True Adventure Guide • 2026 • Food & Drink

From fine-dining favorites to roadside classics, these only-in-NM dishes are worth the trip.

In the old mining town of Los Cerrillos, Black Bird Saloon channels Old West cooking with Campfire at the Crossroads, a plate of rustic game sausages. “To figure out your direction, you’ve always got to come to some sort of crossroads,” says co-owner and chef Kelly Torres. Historically, such smoky meats “might have been eaten and shared along the trail, at a crossroads, on a pioneer’s journey,” she says.

The star is a rabbit-and-rattlesnake link, lean but juicy, with a subtle sweetness. “Guests are wowed by it,” adds co-owner Patrick Torres. The plate also holds bison and elk links paired with cornichons, Dijon mustard, and blueberry mustard. “It’s what people would have eaten back in the day when they were harvesting or hunting their own food in New Mexico,” Patrick says. “That’s what we base our menu on.”

Since 1963, Mary & Tito’s Cafe has been an Albuquerque staple—and the only spot serving a carne adovada turnover. The golden deep-fried pocket holds the cafe’s signature slow-braised pork, which helped the family-run restaurant earn a 2010 James Beard America’s Classics Award.

“My father made this up,” says Antoinette Knight, daughter of founders Mary Ann and Tito Gonzales. “He loved Italian food and calzones, so when he opened the restaurant, he thought, Why not?” Instead of a stuffed sopaipilla, he rolled flour tortilla dough around chile-braised pork and then fried it to flaky perfection. “The magic is in the meat,” Knight explains. “We bake the pork for four hours—fresh daily.” The slow cook infuses sun-dried red chile’s smoky-sweet depth into every bite. “You can’t get this at any other restaurant,” Knight says proudly.

Opened in 2024, Escondido distinguishes itself in Santa Fe’s chile-heavy dining scene. “There’s no green chile, no red,” says chef Fernando Ruiz. “We’re not New Mexican. We’re Mexican Mexican.” His standout chicken mole enchiladas highlight that difference.

Ruiz’s mole negro is rich with 22 ingredients, from roasted pasilla and guajillo chiles to torched cinnamon sticks, golden raisins, and Mexican chocolate. “My mole negro is a little darker, more complex,” he says. The silky sauce smothers tortillas filled with chicken braised in achiote and citrus. A final touch of queso fresco, chipotle crema, and sesame seeds crowns the plate. A three-time champion of Food Network competition shows, Ruiz draws from family recipes. “Everything’s toasted,” he says. Even the tortillas. “The burnt corn adds an extra bitter flavor—just a little more char.”

For more than a century, Chope’s Bar & Cafe has been synonymous with chile rellenos. Long-time chef Josefina “Josie” Garcilazo still makes them by hand: Sandia chiles are stuffed with cheddar, dipped in a flour-and-egg batter, and fried to airy perfection. Smothered in red, green, or chile con queso, the dish is beloved across southern New Mexico.

Garcilazo learned from her mother-in-law, Cristina Garcilazo, alongside matriarch Lupe Benavides. “We grew up there, always in the kitchen,” recalls Michael Martinez, grandson of Chope and Lupe Benavides. The process is meticulous. Peppers are flat-roasted to preserve skins and then held for use year-round. Garcilazo’s batter ensures a light, fluffy fry—never greasy. “When I was a young kid, they would make maybe 50 rellenos a day,” Martinez says. Today there’s a dedicated station for frying the rellenos—nearly 800 per week—that embody Chope’s enduring legacy.

“The BBQ brisket plate at Ranchway BBQ & Mexican Food in Las Cruces is the best,” says Karin Bradshaw, Farmers & Crafts Market of Las Cruces manager. “The beef is mesquite-smoked, and the barbecue sauce has a nice spice to it. Be sure to get there between 2 and 3 p.m., right when it comes out of the oven—they sell out quick!”

At Taos’s romantic Love Apple, housed in a 19th-century adobe chapel, the corn-husk trout is the signature dish. “The trout has been on our menu since we opened 16 years ago,” says owner Jennifer Hart. “It’s the most popular dish.”

Fresh trout is rubbed with salt and lime butter, wrapped in corn husks, and then grilled to impart earthy sweetness. Finished in the oven, the fish flakes delicately, infused with fire and field. A chipotle sauce—smoky peppers blended with cilantro and cream—completes the fish. On the side, crispy quinoa fritters, studded with carrots, shallots, and piñon nuts, add crunch. Rustic yet refined, the trout encapsulates Love Apple’s ethos: deeply local, rooted in New Mexico tradition, and elevated through thoughtful craft.

AshKii’s Navajo Grill serves neeshjizhii, a traditional steamed corn stew. The dish combines Navajo white corn steamed underground in mud ovens with roasted mutton, boiled for hours into a nourishing broth. Local farms and Blue Mountain Meats supply the simple, sustaining ingredients.

The stew’s roots run deep: Navajo oral tradition links corn to creation, and sheep entered the diet with the Spanish 500 years ago. The result is hearty, earthy, and versatile. “ That’s the fun part,” says Deanston Benally, son of owners Bernice and Dexter Benally. “You can eat it with whatever you want. Add blue corn mush, dunk your bread in it, or get the roasted meat and make a little sandwich with it. There’s no wrong way.” For those new to Diné cuisine, neeshjizhii offers a window into Navajo tradition in the land of the three rivers. For others, it’s simply a taste of home.

Owner David Gaspar de Alba calls Oni’s pecan ramen “a real umami bomb.” The vegetarian dish, customizable to vegan or gluten-free, layers noodles, vegetables, braised tofu, seaweed, shitakes, sesame, ginger, a sous vide egg, house-made togarashi, furikake, and chile oil. “There’s deceptively a lot to it,” he says. Bison bone marrow can even be added.

What sets it apart is the creamy, toasty dashi. Pe-cans from CLC Pe-cans are hand-delivered weekly. “Then we toast and blend them into a milk, which becomes the base that we infuse with kombu and mushrooms,” Gaspar de Alba explains. His El Paso roots and time in Portland, Oregon, inspired the dish. Hazelnut dashi in the Northwest led him to try New Mexico’s nut. “Pecans are also full of micronutrients and protein,” he says. “I’d like to make a piñon version at some point.”

Chef Isaac Sandoval’s Three Sisters taco at the Skillet highlights Indigenous farming traditions, with squash, beans, and corn sautéed together before hitting handmade tortillas. “The crunchy squash contrasts with the soft beans, while the corn’s sweetness balances their earthiness,” Sandoval says.

The vegan taco reflects his roots at Charlie’s Bakery and Café, the beloved Las Vegas family restaurant where he grew up making tortillas. In 2014 he launched a food truck. He opened the Skillet three years later, introducing eclectic dishes beyond standard diner fare. “Some old-timers were skeptical at first, but the Three Sisters taco offered a familiar entry point,” he says. Inspired by Indigenous stories, Sandoval likens spicy green chile in the taco to the Coyote character. “The Coyote is a trickster,” he says.

While the question is not as common as “red or green?” in the Land of Enchantment, local diners are often presented with the choice to go blue. From food trucks to fine dining, the ancient grain shows up everywhere—in blue corn enchiladas at OMPC The Shed, in Las Cruces, in pancakes at Michael’s Kitchen, in Taos, and even in lavender doughnuts at Whoo’s Donuts, in Santa Fe.

Cultivated by Indigenous peoples for nearly 4,000 years, blue corn thrives in New Mexico’s dry climate. Hardy and drought-resistant, its dried flint kernels store for extended periods, which is why dishes like tortillas, mush, and hominy have long been regional staples.

At Albuquerque’s Indian Pueblo Kitchen, inside the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC), a soft gray-blue hue colors many plates. Blue cornmeal–battered onion rings get dunked in green chile ranch dressing. Elk chili comes with warm blue corn muffins. Bowls of atole arrive topped with currants, piñon nuts, sunflower seeds, and blueberries. “We used blue corn all the time growing up on Laguna,” says chef Josh Aragon (Laguna Pueblo), “often to thicken our stews or for piki bread,” a delicate, paper-thin bread.

For Indigenous people, corn is central to the Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash) planting tradition, and in the Southwest, blue corn carries deep spiritual meaning. It appears in ceremonies, rituals, and creation stories. For Acoma and Zuni people, it represents the direction west as well as resilience against colonization.

That legacy is honored at IPCC’s Resilience Garden, where blue corn is cultivated using traditional Pueblo practices before it makes it way to the Indian Pueblo Kitchen. Whether it’s found in classic recipes or contemporary twists, Aragon says the goal is the same: “My favorite thing is seeing our customers’ faces light up. Maybe the dish reminds them of something they had growing up. Or maybe they’re trying something totally new.”

TRY THIS: Blue corn Kool-Aid pickles at the Indian Pueblo Kitchen, where fried pickles are marinated in sweetly sour black cherry Kool-Aid, battered with Santa Ana Pueblo blue cornmeal, and served with green chile ranch dressing. “Growing up on Laguna Pueblo, we did Kool-Aid pickles, Kool-Aid sunflower seeds,” says Aragon, who praises the alchemy of sugar, vinegar, and salt.

New Mexico’s beverage scene is hotter—and more diverse—than ever. Here are six spots to wet your whistle.

Marked only by a glowing poppy, this medieval apothecary–themed bar transports guests from Santa Fe to a realm of fantasy. Inside, velvet banquettes, oddity cases, and chain mail curtains set the mood. Created by author George R.R. Martin’s team in the historic Railyard District, the lounge takes its name from a pain-relieving potion in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. Beverage director Sokhang Pan and head bartender Andy Pollack riff on “what you could get at a medieval apothecary with weird cocktails,” says Pan, with spirits like Armagnac and arrack reimagined into inventive drinks. One stand-out: the Paraíso, a frothy, floral arrack sour. Pollack calls it “postmodern at its finest, taking something old and reinterpreting it.”

In the shadow of the Sacramento Mountains, Tumbleweed Distillery is making waves with sotol, a lesser-known cousin of tequila and mezcal with its own earthy, herbaceous flavors. Owners Peter and Heather Kauffman purchased Tumbleweed’s 15-acre Tularosa property in 2017 and opened the chic distillery in 2024. Visitors can sip neat pours, try a Sotoloma prickly pear margarita, or explore seasonal cocktails highlighting the spirit’s smoky bite. “We’re hoping to spark an industry in New Mexico,” Peter adds. “It’s a good location to grow sotol. It’s their natural habitat.”

In this bar, you won’t find beer taps or whiskey bottles—just rows of teas, herbs, and botanicals. This spot in the Sawmill District is part of the state’s growing sober-social movement, creating space for those who want the nightlife vibe without alcohol. Owner Ryan Brown draws inspiration from ancient tea traditions and modern mixology, serving up drinks like the Ancient Fashioned, kombucha, and adaptogen blends in colorful, foam-topped pours. “I wanted to create a teahouse that was fun and casual, like a coffee shop, but could also be open late,” Brown says. Low lighting, a cozy atmosphere, and experimental flavors make Lost Cultures a refreshing alternative in the Duke City’s bar scene.

Located less than a block from Taos Plaza, this intimate wine bar and bottle shop specializes in minimal-intervention wines from around the world. With the 2024 debut of the Bosque Farms–based Poly-chrome winery, New Mexico now has its own natural wine on the list. Settle in for glasses paired with inventive dishes like roasted carrots in black garlic vinaigrette or cast-iron-charred octopus over creamy polenta. Equal parts relaxed and refined, Corner Office is proof that Taos’s creative spirit extends into its wine culture.

At the Gallup Flea Market, Ursula Rose Johnson’s blush pink Tea Boss shed stands out. Her custom iced blends put a twist on cota (traditional Navajo tea), with playful names like Rezzberry, Navajo Milk Man, and Thee Passionate Navajo. Since launching in 2022, Tea Boss has grown into a mobile sensation, serving fans in the Four Corners region with pop-up shops that are announced on Instagram @teaboss505. “Tea is so healing,” Johnson says. “I wanted to give the Navajo Nation—and all of my customers—healthier options.”

In Albuquerque’s Old Town, NM Wine Studio invites oenophiles to swirl, sip, and learn about the oldest winemaking region in the country. The sleek space pours flights from more than 50 New Mexico wineries, spotlighting the diversity of the state’s vineyards. Try the interactive wine table designed by Corrales-based Ideum, which guides tasters through aromas, flavor notes, and winemaker stories at the touch of a screen. For a deeper dive, sign up for a 90-minute tasting class.

Community comes first at Downshift Brewing Company, where Shelby and Eddie Gutierrez brew beer with heart in the mountain town of Ruidoso. When the 2024 South Fork and Salt Fires devastated the area, their Riverside taproom became a hub for first responders and locals. The couple raised thousands for relief efforts, shared their Collective Good beer recipe with other breweries, and helped spread the message that “Ruidoso is still here.” Beyond resilience, Downshift delivers 12 flagship brews, rotating seasonals, craft coffee, and gourmet bites like pizzas and grain bowls. It’s a place to gather, recharge, and raise a glass.

The Clovis native and podcaster brings agriculture to the forefront while advocating for sustainability.

Hungry for a discussion on topics ranging from the New York Fashion Week rodeo to the burnout crisis among beginning farmers? Tara Vander Dussen and her Discover Ag podcast partner, Natalie Kovarik, have you covered. Since 2022 the duo has reached millions of listeners who want to learn more about where their food comes from. In Vander Dussen’s case, the food she and her husband, Daniel, produce comes from their 10,000 cows near Clovis, just down the road from the dairy where she grew up. “I did not see myself coming back to farm life,” says Vander Dussen, who studied environmental science at the University of Arizona. Today she still milks cows on the farm while serving as an international ambassador for her way of life and the New Mexico dairy sector.

WHEN I WAS AWAY at college, people would find out my parents were dairy farmers. The rest of the conversation was about how you milk cows. I always left thinking, I think that guy’s dad is a doctor. That girl’s mom is a judge. Why aren’t we talking about that?

IT MADE ME realize that so many people have no idea where their food comes from.

I FIRST CAME BACK to Clovis as an environmental consultant. I joke that my work was on the back end of the dairy: manure management, soil health, and water conservation.

AFTER MY FIRST DAUGHTER was born, I joined some mom Facebook groups. There was a lot of conversation around milk, and it opened my eyes to see people’s massive misconceptions about dairy and farm practices.

I SAW THIS NEED to communicate, to pull back the curtain and let people who have never set foot on a farm see what things are like.

THE MORE PEOPLE know about their food, the less likely they are to be scared of it. And that takes farmers and ranchers stepping up and opening up their farms.

THE PODCAST is about food and farming, but we’re not covering commodity prices.

NEW MEXICAN DAIRY is facing challenges—from declining water tables to industry consolidation. [But] New Mexico is investing a lot in green technologies, and that’s exciting.

Southern New Mexico State Fair-grounds, Las Cruces; Balloon Fiesta Park, Albuquerque; Labor Day weekend. nmwine.com

From chewy bagels to Parisian sourdough and pan dulce, New Mexico’s bakeries are giving us plenty of reasons to carb-load.

Once scarce in the Land of Enchantment, bagels are now very much around. At Kaufman’s Coffee and Bagels in Albuquerque, the line often stretches around the corner. Inside the 900-square-foot shop, customers watch dough being shaped, boiled, and baked in a three-day process that results in chewy rounds with a crackly crust. Owner David Kaufman, who learned the trade in New York, sells up to 500 bagels a day. His menu goes beyond plain and poppy-seed: New Mexico twists include green chile cheddar, red chile, and blue corn. “Bagels and bagel shops are becoming more popular in New Mexico,” he says. “People are moving here from the East Coast and missing a good bagel.”

Albuquerque locals also line up for Sunday Bagels, which Nick Fitzgerald and Bobby Nolan opened downtown in late 2024. Hand-rolled California-style bagels come with fresh cream cheese blends, smoked salmon, and local and seasonal toppings like red chile honey.

In Rio Rancho, Frenchy Alicea has run Alicea’s New York Bagels & Subs for more than a decade, dismissing the “New York water myth” and focusing instead on balance, method, and good ingredients.

In Taos, bread has taken on a literary twist. Tomorrow and Tomorrow, a bakery and cafe opened by Matt Burns, draws its name from Shakespeare’s Macbeth but grounds itself in sourdough. “It’s the sourdough baker’s lot in life,” Burns says. “You have to prepare the bread today for tomorrow.” His Parisian starter flavors boules, baguettes, and hearty sandwiches, while a French Grand-Mère stone oven anchors the open kitchen. Alongside rustic loaves and pastries, you’ll find massive sourdough bagels crowned with lox.

In Sunland Park, Carlos Bakery pulls crowds for both savory and sweet. Owner Carlos Juarez turns out steaming menudo, tamales, and more than 20 burrito options alongside fruit empanadas, colorful conchas, and pan dulce. The burritos may lure you in, but regulars know to grab pastries early—they sell out fast.

Albuquerque’s Coda Bakery was named a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist in the Outstanding Bakery category, joining fellow Duke City standout Burque Bakehouse, which earned a nod in 2024. “I just make things how I like them,” Coda’s owner, Uyen Nguyen, says modestly. Try the innovative desserts of Rebecca Freeman—the American Culinary Federation’s 2023 National Pastry Chef of the Year—at two Santa Fe institutions, Santacafé and Coyote Café & Rooftop Cantina.

Posole isn’t just a stew in New Mexico—it’s tradition in a bowl. The dish shows up at holiday feasts and roadside cafes, warming bellies and binding generations.

La Cocina has welcomed generations of diners—from politicians to locals—who come for the food and stay for the “mi casa es su casa” hospitality. Founded by Jessie Martinez in 1970, the restaurant is built on her commitment to fresh ingredients, local chile, and attention to detail. This legacy continues with her grandson Phil Maestas and his husband, Javier Sánchez, the former mayor of Española. “In everything we strive to do, we make it taste like Grandma Jessie’s,” Sánchez says. This includes their simple posole made of pork, onion, and hominy simmered for five-plus hours. “Other than the spice of love, our posole remains pure so customers can add their own red or green Bueno chile,” Sánchez explains.

Bosa Donuts may be known for fritters, but it’s also an unexpected hot spot for New Mexican fare. When owner William Cardoza took over the shop in 1996, he introduced his aunt Lolita Valdez’s recipes, including her beloved posole. “It makes me feel really good when people tell me how much they like the food,” Cardoza shares, “like I’m doing something great with my life.”

“We serve the food we grew up with,” says Geri Gonzales, co-owner of Barelas Coffee House in the Albuquerque neighborhood of the same name. The 46-year-old restaurant is famous for family recipes like the posole, a “very simple recipe of white corn, baked carne adovada, and red chile.”

Hefty bowls of pork posole are popular at La Posta de Mesilla all year but never more so than during the holidays, when the dish is almost always requested red and is combined with chile colorado. Having recently celebrated the southern New Mexico restaurant’s 85th year, co-owner Jerean Camúñez Hutchinson says her family members “are stewards of an important legacy.”

Few dishes are more tried and #NMtrue than the green chile cheeseburger. At Sugar Nymphs Bistro in Peñasco, chef-owner Ki Holste tops a six-ounce char-broiled burger with sharp Tillamook cheddar, chopped Fiesta chile, and heirloom tomato on a homemade toasted bun smeared with mayo. Holste calls this High Road favorite “nothing special,” but we beg to differ. Near Laguna Pueblo, Bibo Bar and Grille, open since 1913, serves a griddled and unforgettable half-pound green chile cheeseburger. Down south in Alamogordo, Hi-D-Ho Drive-In delivers vintage charm and bold flavor with the Tiger Burger, a double cheeseburger piled with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, a swath of mustard, and plenty of fiery New Mexico green chile.

Nothing spices up life—and food—in the Land of Enchantment like green chile. The appeal of this pepper—a treasured part of our agricultural and culinary heritage for centuries—lies in both its flavor and its versatility. Every harvest season, we begin another annual cycle: Roast it, chop it, freeze it, stir it into sauces and stews, and pile it on our cheese-burgers—and whatever else.

“Green chile is such a deeply rooted staple in New Mexico cuisine,” says Izz Rivera, owner and chef of the Shop Breakfast and Lunch in Albuquerque. “We love it because it’s easy to incorporate anywhere, like you would an onion. With fresh roasted green chile, the possibilities are endless.” Here are just a few of the innovative ways it shows up throughout the state.

In the lush agricultural village of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, green chile jam is an integral part of the nosh board at Campo, the James Beard Award–nominated restaurant at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm. Artisanal cheeses and house-made char-cuterie, pickles, bread, and crackers are enhanced by a dollop of the jam’s smoky alchemy of roasted green chile, sugar, and apple cider vinegar. Take a jar home from the inn’s Farm Shop to pair it with any dish. “It’s a great addition to avocado toast and grilled ham and cheese,” says Sarah Sheesley, the property’s marketing director.

Across town in Albuquerque, Quarter Celtic Brewpub puts a New Mexico twist on Canadian poutine. Atop french fries and cheese curds smothered in brown gravy, “we put chopped green chile right on top of the gravy,” says chef Niccolas Lux. The acidity from the chile adds complexity to create a bolder version of the dish. “It’s one of those things you hear about and you’re like no, but it’s perfect,” he says. Green chile also flavors the creamy IPA-cheese sauce, into which are dipped Shillelagh Sticks (pretzels), and the cheddar scones served with traditional Mac Lomas Stout stew.

In Truth or Consequences, the bestselling Famous Green Chile Philly has had a place on the menu of Johnny B’s Restaurant since 2015. Inspired by an old-school Philadelphia cheesesteak, this hefty sandwich consists of thinly sliced steak, grilled onions and green peppers, and chopped green chile, all piled into a hoagie roll and topped with melty Swiss-American cheese. “My dad was like, ‘I love the Philly sandwich, everybody loves the Philly sandwich, so why not add green chile to it to make it unique?’ ” says Amber Morales, whose parents, Johnny and Jacky Baca, run the diner-style restaurant. Order a side of red chile for dunking and turn it into a New Mexican French dip.

Sweet concoctions also abound. At Beer Creek Brewing Co. outside Santa Fe, green chile makes dessert memorable in a roasted green chile cheesecake paired with house-made apple compote and caramel sauce. In Las Cruces, Caliche’s Frozen Custard serves a green chile sundae, combining vanilla custard with candied Hatch chiles, salted local pecans, and a cherry on top.

Wash it all down in Ruidoso, where Noisy Water Winery’s 2023 Besito Caliente Green Chile Wine blends muscato and riesling infused with Hatch green chile for three weeks. “The nose reminds you of that great roasted green chile smell,” says owner Jasper Riddle.

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