Hey, Fork Frenz, it’s us—the real fork. We’re back. We know you were probably super-upset or whatever that we weren’t here last week. We didn’t read the thing that came out in our stead, but we’re sure everyone survived. If you didn’t, we’re not sure what to do for you, because you’re dead. If you are alive and reading this, let us just say hey, Fork Fren.
The week we went missing was a very hard one on multiple fronts, but we did manage to clean out the photo gallery from our phone, which reminded us of a recent-ish meal we had, about which we’d like to talk to you today. The day? We don’t remember. The restaurant? Time Travelers Gastropub (907 W Alameda St., (505) 954-1087) from Craig and Heather Moya—the same minds that brought you the New Mexico Hard Cider Taproom. You might recall that SFR dropped a positive review for TTG in January, wherein our food critic lauded the London royale sandwich as well as the fish and chips. The overall experience? Let’s get into that here.
Yay
Time Travelers’ space in the Casa Solana shopping center was cute back when it was originally kombucha spot HoneyMoon Brewery, and it remains cute now thanks to a slight remodel that keeps the bar space intact but adds more seating than its predecessor. Yes, TTG is small, but it’s comfy and cozy and comes replete with a mild steampunk aesthetic that could delight those folks who rode to Burning Man by turn of the century rail.
Nay
Despite a decent ambiance, TTG has no clear-cut system for incoming diners. We’ve been a few times now, and the first few moments usually include a strange minute or two wherein you might wonder where you check in or otherwise get some service. The very physical layout of the bar-forward eatery practically precludes it from a host stand, though perhaps they’ll rectify that in warmer months with something outside? This is for sure nitpicky, but we’d imagine it being pretty wild during busier times.
Yay
Mashed peas are awesome, and their inclusion on the Time Travelers Gastropub menu feels nice for us as well as any other nerds who spent time in the UK. Ditto the fish and chips, which are fried to a satisfying golden-brown and served with those aforementioned peas (plus the chips). Do the peas look kind of like guacamole, which sort of does a strange thing to the wiring of your brain akin to when you think you’re gonna drink orange juice, but it’s actually grapefruit juice? Sort of, yes. But, like a newsletter wherein the writer continually asks their own questions and then answers them, you hardly notice it after a bite or two.
Nay
As we said in our previous Fork, we have seen the light drain from a server’s eyes when we say we’re gonna stick with water, and this has definitely been our experience at TTG. We get that this can impact a tip greatly, but we’re always gonna tip minimum 20%, and often even more. In fact, we’re precisely who you want to wait on because we’re gonna be quiet and polite and leave quickly and tip as much as we can. We get that the cocktails at TTG are impressive, we’re just not into drinking just now and feel like servers at this or any restaurant need to be OK with that.
Yay
The double-decker angus smashburger ($17) is a damn revelation on the burger front, and that has something to do with the high-quality brisket for sure, but also the secret TTG sauce. These knuckleheads also have pretty good fries (aka chips), but even if they didn’t, it would probably be worth it to get this tasty two-patty number with grilled onions and green chile and cheddar. Y’know, Santa Fe has lots of good burgers, so if you’ve been looking for a new one to try, we heartily recommend this one. Oh, and before we forget, this one was served on a brioche bun, but TTG offers gluten-free options for this and other dishes. Word.
Nay
As for the chicken sandwich special we tried? It was alright. A bit of grilled chicken breast on rye with bacon and a ranch-adjacent aioli ($17), it sounded like a healthier choice with which to augment our burger order. Sadly, though, the aioli was SLATHERED upon each side of the bread making for one of the weirdest and soggiest sandwiches we’ve e’er encountered. If TTG puts this special back on the menu at some point, we’d recommend it only if you got the sauce on the side or, like, asked for a lighter amount. The bacon was damn perfect, though, so if anything, the real complaint is that had the sauce portion been more of a highlight rather than the main thing, it might have been incredible.
The Fork
Yay
In regards to that only-OK sando, we subbed fries for a nice garden salad with vinaigrette, and believe us when we say it was a banger. In fact, this could be a meal unto itself with all the bell pepper and radish and cucumber and feta all up in it. Just throw some salmon or chicken on that bad boy, and you’ve really got something, baby. On its own, the salad runs $8, and add-ons run $4. It could not have been fresher. Just a really tasty salad, man.
In Summation
Blah blah blah, growin pains and challenges and restaurants are hard. Look, we’ve been to Time Travelers Gastropub a few times now, and while it likely won’t hit the top of our list anytime soon, we do think it has shown real promise in a few areas—like salads and burgers. Over time, we know the Moyas will settle into a rhythm, so perhaps we’ll revisit down the line and reconsider. For now, we’d place it firmly on the are-you-already-in-the-area-and-your-party-can’t-agree-on-anything-and-if-so-give-it-a-shot-list.
Y’know, because it’s about time travel, sort of.
Also
First, an apology (that should be read in a tone that reads as sarcastically as possible): We’re SOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry that we didn’t know Empire Sushi and Grill Buffet had opened in Santa Fe when we were writing last week’s Fork. Thank you SOOOOOOOO much to the many readers who wrote in the style of this meme. We’ve still not been. Is it good?
We know we’re telling you sort of last-minute since this Fork first drops on Tuesday, May 13, but you might wanna know that local coffee/ramen spot REMIX Audio Bar is slated to celebrate its first birthday in its new spot on Guadalupe Street with a special event dubbed Curioser & Curioser: Mad Hatter Anniversary Party. You’ll get special non-alcoholic drinks from Curious Elixir, some hot DJ action with folks like 13 Pieces—and the whole thing is part of The Great Curious Cocktail Party, which finds 100 such events going down in 100 cities across the country at the same time. Learn more and RSVP right here.
Don’t forget that the 19th Annual Crawdaddy Blues Fest is set to pop off this weekend at the Mine Shaft Tavern in the adorable community of Madrid outside Santa Fe. It all starts on Friday, May 16 with a free pre-party featuring the band Hot Grits, then continues on Saturday, May 17, and Sunday, May 18, with performances from Hillary Smith and Chill House, Levi Platero, Jim Almand, Felix y Los Gatos, Westin McDowell and so many more. The name of the fest pretty much says it all, but in case you’re stupid, it’s a festival at which you can eat crawdaddies and hear blues and blues-adjacent tunes. For more tickets and info, click here.
Meanwhile, in le Railyard, you’ll have through Thursday, May 15 to check out the screening of food documentary Marcella about Italian food champ Marcella Hazan. Presented in a collaboration between the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market and Violet Crown Cinema, the film reportedly teaches audiences how Hazan made Italian cooking a big deal here in America. So if you like noodles and sauces and gabagool or whatever, here’s the movie for you. For more information and screening times and tickets, follow this link.
Didja get one of those Stamp Out Hunger bags from the National Association of Letter Carriers in your mailbox recently? Did you fill it up with food that was destined for a local food bank like, oh, we dunno, The Food Depot? Some of you most definitely did, because The Food Depot announced via social media that it collected more than 24,000 pounds of pantry staples through the annual donate-a-thon. That’s just very cool.
Postal workers do so much and are vital to our lives. Also, this song slaps.
More Tidbits
Here’s a cool-ass thing to start off the not-just-local section this week: It would seem that the feds just kinda-sorta stopped testing for bird flu without much fanfare, and that’s a pretty big mistake according to public health pros. Like, this could very well impact the chickens we eat, the eggs we’re paying $11 for and on and on and on. What’s the culprit? More budget cuts from the prez and his pack of jackals. We’re not sure why the stupid-ass, assing-ass, dumb-ass-assing-ass worm we know as Trump wants us all to die so badly, but…actually, he just hates poors and anyone who isn’t white, so maybe this tracks? Doesn’t mean it feels good, though. That link above will give you more info on the scary news. We’re not an expert in anything but dunking on food, but we’d urge caution in the coming days and a little extra research. It’s likely some outlets will start doing their own testing, but we can’t point to any concrete info on that just now. Stay vigilant.
Sorry, but there’s more bad news as international food aid organization World Central Kitchen announced last week that it will close soup kitchens across Gaza due to dwindling supplies. It is insane to us that this continues on in Palestine this way and we can’t believe we had to observe a literal genocide in our lifetime.
We’re not sure if this is coming to Santa Fe yet, but coffee chain Dutch Brothers is reportedly developing a food menu, which we can only assume will consist of shit you shouldn’t eat from a drive-thru you shouldn’t patronize. You might recall that we got one of these when Santa Fe lost its beloved strip club Cheeks. We’ve never been, and we assume the company will roll out this food in bigger cities first; so you might have to cruise to Albuquerque if you need a defrosted cake pop or egg-like sandwich. If it turns out to be not that, we’ll gladly apologize, but, like, don’t you think it’s probably that?
A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork’s Correspondence
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Actually Helpful Tip
“I moved to Albuquerque in 2021 and signed up for the Fork email newsletter. Sometime near the end of 2024, I stopped getting them, and now I can't figure out how to restart them. I do not want emails from the Santa Fe reporter covering all their stuff - only from you! Do you know that this changed? Is there any way to be able to only get the Fork newsletter?”
*Fork reader Maritza M is out here asking the question we’ve all had. In short, when SFR was bought from its longtime parent company City of Roses, the new ownership at Ctrl+P decided that newsletters should all come in one big thing. We have no control over this and only hope you find The Fork worthy enough to sift through the other jazz. In short, it was not our choice and we apologize for the change (and we only speak for ourself).
Morlocked,
The Fork
