Taking a road trip with my wife and daughter to Santa Fe, NM next week! Looking for restaurant recs! Doesn't necessarily have to be super fancy. Open to whatever...Interior Mexican, Asian, Southwestern, etc. Looking for good breakfast/brunch spot as well. We're also doing a day trip to Taos so if you have something there you recommend that's great too!

Everyone is going to recommend The Shed, which is fine. But it's the must visit spot.

I really like Radish & Rye as a fancy spot.
Sazon is a great fancy Mexican spot.

Clafoutis would be a good breakfast spot. It's a French place that has a great breakfast.
Cafe Pasquals is another favorite for breakfast.

For New Mexican, I like The Pantry Rio or Casa Chimayo.
Tune Up Cafe is a cool Salvadorean / New Mexican spot.

Dr. Field Goods is probably the place I eat lunch at the most.

Rowley Farmhouse is a nice wild ale brewery with great food.
Paper Dosa is tremendous for Indian food.
Jambo Cafe for African.

Michael's Kitchen in Taos for breakfast/lunch. Been there since I was a kid, thinking of their stuffed sopapillas smothered in green chile is making me hungry

The Shed sucks. Anyone who says otherwise went because another tourist told them the Shed is party balls in your mouth explosions of awesomeality.

The Shed sucks even if there isn't 2 hour wait.

Rachos Plaza Grill in Taos (well basically Taos) is one of my favorites. Orlando's is also really good in Taos

Wife and I had an incredible dinner at Geronimo's a few years back. It's pretty pricey but I thought it was worth it.

I'll defer to Cdub though because he is far more of a NM expert than me.

Escondido for tacos and cocktails.
Radish & Rye or Geronimo for your high-end dinner.
Izanami if you want Japanese with the most extensive sake list I've ever seen.

Rowley Farmhouse Ales

Geronimo hands down one of my favorite dining experiences ever. It is fancier, but southwest fancy, so not that fancy? Definitely pricey.

We enjoyed the casual casual rooftop cantina at Coyote Cafe, if you're looking for something quick and easy.

Was not impressed with The Shed at all…I walked out of there afterwards thinking "Really…all that hype for this??"

Yeah, for real. It's fine.

I've never understood all the hype.

Market Street
Sazon
Clafoutis
Cafe Pascal
Geronimo

All good spots. If you must do the shed (it is unremarkable), might as well go to la choza instead and skip the wait if you have a car. I feel like its more comfortable there anyway.

Boxcar is a good sports bar if you're there for the super bowl.

If you have a chance, go hit the farmer's market at the old rail station. I believe it is Saturday morning. They have some stands that have really interesting local bites.

It's been a while but when I was there I went to Casa Chimayo for New Mexican food and it was great. Blue corn enchiladas with Christmas sauce was incredible. So was the Pazole.

What about the Pink Adobe?

Been on my list to hit up after making a home version of the Steak Dunigan.

Thanks for the recommendations...I'm excited to try some of these!

The Shed
(or La Choza)
(or Maria's)
These three restaurants all serve phenomenal red chile enchiladas and great margaritas in Santa Fe, which is what I think of as the classic Northern New Mexican dinner. The Shed and La Choza are owned by the same family, and they have the best red chile - you want the Enchilada Plate, Red, with extra onions, and a silver coin margarita (optionally with a float of mezcal). They will ask you if you want sopaipilla or garlic bread, and the pro answer is "Is there any way I can get both?" - you want to use the garlic bread to mop up the red chile so you can put honey on your sopaipilla. The Shed is the more soulful and storied location of the two, downtown near the plaza, so you should go there. There will be a long wait - sometimes if you call in advance you can get a reservation, but usually even then they give you a buzzer and you have to wait. Find a way to enjoy it. Maria's is the main competition for The Shed, with similar culinary strengths - their red chile is not quite as good but their margaritas are even better. Since the purity of the red chile enchilada at Maria's is slightly less sacrosanct, a fun plus-up when I'm there is to get the enchiladas filled with carne adovada and have them put an egg on top. It's a lot, but it's great.
https://sfshed.com/
https://www.lachozasf.com/
https://www.marias-santafe.com/

Horseman's Haven
Despite appearances, Horseman's Haven is a temple to green chile. It doesn't look like a temple - it's a smallish diner (used to be much smaller) attached to a gas station out on Cerillos, with photos of a few local sports teams and locals eating breakfast at beat up linoleum tables. They don't have a website, I'll just include the address, but if you Google it it's readily found. Their green chile is the best in the world. Warning - it is also legitimately hot. The best thing to order here is a breakfast burrito with green chile, but the 3D burrito with green chile is also excellent (adovada is a strong play), and their green chile cheeseburgers are a very real thing. The pros all stick to bacon in their breakfast burritos, but personally I like to go with chorizo; everyone agrees, though, that you want to ask for the potatoes extra crispy and get your burrito smothered in green chile and cheese. I like to get a side of level 2, but you don't strictly need it unless there is something wrong with you - the normal level 1 green chile will already light you up good. Don't make plans to operate heavy machinery after eating here.
4354 Cerrillos Rd, Santa Fe, NM 87507

Tia Sophia's
Another place too caught out of time to have a proper website, this very New Mexican breakfast/lunch place is downtown, just a few short blocks from the plaza, and they close pretty early. Great green, but their red is also killer. Can't go wrong with the Atrisco plate, but I think everything there is pretty great. If I'm extra hungry and can convince someone to split it with me, I like to get a single blue corn pancake on the side and cover it with a side of green chile, which I know sounds crazy but trust me it's awesome.
210 W San Francisco St, Santa Fe, NM 87501

El Parasol
Rounding out my list of essential eateries in Santa Fe proper is El Parasol, a local chain. Their shredded beef tacos and their chicken tacos with guacamole are some of the very best tacos I've ever eaten - don't forget to add some of their excellent hot sauce. The burritos are killer too - a bean and cheese burrito, Christmas, makes a great eat-in-the-car-on-the-way-back-to-San-Antonio meal.
https://elparasol.com/

Rancho de Chimayo
(outside of Santa Fe, but a reasonable day trip, or you can stay there - see below)
This place is a temple to red chile, and, unlike Horseman's, it lets you know it's a temple. Behind the beautiful terraced seating out back there is an old wooden gate you can walk through to a quiet rolling kind of dried orchard, which seems utterly magical. While in Chimayo, admire the Spanish colonial art in the nave of the sanctuario, get yourself some holy dirt, and stop by El Potrero Trading Post to buy the highest quality dried red chile I know how to find with any regularity. It can also be fun to buy chile from people selling it in the parking lot, though obviously that's more of a crap shoot.
https://www.ranchodechimayo.com/
https://www.nps.gov/places/el-santuario-de-chimayo.htm
https://santafelibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2022/05/Chimayo.pdf

El Modelo- If you are going to ABQ
(outside of Santa Fe, down in ABQ)
If you find yourself down in ABQ, I heartily recommend El Modelo. There are other storied eateries down there, but in my admittedly limited experience none of them hold a candle to this place. I have not really explored the menu here, because I don't go often, and every time I do I feel compelled to get either their magnificent chile relleno burrito or their mathematically perfect stuffed sopaipilla. Which is a shame, because I suspect their Carne Adovada Burrito might actually be the best thing to get. Anyway, this place is amazing. No seating, but there are a precious few picnic tables in their parking lot.
https://www.elmodelomexicanfood.com/

Honorable Mentions:

- The Pantry - I'm scandalized that this place is only going in the honorable mentions list and isn't a main recommendation. Incredibly solid Santa Fe mainstay, great diner food and great New Mexican food, excellent red and green. I once figured out the perfect order here, but I can never remember it - maybe it was a carne adovada omelette? That sure sounds perfect as I type this... My brother always gets the Buenos Dias plate, usually Christmas. Man, I love this place. But I'm leaving it down here for some reason.
https://www.pantrysantafe.com/
- Santa Fe Bite - used to be the home of the best burger in the world. Now the home of a damn fine green chile cheeseburger, probably still the best in the city (though Horseman's might have something to say about that) and still one of the better burgers in the world.
https://www.santafebitenm.com/home
- Posa's - The best tamales in town, fueled by red and green (you want the red). Their burritos are also serious contenders for best in town.
https://santafetamales.com/
- Cafe Pasqual's - takes a chef-y, high-end approach to New Mexican food, serves a killer breakfast but there will be a wait. And a pricetag.
https://pasquals.com/
- Clafouti's - in case you need a break from New Mexican food, this french cafe is really great. Absolutely killer pastries, too.
https://www.clafoutis.biz/
- Harry's Roadhouse - not sure why you would go here if you don't spend a lot of time in Santa Fe, but this place is just cool, a favorite among the locals, run by good people, serving reliably good food.
https://www.harrysroadhousesf.com/
- La Reina - slightly too cool tequila/mezcal/margarita bar in the slightly too cool El Rey Court (see below), a fixed-up old Route 66 motel that has been lovingly and artistically gentrified/restored. I'm being overly harsh in my description - I actually love this place, it's great. A breath of 21st century in a very 19th century town, but very much in a good way. Austinites and Los Angelenos will feel at home here.
https://elreycourt.com/la-reina
- The Matador - if you need a dive bar in Santa Fe, this is it.
116 W San Francisco St, Santa Fe, NM 87501

I figured I might as well go all the way. Hope this is useful, or at least decent reading. If you go to any of these spots let me know! I also have places to visit and stay if you need rec's!

just a dude that loves NM, my guy.

ILikeTacos said:

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Geronimo hands down one of my favorite dining experiences ever. It is fancier, but southwest fancy, so not that fancy? Definitely pricey.

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I still dream of the pork shank I had there 4 years ago

We had reservations at Sazon but had to cancel due to an injury someone in our party suffered while walking on Canyon Road. If you go there, be careful. The sidewalk is uneven and missing in some parts, and you have to watch where you step.

"Canyon Road is a historic district, which means that it's super charming, but it's not the most accessible area of Santa Fe. Sidewalks are often cracked and uneven. There are stretches of dirt and gravel instead of cement, and there are a few spots where the sidewalk all but disappears. Many of the galleries have steps and stairs, but no ramps or elevators. If there is a gallery that you really want to visit and you have mobility concerns, we recommend calling ahead to ensure that you will be able to access the gallery."