Eating, Sleeping, Sightseeing in Santa Fe
Eating Your Way Through Santa Fe
Where to Eat? This town is a gastronomic delight. Take your burrito on the run, sit down to a dramatic extravagant dinner in a restaurant that’s hundreds of years old, or feast on a fine, scrummy burger. I don’t quite know where to start, but here we go…
For breakfast, try the Pantry (1820 Cerrillos), or if you’re downtown Pasqual’s (121 Don Gaspar, though the wait at weekends can be shocking).
Grab that burrito from any number of places on Cerrillos Road. Other great lunch eateries are The Shed (113 Palace Avenue), the Santa Fe Baking Company (504 W. Cordova), and the Guadalupe Cafe, on the Santa Fe Trail next to the Roundhouse. Tinys, 1015 Pen Road just off Paseo de Peralta at St. Francis, has been there since 1950-something, and is THE place local politicos go for unpretentious Northern New Mexico food.
Dinner? Back to The Shed, or for a most romantic, most elegant dinner, it’s the Casa Sena, in the shadow of the Cathedral on East Palace Avenue. For one of those “where the locals go” dinners, get to Harrys Roadhouse, on the Old Las Vegas Highway.
For those burgers, the world’s finest are only to be enjoyed at the Bobcat Bite on the Old Las Vegas Highway. Their opening times are eclectic, so check first at www.bobcatbite.com, 505.983.5319
So here’s the raw list of best places to eat (according to me!) in Santa Fe:
Northern NM:
La Chosa, 905 Alarid
The Shed, 113 E. Palace
Tomasitas, 500 S Guadalupe
Marias, 555 W Cordova
The burrito van on Cordova next to Wild Oats
Dragon Room, Old SF Trail opposite “oldest church”
Nice dinner spots, more elegant:
El Farol, Canyon Road
Santa Cafe, 213 Washington
AquaSanta, 451 W Alameda
Casa Sena, 125 East Palace, opposite Cathedral
Ristra Restaurant, 982 Agua Fria
Breakfast/brunch/lunch:
Santa Fe Baking Company, W. Cordova (Breakfast burritos…)
The Pantry, Cerrillos Road (Huevos Rancheros….)
Tecolote, Cerrillos Road (mmm, French Toast…)
Tia Sophia, 210 San Francisco, nr Plaza (Huevos Rancheros too..)
French restaurant, Burro Alley next to Lensic (Pain au chocolat…)
Counter Culture Cafe, Baca (takes cash, no credit cards) (Smothered Burrito….)
Breakfast coffee & pastries:
Station Cafe, at the Railyard (nearby Santa Fe Southern rail station has a great shop for souvenir Santa Fe Railway t-shirts, etc.)
Coffee Shops
Ohoris – 2 locations, one at the corner of Old SF Trail and Paseo de Peralta, the other on St. Francis behind KFC. Best coffee – as good as, maybe better than, Peets…
Holy Spirit – downtown, stand up place, a few doors from the Lensic. Great no-nonsense coffee.
Aztec Cafe – on Aztec St. off Guadalupe. Good snacks and light lunch too. Wi-Fi.
Out of town:
Bobcat Bite (finest green chile cheeseburger on the planet), Old Las Vegas Highway. http://www.bobcatbite.com/ Open Wed-Sat to 7.50pm
Harrys Restaurant, Old Las Vegas Highway
When you tire of burritos:
Railyard Restaurant, Guadalupe
Cowboy Bar & Grill, Guadalupe
pizza joint > Upper Crust Pizza, Old SF Trail, next to “oldest church”
Cocktails:
St Francis Hotel bar
Anasazi Hotel bar
El Farol, Canyon Rd. (great tapas!)
Sightseeing
Tucked away on a hilltop just a few miles from town are four of the most intriguing museums you’ll ever see (and a great restaurant, too). Now branded “Museum Hill” these museums will entrance you for hours. By the way, you can get the bus right to Museum Hill from the Plaza. Anyway here are the museums:
Museum of Spanish Colonial Art
The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art is the newest museum on the Santa Fe scene and features objects from throughout the Spanish Colonial world, housed in a historical building designed by John Gaw Meem.
www.spanishcolonial.org
Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
At the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, encounter Native cultures and artifacts of the Southwest from ancestral to contemporary, in exhibits drawing from more than 70,000 works of art and material culture.
www.miaclab.org
Museum of International Folk Art
To experience the color and excitement of the world’s cultures, go to the Museum of International Folk Art and see an unparalleled collection that includes toys, textiles, household goods and religious art.
www.moifa.org
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
New Mexico’s oldest private non-profit museum, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, emphasizes important Native American art in an eight-sided building inspired by a traditional Navajo hooghan.
www.wheelwright.org
Staying
Where to Stay? Where indeed? There are hundreds of hotels in Santa Fe, from the Inn at the Anasazi to the dozens of motels along Cerrillos Road. There’s a great list that you can book from Here are some of my favorites. And for a real taste of Santa Fe living, contact Kokopelli about one of their rental properties – it’ll cost no more than a decent hotel room, and it’s your haven.
La Fonda – on the Plaza, reeking of history, as it was the last stop on the Santa Fe Trail.
Inn of the Anasazi – elegant, great bar, excellent wine list. Located just off the Plaza
St. Francis – “European-style” (ie small) rooms, but very elegant, well located, and an excellent bar frequented by locals as well as tourists.
Inn of the Governors – a real “find” – downtown, cosy and reasonably priced.
Courtyard by Marriott – More typical hotel with decent pricing, good sized rooms and an indoor swimming pool
Convenient, cosy studio-style guesthouse - Less than 10 minutes walk from the Plaza, close to restaurants, Trader Joe, Farmers Market. Available short term (3 day minimum) or longer term
Outside the city
There are several fine day-trips you can take out of Santa Fe – here are a selection . . .
Taos
About three hours drive, through your choice of countryside: the main road, once it passes through Española, tracks the beautiful Rio Grande most of the way. This river begs you to stop, enjoy its vitality and fish or wade in it. The other route is through dramatic Northern New Mexican ruggedness – the legendary High Road to Taos: it takes a little longer, but you’ll never forget it.
Turquoise Trail
You probably arrived in New Mexico via Albuquerque Airport, and rushed up I-25 to get here. That’s good, but there’s another way to do that, via the Turquoise Trail, a designated scenic byway that takes you through the old mining towns of Golden and Madrid. Madrid bustles now, with artistic endeavor, but still has some of the raw edges of a mining town.
Los Alamos, Valle Caldera, Tsankawe
Talk about contrast! Los Alamos, home of The Big One, is a boring all-American town in the middle of a scenic wonderland. En route to Los Alamos, stop for a one/two hour hike at the ruins of Tsankawe.
Past Los Alamos is the recently purchased pristine Valle Caldera, the hollowed out center of an ancient volcano. A ranch for many years, it is now accessible with strict limits.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Harrison Ford’s Son Thrilled His ‘Crazy’ Dad Eloped (people.com)
- What’s the story on Santa Fe? (sfgate.com)
- Calabacitas and The Feast of Santa Fe (simplycooking.wordpress.com)
Connect with Me
Santa Fe Market Update
