The Fork: This Week Was Hard

Ever have one of those weeks wherein you do so much of the thing you do at work that you run out of that thing? We’ve just about run out of words, which we understand is probably weird to hear from such a scurrilous, garrulous Fork such as ourself. So we won’t blame you if you check out this week.

But since we feel like we owe you one, we’re going to let you in on the magic of MorningStar vegan corndogs. They’re plant-based, they’re amazing, they’re the first non-meat hot dog (or hot dog-facsimile, whatever) product we’ve had in all our meatless years that wasn’t a floppy, gooey drag. You just pop them in the oven, heat them up for, like, 20 minutes, slap some mustard and ketchup on a plate—and you’ve got yourself a good night.

We’ve eaten so many, in fact, that Le Forkette will have no choice but to head back out and get some more if she wants some. We’ve eaten so many that we’re more dog than person at this point. We’ve eaten so many effing vegan corn dogs, that even the MorningStar people (who, btw, are owned by Kellogg, and thank goodness they worked out that strike situation because we were not about to scab for vegan corndogs) called to be like, “Damn, The Fork, are you OK?”

We told them to shut the hell up. And then we also ate some MorningStar vegan sausage links for breakfast, because they’re also awesome.

And that’s it. That’s the whole intro to this week’s Fork. As we say, we’ve run out of most of the words, and we’ll have to save some for the following sections. Anyway, love you, even if not every Fork is a winner.

We’re always flattered—WHEN OUR HOT DOG’S GETTING BATTERED!

Also

-Cheers to the folks at Second Street Brewery which was out there just winning all kinds of awards. Seems our buds who no longer dwell on Second Street picked up a bronze medal from the 2022 World Beer Cup for their aptly named Brown Ale, which is a brown ale. As if that weren’t enough, the company’s Director of Art & Branding Mariah Cameron Scee won not one, not two—but three design awards from the Craft Beer Marketing Awards for her work on Second Street’s Sloppy Sloth, Zapparado Ale and Barleywine brands. That last one even came with a limited edition, hand-printed package. Ba-zang! Congrats, y’all!

-People from here who live in New York City keep telling us about this New Mexican joint called Ursula, so here’s a link to it in case you’re from there or going there and just need to get chile. Thanks to reader Joanne, who recently returned home to NYC after visiting Santa Fe, for sending us the piece. Please know, Joanne, that we’re pulling for you in your quest to find decent chile.

-We bring this up for a number of readers who are scared, but what do you all hear about Harry’s Roadhouse changing ownership? Anybody have any secrets to share? Email us at thefork@sfreporter.com

-We hear the Santa Fe Foodies Facebook group is having a real division crisis as some folks don’t like jokes, others don’t understand jokes and all kinds of locals and non-locals are getting into cranky spats about who is or isn’t nice enough. We’re enjoying it because people scream at us all the time from their keyboards. Have fun, foodies!

-We also learned through that group that Uber Eats charges the highest commission fees, at least according to a post from Santa Fe Barbeque, which states that, “just in the last week collected 260$ and I got 137$. Please use Grubhub, Dashing Delivery or DoorDash.” That’s anecdotal, we get it, but also can we just say that we wouldn’t be shocked about Uber doing something wack?

-That Rudy’s BBQ in Santa Fe is set to open soon and is also reportedly hiring. You can apply right here.

-Lastly in local info this week, consider this entry your excuse to pick up some ice cream sandwiches, because we had one (or two) the other night, and they were AWESOME.

This could be you!

More Tidbits

-Celebrity chef Mario Batali was found not guilty in his sexual assault trial in Boston on Tuesday. Batali had been accused of the assault in 2017. That’s the last we here at The Fork are going to say about that.

-Eater-dot-com gathered up a whole messload of bartenders to ask them which gins are the best for mixed drinks, and the results may...well, they probably won’t surprise you, but having the info can’t hurt.

-Since our inbox is often a hellscape of people either saying they should be allowed to eat whatever they want contrasted against people who tell us we’re stupid for sharing any kind of information whatsoever, we’re nervous to share this story from HuffPost-dot-com which highlights why BIPOC chefs think your need for substitutions is sub-sti-stupid. HAHAHAHA! Oh, jeeze. Nailed it, The Fork. Swish. We mean, c’mon. Whooooo!!!!!

-If you follow this link, you’ll come to a page that’s a recipe for blueberry lemonade margaritas. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.

A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork’s Correspondence

In this week’s print edition of SFR, meet some folks working to help feed New Mexicans displaced by the absolutely insane fires burning right now.

Number of Letters Received

28

*Y’all scared we’ll pub your words now, or what?

Most Helpful Tip of the Week (a barely edited letter from a reader)

“I’m gonna read another newsletter from now on.”

*Oh, God, we weren’t your only source for food information, right?!

Actually Helpful Tip(s)

“Eat chicken or don’t. We don’t give a shit.”

*Dave F. actually making the most sense.

Just stone-cold corn-doggin’ it,

The Fork