The Fork

Greetings and welcome, Fork Fans.

Hot Dish at Second Street

Thinking about dinner tonight? The third Thursday of the month is Cask 'n' Curry at the original Second Street Brewery. The kitchen prepares a three-course East Indian dinner, and the brewmaster pairs it with a traditional English cask beer. The menu and the beer change every month, so call 982-3030 or check the Facebook page for details.

Sizzling New Menu at Taberna

Taberna Santa Fe just debuted a new menu that includes an incredibly tantalizing-looking Peruvian noodle bowl. A pile of rice noodles is studded with shrimp, pork belly chicharrones, aji amarillo, aji verde, jalapeño and a poached egg. Did you know Taberna has more than 70 wines by the glass? While you're there, ask about "Flight Club," which offers discounts and other perks.

Sexy New Chiles for the Kitchen—and Garden

Cool feature this week on Serious Eats. "So Hot Right Now: 11 Chilies You Should Know" is (aside from the misguided spelling of "chiles") a fun exploration of some superhot peppers you've probably never heard of, including the bright, flavorful lemon drop, the apple-shaped manzano pepper and the bubblegum 7 pot, an intensely red little pepper that apparently, if you can get past the searing heat, tastes a bit like gum.

But where to find these exotic chiles locally? We're so obsessed with regular green chiles that it can be tough to locate some of the rarer varieties fresh. First, do another run through the Mexican foods section of your grocery store. It may offer more than you think. Scan the produce at one of the three El Paisano locations, and while you're there grab some fresh tortillas to go. If you're downtown, pop into the Santa Fe School of Cooking. It stocks most of the chiles you'll need for, say, mole, in addition to things like chipotle powder, which I'm obsessed with.

If your tastes are still too exotic, think about adding chiles to your vegetable garden this year. Check out "Seven Hacks for Chile Gardeners,"  posted this week at FieryFoodsCentral, by German chilehead Harald Zoschke. (I've met Harald. He is obsessed with chiles.) The site is full of advice for chile gardeners, so go ahead and get lost over there.

Plants of the Southwest grows lots of chiles from New Mexico, the Southwest and Mesoamerica. See which plants and seeds they've got in stock (3095 Agua Fria St.). And I'm embarrassed to admit that I often buy vegetable plants at Lowe's, where I was shocked to find 4-inch Bonnie pots of shishito peppers last year (it was a new variety for 2015). They grew like crazy in the garden, and I fried them up every time guests came over. Olive oil, salt, pepper, that's it.

The Chile Woman (improbably headquartered in Bloomington, Ind.) also sells hundreds of different exotic varieties of chile plants as starts ($4 each). She has a long list of vendors who sell chile seeds. Check that out.

If you don't have the space or the energy for a big garden, Payne's Nurseries' Southside location (715 St. Michael's Drive) is offering a workshop on growing vegetables in containers at 11 am on Saturday, April 16. The workshop is free, and you get a 20 percent discount card to use that day.

Have garden questions? Did you know you can get help from experts? Call the NMSU county extension agent, 471-4711, or submit your question online to the Santa Fe Master Gardeners. The Master Gardeners are teaching basic composting April 16 from 1-3 pm at the County Fairgrounds Compost Area. Also includes the basics of worm composting. That's free.

Got news, tips or suggestions for The Fork? We want to hear from you. No tidbit is too small and no bombshell too big. Email thefork@sfreporter.com.

Santa Fe Reporter