Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [217]
Roque, a fifth-generation Santa Fean and a fount of local lore, goes to Mexico each winter, where he runs a pizzeria. To our noses, the smell of his sizzling carnitas on the Santa Fe Plaza is as much a sign of spring as singing robins and blooming lilacs.
San Marcos Café
3877 State Road 14
505–471–9298
Cerrillos, NM
BL | $
The San Marcos Café is a popular destination eatery and a convenient stop for folks on their way to Cerrillos or Madrid. If you plan on eating here on a weekend morning, it’s best to call ahead and make sure there’s room. Breakfast can be a mob scene. We were thrilled with the cinnamon rolls—taller than they are wide, and rather than being dense and doughy like so many others, they are crisp and lightweight, almost croissant-like in character. Other dandy breakfast items are eggs San Marcos, which is a large serving of fluffy scrambled eggs wrapped inside a tortilla and sided by beans, chili, and guacamole under a mantle of melted cheese; biscuits topped with spicy sausage gravy; and machaca (beef and eggs with pico de gallo).
A cozy, charming ranch house decorated in country-kitchen style (old enameled stoves, wooden cupboards, knickknacks galore), the café also happens to be a veritable bird jungle. Peacocks and peahens, wild turkeys, and roosters all cavort around the front and back, and while they are not allowed inside the restaurant, there are pictures on the wall of the most famous chicken of them all, a leghorn rooster named Buddy, who served long tenure as unofficial maitre d’. Dressed in black tie, Buddy cheerfully greeted guests at the door and crowed through the breakfast hour. Years ago, when Buddy passed away, customers mourned. And although a few other roosters have been named to take his place, none has ever had the people skills that Buddy had.
Sugar’s
1799 Hwy. 68
505–852–0604
Embudo, NM
LD | $
Sugar’s is a tin-sided house trailer by the side of the road with a small cluster of picnic tables on an adjoining open patio. Sugar herself is gorgeous: a big, muscular bulldog bitch whom you can usually see in the yard to the left of the tin trailer where you place your order at a window then wait while they cook it inside. Her picture also adorns the wall-mounted menu, which is a roadside roster of burgers and green chile cheeseburgers, corn dogs, burritos, and Fritos pie.
We have never tried any of those things because we go straight to Sugar’s excellent barbecue. It’s brisket, slow-cooked until pot-roast tender, ridiculously juicy, and infused with the flavor of smoke. Basically there are two ways to have it: in a sandwich, with tangy red sauce, or wrapped in a tortilla with green chiles and cheese. We prefer the latter because, in our opinion, that sweet-tangy sauce on the sandwich distracts from the lovely, subtle taste of the brisket. On the other hand, the barbecue burrito is an inspired creation: thick shreds of beef accented by the snap of peppers and even further enriched by melted cheese. We could eat these burritos all day long. But alas, where we live, they are nothing but a memory. Such a fine cheap-eats meal is an only-in-New-Mexico experience.
During the summer, Sugar’s also offers barbecued ribs and sausage. The winter smokehouse menu is strictly brisket.
Tecolote Café
1203 Cerrillos Rd.
505–988–1362
Santa Fe, NM
BL | $$
When Bill and Alice Jennison opened Tecolote in 1980, they did so with a sense of mission. Their goal, stated on the back of the menu, was “to serve a wholesome, tasty meal, at a reasonable price, in a comfortable and cheerful environment.” On occasion they have opened up for evening meals, but the Jennisons’ specialty, and the distinction of Tecolote, is breakfast. Lines of morning customers waiting to get in are testimony to their fulfillment of the mission.
Personally, we like Tecolote’s atole piñon hotcakes best of all. Made with blue cornmeal and studded with roasted piñon nuts, they actually resemble