Restaurant Recommendation: Tomasita’s in Santa Fe, NM

The Chile is Hot, The Marguerites are Strong

Tomasita's Restaurant at 500 S Guadalupe St. in Santa Fe is a Mecca for frequent travelers to the high desert, an icon for locals and a must-see for first-time visitors. Around dinner it is inevitably packed and would-be diners are forced to deal with a long wait. So if you can eat early or very late, you should.

Don’t forget the chile. Think on your choice carefully. Red or green? Vegetarian or regular? Chiles are everywhere in New Mexican cuisine. They eat them with everything, and perhaps at first, the fire will make you wonder why. You’ll surprise yourself by the end of the meal, though, as you’re shoveling spoonfuls into your mouth between gulps of water, sweating and happy. Order a liter of marguerites and share with friends. Rinse. Repeat.

Finally, an entire paragraph must be devoted to the flakiest, warmest, softest sopaipillas in all of America. If you don’t know what a sopaipilla is, you have not lived. Calling it “flat bread” or “fry bread” would only demean it. These are puffy, chewy patry-like clouds of dough. With a fresh squirt of honey on each bite of a piece of sopaipilla at Tomasita’s, the diner is treated to a sweet, fluffy taste of heaven. They make the perfect end to a hearty and authentic New Mexican meal.