The Fork: How do we love thee, New Baking Company? Let us count the ways...
Two words: Breakfast croissant
Here’s the scene: We’re driving along Cordova Road one recent day after finding ourselves in the midst of a little post Memorial Day ennui, and suddenly it hits—we’re starving, man, and it’s the kind of starving that can only be solved with breakfast food. The solution? Obviously our mind drifted to the New Baking Company , a longtime fave that still churns out the hits so many years later. Why do we still love the it? A few reasons, actually.
Years ago, when we moved back to Santa Fe after moving out west to strike it rich, only to have our claim squatted upon by a scurrilous gang of consarned highwaymen, we returned home from a small parcel of land near Sutter’s Mill defeated. To soften the blow, we visited the Baking Co., as it was still known at the time, for a brekkie b. We’d been gone for years, mind you, but the worker on duty used our name during their greeting (our real name , even), and we just really liked that. Santa Fe restaurants are lousy with regulars, but when a worker remembers you, you kind of feel like a rock star.
We also like that it’s always been a place where folks can order what might technically be called brunch without it being a whole thing. Sometimes we want something brekkie-esque in the afternoon, but we’re not here for omelette stations and Belgian waffles made before your eyes (it makes us feel bad for the wafflemakers).
Earlier this week, for example, did we manage to get a totally excellent breakfast croissant with scrambled eggs, bacon and chopped green chile—plus a delightful light roast coffee from Aroma—after brekkie time? You bet we did. And it came quick and hot and affordably.
*As an aside, sometimes they run out of croissants early, so know that—you can get the same sammie/sando on sourdough. We’ve long said the New Baking Company has some of the best chopped chile in the biz, and we stand by that. But it doesn’t end there, either.*
The eggs were actual eggs rather than that weird eggs-in-a-pourable-carton nonsense you’ll get some places. You’ll know the difference in the taste, y’know? Like, the ready-to-scramble egg stuff lacks nuance and fluffiness. Anyway, the bacon at the New Baking Company also remains locally legendary for good reason (being that it’s crispy in the right places while remaining chewy), and the croissant was a flaky and buttery triumph of crisp and soft textures that added a sort of richness to the whole thing. This sando comes with home fries, but you can get fruit instead or, if you’re smart, regular fries. We got regular fries and only felt mildly sleepy from the salt and starch of it all. Our brekkie croissant and cup of coffee came out to $16.77 before tip, which seems downright reasonable at this juncture in human history.
Last but certainly not least, owner Filiberto Rodriguez is a goldarned national treasure. See, Rodriguez was a longtime employee who bought the place after the previous owner unceremoniously shut down the place in 2016. The New Baking Company as we know it opened in 2017. Not only did he save our beloved eatery, but Rodriguez and his wife/co-owner Norma hired back a bunch of people, renovated and cleaned (with a capital C) the dining room and cut the menu into a concise yet familiar combo of old favorites, new dishes and specials—and he did it all while maintaining the exact same tastes. In other words, if you loved the Baking Co. brekkie b 20 years ago, you’ll love the New Baking Company brekkie b today. As we’ve consistently said (to people in our lives, not here), consistency is the true restaurant litmus test. Most folks just want to know they can count on a restaurant to make their faves the same way over and over, and you can sure as heck count on the New Baking Company.
The song we imagine was playing when Filiberto Rodriguez woke up and went out to buy the Santa Fe Baking Co., now New Baking Company.
Also
- Calling all teetotalers! Naw, jay-kay, we’re just calling people who don’t drink booze but still like to quaff something tasty for the Bar None pop-up at Travel Bug Coffe Shop. Hosted by water sommelier Marti Mills, Bar None is a zero proof bar concept, which means non-alcoholic drinkables. Learn more and get your $35 tickets here .
- We just now learned about Pupseria Chalateca, a Siler Road pupusa truck that you straight up know we’re about to visit when we get a chance. We wanted y’all to know about it, too. Check it out .
- As loath as we are to direct you to food info from other sites, we must admit that Edible New Mexico newsletter The Bite ‘s piece on chef Dhirendran “Dhiru” Paulraj from Santa Fe’s Aruna Café is very cool. We won’t spoil it except to say that if you’re down with Southern Indian food, you’re gonna want to know this guy.
- Rumor has it that chef Randy Tapia of Poki Tako is now cooking over at La Casa Sena, which has upped the downtown eatery’s emphasis on seafood since Tapia is such a freaking master. This also jives well with La Casa Sena’s new-ish emphasis on Mediterranean food, so maybe it’s time to swing by and go nuts on that stuff.
- BREAKING: Restaurant patios are open, and while we appreciate everyone writing to tell us it’s warm outside, rest assured we already know.
- A website called The Cookie Rookie (which is absurd on the face of it because who the hell is new to cookies?) recently conducted a survey about popular state dishes, and New Mexico-style enchiladas made the list as the third most popular state food in the union. How did they come across this data? It’s literally just the number of social media posts and internet searches. When you’re from New Mexico, however, the popularity of enchiladas isn’t about math—it’s about soul, baby!
- Coming up on Sunday, June 2, Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery hosts Tumbleroot’s Garden Party, a New Mexico Cocktail Week party in the garden that proves how A) it’s a good event name and B) Things are cool when they include vendors like Squash Blossom CSA, Paseo Pottery, Clean Fork Farm, Agua Fría Nursery and other such vendors. Also slated for the party? A signature cocktail dubbed I Went to a Garden Party, featuring Tumbleroot gin, rhubarb, strawberry, raspberry, lemon and egg white. Yum! Learn more by using Google. Naw, we’re just playing—here’s a link .
- Also? New Mexico Cocktail Week kicks off on Saturday, June 1. It stops on Saturday, June 8, so you know they’re serious about the “week” part. There’s way more going on than we could possibly list here, so just go to the site , jeeze.
We always thought it was Ricky Nelson, but this video says “Rick.” After Ranger and Rubin, Nelson is our favorite Rick.
More Tidbits
- Amazon is recalling more than one million bottles of water due to manganese and bacterial infection. Cool, Bezos, it’s not enough that you poisoned non-conglomerate commerce, so you need to poison people on a more individual level now? Learn more here before you slam water you bought from Amazon.
- Maybe it’s just because we were sitting here thinking about gigantic clocks and dead kings and queens—like we often do—but we found this Eater-dot-com piece about Marmite to be quite fascinating. In it, writer Halima Mansoor describes the stuff as a great family unifier—kind of like us and broken glass (our family is not OK). Boy, those Brits and their Marmite, right?
- Finally, in non-local food news this week, follow this link to a fun piece from Delish-dot-com wherein drag queens hang out in the kitchen looking hot as hell and doing food stuff. We love drag queens. In fact, here’s a link to a song (or two) from Hedwig and the Angry Inch for good measure.
A totally scientific breakdown of The Fork’s correspondence
In this week’s print edition of SFR, so much cool musical and visual art recently happened that food takes a backseat.
Number of Letters Received: 19
*We have many sandwich recs now, thank you!
Most Helpful Tip of the Week (a barely edited letter from a reader):
“I’ll call sandwiches sandwiches, thank you.”
*OK, good!
Actually Helpful Tip(s):
“Just ate at [Café Aldea]. I didn’t even know it existed. Had a great, simple turkey, cheese and green chili sandwich. Delicious. I’ll be returning.”
*Reader Oralynn G. is out here dropping knowledge so we all may benefit. Here’s the website —see y’all there (by which we mean we’ll see you but you have no clue who we are)?
Flakily yours,
The Fork
