The Fork: Our top three sandwiches in Santa Fe right now

Springtime means sandwiches in our neck of the woods, and not just because turning the oven on in the evenings sounds so hard and hot that we almost wept. Really, it’s the portability of a good sandwich that draws us in. Are burritos the perfect food? Yes, and we’ll die on that hill. But is there also a wide world of breads out there that we want to eat, especially when said breads are crammed with tasty comestibles of both meat and vegetal varieties? Also yes. Which is all to say, we’re in the sandwich mood, and we’ve narrowed down our Top 3 locally available sammies (or sandos if you’re down with Letterkenny) right now.

Roasted Cauliflower @Bread Shop

As of right now, in this moment—though also at least for the last several weeks—our top Santa Fe sandwich honor goes to Bread Shop, that fantastic and bready bastion in Midtown. Not only has Bread Shop steadily grown into one of the most notable local businesses in its relatively brief tenure in town, its addition of rotating sandwich options last year has been nothing short of inspired, perhaps due to owners Jacob Brenner and Mayme Berman’s obvious commitment to local ingredients.

It’s hard to say what sandwich will appear on the menu and for how long given that using seasonal ingredients is the main driving facet at Bread Shop but, as of this moment (being mid-May in the year of our lord 2024), the roasted cauliflower number is a real treat. Served on house made focaccia with roasted cauliflower (they named this one so well), pickled peppers and a tahini spread, the true star of the show might be the fresh carrots from Nambé's Ground Stone Farm.

Even meat eaters will probably love this one due to its variety of textures and complementary tastes. And that focaccia? We just gasped audibly in our office thinking about it. At $13, it’s not the cheapest sandwich you’ll ever eat, but it haunted us so badly earlier this week that we made it our coworkers’ problem in a very real way (by which we mean we whined endlessly). Anyway, you can buy the carrots on their own at Bread Shop if you like, or find them through Ground Stone itself at the Farmers’ Market.

Torta Salvadoreña @Torogoz

When our boss wrote about a sandwich at a downtown restaurant driving him to tears, we knew we had to have that tear-jerker ASAP, so that’s precisely what we did. And while we didn’t really have the same emotional connection to the torta salvadoreña as crybaby over there, we did come away loving the sandwich really hard.

Pro tip? Save this one for the kind of day when you really think you’ll be OK only having eaten once, because it’s a massive combo of ground beef, beans, veggies and jalapeño served on soft French bread with a side of fries that just won’t quit. It also feels nice knowing that Torogoz is a family affair between its chef Maria Ramirez and her kids Johana and Nain. Even nicer than that, though, is to eat half the sando at the restaurant and then wake up the next day to the revelation that you’ve got a whole heck of a lot of sandwich left to utterly DEMOLISH. This one will set you back $19.95, but it’s soooooooooooo worth it.

Turkey Surprise @Mucho Gourmet Sandwich Shoppe

Some reading this might be thinking, “Duh, I already know that sandwich,” but this one’s for the people who’ve always been on the fence about Mucho’s timeless classic: Get the sammie no matter the time of year. It’s like Thanksgiving in a sando with turkey breast and cranberry and herb stuffing, and it’s only $10.50, which feels kind of like a steal. You don’t have to wait ‘til November; you don’t have to deal with your racist aunt; you don’t have to stand in the kitchen with your fifth glass of wine wondering why the hell you host this stupid holiday. Some Santa Fe things just have staying power, we guess.

What about you, dear readers? What are your favorite sammies, sandos or sandwiches? Extra points if you tell us something new.

The song that plays when you get a sandwich so good you might cry.

Also

• We’ve mentioned chef Randy Tapia’s Poki Tako poke truck once or twice in the past, but we thought it would be good to let folks know that Tapia has zeroed in on official biz hours: Noon-5 pm Tuesday through Saturday. You’ll find the Poki Tako truck at 2217 Cerrillos Road, but Tapia also takes DoorDash orders if you’re cool with that.
• Bishop’s Lodge, Auberge Resorts Collection announced Diego Sobrino will take over as its executive chef. Sobrino comes to Santa Fe from Bishop’s Lodge sister property Hacienda Alta Gracia in Costa Rica.
• In “way to catch up, little buddies!” news, the Santa Fe New Mexican’s summer magazine Bienvenidos dropped recently and has a nifty little feature on chefs Hue-Chan Karels and Erica Tai from Asian fusion eatery Alkemē. SFR is glad to see Karels and Tai getting their due, of course, because our own ‘lil news institution has long loved ‘em both—which you can read about here, here and here.
• Local commercial kitchen/workshop space/food networking center The Kitchen Table has a good one coming up soon for all you pizza fans out there. From 6 to 8 pm this Saturday, May 25, check out From Pan to Pizza: The Neapolitan Pizza Cooking Class. It’s a self-explanatory name, and will only set you back 55 clams (aka $55 for people who don’t like when language is fun). If you’d like to know more, such as where to get tickets, follow this link (and know they’ll totally have gluten-free dough options).
• For the Eldorado-ites among you (or people willing to drive out to Eldorado), know that Santa Fe mushroom micro farm Maya’s Mushrooms now has product in the Eldorado Supermart. Straight up, this is honestly quite exciting given how most stores have, like, two kinds of mushrooms if you’re lucky.
• The freaking International Chili Society itself has officially sanctioned the upcoming Taos Ski Valley Mountain Chili Cook-Off going down July 20 and 21—and there’s still time to register through the link just above if you think you’re the Pope of Chili Town. There are somehow four categories and cash prizes!
• The Santa Fe Indigenous Center has announced its next Native Community Food Distribution event, and it falls from 10 am to noon on Friday, May 24. Not only will the center offer bags of meat, fresh produce and nonperishables, it has clothes, shoes, books and other household items for Indigenous folks in need.
• OK, it’s an Albuquerque thing, but we can still all get excited about Edible New Mexico’s upcoming Burrito Smackdown on June 8 in the Village of Los Ranchos. In spirit, the event is practically the same as Edible’s Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown, and this year’s participating restaurants include Kūkri, Oso Grill, Scalo, The Skillet, Tikka Spice Food Truck, Vegos and VM Coffee. We also hear there will be cocktails. Get the details through that link up there that reads “Burrito Smackdown.”

Honestly? This is kind of a banger in slowed-down form and should be your official pizza-making song if you take that class. #WhippedCreamFallingLikeWaterfalls

More Tidbits

• Seafood chain Red Lobster isn’t just the restaurant at which our grandma insisted upon eating whenever we’d hang out: It’s the newest big biz to file for bankruptcy. Likely, it’s due to many weird things, but in all the stories we read about the filing this week, it’s generally agreed that adding all-you-can-eat shrimp to the regular menu was a misstep for the company. Don’t forget, America—if people can take advantage of something like a shrimp loophole, they will. But also don’t forget that we don’t give a shit about the financials of chain seafood places and salute everyone who takes down big business a few little shrimpies at a time. Rest in power, Grandma. We’re so glad you weren’t alive to see the demise of the cheddar bay biscuits.
• A judge in Indiana has ruled that tacos are essentially sandwiches, which not only feels like a gross miscarriage of justice and an absurd use of the legal system, but actually has weirdly specific implications for restaurateur Martin Quintana. Quintana, it seems, entered into a deal with a neighborhood association in Fort Wayne, Indiana that would allow him to sell subway-type sandwiches. Later, Quintana tried to get into the taco game with restaurant The Famous Taco but was told that he’d signed that sammie/sando pact, so it was a no-go. Naturally, he sued the Fort Wayne Plan Commission to reclassify tacos as sandwiches and Allen County Superior Court Judge Craig Bobay agreed, ruling that “tacos and burritos are Mexican-style sandwiches.” #BurritosAreBetterThanSandwiches
• Mexico City taco stand Taquería El Califa de León has become the first taco stand in history to earn a Michelin star as the prestigious guide drops its first-ever Mexican edition. We’d harp on and on about how street tacos should totally win awards and honors, but we figure that you already knew that. We’d really like to try those tacos, but we’ll just have to make do with chef Fernando Ruiz’s Escondido, which is set to open in Santa Fe in July. Oh, and by “make do” we actually mean “get pumped the eff up.”

A totally scientific breakdown of The Fork’s correspondence

In this week’s print edition of SFR, Zeng Chinese Restaurant has won fans and detractors in droves since it opened last month, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t robots working inside Santa Fe’s newest restaurant. Now to the correspondence!

Number of Letters Received: 20

*It would seem you all got your shit-talking out of your system last week.

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

“Thanks, I hate it.”

*Now, when you say “it...?”

Actually Helpful Tip(s):

“As someone who has dined with many a well-to-do person from that dreaded B word set, many of whom referred to a tip chart and tipped 15 percent or less, always, I say stand your ground.”

*Jackie C. is obviously our favorite, and if you aren’t quite sure to what she’s referring here, please see last week’s Fork.

Crushing sandos,

The Fork