The Fork

Stuff you might wanna know…

The Fork peruses the entire internet every week (and we mean every single page in existence) to try and bring you cool information that's related to food, and while we were doing that, we came across this doozy:

You got that right, friends—it's Santa Fe-based country music legend Bill Hearne meting up with local BBQ expert Uncle DT at the new brick-and-mortar space over in the Rufina zone for Uncle DT's Smokehouse. It's one of the coolest things we've ever seen in our lives. Even though The Fork is a devout vegetarian, we can still dig on a dude like Hearne visiting an as-yet unopened BBQ joint. Anyway, keep your eye out, because you just know the place is gonna be awesome. Boom—you've just been stuff you might wanna know'd.

Did you also know that the Loyal Hound name, brand and recipes have all changed hands? That's right, owners Dave Readyhough and Renee Fox are now fully ensconced at Eldorado eatery Arable. Rumor has it that Los Alamos' Pajarito Brewpub is behind the sale. Boom—something you might wanna know'd again.

What's going in to the old Opuntia spot on Shoofly Road? Our sources say it's called Cafecito, and that a soft opening for family and friends was a glorious time for all. When does this place open? What will it serve? What news have we of the fall season? All shall be revealed in time, but rest assured, the bright and sunny space is so sweet, you'll swear you should stay seated for so many days. Boom, alliteration and also a most-of-the-way something you might wanna know-ing! No link yet, but we're on the case.

Chef Fernando Olea hosted a secret supper event ON TOP OF A FREAKING MOUNTAIN recently. How do we know? Well, The Fork wasn't there, but SFR's regular food columnist Zibby Wilder was most definitely there. We also hear that Bob Harper, host of The Biggest Loser, which is reportedly filming in and around Santa Fe, was there. Otherwise, Wilder tells us she and a bunch of strangers were crammed on a bus, driven into the wilderness and supplied with blankets and tequila and one hell of a meal. Now that sounds like some stuff you'd wanna know. Anyway, it looked like this:

Mayor Alan Webber has reportedly proclaimed that November in Santa Fe shall henceforth be known as Vegan Awareness Month. We're pretty sure all the time is Vegan Awareness Time. Have we made this joke before? Did we already report this information? Forkin' ain't easy, and sometimes we forget. Anyway, we thought it was some stuff you might wanna know.

In case you need to convince people to go vegan next month, try this.

Also

-Speaking of Arable, we hear they've been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives in addition to Rowley Farmhouse Ales—and you know what that means: Bird skeletons take to the air, somehow still living and cawing cacophonously as they circle the ancient ones. Geysers of lava erupt from the scorched earth, screams of terror ring out. BOOM! It comes! BOOM! Too late now! BOOM! It's Guy Fieri, his frosted tips jutting skyward, his oversized Punisher button up flapping in the icy wind. We cannot hope to stop him now.

-If it's beer and hops you're after, Beer Creek Brewing hosts its first Hoptoberfest on Saturday Oct. 19, a gathering of 12 local breweries to support the New Mexico Hop Growers Association. We've been unable to get information on which breweries will be in attendance, but we do know that if you go you'll get a nice pint glass to take home.

-We mentioned this before but are bringing it up again because it turns out you can host through the whole month—Kitchen Angels' Feasting With Friends pop-ups are a great way to help raise funds for the nonprofit. All you have to do is host a community in your house and the proceeds from visitors goes to KA's commitment to feeding those who are food insecure.

-Good news, burger fanatics—Santa Fe Bite is now reopened. Go nuts.

-Lastly in hyper-local news, you may have heard that New Mexico mainstay Allsup's recently sold to chain Yesway (and we expect lots of jokes involving people saying "Yes, way!"), which indeed does feel like the end of an era, BUT—let's all remain calm. Word is, no price changes or layoffs are expected, and we'll reportedly still have access to those incredible chimis that have become like a de facto test of one's New Mexican-ness. "You had an Allsup's chimi?" you ask someone. "Yes, way!" they reply, and we all have a good laugh.

More Tidbits

-Ruh-roh, Taco Bell has recalled 2.3 million pounds of beef after a customer discovered metal shavings in their food. We'd love to make jokes about how Taco Bell shreds guts, but this is serious—and that's so much meat. No injuries or concerns have otherwise been reported.

-An employee of Panera Bread was fired for making a Tik Tok video (which is how The Fork knows we're old … since Tik Tok is weird and confusing to us) in which she revealed the chain uses frozen mac and cheese at its restaurants. Not to worry, though, as the former employee apparently said her firing was "completely justified." We'd also consider our aversion to Panera completely justified.

-If you were a fan of the television program Parks and Rec, you certainly know that character Ron Swanson played by Nick Offerman was a mighty big fan of Lagavulin scotch. And now, since art, like, imitates life or vice-versa or whatever, who cares, Offerman finally gets his own version of the famed whiskey. Word is that Offerman spent half a decade working with those Lagavulin dweebs on the scotch. We don't care for the stuff, but there you have it.

-With Thanksgiving looming, the folks at eater.com put together a guide for people scared of the big day. If only there were a guide full of good excuses for getting out of family time, right? Oh, what's that? You like your family? Well, guess The Fork's just not all smart like you!

-Since this is CLEARLY the darkest timeline and nothing feels good or right anymore, the Jonas Brothers (you might know them as the husbands of more impressive women like Game of Thrones' Sophie Turner) have apparently partnered with Coors for limited edition bottles that bear Jonas faces. We guess it's also a special beer, we don't know—we couldn't bring ourselves to read the whole story. Ugh. If we weren't gonna buy Coors before (which we weren't), we're definitely not gonna now.

-Regular readers know that we admonished the idea of shitty candy for Halloween, so to help, here's where to get the cheapest kinds that kids actually care about.

Finally