The Fork

Insane in the Grain

On Saturday, Jan. 16, folks at Blue Corn Café and Brewery on Cerrillos Road announced Ingrained, a local craft beer and food festival to occur from noon to 2 pm. The event includes offerings from Blue Corn Brewery, Second Street Brewery, Duel Brewing, Bathtub Row Co-Op, Bosque Brewing, Santa Fe Brewing Co. and Chama River Brewing. On the food side, chef David Sundberg invites even more friends to the party. Besides Blue Corn grub, expect offerings from Old Windmill Dairy, Sweet Grass Co-Op, La Montañita Co-Op, Kaiser Farms, Mary's Chicken and Kakawa Chocolate House. Tickets are $35, and reservations, which are required, can be made by calling Blue Corn Cafe and Brewery's Cerrillos Road location.

Spice Up Your Pantry, Keep It Super Local

Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm is proud to announce its latest small-batch product:

Made by the kitchen staff at the inn using organic peppers grown on the farm, this stuff won’t stay on the shelves for long. Snap it up!

From the Adobe House to the Governor’s Seat

Tiwa Kitchen Restaurant & Bakery in Taos Pueblo has announced that it will be closed for the next few months, but it's not for the usual reasons restaurants close for a little while. From the restaurant's website: "Owner and Chef Ben Sandoval has been chosen to lead our community this year as Taos Pueblo's Governor. Our family is very busy but we do plan to reopen starting April 10th, for our 23rd Anniversary!" Congrats chef Sandoval and family! See you on the flip side!

Ming’s the Thing!

Congrats to James Beard Award-winning celebrity chef and former Santacafé chef Ming Tsai, who has been tapped to host the James Beard Foundation Book, Broadcast and Journalism Awards at Chelsea Piers in New York City on April 26. If you want to keep tabs on who the chef semifinalists and other award nominees are for 2016, including best chef of the Southwest, mark your calendars. The Restaurant and Chef Award semifinalists will be announced on Feb. 17, and nominees for all award categories drop live on March 15. If you need to be the first to know, they tend to announce nominees live via Twitter before posting to their website.

Swiss Miss?

Last week, the Swiss Bistro & Bakery in Santa Fe began leaving cryptic posts on its Facebook page about "exciting news." We hope it's good news, and not an early-2016 restaurant closing.

Go Home, United Kingdom, You're Drunk

The UK's chief medical officers have some bad news for British citizens who like to imbibe: Drinking is just awful for you, and you need to cut it way back or just quit. Citing recent research that there is an increased risk of some types of cancers in alcohol consumers as just one reason to cut back or get on the wagon, it may be a recommendation that everyone should consider.

Sandwich Me

Have you been looking at the sandwich porn on Santa Fe Culinary Academy's Facebook page? If not, get over there sometime soon. The students have been ramping up their mad sammy skills in anticipation of the reopening of the student restaurant on the campus (on Thursday, Feb. 11). The menu is still a work in progress, but there is no denying these serious cooks have been doing the work of sandwich angels in anticipation of your arrival next month.

Santa Fe Reporter