Last weekend, Le Forkette installed one of those window-specific AC units at the Forktress of Solitude, and it has been a total banger few days as the weather gets harder and hotter. To think we scoffed about a little ol’ air conditioner’s ability to cool-ify a room all on its own, and yet it did just that. But then our mind wandered to the same thing it does every time we start to get into the hotter months: We want something sweet, and we want it cold, baby! Luckily, we have ice cream sammies in the freezer at any given moment for just such occasions, but if we’d had our druthers, we might have gotten in the Forkmobile to pick up one of the following items:
Churro Milkshake @Oasis Ice Cream Shop
Inside the Design Center on Cerrillos Road (the downtown part, we mean), you can get a milkshake with a freaking churro crammed into it. We concede this is likely a good cold/sweet treat for when you’re also ravenous (or super-high), but we’d also suggest picking one up to celebrate a milestone, such as continuing to exist or having a brilliant idea like getting a milkshake with a churro crammed inside. Oasis is also a paleteria, meaning you’ll find lots of other cold and sweet things to eat—and there’s an Airport Road location for all the Southsiuders, too.
Whatever Weird Thing La Lecheria Has Going @La Lecheria
Former Fire & Hops ( RIP ) chef/co-owner Joel Coleman has always done a lot in Santa Fe , but he really doubled down on ice cream in 2022 when he opened his now-flagship location of his La Lecheria ice cream shop in the Railyard. You’ll find the usual suspect ice cream flavors (your chocolates and vanillas), plus a dedicated Instagram/Tik-Tok background wall and, brilliantly, coffee from Java Joe’s served after 5 pm. The kicker? Coleman is sort of known for concocting unexpected ice creams, like sweet corn or green chile. Leave your antiquated and preconceived ice cream notions behind, buds—maybe you’ll find a new fave if you tread into the unknown.
Adobe Mud Pie @San Francisco Street Bar & Grill
Though the San Francisco Street Bar & Grill closed in 2020 due to the pandemic, longtime employees Victor Medina, Carlos Rivas and Sergio Sanchez took over late last year and reopened the almost always popular joint with an emphasis on maintaining the dishes for which the place had been known, along with rotating specials and other edible updates. We recommend the lemon chicken asado for sure, and the tasty Galisteo grilled cheese sammie, but if it’s sweet/cold treats you’re after, try the adobe mud pie. The interesting thing about this pie-meets-Oreos-meets-ice-cream dessert is in how it makes you wait. Oh, it’ll be a little too dang cold/hard to dig in straight away, but if you wait a few minutes for some of that hot melting action and perhaps engage in convo with your dining buds, the anticipation will build and you’ll make a sound like, “Unnngh,” as you finally crack into that bad boy. Woah, that even grossed us out!
How about you, dear readers? What are your go-to cold treat favorites in Santa Fe?
At eight minutes, this mini-doc about how ice cream changed punk rock is a big time ask in the internet age, but we found it fascinating.
Also
- Tough blow, people who hate change, as it seems long-running and downright lionized eatery Gabriel’s just outside town (yes, the one where they make guacamole right at the table) has changed ownership. According to the Santa Fe New Mexican , new owners Brad and Tracy Poynor have already taken over from former boss Sydney Gabriel. Brad apparently has tons of restaurant industry experience, having worked for restaurateur Bobby Cox of chains like Roa’s Café, Taco Villa and Texas Burger. Don’t expect too many changes, though. You’d have to be mad to mess with a proven formula. MAD!
- Ever-expanding food truck/brick and mortar operation Fusion Tacos seems to be having a hell of a week. In addition to kicking off a new weekly Taco Tuesday program at Los Alamos brewery Bathtub Row , the new location in Eldorado recently passed final inspections and is slated to open at 11 am on Saturday, June 8. Thereafter, according to a Facebook post , expect the new spot to stay open from 8 am-8 pm every day.
- Also dropping Saturday, June 8? Don’t space on Edible New Mexico’s Burrito Smackdown, a sister event to its evergreen Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown. The burrito version finds a number of Albuquerque restaurants (and one from Las Vegas) coming to culinary blows in a bid to prove burrito dominance on the global stage!!!!!! Melodramatic of us to put it that way? HECK, NO! Also cool? The big-ass list of craft distillers who will be on hand with killer drinks. Learn more here , including how to get tickets.
- Allllllsooooooo on Saturday, June 8? It’s National Rosé Day, baby, so good news for people whose entire personalities are built around Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, Target and restocking their daughter-in-law’s mini fridge (what a banger joke about TikTok culture—you’re welcome, America). How might you celebrate all things rosé in Santa Fe? Well, you could always pop by a liquor store like Susan’s Fine Wine and Spirits or Cliff’s Liquors and ask about a nice bottle of something. If you want the outside world experience, however, the Gruet Winery Santa Fe Tasting Room has special offers and discounts to celebrate, such as $5 glasses and price drops on bottles. Oh! Don’t forget about the La Casa Sena Wine Shop and Arroyo Vino .
- Would you like to know about some other notable National Something-Something Day(s) in June? OK! June 7 is National Donut Day; June 10 is National Jerky Day; June 11 is National Corn on the Cob Day (though the recent John Oliver episode about corn is worth a watch before you celebrate that one); June 14 is National Bourbon Day; and June 18 is National Cheesemakers Day. Don’t forget about National Chocolate Pudding Day on June 26; National Waffle Iron Day on June 29; and last, but certainly not least, National Mai Tai Day on June 30 (you can get a mai tai at Jinja if you need one any day, though).
- The New Mexico History Museum wants your help in curating the upcoming exhibit, Forks in the Road: Notable New Mexico Restaurants . In short, the museum has set up a hotline for people to call with their stories about foodservice across time. The process is reportedly simple, according to a recent social media post : “Call (623) 335 BITE and follow the prompts,” it reads. “Recordings are limited to three minutes. All submissions are anonymous!” If you’d like to learn more, click this link . Also? If you ever want to send your old pal The Fork some cool images from yesteryear, our email is thefork@sfreporter.com .
Wow—Train sucks.
More Tidbits
- We’ve got bad news for Pepsi and, by extension, Back to the Future Part II fans, for it appears that Dr. Pepper has de-throned Britney Spears’ favorite bevvie as the second-most quaffed soda in the country after Coca-Cola. “But I coulda sworn that Coke owned Dr. Pepper,” you probably just thought. Nope. It’s its own thing, baby. Well, it’s owned by a company called Keurig Dr. Pepper, and now you know. Also interesting? Dr. Pepper is older than Coke or Pepsi. Wild. Know what else is interesting? That there are knockoff DPs with names like Dr. Becker and, our favorite, Dr. Thunder. Still, our favorite knockoff soda of all time has to be Citrus Drop , a Mountain Dew-esque soda from Kroger that once bore the slogan “Pop the drop.” Think of all the useless info your brain is dumping to take on these cool new facts right now.
- Look, we love Goldfish crackers as much as or more than anybody (we can eat them every day, and our mom says that’s OK), but we’re skeptical about the new Spicy Dill Pickle flavor . We don’t know what happened to Americans that made them want snacks like this, but we’ll stick to the cheddar variety—and we unequivocally do not mean the Flavor Blasted variety. We like it old-school. Like, we’ll eat Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies in a pinch, but it’s all about them fishies.
- While we fully expect to get letters from people who tell us how they hate pumpkin flavored anything and used to ride the trolley from one end of town to the other and still have change from the nickel, we thought you should know that M&Ms is dropping a new flavor dubbed Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Pie . Setting aside how we like a name that describes exactly what a thing is, we’re curious about eating these because we’re human and pumpkin pie rules.
A totally scientific breakdown of The Fork’s correspondence
In this week’s print edition of SFR, behold the mighty 2024 Summer Guide, now in a bigger size. Therein, learn about the best cookies, meats, cheeses and bread for engaging with the Santa Fe Opera tailgate tradition .
Number of Letters Received: 22
*The age we were when we got our stomach pumped!
Most Helpful Tip of the Week (a barely edited letter from a reader):
“Jeez, too much use of the word ‘brekkie’ and the use of too many words. It gets cumbersome and then people don’t read it. What year is this?”
*2024, but we don’t know what the year has to do with what people will read.
Actually Helpful Tip(s):
“Deserved profile on the peeps who saved the Baking Company and a reminder I needed. Thank you Forkers for saving [my] quality of life once again.”
*Reader Stephen R. is down with the New Baking Company, and we also are down.
Sweetly yet coldly,
The Fork