.
-Looks like General Mills is adding to its lineup of scary cereals like Boo Berry and Frankenberry and Count Chocula and the Hunchblueberry of Notre Dame (that last one might have been a dream we had) with Carmella Creeper, a new cereal featuring a name that sounds more like that of a porn performer or roller derby participant than cereal mascot. It’ll apparently be a caramel apple flavor to go along with Carmella’s zombie-who-is-also-a-DJ thing (click the link above to see the art). We’re sorry, but this just seems like the most oblivious and weird form of pandering groupthink corporate bullshit we’ve seen in some time. “Kids like zombies, right? And EDM?” said some fucking suit in a room full of other aging dudes who also suck. God!
-Now, we don’t much watch Top Chef so much as we prefer Nailed It, but we understand a chef named Buddha Lo of Brooklyn, NY, walked away as King Shit of Food Mountain. This nets the chef $250,000 and the title of Top Chef World All-Star Champion. That’s too many words, and we sincerely ask Bravo to consider King or Queen Shit of Food Mountain instead. Anyway, this recent Top Chef season also turns out to be the last for longtime host Padma Lakshmi, who’ll move on to do something else, we don’t know; we’ve never met her and don’t just know her plans.
A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork’s Correspondence
Before we get to the breakdown, note that this week’s print edition of SFR features not one but two food stories, including a trip to Cake’s Café and that one about HoneyMoon Brewery we told you about above.
Number of Letters Received
45
*We love you, too, America!
Most Helpful Tip of the Week (a barely edited letter from a reader)
“What is a good place to eat for friends?”
*Ummm...Denny’s?
Actually Helpful Tip(s)
“I love to make my own dressing, cheaper and tastier, couldn’t be easier. In a jar mix Dijon mustard, honey, white vinegar and good olive oil. For a Greek salad, grainy mustard, garlic, Italian herbs, red wine vinegar, good olive oil, pinch of sugar.Make that one the day before you use it. For a spinach salad mix a tablespoon of raspberry jam with rice wine vinegar and olive oil. Go buy some really good vinegar and oil.”
*Longtime reader Tess H dropping dressing knowledge furreal
Old as the hills, but also old at heart,
The Fork
P.S. We heard writer Cormac McCarthy died, and that’s a bit of a drag for the literatti out there. Rest in power, bud.
