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Santa Fe's Coyote Cafe

© Annette R. Bignami

Sunset's bloody blush fades to black on the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The scent of cholla, chiles and piñon pines wafts in through the open window. Flat-roofed brown adobes fade to black, and the sound of a flamenco guitar tinkles up from the courtyard. It's dusk -- that quiet time best shared with an affectionate companion and a cool beverage - which separates a walker's day filled with galleries and museums from dinner's delights.

We could be in Southern Spain. We could be in the mountains of Mexico. We could be in an Italian Hill Town. We are in a magic spot that offers all of these, and more.

We need not identify Santa Fe, for no other town in North America offers such complex treasures of art, architecture and atmosphere. To visit Santa Fe is easy, if you allow a week, and frustrating, if you only come for three or four days. But to understand Santa Fe, and I've been visiting since 1955, you need to return, and return and return. Arrive with the realization that Santa FE is not "American." Rather think of it as a European hill town with a 400-year history that just happens to be in the Southwest where the enrichment of Native American and cowboy cultures make it unique! Unfortunately, most visitors miss the best of Santa Fe a "city for all seasons." Tourists escape summer heat here, but fewer visit in spring and fall when weather peaks and either the desert blooms, or the aspens shake golden in the wind. Winters may be the best time to visit of all as three cultures celebrate Christmas and the New Year, and there's easily accessible quite uncrowded skiing.

No matter when you visit, Santa Fe's lifestyle and, in particular, its food, always reflected this cultural cross-fertilization. Traditional Santa Fe food wasn't Mexican, or Spanish or Native American back in the days when Billy the Kid washed dishes in the La Fonda Hotel. Then everyone offered theme and variations on chiles -- spelled locally with and e, as is the traditional Spanish spelling - that "hotted up" corn and blue corn, tortillas, beans and tomatoes. Contemporary restaurants now enrich these local foods with ingredients from all over the world. At least two dozen restaurants offer solid value, but the Coyote Café and Old House most deserve our dinner dollars, and the Inn of Anasazi will, as the new chef takes hold, retain it's culinary status. Add the casual offerings of Wolf Canyon and a sausage fix at the Chicago Dog and you're only started.

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