Dreaming of a tasty vacation landing?
You're gonna dig more than the chile in the Land of Enchantment
Summertime is synonymous with getting out of town, and many of us in the Sooner State opt to head west for that. Hard to go west from Oklahoma without hitting New Mexico, which is an ideal place to visit if flavor ranks high among travel priorities.
I had such a good time trip there in April, I’ve got tentative plans to return in August.
First things first, it’s the desert. Deserts are hot. Especially in the summer. However, I spent a week in New Mexico in late July back in 2014 and needed long sleeves for dinner on the patio. Mornings and evenings are divine for hikes and outdoor activities. By day, Santa Fe is a great town for indoor excursions like Meow Wolf, or fancy spas. It’s home to numerous art museums.
Albuquerque has a lovely natural history museum among its sightseeing options. Breaking Bad fans can tour locations from the show, and the Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum is a distinctive stop. Albuquerque is ground-zero for hot-air balloon enthusians, and the truly adventurous won’t have trouble finding a ride.
But we’re here to talk dining. If you don’t already, the local cuisine is founded on chiles. They burst through the desert soil green, ripen to red and are dried into an even richer shade of that color. Few states in the union can boast a more delicious or popular local resource.
For that reason, green and red chile is ubiquitous on local menus. It’s surprising and a little deflating on those rare occasions when you find a New Mexican menu where it doesn’t reside. Alas, I’m sure the locals see it differently.
When I was in New Mexico, I posted plenty of pictures and wrote about my first and last stops. The first stop was at The Coyote Café. While I can’t recommend The Coyote ahead of any of the other places I visited, if you have the time the cantina upstairs is cool and offers plenty of menu to get a feel for the place.
The last stop was at Burque (pronounced boorrr-kay) Bakehouse. My doors have been blown off plenty in life, but never has a bakery propelled them, hinges and all, with such velocity and ferocity. Put simply, if you come within 60 miles of Burque Bakehouse on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, just go. Seriously.
Locals tell me Blake’s Lotaburger is the go-to for a quick burger all over New Mexico There are six Filiberto’s locations (a Phoenix favorite) in Albuquerque ready to meet your late-night burrito needs.
In Santa Fe, Cafe Pascual’s is a classic, but best for breakfast in my book. My favorite place to visit in the desert is Chimayo, which is about an hour west of Santa Fe. Known for its distinctive chiles, hand-woven rugs and a little church of miracles. Rancho de Chimayo is also a delightful dinner spot.
Here’s a look at the other places where I dined during a week in New Mexico back in April.
The Compound, Santa Fe
The Compound started as just that. Where the restaurant resides was once the main house of a conglomeration of homes that shared a common wall. Then known as the Macomb Compound, sections of today’s building are more than 250 years old.
Since as far back as the Roaring 20s, the land where The Compound stands was known as a haven for artists. Georgia O’Keefe, John Wayne, and Errol Flynn all stayed in the main house. Will and Barbara Hooton Family converted the property into Santa Fe’s first fine-dining restaurant in 1966. Barbara Hooton, an avid art collector, called upon interior designer Alexander “Sandro” Girard for help. Girard’s first trip to Santa Fe was so entrancing he spent the rest of his life there, and his whimsical style is still well-represented.
Down a dirt road and still set in an upscale residential community, The Compound’s grounds read country club feel without the golf course. Creaky floors, low ceilings covered in fabric tiles and Girard’s eclectic style floor to ceiling give the immaculate dining room a timeless, Bohemian vibe.
Service at The Compound is second to none. Few restaurants I’ve ever visited boast more thorough and thoughtful care for their guests. I witnessed two servers juggle a seven-top of OG Big Pharma sales execs on a race to see who would most need an Uber to get home with grace and aplomb.
None of that was surprising for a restaurant that’s logged as many services as The Compound has, but no less refreshing to experience. The menu was equally unsurprising, which was less refreshing.
Starting with the Tuna Tartare, my meal was a succession of well-crafted dishes that I’ve seen or tried elsewhere. This iteration came with a tasty walnut toast but was topped with a layer of avocado mousse that added little more than color Caviar was a nice touch of contrast.
My favorite dish was the Grilled Asparagus and Brioche. A simple frisee salad was bolstered by a jammy 63-degree egg. Grillled asparagus was along for the ride with a slice of brioche toast for sopping. Just the right amount of house-made honey mustard bound the flavors and added brightness to the residual yoke I eagerly sopped up with the brioche. Perfection.
Roasted Rack of Lamb is a classic fine-dining entrée, and It’s no surprise The Compound served it. Chops, cooked to perfection, arrived over fregola sarda with spring onions, more grilled asparagus and a cherry conserva. Nicely done but left me wishing I’d ordered the halibut.
The prettiest dish of the evening was dessert. It was also the most forward-thinking. Normally, Opera Cake arrives looking a lot like a Napoleon. This one looked a lot more like a bombe, which was cool. As for the flavors, they were pretty much like an Opera Cake. Just wish it had been a better one.
Just because the food wasn’t as perfect as the grounds or service doesn’t mean I don’t recommend The Compound. Far from it. The grounds and service give the food a lot to live up to. The food is excellent, but the menu is a little safe.
A safe menu is not going to stop you from having a great time. The place is ideal for large parties or special occasions. It’s the kind of place you can relax for hours with confidence. The service will be perfect, and the food will be exemplary without offering a lot of adventure.
Zacatlan, Santa Fe
Zacatlan was opened in 2020 by chef Eduardo Rodriguez, who formerly manned the stove at Coyote Café after first learning from the late, great chef Eric DiStefano at Geronimo. The restaurant became the talk of Santa Fe, making USA Today’s Top 10 New Restaurants in America list, Rodriguez is currently up for Best Chef Southwest by the James Beard Foundation.
The dining room is small and rustic but well-appointed. More seating is available on a tiny, covered patio.
Service was hampered by lack of staffing. I stopped in for lunch on a Thursday and the inside dining room, which has about 30 seats, only had one server. There was another for the patio. Most of my meal was delivered with courtesy and on time, but the coffee I asked for to pair with dessert remains pending.
Day service at Zacatlan is brunch. Mine started with an arugula salad served with poached pears plus a taxi full of tostada chips, salsa and guacamole. The salad was well-dressed but one of the two pears was more toothsome than proper poaching would yield. Chips and dips were on point.
When I saw Oaxacan Black Mole Huevos Rancheros Tostadas on the menu, I nearly did a spit take. Three of Mexican cuisine’s Mount Rushmore candidates on the same dish? Alas, the mole was a smidge dried out. (Perhaps a minute or so too long under a heat lamp in the expo window?) Didn’t stop me from taking down both of them nor would it stop me from ordering it again.
For dessert Flan de Elote came with fresh strawberries, caramel popcorn and fresh mint. An ideal finish to a meal inspired by interior Mexican cuisine on a warm day. Would love to go back for dinner if I make it back later this summer. The dinner menu appears to take a deeper dive into the variety of moles available throughout Mexico.
Mesa Provisions, Albuquerque
My favorite stop on this dining tour was at chef Steve Riley’s Mesa Provisions. Located a few miles east of the University of New Mexico campus, it is the pride of Nob Hill.
Wood and iron accents abound in a dining room teeming with energy, walls bearing fine art provide a touch of class. Dined at the bar, which is clearly built for dining. Chef Riley delivered to the bar throughout my dinner.
Dinner started with green chile biscuits with red chile honey-butter. This was the least perfect thing I ate on the evening. The butter was divine and the biscuits delicious, accept for a little crumbly dryness around the edges. Far from a deal-killer. No crumb was left un-Hoovered.
Then came BBQ Beets. Marinated then smoked, these beets were bursting with flavor and texture was perfection. They didn’t need outrageously delicious sweet potato fritters, but they had them and were better for it. Neither needed white barbecue sauce beneath, but they, too, were bettered by the addition. Put simply: best beets I ever ate.
BBQ Beets were the ideal prelude to the bronzed Smoked Half Chicken that next arrived. This smoke-lacquered bird showed up with duck-fat tortillas and locally grown pinto beans. The skin was crisp, the meat uniformly moist, and the beans were the gold-standard. Fluffy, sumptuous duck-fat tortillas proved more than a gimmick. A swoosh of spicy pepita crema offered welcome contrast.
For dessert came Chocolate Surprise. Riley’s team turned a pair of meringue cookies into a sandwich held together by hazelnut-chocolate filling. Encircled by cracked hazelnuts and white chocolate for swiping and scooping, it was so good it made me laugh. Lawd! Have mercy. Riley is among those who will be in Chicago along with chef Jeff Chanchaleune of Ma der Lao Kitchen vying for the Best Chef Southwest medal and this meal made it clear why.
If I were doing formal ratings, none of these restaurants would fall below four stars but none would likely earn five.
The Compound’s service and setting is easily a five-star experience, but the food would be closer to three.
Because I only had lunch at Zacatlan, I don’t feel like I got anywhere near the full experience, but that alone would keep it from being a five-star restaurant.
As for Mesa Provisions, the only thing keeping my one experience from being five-star was the wine my server recommended not being available. No big deal, but when you’re handing out five-star status it is. Ultimately, whether Mesa Provisions is a five-star restaurant would have to be determined over time.
If you make it out to the desert this summer, I’d love to read about your experiences in the comments — especially if you visit any of the places mentioned here.