Even though Fork is sad because Fork got letter saying Fork not word good—that Fork never master multi-syllabic words—Fork still here, and Fork will be as long as Fork can muster the strength. Yeah, if you check out the print edition of SFR this week (or read the letters), you’ll see a reader loves the paper and the content therein, but not poor Fork. No matter, though, because we ain’t trying to be one of those people who lets one lone voice of insanity drag us down. Fact is, most of you love us and tell us so regularly. And we love you, too...even you, person who hates us.
And anyway, it got us thinking about ways we could better serve you. Apparently breaking cool news and telling all y’all about cool facts and doing cool stuff all the time isn’t enough. While we’re mulling that, though, let’s talk about comfort food. Foods? Comfort foods? Is “food” plural? Fooden? Foodi? Foods? We don’t know, but escaping this horrible loop of etymological torture, let’s get into the idea of food as comfort. We need it right now, frankly, for lots of reasons. It’s cold. Nothing feels good anymore. Things we used to love no longer bring us joy. And so on.
According to the minutes of research we put into this, the term “comfort food” originated in one of two places: a 1966 piece from the Palm Beach Post, or a 1966 piece from the New York Times. In either event, the term was coined as a means to explain foods to which we turn in times of great tumult (we hope “tumult” and “etymological” are complicated enough words for people). In other words, when you’re sad or cold or even bored and just need to feel a little better, there are all these foods that seem to have entered a shared pantheon of items that are, well, comforting.
The one we always remember is meatloaf. Yes, for some reason a loaf composed of various meats makes people feel better, and while we can’t super explain why that is, we do know that one of the best places to grab a local meatloaf is The Pantry. We’re not sure if it’s the seasoning of the pork or the beef in that bad boy—maybe it’s just the house brown gravy—but it works.
Mac & cheese is another big one, which we kind of get more, because who doesn’t love tons of melted cheese on something? The lactose intolerant, you say? Well, they’re not even real people, so...yeah. If’n you’re looking for a Santa Fe mac & cheese, it might not get better than Mac Santa Fe, formerly Theo Gio’s and formerly Macalicious—a brilliantly absurd monument to all things melty cheese and pasta. We’re glad this dude is back (this dude is named Theo Gio) making the kinds of macs & cheeses (is that the plural of mac & cheese?) we all know and love. SFR reviewed the spot in 2019, and that writer loved the whole dang experience.
We were also pleased to see that the Cowgirl has a whole comfort food menu, though if we’re being honest we went to the site specifically looking for mashed potatoes (which we know they have) and did not find them on the menu. So before we get into some of what the Cowgirl has on said menu, know they have mashed potatoes that are good, or at least did at one point, and then know that the comfort food menu of today has chicken fried chicken AND chicken fried steak. Both of those things should comfort you, and if anyone has a good chicken friend-vegetarian something recipe, we want it.
Our mashed potato quest then took us to Radish & Rye, not because we knew they were on the menu (according to the current website menu, they’re not), but because a dumb friend of ours lied about it being so. Instead, though, we discovered that one can order a side of duck fat potatoes at Radish & Rye, and that sounds amazing. Ducks, if you didn’t know, are complete jerks—and that is not a joke. They’re jerk birds and that makes it OK to eat their fat as served on potatoes. Sorry, vegans.
We also wanted to find a good lasagna for all you all, but our online travels to do so ended when we came to the Andiamo! dinner menu. With all the jerkishness of a duck, we had forgotten about that place, and while we don’t specifically see a lasagna on the current Andiamo! menu, we DO see so many comforting pasta options it’s nutty—plus crispy polenta, which is always a winner, and fresh bread from Sage Bakehouse (also always a winner).
Lastly, what’s not comforting about something sweet, especially when that something is warm? We speak, of course, about Kakawa Chocolate House, where the choco is hot as hell and comes all liquidy and stuff, and you drink it and it’s better than Swiss Miss with their stupid sweaters smelling of cocoa and it’s also, like, a higher quality of choco than other choco joints. If you didn’t follow our train of thought, we’re just saying the chocolate elixirs at Kakawa Chocolate House are a revelation in comfort, and a pretty nice way to round out an afternoon before you take the best couch nap of the year.
Oh, actually, here’s a little two-fer bonus of comfort food tips: Eat green chile stew and/or red chile enchiladas from literally anywhere you can. That ALWAYS helps.
How about you, dear readers? To what foods do you turn when you’re in need of comfort?
This song is about us, we think.
Also
-You had to know we’d talk about it, but has anyone else seen the online drama over brekkie b’s in Santa Fe? Well, if not, read this story from the Santa Fe New Mexican real quick, then come back. We’ll wait. Are you back? Cool. So, it would seem in this story that Saveur proprietor Dee Rusanowski told a reporter that she invented the brekkie b, right? Well, turns out Rusanowski later said she was misquoted in the piece, but given Mark Twain’s quote about the truth (which is something like, “Well, Huck, the truth is slow as shit, but lies get their shoes on and run fast as fuck, boyeeeeeee, all across the globe”), it’s kind of hard to say what’s real. What do WE, The Fork, think? Well, we know what it’s like to quote someone who later wishes they hadn’t said that thing, but we also know that sometimes things can be unclear. We like not knowing who invented the first-ever brekkie b; we like sharing food; we think it’s all going to be OK in the end.
-If you’re not signed up for food newsletter The Bite, you’re missing out. Now, why would we steer you to another food newsletter? Well, because we’re nice, for one, and because it’s got good stuff all up in it. We especially like the recent edition wherein writer Aria Chiodo ate vegan across Santa Fe. Don’t stop reading us, though, because we’re probably the only food newsletter to which you subscribe that says “fuck.”
-Hats off once again to santafefoodiesnm.com for once again publishing a list of places open on holidays (Christmas/New Year’s in this instance) so we don’t have to like we used to do in the past. It’s a horrible, thankless job. Oh, wait? People are thanking the SF Foodies guy? Well, shit. Guess you just hate us, huh? Anyway, here’s a link, ya buncha jabronis.
-Speaking of guides to things, SFR’s annual Restaurant Directory (which we’ve been doing for YEARS before certain websites popped up) will be here before you know it, and we wanna be thorough. Thus, if there’s any place you like that you fear might not get listed, drop us a line. We already know about La Choza, though, comedy geniuses, so make it REAL places. Here’s the current one.
Parry Gripp has a brekkie b song and we weren’t informed?!?!?!
More Tidbits
-Why is our new world order a nightmare wherein food companies we don’t particularly like continue to release dumb crap that seem likely to only delight the particularly incurious and exhausting? What’re we talking about? Olive Garden pajamas. That’s right, nerds, the chain that is out there trying to ruin Italian food for everyone released a set of matching branded onesie pajamas for families who suck. We picture feigned laughter, a one time photo op and then...the trash. Fast fashion is so wack, especially when we’re talking pajamas to wear while making stale jokes about endless breadsticks.
-Meanwhile, at McDonald’s, the marketing juggernaut is gearing up to give away a number of McGold Cards, which would entitle whomsoever has one to get free McDonald’s food for life. According to Food & Wine-dot-com, Rob Lowe and Bill Gates each have one (because rich people definitely need access to free food), but the upcoming giveaway will give four cards to three people each—and then those people can give the surplus cards to whoever they want. Our take? It would probably get old. And someone might die. Hopefully not Rob Lowe, though.
-Over in the UK, Heinz Baked Bean Pizza (which we honestly thought was just a meme until right now) will reportedly return to stores for the first time in 20 years. Mashed-dot-com has more, but remember—baked beans on pizza sounds insane.
-Also in the UK, seems King Charles has banned foie gras from all royal palaces. Yeah, that’s the kind of hard-hitting work we want from people in power. We kid. In reality, foie gras is disgusting and cruel, and at least he’s doing SOMETHING, even if he creeps us out so badly we’re fixing to cry.
-Domino’s, which is that company that slathers too much garlic on cheesy bread and calls it pizza, will reportedly soon be the facilitators of the largest electric vehicle fleet ever around. Seems the company partnered with Chevy to acquire hundreds of Chevy Bolts (that’s the name of the car, not a literal bolt of lightning or, like, made of metal) to deploy for delivery purposes. As that one meme we keep seeing says, though, car companies didn’t start doing electric cars at long last to save the planet, they did it to save themselves. Also, Domino’s is so gross—you can do better.
-Lastly, in not just local stuff, the winners of the 2022 National Gingerbread House Competition were announced recently, and the photos are honestly pretty amazing. Kind of makes us feel like we’re bad at making gingerbread houses.
A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork’s Correspondence
In the print edition of SFR this week, learn a little more about the new grocery shop from La Boca.
Number of Letters Received
69
*We were about to be like, “Nice!” but then we saw most of them were auto-replies from people on Thanksgiving break.
Most Helpful Tip of the Week (a barely edited letter from a reader)
“We love you, Fork.”
*Not a tip, but we needed it.
Actually Helpful Tip(s)
A dear reader reminded us about the veggie breakfast burrito from Palacio.
*We love that place and need to remember to visit more often.
Comforted, but just barely,
The Fork
