The Best Hidden Gems of Albuquerque

Plate of smoked chicken on a plate at MESA Provisions

Albuquerque’s Mesa Provisions is cooking up a quiet revolution.

Central Avenue’s Culinary Canvas

One would be hard-pressed to find an area in New Mexico with more culinary diversity than Albuquerque’s Central Avenue. This collage of international and multicultural foods is a symbol of how we eat, gather, and say goodbye. Although the pandemic made sport of the local restaurant scene, the most resilient endured to see the break of a new day. Meanwhile, others appeared as we reawakened from the grips of lockdown, as if to say they would rather surf the wave of the unknown than drown.

Mesa Provisions: A Subtle Discovery

If you drive the speed limit on Central, you will likely miss the sign for Mesa Provisions, which opened in August 2021. The subtle curb appeal of the exterior yields to a quiet, spare, and clean interior with a handful of tables, an ample bar, splashes of whimsy in the décor, and paintings by local artist Nikki Zabicki.

A Menu in the Details

The menu reflects the aesthetic, suggesting that your palate needs to pay attention to ensure nothing is missed. Consider the apricot ancho chile glaze on the smoked lamb ribs, red chile butter for the green chile biscuits, and chicken-skin “breadcrumbs” on the mac and cheese. The layers of ingredients, textures, and flavors seem endless.

Even more, the menu playfully shifts with the seasons, following the availability of ingredients sourced by local purveyors. Owner and Chef Steve Riley also brings his inspiration to the table.

Smoked Half Chicken
Red Chile, Cabbage Slaw, Pepita Crema served with Pinto Beans & Duck Fat Tortillas.

From Albuquerque to France and Back Again

Riley is a native of Albuquerque with a long kitchen pedigree that became fully realized, as many extraordinary things in food often do, in French cuisine. Under the tutelage of esteemed Chef Jennifer James at the now-closed Le Café Miche, Steve’s journey with food and cooking techniques began in earnest.

“I remember being amazed,” he says of many foods he tried for the first time. “I was learning ways of how things should and could be in French cooking.”

From there, Steve moved to California, where he spent a decade working with Chef Robert Bell at Chez Melange, followed by another seven years at Mama Terano, an Italian eatery he opened with Bell. After nearly 20 years, he decided to return home to Albuquerque with a vision of opening his restaurant.

Trout
Coconut Corn Curry Broth, Corn Chow Chow, Charred Tomato.

The Birth of Mesa Provisions

His re-entry into New Mexico included a stint as an executive chef at Farm to Table. Still, the ideas for what would become Mesa Provisions were never far from his mind. “I asked myself, what do I need out of a restaurant? What does Albuquerque need out of a restaurant? How can I make those things work together?”

Riley’s imagination exists in dimensions of both quality and quantity. Although some perennial dishes remain on the menu year-round, diners can always count on new creations that leave even the savviest eaters surprised—and satisfied.

“My goal is to make food that’s approachable and relatable. When people look at our menu and say, ‘I know what that is,’ it might not be how they remember it.”

Mole Sundae
Chocolate Chile Ice Cream, Duck Fat Caramel, Apricot, Nut & Seed Praline.

A New Chapter for New Mexico Foodways

We live in a part of the world where culinary excellence is often measured in green chile cheeseburgers and margaritas. To be clear, we’re huge fans of both. Still, neither alone captures the complexity and depth of New Mexico’s foodways.

Yet, with the same ingredients in play, a hometown chef manages to deliver well-orchestrated pandemonium. Chef Steve’s food points to something undiscovered, something new, something fresh—and always delicious.

Try Chef Steven’s recipe for Duck Fat Tortillas at home.

Print

Duck Fat Tortillas

Author: Chef Steve Riley

Description

These duck fat tortillas are rich, tender, and flavorful, bringing a luxurious twist to a classic staple.

Ingredients

Scale

30 g vegetable oil
30 g duck fat
184 g + 122 g milk
390 g AP flour, nonbleached
10 g baking powder
10 g salt

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

In a small saucepan place oil, duck fat, and 184 g of milk on medium-low heat until warm, careful not to scorch milk.
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; mix combine. Add fat mixture and remaining milk to dry ingredients.
Mix by hand until shaggy dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.
Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for one hour. Form into a disc and cut into 8-10 potions, rolling each portion into a ball and then flattening.
Cook on a hot comal for 3 minutes per side or until lightly browned. Cover with a kitchen towel to keep warm and repeat.

Recipe by Chef Steve Riley
Story by Gabe Gomez
Photography by Gabriella Marks

Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition.

Recipes from Dakota Weiss and Coyote Cafe

By

-

September 9, 2025

Coyote Café’s Chef Dakota Weiss posing behind greenery

Coyote Café’s Chef Dakota Weiss created three recipes for TABLE Magazine, each beginning with a locally grown ingredient. TABLE’s Editor at Large Gabe Gomez admired her precise mise en place, tasted the dishes, and shared the experience.

American author Thomas Wolfe once suggested, wistfully, that you can never go home again. He believed that the experiences serving as the brick and mortar of memory are sometimes best left in the past. However, in a kitchen, the story often unfolds differently.

For example, think about the faces and lives behind the line. Picture a chef who discovered her love for food through endless prep work, marathon doubles, and the chaos of brunch rushes. Over time, those repetitive acts built a career that stretched across esteemed restaurants, national cooking shows, and a restaurant empire in California. Along the way, accolades piled up.

Dakota Weiss from Coyote Café Dreams Up Three Recipes

Now consider Dakota Weiss, executive chef at Coyote Café, the storied Santa Fe restaurant where she once staged after culinary school. Today she leads its latest evolution of Southwestern cuisine. Therefore, just this once, Thomas Wolfe may have been wrong. She has come home again––with fresh, imaginative, and palate-tingling results.

Because Dakota’s distinctive voice brings worldly nuance to Santa Fe’s food scene, we invited her to highlight local ingredients in three new recipes. On one recent morning, we watched her in the calm of Coyote’s kitchen as she transformed those ingredients. As a result, each dish felt rooted in memory (does anyone recall the thrill of 1970s Pop Rocks candy?) yet alive and relevant in the present.

Print

Grilled Asparagus, Hatch Green Chile Ricotta, Bitter Greens, Truffled Mustard Vinaigrette, Brioche Croutons

Author: Dakota Weiss
Yield: Serves 4

Description

This elegant salad layers smoky grilled asparagus with Hatch green chile ricotta, bitter endive, brioche croutons, and a truffled mustard vinaigrette for a vibrant balance of flavors and textures.

Ingredients

Scale

For the asparagus:

1 bunch extra-large asparagus
Pinch sea salt
Pinch black pepper
2 tbsp EVOO

For the Hatch Green Chile Ricotta Cheese:

1 gal whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
½ cup lemon juice
2 tbsp distilled vinegar
2 cups hatch green chile, roasted, peeled, and diced
½ tbsp kosher salt

For the Truffled Mustard Vinaigrette:

2 shallots
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp whole grain mustard
½ cup lemon juice
½ cup rice vinegar
1 cup EVOO
½ cup white truffle oil
Kosher salt to taste

For the Brioche Croutons:

1 cup brioche, cut into micro-small dices
¼ cup EVOO
Kosher salt to taste

For the salad:

2 red endives
2 yellow endives
2 tbsp chives, chopped
Kosher salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

For the asparagus:

Cut the bottoms of the asparagus to get rid of the woody stems.
Toss the asparagus with the salt, pepper, and olive oil
Grill on high heat until lightly charred. The asparagus should still be crunchy.

For the Hatch Green Chile Ricotta Cheese:

Add the milk and cream into a heavy-bottomed pot. Bring to a boil.
Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and vinegar.
Stir a few times until you see the milk start to curdle.
Slowly pour the contents of the pot into a bowl that is lined with cheesecloth. Let the whey completely drain out of the curds.
Gently scrape the curds off the cheese cloth and put into a bowl.
Chop the green chile finely and stir into the curds.
Season the cheese with salt to taste.

For the Truffled Mustard Vinaigrette:

Using a hand blender, add the shallots, garlic, mustard, lemon juice, and rice vinegar into a large jar and mix well. Slowly add the two oils to emulsify and then season with salt.

For the Brioche Croutons:

Sauté the brioche in the oil until golden brown and season with salt. Pour onto a sheet tray lined with paper towels to soak up extra oil.

For the salad:

Toss the endives with the truffled vinaigrette, chives, salt, and pepper.

Building the plate:

Pipe the Hatch Green Chile Ricotta Cheese into a long rectangular shape. Carefully place the endive, alternating the red and yellow, into the ricotta at an angle. Place about 5 grilled asparagus lying next to the endive. Sprinkle the croutons all over. Drizzle a little of the truffled vinaigrette over the whole dish.

Print

Grilled Quail with Truffled-Balsamic Reduction, Mesilla Pecan-Fig Crumble & Aji Amarillo

Author: Dakota Weiss
Yield: Serves 4

Description

This dish pairs smoky grilled quail with a rich truffled-balsamic reduction, a sweet-savory Mesilla pecan-fig crumble, and the vibrant heat of aji amarillo.

Ingredients

Scale

For the quail:

4 quails
2 rosemary sprigs
2 thyme sprigs
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
2 garlic cloves
¼ cup blended oil

For the Truffle-Balsamic Reduction:

1 cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup white truffle oil
¼ cup soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cold water

For the Mesilla Pecan-Fig Crumble:

6 oz Mesilla pecans, toasted
4 oz dried Mission figs
1 tsp Urfa Biber chili flakes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp hibiscus, dried
1 tsp juniper berry
Kosher salt to taste

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

For the quail:

Clip the wings off the quail. Poke a tiny hole in one of the legs and pull the tip of the other leg through that so it looks like the legs are naturally crossed.
Add the herbs, garlic, and oil in a blender and mix well.
Rub the herb puree all over the quail and allow them to marinate for an hour or so.

For the Truffle-Balsamic Reduction:

Add the balsamic vinegar, truffle oil, and soy into a pot and bring it to a boil, reducing the mixture by a quarter.
Whisk together the cornstarch and water.
Slowly add that mixture to the reduction and cook out the starch. The sauce should thicken until it coats a spoon.

For the Mesilla Pecan-Fig Crumble:

Take all ingredients and add to a Robot-Coupe food processor. Mix until you have a crumble-like consistency.

Building the Plate:

1. Grill the quail for about 2 ½ minutes on each side getting nice grill marks.
2. Using a spoon, make a circle (1 ½ times larger than the quail) with the truffle balsamic. Place the grilled quail right on top of that.
3. Put the pecan crumble on top of the quail breast.
4. Add a dollop of Aji Amarillo paste to the plate.
5. Garnish with any herbal microgreens.

Print

Buttermilk Vanilla Panna Cotta, Local Honey-Macerated Strawberries, Basil Sorbet & Strawberry Pop Rocks

Author: Dakota Weiss
Yield: Serves 4

Description

This playful dessert layers silky buttermilk vanilla panna cotta with honey-macerated strawberries, refreshing basil sorbet, and a nostalgic crunch of strawberry Pop Rocks.

Ingredients

Scale

For the Buttermilk Vanilla Panna Cotta:

2 tsp gelatin powder
3 tbsp cold water
2 cups heavy cream
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla bean puree
1 tsp kosher salt
1 ¼ cup buttermilk

For the Basil Sorbet:

2 oz basil leaves
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
2 ½ cups water

For the Honey-Macerated Strawberries:

1 pt strawberries, sliced thinly
4 tbsp honey (local wildflower is my fave)
Pinch of salt

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

For the Buttermilk Vanilla Panna Cotta:

1. Bloom the gelatin in the cold water and set aside.
2. Add the cream, sugar, vanilla, and salt and heat just until the sugar is melted fully.
3. Slowly whisk in the gelatin, making sure all of it melts.
4. Take off the heat and whisk in the buttermilk.
5. Pour into ramekins or bowls that you plan to serve it in.
6. Chill until set, about 2 hours.

For the Basil Sorbet:

Puree the basil with the lemon juice.
In a saucepan, add the sugar and water and cook until the sugar is fully melted.
Remove from the heat and add the basil lemon juice.
Pour into an ice cream maker and spin until the mixture becomes frozen and creamy-looking.

For the Honey-Macerated Strawberries:

Add all ingredients together and stir well.

Building the plate:

Add the strawberries on top of the panna cotta. Scoop on some basil sorbet and sprinkle it with 1 package of Strawberry Pop Rocks.

Recipes by Dakota Weiss
Story by Gabe Gomez
Photography by Gabriella Marks

Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition.

Have a Stay at Los Poblanos Historic Inn

By

-

September 9, 2025

Of Lavender Roses and Self Care lavendar field

TABLE Magazine continues its art of the staycation series with a visit to the historic inn, spa and organic farm at los poblanos.

The last few years have been stressful as we struggled to maintain our health, jobs, families, and sanity. Besides hearing “you’re on mute” in countless Zoom meetings, another phrase echoed frequently: self-care. Self-care looks different for everyone—reading quietly, sipping wine in the bathtub, or binging a favorite TV show. For me, it also means a staycation with my best friend to a beautiful hotel featuring a spa, pool, restaurant, bar, and expansive grounds. However, most importantly, a wellness yurt for morning yoga. Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm, located in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque on 25 acres of lavender fields and gardens, fulfills all of these desires.

Staying at Los Poblanos Historic Inn

Upon checking in on a recent Friday afternoon, the scent of lavender immediately welcomed us. We admired the talents of the Inn’s 1930s architect, John Gaw Meem, as we dropped our bags in the North Field room. Located north of the lavender fields, the room was large and charming, with crisp white bedding, Spanish colonial-style décor, a wooden wet bar, and a comfortable patio overlooking artichokes and sunflowers.

The sun was hot. Very hot. We quickly changed into our bathing suits and headed to the outdoor saltwater pool at the center of the guest facilities. The pool attendant offered striped beach towels and a cocktail list. We ordered lavender margaritas, tequila cocktails with a lavender-sugar rim, perfect under the relentless afternoon sun. As dark thunderclouds gathered, we carried our drinks back to the patio and sipped silently, appreciating the Southwest rain.

Dining at Campo

We changed into summer linen and made a short, rainy sprint to Campo bar and restaurant. While waiting for our dinner reservation, we enjoyed the Nosh Board, a charcuterie platter of meats and cheeses drizzled with 22-year-old Monticello Balsamico, which balanced the fruitiness of the cheese and elevated the cured meats. Paired with sparkling Blanc de Noir from Gruet, it was a perfect start.

Seated on the Campo patio, we ordered a bottle of 2018 Atamisque Malbec from Valle de Uco, Argentina, alongside Braised Lamb Birria and native beef strip loin. The lamb birria, stewed in chili and spices, arrived with vegetables, blue corn hominy, and a warm wheat tortilla to soak up the broth. The beef was coated in salsa macha made from toasted chili, garlic, oil, and sesame seeds, served with roasted potatoes and vegetables. Both dishes were spicy and warming on a cool, damp evening. Dessert included an exceptional crème brûlée paired with Fonseca 20-year Tawny Port from Portugal. Campo shares recipes for its Lavender Margarita and Lamb Birria as well.

Morning Yoga and Farmers’ Market

By morning, the rain had stopped, leaving drops glistening on the hollyhocks. We headed to a gentle yoga class in the Wellness Yurt, nestled among tall trees on the south side of the property. The tent’s skylight and bay windows brought nature into our practice. Los Poblanos provided mats, blankets, and blocks arranged in a circle. The hour-long session emphasized breathing, moderate stretching, and fundamental techniques, helping us relax and unplug.

Later, we borrowed cruiser bicycles and rode to the Los Ranchos Farmers’ Market. This small market offered produce, foods, and crafts—from Mexican spring onions and tomato plants to local honey and glass hummingbird feeders. We sipped cucumber-mint lemonade, nibbled homemade cheese pastries, and listened to classical guitar music. The scene felt idyllic and small-town perfect.

Spa Bliss at Hacienda Spa

Back at Los Poblanos, we indulged in a therapeutic massage and dry body scrub at the Hacienda Spa, housed in the original family home designed by Meem. The changing room featured dove-gray robes, slippers, and painted panels by Paul Lantz, transporting us to a glamorous, F. Scott Fitzgerald-inspired world.

In the waiting lounge, we relaxed near the fireplace, whose mantel reads, “and that upon honesty of work depends.” Lavender essential oils scented the massage room. The exfoliation began with circular motions to slough off dead skin, followed by a Swedish-style therapeutic massage. After 50 minutes, we were led to the interior courtyard. This is where we were sipping cherry-infused water while lounging under umbrellas and enjoying the star-shaped fountain.

Exploring the Grounds

Los Poblanos boasts diverse plantings, from lavender fields to vegetable gardens to pollinator-friendly landscaping. A special rose garden, designed in 1932 by Rose Greely—the first female Harvard landscape architecture graduate—adds romantic charm. Summer blooms make the property magical.

Before leaving, we peeked into the Library Bar, open only to lodgers Sunday through Wednesday evenings. Our staycation had ended too soon, but it certainly will not be our last.

Story by Suzy Santaella
Photography courtesy of Los Poblanos

Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition.

Santa Fe Artist C. Alex Clark’s Relationship with Light

By

-

September 9, 2025

C Alex Clark, Conveyance Vector 1, 2019. Hologram in hand-ground glass. 6 x 4 x 3 in. Courtesy form & concept.

“A hologram isn’t doing anything special,” says C. Alex Clark. “It just shows us what light is doing all the time. Miracles are happening all around us.”

The Santa Fe artist uses high-powered lasers with reflective or refractive objects to capture abstract holographic imagery on emulsion, then embeds the spectral results in glass. Clark’s sculptures shift constantly, changing as you move around them or as ambient light changes. At times, they appear as ephemeral as desert air; at other times, they resolve into swirling forms resembling galaxies, thunderstorms, or retinas.

Geometric artwork Conveyance Vector by Alex Clark

C Alex Clark, Conveyance Vector 1, 2019. Hologram in hand-ground glass. 6 x 4 x 3 in. Courtesy form & concept.

A History of Light in New Mexico

Many artists have responded to New Mexico’s sunshine-filled, spiritually driven atmosphere by working with light. As Clark prepares for a solo exhibition this January at form & concept, our curatorial conversation has traced this ethereal arc of regional art history.

Among the movements we discussed, the Transcendental Painting Group (TPG) stands out. Active from 1938 to 1942, the circle of ten Southwestern artists propelled abstraction into new emotional and technical realms through their use of light. All but one of the members were based in New Mexico.

The Transcendental Painting Group

The group’s leading figures—Agnes Pelton, Emil Bisttram, and Raymond Jonson—blended scientific precision with occult wisdom. Their luminous canvases hold forms that deepen and expand as the eye moves through them, surfacing inner worlds that oscillate between ruminative and ecstatic.

Today, exhibitions featuring or influenced by the TPG are appearing across Santa Fe and throughout the nation. Their work feels startlingly timely, reviving ideas about the links between science, art, and spiritual identity. For Clark, this resonance is no surprise.

“It’s cycles of time,” they explain. “The TPG artists were entering a technological age where people were losing sight of what was true within themselves. There was confusion, both internal and external. They were searching for meaning and truth, which I think people are desperate for right now.”

Modern mixed-media artwork Creative Forces

Emil Bisttram, Creative Forces, 1936. Oil on canvas, 36 x 27 in. Private Collection, Courtesy of Aaron Payne Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Apprenticeship and Practice

Clark recently completed a similar search at Santa Fe’s Light Foundry, where they apprenticed for six years under master holographer August Muth. The role required deep scientific study, which Clark approached as a language exercise.

“Once you know the grammar of the material, you can put together a ‘sentence’ that speaks purely beyond words. You can break it, rearrange it, put it back together,” they say. For Clark, light—seemingly the most ephemeral of forces—becomes a sculptural material. The idea surely would have resonated with the TPG.

Scientific and Spiritual Intersections

The New Mexico Museum of Art has hosted two recent traveling exhibitions featuring TPG artists: Agnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist and Another World: The Transcendental Painting Group. Christian Waguespack, the museum’s 20th-century curator, oversaw significant loans to both. He notes that light was a foundational concern for many TPG artists, often in a more scientific sense than audiences assume.

“We often frame the desire to move beyond the physical in terms of spirituality,” he says. “These artists were interested in that, but maybe not to the extent we think. What is interesting is the almost scientific way the TPG painters show us light as a physical, if not necessarily tangible, phenomenon.”

For example, Bisttram, a Hungarian-American painter with classical training, altered his surname to include the mathematical symbol for pi. He also used the golden ratio in his compositions. For him and other TPG members, light’s dual nature as particle and wave was itself a transcendent mystery.

Still, the group leaned into the esoteric. They studied theosophy, drew from Kandinsky’s On the Spiritual in Art (1911), and sought ways to portray light as both physical fact and symbolic transport.

C. Alex Clark’s Light-Based Art

Like the TPG, Clark aims to evoke complex internal experiences through abstract, light-based art. Light serves as their conceptual tool to explore humanity’s pluralistic nature and to challenge the notion of a spectrum as fixed.

“I think most people are like magenta,” Clark says. “It’s a perceptual color that only exists when blue and red overlap. When you observe a hologram, there’s always a higher-dimensional relationship—you can’t just compare color to color because nothing is purely one color. People inhabit multiple spectrums and planes too.”

A Shared Legacy

Clark’s work at form & concept arrives alongside other light-driven exhibitions in Santa Fe. Vladem Contemporary, the new contemporary wing of the New Mexico Museum of Art, will open this spring with Shadow & Light, curated by Merry Scully.

The show will feature works by Bisttram and Florence Miller Pierce, a contemporary who deeply influenced the group, alongside artists like Charles Ross, Helen Pashgian, Harmony Hammond, Yayoi Kusama, and Virgil Ortiz.

“It’s not that the TPG is the impetus of everything,” Scully explains. “But it seemed a good place to start. Light is both a subject and a material for much of the work. The exhibition looks at New Mexico as a site of opportunity—not because nothing is here, but because everything is here. And two of those things are the light and the land.”

Story by Jordan Eddy
Images Courtesy of form and concept, and Aaron Payne Fine Art

Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition.

Green Chile Cheeseburger

By

Samuel

-

September 9, 2025

Ricotta Gnocchi with Roasted Green Chile

A cheeseburger sits on a plate with a large green chile sitting on top of it.

New Mexico lays claim to the country’s most outstanding burger. That’s an audacious statement, but pretty much everyone in the state—and many folks elsewhere—would agree at least one-thousand percent. The special melding of fire-kissed meat and gooey cheese, zipped up with the state’s favorite pungent pod, is truly one of those matches made in any eater’s idea of heaven.

For a quintessential version, we went to our frequent collaborator, Cheryl Alters Jamison, an almost five-decade resident of Santa Fe and the creator of the New Mexico Tourism Department’s Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail. She helped cook up the signature burger competition at the New Mexico State Fair, as well as the Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown. This four-time James Beard Award-winner’s also a whiz—or wiz—at the grill, with numerous books on outdoor cooking to her credit, including the multi-million copy seller, Smoke & Spice.

How to Build a New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger

All New Mexicans have slightly different methods for creating their burger, but we agree on starting with freshly ground meat and topping it with New Mexico-grown green chile. Beyond that, cooks tinker with the cheese and whether it’s placed over or under the chile, both of which are acceptable. The merits of searing the burger on a cast-iron griddle or cooking over an open fire cause heated idiscussions too and, while both have staunch fans, we’re going with the grill here.

When it comes to condiments, we think that mustard belongs on hot dogs not burgers, and that mayo should be an equal player with ketchup, often mixed together. If you have a red-ripe tomato, use it, and perhaps a leaf or two of crisp lettuce, or even a thin slice of onion. Dill pickle slices are tolerable. Go easy on the condiments though, so as not to distract from the essential flavors of the green chile, cheese, and burger itself. The bun needs to be sturdy enough to hold all the fixings but yield easily when biting into this mouthful of bliss.

Follow Cheryl’s tips and recipe here, and you too will be receiving kudos for your handiwork in no time. All of your friends will be green with envy.

Show Off Your Love for Green Chile with These Other Recipes

Green Chile Mac and Cheese

Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Braised Duck Leg in Green Chile

Green Chile Biscochitos

Print

Green Chile Cheeseburger

Author: Cheryl Alters Jamison
Yield: Serves 6

Description

Try one of New Mexico’s most famous recipes.

Ingredients

Scale

6 fresh New Mexican green chiles
2¼ to 2½ lbs freshly ground beef chuck (or other ground beef mixture with about 80% meat to 20% fat)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp coarse-ground black pepper
6 burger-size slices mild Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or American cheese
6 large brioche or other soft hamburger buns
6 thick slices large red-ripe tomatoes and crisp lettuce leaves
Ketchup, mayonnaise, slices of onion, or dill pickles, optional

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Fire up the grill for a two-level fire capable of cooking first on high heat and then on medium heat.
Place chiles over the grill’s hot fire, and char them, turning as needed, until the skin is blackened. Place chiles in a paper bag or covered container and let them steam a few minutes, until cool enough to handle. Peel, seed, and chop chiles, wearing rubber gloves if your skin is sensitive.
Mix together the ground chuck, salt, and pepper. Gently form the mixture into six patties ½ to ¾ inch thick, slightly concave at the center.
Grill the burgers uncovered over high heat for 1½ minutes per side. Move the burgers to medium heat and rotate one-half turn for crisscross grill marks. Cook for 3½ to 4 minutes more per side for medium doneness, until crusty and richly brown with a bare hint of pink at the center. Lay a cheese slice over each burger after you turn them for the last time. Toast the buns at the edge of the grill if you wish.
Place bottom half of buns on a work surface. Arrange cheese-topped burgers on buns, and top with equal portions of green chile. Add tomato, lettuce, condiments as desired, and cover with bun tops. Serve right away.

Notes

Substitute thawed frozen chopped New Mexico green chile, well-drained and warmed, for the fresh if you wish. Top each burger with at least 2 tablespoons and up to ¼ cup of the chile.

Recipe by Cheryl Alters Jamison
Photography by Tira Howard

Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition.

Bryant Terry’s “Black Food” is More Than a Cookbook

By

Gabe Gomez

-

September 8, 2025

History on the tongue images of Jamaican-Style-Ackee-Callaloo-Patties

Bryant Terry’s Black Food addresses the African diaspora not only through the lens of food: history, culture, wellness, memory, and a sense of wholeness come into play, too. and so much more. He shares recipes from the book and discusses his work on food justice at the first ever Santa Fe Literary Festival, and takes time out of his busy schedule to talk with TABLE Magazine’s, Gabe Gomez.

**Bryant Terry’s Black Food (2021) Cookbook**

In Black Food (2021), Bryant Terry invites readers to rethink food through the lens of culture, history, and justice. The book opens with an essay by chef, artist, and intellectual Lazarus Lynch, “Black, Queer, Food,” where he writes:

“Identity, in itself, does not tell us the whole story of another. Rather, identity is a portal to discovering more intimately the deeper parts of another. And, in its most rigid interpretation, identity is fraught with constructs we must undo.”

This statement frames the book’s purpose: to undo and rebuild our understanding of Black foodways while reclaiming traditions that continue to shape communities worldwide.

A Polyphony of Voices

Black Food is not just a cookbook. It is a chorus of essays, poems, prayers, and recipes from across the African diaspora. Contributors include writers, thinkers, and chefs who bring depth and perspective. Recipes range from The Best Potato Salad Ever to Jamaican Style Ackee and Callaloo Patties.

The chapters, with titles like Motherland, Spirituality, Black Women, Food & Power, and Radical Self Care, provide thematic structure. Each section blends history, culture, and flavor into a textured whole.

A Touchstone for Movement

Terry describes the book as a journey. “I imagined an arc that started on the African continent and ended with the idea of a Black future,” he explains. To set the tone, the book begins with the poem From Scratch, which opens with: “On the first day, God made a meal plan.”

Like the African diaspora itself, the format moves and evolves. It resists linearity and instead creates a living document of experience, resilience, and imagination.

Terry Takes Food as Context, Not Just Recipes

Terry, Chef-in-Residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, adapts many chapters from his teaching programs. His aim was never to create just another cookbook. “I wanted to encompass all the ways we are human,” he says.

Unlike most cookbooks, Black Food foregrounds essays before recipes. The context comes first, offering readers history and meaning before the ingredients. This structure distinguishes it in a crowded field of food media.

Reclamation and Resistance

The book is also a reclamation project. “We can’t talk about reclaiming traditional foodways without acknowledging structural barriers,” Terry notes. Access to fresh food remains limited for many communities. Recipes here acknowledge those realities while still celebrating joy and tradition.

Contributor Tao Leigh Goffe, PhD, captures the sensory and cultural depth of diasporic food: “For those of us who are part of the Black Diaspora, we know what it means to associate a flavor with a sound, a song, a color.”

Bridging the Chasm

For Terry, food is more than sustenance. It is art, culture, and community. He critiques the industrialized system that has commodified food and severed it from human connection. “My work has been about bridging that chasm,” he says. This is why his books often include suggested soundtracks or films—to connect recipes with memory and mood.

The book closes with the chapter Black Future, introduced by Ashante Reese, PhD. She writes: “We build on the past and the present to give our food and our communities a future in which we have space and time to delight in feeding ourselves and each other.”

This vision expands the book’s mission beyond the kitchen. It insists on holistic nourishment—food as care, memory, and community accountability.

Multitudes on the Page and Plate

Ultimately, Black Food reminds us that advocacy is not only the work of those most impacted by historical trauma. Readers are asked to remember, reflect, and participate. Eating is not a passive act. It is memory, reclamation, and connection.

Black Food teaches us that as the world of food and cuisine expands, so does the narrative of tradition and the history we taste on our tongues. Eating, after all, is what connects all of us; it’s universal––multitudes in every bite.

Recipes reprinted with permission from Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora edited by Bryant Terry, copyright © 2021. Published by 4 Color Books, an imprint of Ten Speed Press and Penguin Random House.

Purchase Black Food at your favorite local bookseller.

Story by Gabe Gomez
Photography by Oriana Koren*

Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition.

San Pasqual, Learn About the Patron of Cooks and Kitchens

By

-

September 8, 2025

The Spanish brought San Pasqual, Patron of Cooks and Kitchens, to New Mexico, and he’s made himself very much at home.

San Pasqual, Patron of Cooks and Kitchens

Step into nearly any New Mexico kitchen, whether humble or fancy, and you’ll find the benevolent visage of San Pasqual, the patron saint of cooks. His smiling face, apron, and spoon appear on retablos (paintings), bultos (statuettes), and even tea towels. Often, his image is surrounded by chile ristras, an horno (oven), a pot of beans, or other traditional foods. Sometimes, artists update him with modern touches like grapes, a glass of wine, or even pizza, as shown in Nicholas Herrera’s artwork.

From Shepherd to Franciscan Friar

Paschal Baylón was born on May 16, 1540, in Torrehermosa in the Kingdom of Aragón, Spain. His birthdate fell on Pentecost, inspiring his name. As a boy, he tended his family’s sheep and taught himself to read in the fields. Known for humility and deep faith, he entered the Franciscan order in 1564. He worked as a porter and cook, living with devotion, meditation, and prayer. He died on May 17, 1592, and the Church canonized him in 1690 after miracles were reported at his tomb.

Saints of New Mexico

Spanish settlers carried their devotion to San Pasqual and San Isidro, the patron saint of agriculture, to the New World. Over centuries, both saints became distinctly New Mexican. “The Spanish who first arrived with the conquistadors were mostly townsfolk who didn’t know how to build or farm and had to learn quickly,” explains Nicolasa Chávez, Deputy State Historian for New Mexico. “They turned to Saints Isidro and Pasqual for support and guidance in planting, harvesting, and cooking—critical for survival.”

Harsh winters demanded that dried staples such as beans, chiles, garlic, and onions last through the season. The blending of Indigenous foods with Spanish imports created the region’s distinct cuisine. Saints like Pasqual and Isidro became protectors of fields, homes, and hearths.

San Pascual, Mexico, 18^th century, Collection of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society; 2015.001. // Photo by Blair Clark

The Santero Tradition

Early settlers brought artisans known as santeros, who created devotional retablos and bultos. By the late 19th century, the tradition faded, but a revival in the 1920s and ’30s restored its place in New Mexico culture. Santa Fe’s Spanish Market, founded in 1926, helped preserve these traditions. Today, it is the largest and oldest juried Hispanic art show in the United States, featuring more than 200 artists in 19 categories.

A Cheerful Protector

Depictions of San Pasqual in earlier centuries show a solemn friar in prayer. Over time, however, his image softened into the cheerful, kitchen-friendly saint beloved in New Mexico today. With his apron, spoon, and smile, San Pasqual stands as a protector of cooks everywhere—a friendly reminder that kitchens, like faith, thrive on warmth and care.The depictions of San Pasqual in early New Mexico and in other Catholic traditions are much more saintly—a serious friar kneeling in prayer—but in the centuries since, he has become cheerful and beloved and distinctly ours, with his traditional foods and benevolent smile. San Pasqual resonates with cooks—in the kitchen, everyone can use a friendly protector.

Story by Mara Harris
Photography by Tira Howard
Photography of Historical Image by Blair Clark

Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition.

Vegetable Escabeche

By

Keith Recker

-

September 5, 2025

Vegetable Escabeche on toast on a black plate.

Adding a vegetable escabeche to even the most familiar dish can accomplish two things. First, a little vinegar brightens the palate with its sharp contrast to rich fats and darker flavors. Sauce-heavy or dairy-forward foods, for example, tend to dull the taste buds. Second, the gentle crunch is a simple pleasure. A forkful of tender meat completed with a crisp bite of pickled veg stirs something primal in us. Try this vegetable escabeche with your next melted sammie, or that slow-cooked pot roast you make when the first cold night hits.

Check out more root vegetable recipes here!

What Is Escabeche?

Tangy, vibrant escabeche has deep roots in Spanish, Latin American, and Filipino kitchens. Valued for its balance of vinegar, spice, and herbs, escabeche is about preserving peak garden produce so that it can be enjoyed when fresh vegetables are scarce. Escabeche is basically a batch of pickled mixed vegetables, with layers of flavor that delight the palate.

In Spain, escabeche is often combined with sardines or mackerel steeped in bay-scented vinegar. Across Latin America, chilies and regional herbs add heat and depth. In the Philippines, ginger and sweet bell peppers bring a tropical brightness. More than a recipe, escabeche is a culinary conversation across continents, shaped by trade, migration, and tradition. Its enduring appeal lies in its versatility: equally at home on a rustic family table or reimagined in contemporary dining.

Print

Vegetable Escabeche

Author: Gabe Gomez

Description

A forkful of tender meat completed with a crisp bite of pickled vegetables stirs something primal in us.

Ingredients

Scale

3 16-oz glass jars with lids
3 tsp peppercorns (or gochujang pepper)
2 cups carrots, sliced
3 bunches radishes, sliced (julienned kohlrabi is a delicious substitute)
3 jalapeños, sliced & seeds removed
3 bay leaves
9 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
3 sprigs fresh thyme or oregano
1 tbsp organic sugar or piloncillo (raw pure cane sugar)
1 1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup distilled vinegar
2 cups water

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

In each jar, place 1 teaspoon of peppercorns.
Pack each jar with carrots, radishes, and jalapeños, tucking in a bay leaf, 3 smashed garlic cloves, and a sprig of fresh thyme or oregano into each jar. Look for ways to press these visually stunning ingredients close to the sides of the jars for shelf-appeal.
Bring vinegar, water, salt, and sugar to a boil. Stir until salt and sugar are dissolved. Pour liquid into jars and let cool to room temperature sealing. Store in refrigerator for at least a day, and up to a month.

Recipe and Styling by Gabe Gomez
Photography by Dave Bryce

Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition.

Margilan Plov

By

-

September 5, 2025

Margilan Plov on a green plate beside fresh produce.

Few dishes carry the cultural weight and everyday joy of Margilan Plov. More than just a meal, it’s a symbol of hospitality, abundance, and tradition, served at weddings, family gatherings, holidays, and everyday dinner tables, as well. Each region, indeed each town and cultural group, of Uzbekistan brings its own flair to the dish, but all versions celebrate the same essential harmony of rice, meat, carrots, and spices.

What’s a Margilan Plov?

As Aziz Murtazaev of Marikat, formerly Crafts Studio ikatUz explains:

“I am sharing a recipe for one of the most beloved and popular dishes of Uzbek cuisine: plov or pilaf. This marvelous dish is popular among both old and young, men and women, locals and tourists, office workers and students. Uzbeks have many proverbs in honor of pilaf:

Eat pilaf even if just the last pennies of the day are left. Eat pilaf even if just the last day of life is left.

Although the ingredients are simple and consistent, the dish is prepared differently in each region of Uzbekistan. This recipe comes from Margilan, the silk center of Central Asia.”

Rooted in community and heritage, this Margilan plov is both everyday sustenance and festive indulgence—a dish that continues to unite generations at the table.

Print

Margilan Plov

Author: Aziz Murtazaev