The Fork: PSA: Dr. Field Goods has the best French dip in town
Dip that little dipper, baby!
We love us a good French dip sandwich, and we've been known to order one of those little baddies any chance we get (Capital Coal opening last year, for example, was thrilling to us because of its whole French dip thing). But even though we've had some fairly excellent li'l dippies (which is what we call 'em) around town over the years, we're now confident in crowning a winner for our very favorite in town—and it's the li'l dippie at Santa Fe's Dr. Field Goods.
It has been a whirl of wind for owner/chef Josh Gerwin, who late last year moved his long-popular eatery from Cerrillos Road to the DeVargas Center on the oustskirts of the downtown area. Gerwin moved his butcher shop over there, too, so that's pretty cool for people who live near there and need a butcher. And while SFR writers have waxed philosophical about Gerwin's Cubano and cole slaw and whatever else, a recent visit on a whim produced some new feelings about the French dip sammie, and we're now all about it.
First, the bad news: Gerwin's French dip is a special, non-regular menu item, and there's no particular day on which it becomes available, according to a nice employee we spoke with on the phone—you just kind of have to luck out. The good news? That makes it feel more special somehow...like you have to be stalwart and true to get the goods. And the goods are good.
First off, Gerwin is some kind of beef expert, man, and his thin-sliced roast beef is tender and juicy without erring into wet territory. The bread is also a winner, from the slight crisp of the edges to the warm, soft core onto which the meat is piled (piles of meat=more appetizing than it sounds). Gerwin also melts some Swiss cheese all up in there, and it's downright perfect.
Then there's the au jus, and friendos, it's the real deal. We always thought au jus should be borderline too salty, like some sort of heaven-sent savory excellence. Dr. Field Goods does that, to the point we almost wanted to drink it like soup. That saltiness mixed with the umami of the beef and the texture of the bread makes it our top sandwich in town to beat right now. It was so good we didn't even get a price point so much as we were like, "Shut up and take our money," in Phillip J. Fry voice.
To summarize, if you want a French dip, call over to Field Goods and ask if they're serving them on whatever day. Tell 'em The Fork sent you. As always, they won't know what you mean, we just think it's funny to tell people that.
This is the song we hear when eating a French dip, btw.
Also
- Venerable downtown fine dining joint Coyote Café announced earlier this week that it has a new executive chef—and he has an awesome name: Travis Limoge. OK, so it's been a few months since Limoge came on, but it sounds like owner Quinn Stephenson (who also owns Santacafé and who is nice as hell) wanted to give Limoge a chance to settle in. First on the docket, apparently? Limoge has transitioned the ol Coyote's produce to 100% organic and from local farms, no less! "The challenge is being able to speak to the terroir of a place year-round," Limoge says in a statement from the restaurant. "A summer menu is easy, it's a walk through a meadow. The only way to achieve this when winter sets in is to capture the essence of the seasons and preserve them using techniques handed down from our ancestors." Dope. We've yet to sample Limoge's food, but if you do that and you're into it, hit us up. Otherwise, please know that, like Stephenson, Limoge rose through the restaurant ranks for much of his life, starting as a dishwasher and now ruling it in the kitchen. He's worked in Vermont, California, Oregon and Colorado to name a few. We're salivating.
- By the time this edition of The Fork hits your hot little hands, the 33rd Annual Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta will still be a-rockin' after its first day on Sept. 25. In fact, you'll have til Sept. 29 to go nuts on that thing, though you'll need a plan (like tickets and a responsible way to get home and...whatever else it is that goes into attending fests; like sunscreeen, maybe). You can get all the details online, and we hope you oenophiles and food-o-philes (we're sure there's probably an actual word for that) have fun.
- Many a Fork Frend (and we know how we spelled that, it's on purpose) reached out about a recent NPR piece about Chimayo red chile's encroaching rarity, and we get it. Here's a link to the piece. Now here's our two cents: It really sucks when chile becomes harder to find. It sucks so much. We love chile. We love Chimayo. We want chile always. And while we don't know exactly how this is Colorado's fault, can't you just feel that it's Colorado's fault?
- Holy shit, The Teahouse on Canyon Road cannot catch a break from its "fans," at least according to what we gleaned from yet another recent "don't forget us" social media post that announces it'll open at 8 am Wednesday-Sunday moving forward. We really feel for The Teahouse and how often it has had to tell Santa Fe its ownership is "listening" to diners. As always, you don't have to eat anyplace you don't like, but did you have to terrorize that restaurant to the point it didn't get a chance to really delve into a cool new menu? You. Can. Get. Eggs. Benedict. So. Many. Places.
- You have just a little over two weeks to sign up for the Halloween Cookie Decorating Class hosted by Albuquerque's Bake Me Love at Back Road Pizza. To be clear, the class goes down from 4-5:30 pm on Sunday, Oct. 13. For $38 per person, you'll learn the basics while making six cookies, all they ask is that folks be 8 or older and call or text Leta at (505) 610-2120 to register.
We just think everyone should know this band.
More Tidbits
- Excuse us, there is a National Coffee Day going down on Sept. 29, and we weren't informed? Who is supposed to call us for that?! Food & Wine-dot-com even assembled a list of places offering free coffee for the milestone, but spoiler alert—we don't think most of the places have New Mexico locations. Dunkin' is on the list, though, like the New Jersey reprobates they are. To explain that joke, people from New Jersey love Dunkin' Donuts (we know they changed the name to just Dunkin', but that makes us FURIOUS, so...).
- Insect-infused drinks? You bet! According to USA Today, that's totally a thing and it's totally popular around Halloween time because apparently mankind's fall-borne depravity knows no bounds. Our take? A tincture made from tarantula can fuck all the way off, forever and ever, in perpetuity throughout the galaxy, amen. Learn more here, but fairly warned be ye, says we—it's kinda gross to think about drinking tarantula goo.
- Speaking of fair warning, this last non-local item of the week gets a little bit into the weeds, but we're gonna include it anyway. OK, so earlier this week, some big ol' agricultural sciences company called FMC Corporation convened this big roundtable discussion on sustainable food systems with the UN Global Compact (known as the largest coporate sustainability network in the freakin' world), and there is much information to learn about now and in the future (or, as the British say, in future). In the BROADEST-ASS-STROKES, the takeaway seems to be the same old buzzword stuff about collaboration and strategy. Our take? We know there's enough food for everyone, why do we not simply feed people? Historians will look back upon us from their space ships (because we destroyed the planet) and weep over how dumb and greedy we were, that's our guess.
A totally scientific breakdown of The Fork's correspondence
In this week's edition of SFR, there is sadly no new food coverage because, like, life is hard, y'know? Still, there's plenty of other cool stuff in the paper.
Number of Letters Received: 21
*Send. More. Letters.
Most Helpful Tip of the Week (a barely edited letter from a reader):
"Oh, great. You can go to a chain restaurant like Chili's for a burger, but when it comes to the best green chile cheeseburger...in Santa Fe, it's just so far to drive out to Eldorado. Whatever. Your loss."
*Reader Robert W really wants us to visit Carmelita's restaurant. And all we can say right now is damn, reader Robert W! We'll try to get there, but this is...this is not it, bud. This makes us want to do literally anything else. At this point we'd rather buy the burger and throw it into a lake uneaten. Also, bro, it's spelled "chile," so get hip.
Actually Helpful Tip(s):
"I'll read more chain reviews just for the snark."
*Reader Kelly M gets us. And the rest of you could learn a thing or two about where she's coming from, especially you, reader Stewart A! This is Santa Fe, bud, so we know precisely what your deal is—you should be nicer to people.
We ain't dipping, man—we're dipped,
The Fork
