A couple weeks ago, my sister and I were on the Plaza holiday shopping for our parents, feeling both uninspired and hungry. It was really cold that day, and nothing sounded nicer than tucking into a warm bowl of soup. 

Around noon on a clear, chilly December day, Steve Schmidt stands in front of his custom-built barbecue smoker in an empty lot on Cerrillos Road, country music playing from a small radio, the aroma of meat and hickory smoke filling the air.

The cathedral-ceilinged spot at the entrance of the Pacheco Street Lofts reminds me of cafés in Napa, where healthful and mindful living feel bright, spare and fresh-faced instead of funky, Boho-cluttered and warmly alternative.

More and more, I find myself in far-flung reaches of town in the middle of the day. I’m usually running around for work, meeting with clients or vendors, and need to find a tasty lunch on the quick—and preferably, cheap.

The Beestro (101 W Marcy St., 629-8786) might be so named for the quick grab-and-go-type lunch service customers expect when buzzing in and out of the tiny, new take-out spot on West Marcy Street.

 Santa Fe restaurants exhibit strange timing, making them seem connected. Soon after SFR published its 2011 Restaurant Guide, for instance, four acclaimed fine dining spots closed almost simultan

Great cities have great shops. You know the ones: small, neighborhood mom-and-pop outlets offering foods, hardware, quick gourmet gifts to grab on the fly when you’re invited for dinner.

Once upon a time, I lived in New York City—that lovely, messy town where food trucks reign supreme. The city teems with them, and my friends and I established a sort of game around the hardest-to-find mobile-food outposts.

Pampered Santa Fe pooches can now join the afterschool crowd that gathers daily at Ellie’s Yoberri Park. While their owners indulge in the classic tart frozen yogurt, canine snackers get to lap up two-buck cups of probiotic goodness made especially for dogs.

As much as I adore cute little French cafés, it seems like a counterintuitive moment to open one in Santa Fe.