North Central New Mexico Food Trail - New Mexican Cuisine

 The food in Santa Fe is amazing and there are lots of options.  However, the first thing I want when I come and visit is the flavors of New Mexico.  There is a big difference between New Mexican cuisine and eating Mexican food at your local Mexican restaurant back home.  Especially if you live and Texas and they serve everything smothered in queso and call it Tex Mex.

For this category, I am going to break it into several posts, based on the different regions of New Mexico so the list is manageable and to help with a forced ranked order for each list.  The North Central region incorporates the towns of Taos, Espanola, Chimayo, Santa Fe, and others located in the frequently visited portion of New Mexico.

These are ranked ordered based on my favorite locations.  When evaluating we try to visit new places all the time.  The first two places are locations that we always hit because they are simply amazing.  It is hard to rank them and we usually visit both on every trip unless we just are not in the area for long enough to have more than one meal.

Rancho De Chimayo

Steeped in the traditions of New Mexico, Rancho De Chimayo is a pleasure to visit and offers the finest of New Mexican cuisine.  I started visiting Rancho de Chimayo when I was in the seventh grade and it is a tradition for us any time in the area.  The restaurant was opened in 1965 in a house built by Arturo Jaramillo and his wife Florence.  You can still enjoy dinning in the original house, or at one of the tables on the refreshing tiered back patio.  The adobe structure is a great backdrop for the traditional New Mexican dishes.  Honored in 2016 with the James Beard Foundation America's Classic Award and recognized in 2014 as a New Mexico Culinary Treasure, 


300 Juan Medina Rd.
Chimayo, NM 87522
505-351-4444
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La Choza

La Choza translates to "The Shed" in English.  Those familiar with famous restaurants in Santa Fe will recognize The Shed as a popular restaurant serving great New Mexican cuisine sine 1953.  As the sister restaurant to the The Shed I feel that it was built for locals and delivers some of the finest New Mexican cuisine that you can get in Santa Fe.  A very popular dish here are the blue corn enchiladas with red or green chile.  This is always my first stop when I full into town. 



905 Alarid St.
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505-982-0909
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Ranchos Plaza Grill

Ranchos Plaza Grill is in the town center of Ranchos De Taos located just south of Taos, New Mexico off highway 68.  It would be easy to miss this one if you were traveling on the High Road to Taos or speeding up highway 68.  We order some combination plates here, and while they were unfortunately out of tamales, my wife claims that the beef taco was the best taco she has had. I got a chili relleno and cheese enchilada smothered in green chile.  The sopapillas here were huge and made a great way to finish off our lunch with a little honey.

8 Ranchos Plaza
Ranchos De Taos, NM 87557
575-758-5788
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Maria's

We have eaten at Maria's many times over the years and can get a pretty good meal here.  My go to plate here is the combination plate which has a taco, tamale, chile relleno and a cheese enchilada.  The chile relleno is done with a light batter that really compliments the and highlights the chile flavors.  Maria's has an extensive tequila list if you are wanting to taste the differences between them.  All the tequilas also offers quite a variety of margarita options.  Par

555 W Cordova Rd
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505-983-7929
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Tomasitas

Located in the Rail Yard district of Santa Fe, Tomasitas is in a great location to enjoy a meal, some shopping (especially at REI) and maybe visiting a brewery or distillery.  Tomasita's has served tradition New Mexican cuisine since 1974.  In 1980 they moved into the old Denver & Santa Fe railroad station where you can now eat inside this historic station that was on what was referred to as "The Chile Line".  The food here is made with red and green chiles coming from Hatch, so you are going to get some great flavor profiles.  Tomasitas offers a variety of different combination plates, a great way to enjoy a variety of classic options.

500 S Guadalupe St.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505-983-5721
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Closed Monday & Tuesday



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