Coyote wags its cautionary tale into third decade

Come for the New Mexican flavor, stay for the 405 diningscape happenings

Greetings from the Land of Enchantment, you’re receiving this as I make my final rounds on a four-day tour of Santa Fe and Albuquerque, but I remain on the job for the 405 diningscape.

Our next-door neighbors to the west are known for chiles in green and red with sauces served Christmas-style, but this trip has led beyond what’s hatched from the fields in Hatch or Chimayo. More on that as we near Labor Day.

Just a quick story from the first day, which began in Oklahoma City and ended in Santa Fe at The Mystic Inn, a renovated Route 66 roadside motel with a lovely little restaurant and bar called the High Desert (the banana pudding with Nutter Butters and caramelized banana slices isn’t to be missed), surprising event venue and rustic rooms spic and span enough for general dentistry — maybe outpatient surgery.

With the reason for my trip still 24 hours away, I had Tuesday night and most of Wednesday to myself. With some nouveau dining scheduled for the days to come, I decided to make a reservation at one of Santa Fe’s most enduring restaurants, The Coyote Café.

Founded by chef Mark Miller in 1987, the Coyote howled as loud as any restaurant in New Mexico in announcing the birth of modern Southwest Cuisine. In his seminal cookbook named for the restaurant, published in 1989, Miller wrote, “At Coyote’s hangout, Coyote Cafe, we feel you can never have too much of a good thing, which is why our motto is simply, ‘More Chiles.’

Miller sold the the restaurant in 2008 to a management team that included chef Eric DiStefano and sommelier Quinn Stephenson. DiStefano was among the region’s most respect chefs in the region. He stirred French, Asian and other global cuisines and techniques into the Coyote’s menu. DiStefano passed away in 2016, leaving executive sous chef Eduardo Rodriguez to step forward. He did, but has since moved on to open Zacatlan. Stephenson is sole owner today.

Made a reservation for a chefs counter seat at 8:30 and after a long day on the road was happy to see my seat within reach of the cocktail bar.

After leaving me with a menu and a wine list, my server gave me plenty of time to get settled in and look around. When she returned, I asked her if there was a cocktail menu. She told me the cocktail bar was founded on tequila but was otherwise a full-service bar, had an extensive tequila list and would I like to see the tequila list?

I said sure and about five minutes later she dropped off a cocktail menu without a word enroute to another party. Was glad she found it, because the Caballero (Anejo, sweet vermouth, Cacao, and ancho chile but the garnish looked suspiciously like either chile de arbol or Japones) hit the spot.

The menu offered eight items as first courses. I chose a fusion of steamed mussels and pozole over Chile Morita White Prawns. I was tempted by the Yellowtail Crudo because I always am, and I’m sure miso-tamarind shoyu is delicious but it didn’t read desert magic to me. Yes, I’m a tourist, and I’m sure the locals greatly appreciate respite from green and red chile. I’m sure they enjoy the dish very much, but when pozole has a chance to show its mussels I’m diving in head-first.

The baguette slices that came with it might as well have had “sop me” branded on them because that’s all they were ever going to do and sop they did until they were soggy crumbs.

Then came a duo of quail with preserved lemon “masa,” blistered pepper salsa, and Aji Amarillo coulis. The quail was expertly to temp, but the skin could’ve been crisper. The Aji Amarillo coulis was a revelation, and the preserved lemon masa was delicious. That said, calling it masa is a stretch. It’s closer to a preserved lemon polenta, but that doesn’t sound very Coyote. The blistered pepper “salsa” was a blend of charred peppers that needed to be pulsed or ground in a molcajete to be considered a salsa. Well-seasoned roasted peppers are delicious, and that’s what these were, but salsa it was not.

For dessert a trio of fried empanadas. Just like the “masa” and “salsa” before it, these “empanadas” were fried pies. Apologies if that sounds like a complaint because it’s not. These fried pastries from chef Paolina Cordova were filled with Mexican Hot Chocolate, Caramelized Pineapple and Banana Dulce de Leche. (Siiiiiighhhhhh) Some 15-year Tawny port helped it down nicely.

Both the kitchen and bar staff brought a level of talent and precision to everything I consumed that evening, but I kept looking at the beautiful blown glass ristra of red chiles hovering over the main dining room and thinking they were the only “more chiles” left in The Coyote.

After dinner, I enjoyed a nostalgic walk through The Plaza breathing in the cool desert air like it was an aperitif. Desert magic still whistles through the streets and paths of Santa Fe, but you’re not going to find much at The Coyote Café these days.

That doesn’t mean magic can’t be conjured there. Restaurants, the chef-driven kind anyway, can’t survive in stasis. The brand is evolving. Time will tell whether it ages gracefully or tucks tail. The outcome directly related to a familiar story in which progress and consistency wrestle, scrap and make like the Zax over which is more important. One represents the cutting-edge, the other building a broad enough audience to fund perpetual growth. The chaos of the human condition stirs the pot.

That struggle isn’t unique to The Coyote Cafe or even the food-service industry. Sure, the Coyote Cafe has club music as it’s soundtrack, but didn’t Garth Brooks go Chris Gaines?

Cattlemen’s Cafe, errr, Steakhouse ring a bell? How about Pete’s Place in Krebs? Between the two, a smidge under 200 years worth of restaurant operation has gone down. Neither of those places look a thing like they did when they were born.

Aging is hard. If The Coyote is struggling through a mid-life crisis because it doesn’t howl like it did when it was a pup, it can simply relax and join the club.

Home, Sweet Home Cookin’

Might be getting my kicks on Route 66 this week, but the 405 diningscape is teeming with tasting events next week.

The Crown will be busiest. On Monday, it will be home to the last Tiger-Style popup from chef Caleb Stangroom until June. Festivities begin at 5 p.m.  Not only will chef-owner Eric Smith welcome some Stangroom into The Crown, he’ll also collaborate with chef Gabe Lewis on a May the Fourth Star Wars themed dinner — seats will get the first 14 folks who reach for them! …

And while you’re at it, those of you who haven’t got your Cinco de Mayo tickets should do so now. The ongoing trip to New Mexico will no doubt inspire the final menu. The Big Kahuna and I will have details on the menu next week, so get your tickets today!