We’re checking out Chef Paul Wireman’s latest international flavors at Santa Fe’s Fable Restaurant and Market.
For 15 years, acclaimed Chef Paul Wireman and his wife, Jessica, owned two restaurants and an old world-style butcher shop in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a trio of culinary hot spots in one of the country’s luxury enclaves. Early in the pandemic, with restaurants shuttered, the couple sold their eateries, bought a van, crisscrossed the country, and explored British Columbia with their two children, then ages 6 and 9.
Fable Restaurant and Market
“We came through Santa Fe early in our initial van trip with our mountain bikes,” says Jessica. “Then we did all the national parks on the East Coast and the kids kept talking about Santa Fe.” Drawn back by the food scene, the cultural diversity, and the ideal climate for mountain biking and skiing, they sold their Jackson Hole home and bought a ranch near Lamy, where they have an orchard, raised garden beds, horses, ducks, and chickens.
Opening another restaurant was not on their radar. They were persuaded however, to reinvent the welcoming, cozy space that formerly housed Arable in Eldorado’s Agora Shopping Center by the Agora’s owner, after he discovered that they’d moved to the area. “We’d been living here for a couple of years when we realized that restaurants aren’t open late,” says Jessica. “And also, there’s such a need for good sit-down food here in Eldorado.”
What You’ll Find at Fable Restaurant and Market
Fable Restaurant and Market opened in spring with a modern farmhouse atmosphere, a full bar, and a 10 p.m. closing time. The ever-changing menu spotlights globally-inspired contemporary American cuisine featuring local ingredients. Starters might include fried cornmeal-crusted green tomatoes with pimento cheese and mole rojo. Entrees include a bean and mushroom cassoulet and a hearty house-ground burger made of brisket, steak, and bacon and topped with white cheddar and tomato jam.
Fable’s enticing chef-curated market is full with grab-and-go sandwiches like a tasty veggie banh mi along with soups, take-and-bake mac’n’cheese, enchiladas, sublime chocolate chip cookies; fresh-baked focaccia, and a fun selection of chef-curated homewares. The market’s farm shop sells seasonal produce from local growers.
A seasoned chef with an impressive resume that includes a stint at the renowned Snake River Grill in Jackson Hole, Paul’s formative years in the kitchen were shaped by his grandmother. “We moved to Alaska when I was five and I would spend the summers at my grandmother’s outside of Memphis,” he says. “She had grown up in Tennessee as a full-on country cook. She’s now 95, still lives on her own and bakes biscuits every morning.” You don’t need more than one taste of Fable’s fried chicken and Old Bay biscuits to know his grandmother is proud.
Story by Lynn Cline
Photography by Fable Restaurant and Market
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