Spring is officially here and the weather is on a rollercoaster. Warm one day and snow flurries the next. Keeps us on our toes! If you’ve been wanting to visit Santa Fe, here’s a secret: April (and May) are two of the best months to visit Santa Fe. The weather is mostly warm though we can get an occasional snow event. The good news is it melts quickly. The city isn’t crowded with tourists and hotels have off-season rates. Want a personalized Santa Fe experience? Check out our travel-planning and tour business. We’ll work with you to craft a memorable visit.
Santa Fe food and dining
The now-defunct Swiss Bakery Pastries & Bistro photo/Steve Collins
February and March weren’t good months for the Santa Fe restaurant industry. There were three surprise closings. The Zia Diner, opened in 1986, closed its doors without notice one early February day. Another long-time spot, the popular breakfast hangoutSanta Fe Baking Company just didn’t open on Tuesday, March 15th. The management slunk away in the night. They didn’t even tell Mary-Charlotte Domandi, host of the long-running KSFR morning show Santa Fe Radio Café. Her equipment was locked in the now-defunct eatery. Rumors are another restaurant is opening on the spot. The restaurant’s website has the cryptic announcement “Under New Ownership,” on a funereal black background. Also closed: the Swiss Bakery & Bistro; an application for a new liquor license is in the window there. We hear it’s going to be an Italian restaurant. We’ll keep watch on these spots and update you.
The Street Food Institute truck in their new Santa Fe location photo/David Sellers
The Albuquerque-based Street Food Institute is alive and well in Santa Fe. Long-time Santa Fe Chef, David Sellers is the Program Director and Executive Chef of the Institutes program at Santa Fe Community College. Because future food truck cooks need hands-on training, the Institute has a few. Two set up around Albuquerque, one is in Santa Fe. The local one just got a new permanent home on Old Santa Fe Trail across from Kaune’s Market (in the spot formerly occupied by Bang Bite). Everything on the frequently-changing menu, that Sellers calls “a combination of Asian, Mexican and American comfort food,” is made from scratch including all the breads. Current hours are Tuesday through Friday 11am to 2pm. They plan to start serving breakfast in a few weeks. Check their Facebook for daily specials and updated information. You can also call and order ahead. They’re also out at the Santa Fe Brewing Company on Wednesday evenings from 4 to 8:30pm.
The Anasazi dining room photo/Steve Collins
The restaurant at the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi has a new chef. We got to meet Chef Edgar Beas at a press reception earlier this month. We’re really excited to try his food. Chef Edgar, who had his culinary training in Spain, was the chef de cuisine at the upscale chain’s Michelin-starred Sand Hill in Menlo Park, CA. His seasonal menus will be built around “concepts that emphasize the vibrant flavors of the Southwest.”
Caffe Greco’s colorful interior, photo/Lance Bell,courtesy Caffe Greco
Caffe Greco at the bottom of Santa Fe’s Canyon Road has been churning out customer-pleasing breakfasts and lunches since it opened in 2013. has expanded and is now offering dinner. The New Mexican-inspired menu offers a selection of fourth generation Santa Fean Chef Cindy Barerrass family recipes as well as other tasteful dishes. Barerras uses locally produced foods whenever possible.
Shelves full of New Mexico-made foods at Los Foodies photo/Eric Martinez
There’s a new market in town specializing in locally produced foods. Los Foodies Market and Visitor’s Center opened in Vino Del Corazon at 235 Don Gaspar Avenue. The shop, opened on March 15th, will promote New Mexico-made food products. Owner Eric Martinez, who brings over 20 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, has big plans. For starters, he’ll hold an open house every Saturday from 12 pm to 2 pm. These will feature local chefs, New Mexican product vendors, farmers, ranchers as well as a host of culinary happenings as well as food tastings. Martinez also plans to offer concierge service which he says will include restaurant recommendations (and he’ll even book reservations), caterer recommendations and event venue suggestions. He calls Los Foodies “the go-to” place for people who want to know about the local food and beverage industry.
Santa Fe art
Morris Miniature Circus at International Museum of Folk Art photo/courtesy Museum of International Folk Art
The Morris Miniature Circus: Return of The Little Big Top opens at the Museum of International Folk Art on Sunday, April 3rd. The whimsical collection of over 100,000 miniatures was modeled after what is known as the “railroad circus.” These shows traveled that across the USA via trains in the 1920s and 30s. The would arrive in a town, set up their tents, perform, and move on to the next town. The unique collection was built W.J. Morris over a 30-year period using a range of mediums including woodcarving and painting to clay modeling and mold making. The show runs through January 1, 2017.
Goldfinch by photographer Cig Harvey photo/courtesy photo-eye Gallery
A new photography show, Gardening at Night, opens at photo-eye Gallery on Friday, April 15th with an artist’s reception from 5 to 7pm. The show features color images and animations by renowned photographer Cig Harvey from his book of the same name. The exhibition “explores notions of time, family, nature and home.” It runs through Saturday, June 4th.
Evening Star No. VI,1917 Georgia O’Keeffe Watercolor on paper 8 7/8 x 12 (22.5 x 30.5) Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Gift of The Burnett Foundation (1997.18.003)
© Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
Georgia O’Keeffe’s Far Wide Texa,s a show featuring rarely-seen watercolors painted by Georgia O’Keeffe during the years she lived in Canyon, Texas (1916-1918), opens at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum on Friday, April 29th. The works were painted while O’Keeffe was teaching art at West Texas State Normal College (West Texas A & M University). According to the museum, they “reveal a period of radical innovation and the defining moment in the artist’s commitment to abstraction as well as a career as a professional artist.” Twenty-eight of the 51 works she completed during this period will be on view. The show runs through Sunday, October 30th.
Jack Parson’s Taillight in Red, Blackand Blue photo/courtesy Patina Gallery
Patina Gallery launches a show of iconic VW Bug photos by Jack Parson on Friday, April 29th from 5 to 7:30pm. Parsons is known for his photographs of lowriders in Northern New Mexico in definitive book on the subject, Low ‘n Slow: Lowriding in New Mexico, written by Camilla Padilla and first published in 1999. Parsons is fascinated by VW Beetles and has turned his camera to them. The result will be on view at the gallery through Sunday, May 29th.
Santa Fe Music
Costume and set designer Wilberth Gonzalez checks out soprano Jacquelyn Stucker’s costume photo/courtesy Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera presents the premiere of UnShakeable on Saturday, April 9th at 6pm, and Sunday, April 10th at 2pm at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center. This “opera for all ages,” written to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, was composed by Joe Illick, General Director of Performance Santa Fe. The libretto was written by Andrea Fellows Walters, the Opera’s Director of Education and Community Engagement. The scene is abandoned theater in New Mexico 25 years in the future. The opera explores themes of memory, connection, and the power of song in the context of a modern romantic comedy. The opera, sung in English, incorporates some of the language from some of Shakespeare’s iconic works. Tickets are $10 and are available at the Santa Fe Opera box office. The opera will then tour cities and towns in New Mexico and Southern Colorado.
Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra Chorus photo/courtesy Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra
The Santa Fe Symphony presents two concerts this April.
On Sunday, April 10th they’ll present Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with guest violinist Alexi Kenney. The 7pm program, held at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, will be rounded out by pieces by Bach and Mozart. There will be a free pre-concert lecture at 6pm. Tickets to the performance ($25 to $80 as well as half-price tickets for children ages 6 to 14 with adult purchase) are available at both the Lensic and Santa Fe Symphony box offices as well as online at Tickets Santa Fe*.
On Sunday, April 17th, the Santa Fe Symphony Chorus will be perform Duruflé’s Requiem at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe at 4pm. Admission is free.
Nuestra Musica at the Lensic Theater 2014, photo/Kate Russell Photography courtesy of the Lensic
The Lensic Performing Arts Center, the Spanish Colonial Arts Society and the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs will present the 16th Annual Nuestra Música on Friday, April 15th at 7pm. The event, held at the Lensic, celebrates New Mexico’s rich musical heritage through shared stories and song. This is the only annual concert in NM dedicated to the state’s Hispano folk music. The concert features well-known musicians including Roberto Mondragon y Amigos, Frank McCulloch y Sus Amigos, and Cipriano Vigil y La Familia Vigil. General admission tickets are $10; seniors are free. Tickets are available at the Lensic box office or online at Tickets Santa Fe*.
Performance Santa Fe presents Croatian guitarist Ana Vidović on Friday, April 15th at 7:30pm at the St. Francis Auditorium. The program will include music by Bach, Giuliani, and Mangore, among others. The concert is in conjunction with the New Mexico Museum of Art’s exhibition, Medieval to Metal: The Art & Evolution of the Guitar, which will be on display until Sunday, May 1st. Tickets, $25 to $75, are available at the Performance Santa Fe website or at Tickets Santa Fe*.
*Tickets for the above concerts can be purchased online at Tickets Santa Fe
That’s it for this month. Enjoy spring! Tidbits will be back the last Tuesday in April.
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