Every last dingus in Santa Fe has some hot food take, which is objectively absurd because our word is the only one that truly matters—and this week that word is about Second Street Brewery’s food menu, specifically its burgers.
While attending the CURRENTS New Media Festival the other night, we found ourselves quite peckish, so we ducked into Second Street Brewery’s Railyard location. We still find it funny that the local brewery/restaurant no longer has a Second Street location, but so are the machinations of time, right? And anyway, we’d have probably eaten black licorice out of a trash can by that point. But we didn’t have to do that, luckily.
When it comes to Second Street, locals are plenty quick to give you their thoughts on the matter. Some folks swear by ‘em, others can’t stand ‘em and others yet have speeches about if they were gonna make beer, they’d do this or that. Those people never do make beer. At any rate, one thing we’ve heard rather a lot about SSB is that their food is pretty OK; middle of the road; good for what it is; the only option sometimes. While we grant you that both the downtown and Midtown locations of the biz are kind of the only thing quite like that in their respective zones, we honestly feel like the main point is consistency. We’ve lived near the Railyard for a long time, and we’ve ordered or eaten in a lot of times—the food pretty much always tastes and looks and costs the same, which is a comfort in this workaday world. Also? The burger is totally solid, and we’re sick of acting like it’s not.
Edible’s Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown in 2014. We know you’re sitting there all like, “Well, what has that burger done for me lately?” but your burgers never won shit, so relax. And anyway, we’re just talking about the default SSB burger. Maybe some cheese on there? Some bacon? Green chile? None of the above? It’s solid, man—from the brioche bun to the not-too-big patty. They might even let you order the kid’s-sized one if you explain you’re not hungry enough for the big boy.
In summation, we’re here to defend the Second Street Brewery Burger. We’ve had better, but we’ve had worse. And in a world reigned by chaos, sometimes the thing you want is the thing you know well—the thing that won’t let you down; the thing that has always been there; the burger; the good-ass-burger. Just…stop being burger snobs, jeeze.
It’s almost always burger time if you want it badly enough.
Also
- Speaking of burgers, we hear Canyon Road’s Teahouse has a burger special only available Friday-Sunday, and it’s called the Dirty Bird Patio Burger. Would we include words like “dirty” in our food names? Probably not, but from the photos we’ve seen, we’d still eat the hell out of this bad boy. If you go get it, hit us up about it and tell us what you think.
- Much like its illusive namesake, the mysterious yet reportedly soon-to-open Gatsby’s Santa Fe Speakeasy, Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge popped up online in recent days with a promise of more info before long; a way-too-late use of the term “speakeasy” and an Instagram caption that literally made us laugh out loud: “Where elegance and excitement collide.” Hahaha! That sounds like nothing PR-speak. Good lord. Anyway, setting aside our feelings about whatever marketing genius cooked that one up for the incoming cocktail lounge, word is that it’ll be open later than most things around here (not that that’s hard to do since most stuff closes at 9 like that’s late). Our guess beyond that is that its menu will include words like “infused” and “muddled” and “mixology.” We’re being pretty snippy here, but the truth is that we hope it’s cool and if/when we learn more, we’ll let y’all know. *Insert Toby Maguire joke here* We’re also going to cook up our own caption inspired by Gatsby’s. Something like, “The Fork: Where some jerky asshole and food talk collide.” #Swish
- Sorry to remind everyone that Arroyo Vino chef Allison Jenkins died unexpectedly earlier this month, but there’s a nice piece in last week’s Santa Fe New Mexican about her passionate and long-lasting commitment to the craft of food. This town and its food scene are both small enough that the ripples of death reach far, so we just wanted to salute Jenkins for creating such a notable legacy and lasting impression on the hungry of Santa Fe. Rest in power, chef.
- Word on the street from an industrious reader who goes by the name of Tracy is that Dinner For Two owner Andy Barnes will take over the La Casa Sena space downtown for a new eatery. This was reportedly confirmed by a Dinner For Two worker. Now, it’s important to remember this is not a promise, and new details will likely emerge and we’re all super-excited, but let’s just be cool, cool? As for SFR staffers, well, they’re pumped. Did you see this Dinner For Two review from last year? It’s good!
- Speaking of places beloved by SFR workers, we hear Rowley Farmhouse Ales has a summer BLT special, and that reminds us of how our mom used to get all BLT-core sometimes, usually in the warmer months. Someone from our funny little paper visited Rowley not that long ago, but now it sounds like we’ll all have to go and get BLT’d.
Our favorite Christina song is, of course, “Ain’t No Other Man,” but this is on-theme.
More Tidbits
- Heinz now has a breakfast ketchup? Word. We don’t hate it. We don’t know what’s so different about it other than the label, but we’ve been known to ketchup our eggs before, so this doesn’t bother us. Of course there will be those “no pineapple on pizza!” types who probably would have hated The Beatles for their outrageous haircuts, too, but we’re kind of over here all like, “Oh, it’s the same product with a different label in a bottle shaped like a syrup bottle? Right on.” We think there will probably be fans, particularly the British. Either way, we prefer Hunt’s, and that’s not a joke.
- Chowhound-dot-com’s comin’ through for the home gardener with an interesting piece on the trellis—and whether you need one to make the most of your veggie output. Our mom had a trellis or two when we were young, so we know firsthand that the experience is a nice one that also just plain looks pretty cool. If you want to know if trellis is right for you, ask your doctor (or read the piece).
- The James Beard Foundation has media awards? Apparently so, as Eater-dot-com (one of our fave food sites, which regular readers likely know) published the winners just the other day. Naw, jay-kay, of course we all know the Beardos (as we alone call them) have these awards—heck, Santa Fean Cheryl Alters Jamison has some for her cookbook writing prowess. Follow this link to see who won with what media. And if we wind up dead on a beach someplace, investigate the Beardies (which is what we call the James Beard people). You should know that Cheryl is awesome, too.
- The James Beard Foundation absolutely has chef and restaurant awards. Good ol' Eater-dot-com partnered with Beardies to livestream the Beardos on Monday night, and published the full list of winners. That none are from Santa Fe is an indictment on the Beardos, nothing more.
A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork’s Correspondence
This week in the print edition of SFR, somebody goes to check out that new Cuban joint Lago Café. That drops on Wednesday, June 18.
Number of Letters Received
4
*Once again, you can find us at thefork@sfreporter.com. Use it!
Most Helpful Tip (A Barely Edited Comment From a Reader)
“Did you make Father’s Day memorable?”
*No.
Actually Helpful Tip
“OMG you are so right about figs!!!!! Ever since I found out about the wasp thing, I was like, “Nope”. Thanks for spreading the horror to others.”
*Mary E. just gets us. If you missed the fig thing, check out last week’s Fork.
Not all stuck-up about burgers,
The Fork
