Heritage Hotels & Resorts Inc. wanted to provide its guests with a distinctive dining experience when it opened its new Hotel Chimayo in Santa Fe, N.M., in August.
But it already had a noted boutique hotel, the Hotel St. Francis, and restaurant, Tabla de Los Santos, just three blocks away. So Heritage, based in Albuquerque, N.M., commissioned the restaurant’s executive chef, Estevan Garcia, with creating a menu unique to Northern New Mexico.
SLIDE SHOW: See how Hotel Chimayo and Hotel St. Francis differ from each other
The result is Tia’s Cocina, a restaurant that celebrates the northern New Mexico village of Chimayo with its cuisine and décor. It also recognizes Chimayo’s rich lowrider motorcycle culture at its Low ’n Slow Lowrider Bar.
The dining and drinking options make the 56-room Hotel Chimayo’s offerings distinct from the Hotel St. Francis, which re-opened in October 2009 after extensive renovations.
“We wanted to incorporate the traditions and traditional foods of Chimayo,” said Edward Pulsifer, vice president of sales and marketing for Heritage Hotels, which has six properties in New Mexico and one in Southern Arizona.
“Chimayo chiles are only from the valley there, and they have a very special flavor,” he said. “We contracted with a chile grower there who have five acres and just grows for us. Northern New Mexico food is a little different from other parts of New Mexico.”
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Chef Garcia, a former Franciscan monk and pioneer of Southwestern cuisine at the Newport Beach, Calif., restaurant Saint Estèphe, spent time with the people of Chimayo in their homes to learn the traditional recipes that influence the menu.
At Tabla, chile rellenos are stuffed with a duxelles of mushrooms. Tia’s Cocina offers two versions prepared in a traditional Chimayo way, Garcia said. The “Classic” is battered and pan-fried with cheese, onions and green chile sauce, while the “Modern” is roasted and filled with asadero cheese, goat cheese sauce and a touch of Chimayo red chile.
“At the St. Francis,” Pulsifer said, “we have chef Estevan, who was a monk and cooked for monks. His story there is food with a French flair. At the St. Francis, we have the saying that ‘in simplicity there is complexity.’ It’s very simple, serene, calm and spiritual, but elegant. The food was intended to follow that tradition.”
Hear more from Garcia on creating the menu; story continues below
At Tia’s Cocina, he added, “it is very localized and very traditional comfort food.”
Even the bars at each hotel reflect the positioning. Secreto at the Hotel St. Francis is austere and reverential; the Low ’n Slow bar at Hotel Chimayo reflects the bold lowrider culture, down to lighting made from muffler metal.
“Lowrider culture is part of the culture of Chimayo,” Pulsifer said. “It’s a form of art of what people do there.”
The individual personalities fit into 12-year-old Heritage’s goal of providing “culturally distinct hotels” in the Southwest, Pulsifer said.
Consumer reaction, both from locals and visitors, to the Chimayo project, he added, “has been absolutely fantastic.”
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @RonRuggless
