I was driving around last Wednesday morning, hungover and exhausted from a night of celebrating at the Best of Santa Fe awards ceremony when, barely able to put together two semi-related thoughts (coffee, food) I spied The Green Canteen. Careening across two lanes of traffic, I pulled into the St. Michael's Village West shopping center and made a few interesting discoveries.
When I wrote about The Green Canteen just after it opened in April, the owner, Joseph Rosado, mentioned that he hoped to open for breakfast soon. I was hoping he'd made that plan a reality already, but no, the place was closed as I drove past, dreaming of a giant, sausage-stuffed breakfast burrito with cage-free eggs and some sort of organic tortilla.
Cruising past CinemaCafé, I noticed that Bert's La Taquería had closed. It happened several months ago, but I'm ashamed to admit I hadn't realized it yet. There was a sign in the window announcing the move to 416 Agua Fria, which had been the address of Pachanga. Both restaurants are owned by Fernando Olea, a Mexico City-born chef who has been a Santa Fe fixture for many years.
Olea tells me that he decided to close Bert's la Taquería after his lease was up in St. Michael's Village West. On the advice of customers and friends, he decided to move the concept and menu of Bert's from its unassuming strip-mall home and relocate it in the much more charming and inviting building that housed Pachanga (and another of Olea's concepts, El Encanto) before it.
Olea says he's happy to have condensed the two because it will give him more time to spend with his customers. "This is a business that needs a personal touch," he explains. "It's not like a franchise, where you just open it and it doesn't matter who's there."
The move was made on April 1, and the phone number from Bert's was forwarded to ring on Agua Fria. Olea, who admits he's guilty of some previous pranks, laughs when recalling how some of his customers thought the move was actually an April Fool's joke. But no, the chef maintains, it was something he'd been thinking about for a long time.
For now, the menu at Bert's la Taquería on Agua Fria is the same as the menu had been on St. Michael's. But the larger space will allow Olea to indulge in his primary passion, the greater expanse of Mexican cuisine. Tacos, Olea believes, are "comfort food, but nothing special," and although some would disagree with that statement, the chef means to say that he wants to get Santa Feans excited about things like
huitlacoche
(technically a corn fungus but regarded as a delicacy),
chapulines
(grasshoppers sautéed in butter and garlic) and mezcal.
It was at a recent mezcal tasting in Mexico that Olea fell in love. "Many people have bad memories of mezcal," he begins, and I couldn't help but grimace silently at my own high school experiences with terrible, rot-gut mezcal. "I thought it was a spirit with a disgusting flavor and a worm in the bottle, but I discovered that it is the finest spirit in the world."
Olea plans to transform one of the rooms at the new Bert's into "Fernando's Laboratoría de Taste," a space where he can host special events highlighting some of his favorite ingredients and regional specialties. He'd like to serve a dinner featuring
huitlacoche
in every course and another featuring the specialties of the Mexican state of Puebla, for example. But if you ask for a tour of Mezcal, Olea will probably indulge you any time. "I will share what I have inside," he declares, "I love to share my passion with everybody."
I did eventually get a cup of coffee and a breakfast burrito that morning, pulling into the line at the Hava Java hut. I gotta say, I absolutely love these little mini-buildings you see in parking lots, whether they're selling coffee, sno-cones, tamales or whatnots. I'm fascinated by the idea of working in such a confined space. Pulling up to the window, I was shocked to see three people pouring coffee and taking money out of both sides of a hut the size of my bedroom closet.
The espresso machine was down that morning, the stressed-looking Hava Java lady told me, and it seemed she expected I would drive away. But I had too few synapses firing to order any double shot half-caff mocha latte or whatever, and when I mumbled that regular was fine she seemed relieved. There were four or five tempting pastries sitting on the ledge; brought in from Chocolate Maven, I think. But I needed protein, man, and I ordered a breakfast burrito with bacon. As she handed the monster to me, my eyes bugged out at its unexpected size. I happened to catch a glimpse of one of the other hut attendants as he gawked at it and mouthed, "damn!"
I only wish it had been seasoned a little better. The eggs were perfectly cooked and the chile was fiery, but aside from the heat, it lacked flavor. You can't throw a giant heap of potatoes into a tortilla and not salt them. They taste like mush.
Still, I'm grateful to Hava Java for jump-starting my day. I never would have made it without them.
The Green Canteen
1616-A St. Michael's Drive
424-6464
Open Monday-Friday 11 am-2:30 pm and 5:30 pm-9 pm; Saturday 11 am-2:30 pm and 5:30 pm-10 pm. Closed Sunday.
Bert's la Taquería
416 Agua Fria St.
474-0791, 988-5991
Open Monday-Saturday 11 am-2 pm and 5 pm-close.
Hava Java
1650 St. Michael's Drive
474-0036
Open Monday-Friday 6:30 am-2:30 pm; Saturday 7 am-noon. Closed Sunday.
Tell me where to eat! I need your input. Send all of your tips, gripes and raves to
.
