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Fuego
Remember the old adage 'location, location, location?' Here it's all about service, service, service. Special events are exclusive - scotch and cigar tastings anyone? - but the classy Sunday brunches also pamper palates with Dungeoness crab strudel and asparagus lobster omelets. Lighter dishes like bouillabaisse and ginger soup are offered at the bar (aka the Staab House). Prepare to be spoiled - in a good way.
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Gabriel's
The beautiful interior (hung with art by Miguel Martinez) and tree-shaded patio (featuring fountains and sweeping vistas) are fabulous spots to indulge in fresh guacamole, made to order right at your table. Enjoy the excellent New Mexican cuisine or the best ribs ever. Plan to stop if you're headed to the opera, Tesuque Pueblo flea market or points north.
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Geronimo
Chef Eric DiStefana presents Santa Fe's most exclusive dining experience in a 1756 adobe on Canyon Rd. In warm weather months the front porch is a great place for lunch while gallery hopping. (It's also a very good 'bargain.') Sample the elk tenderloin (around US$22 ) and delightful lobster salad ($17).
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Guadalupe Cafe
A great place for hearty appetites, the café offers generous servings of burritos and cheese-stuffed chiles as well as comfort foods like meatloaf and burgers. Those accustomed to leaner fare can choose among the many salads.
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Harry's Roadhouse
The attractive setting and elegant cuisine far surpass the prices, and dishes like Moroccan vegetable stew over couscous (around US$9 ) and turkey meatloaf (around US$9 ) are overshadowed only by the barbecues and the specials. Excellent stuff.
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Il Piatto Cucina Italiana
This crowded, spirited establishment serves up creative Italian fare. When you want a night off from red and green chile sauces, a pasta dish with sun-dried tomatoes may be just the thing.
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India House
Curries, naan and everything vindaloo are fabulous here, as is the abundant lunch buffet. In fact, it's one of the best deals in town.
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India Palace
Cloth napkins and stemware add ambiance, but it's the recommended lamb sagwala, baingan bartha (tandoori eggplant) and buffet lunch that pack these pretty tables with locals and tourists who long for a change from burritos and tacos.
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Jinja
Asian fusion cuisine and tropical cocktails make this bright spot a place to linger. Choose from among Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, and Malaysian-style mains, but whatever else you do, don't miss the wasabi mashed potatoes. The kids' menu keeps young ones happy and the drinks menu inspires adults to be bold - try a Polynesian 'party bowl' with four straws (around US$29 ) or a Thai martini (around US$9 ) with lime vodka and house-made lemongrass syrup.
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Julians
Bring a date to one of Santa Fe's most romantic dining rooms and together enjoy authentic Italian creations and a fine wine list in a soft, jazzy atmosphere. You can't get a more delicious seafood stew outside of Italy than the Caciucco alla Livornese, a mix of shrimp, lobster, clams, mussels, halibut and squid cooked to perfection in a distinctive tomato sauce. Veal aficionados can order the tender, rich Osso Buco alla Milanese.
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La Cantina at Coyote Café
This lively rooftop cantina atop famed sister restaurant Coyote Café welcomes budget gourmets to sample chef Mark Miller's cut-rate creations. Try the Oaxacan chicken mole spit-roasted pork tacos with pineapple and the signature mango margarita.
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La Cantina at La Casa Sena
Expect an abbreviated menu of La Casa Sena's finest. Make reservations for this serious visitor magnet, which offers one huge bonus: the waitstaff gets dressed up and sings show tunes and jazz!
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La Casa Sena
Housed in an 1880s-era adobe fronted by arguably the most idyllic restaurant patio in Santa Fe, this restaurant serves gourmet cuisine with Southwestern flair, like the Jackelope mixed grill of mesquite-grilled antelope loin, smoked rabbit sausage and sun-dried cherry coulis (around US$38 ). Next door, the newly expanded, award-winning wine shop (982-2121; ; - ) offers more than 1000 international wines.
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La Plazuela
Make reservations to dine on pork medallions in prickly pear-Tecate barbecue sauce, chipotle-glazed filet mignon and other gourmet goodies at this lovely spot in the painted-glass heart of La Fonda hotel, where local artist Ernest Martinez has graced more than 400 windows with his paintings over the last 50 years.
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Maria's New Mexican Kitchen
Huge portions of New Mexico standards, like the steak and chile rellenos combo topped with green chile, would make this 1952 Santa Fe standby a winner anyway. But with more than 100 margaritas (around US$6 -around US$46 it's a must.
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Mariscos 'La Playa'
Mexican-style seafood, including caldo 'El Mejor'- a tomato-based soup with shrimp, octopus, scallops, clams, crab and calamari - goes well with an agave wine margarita.
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MarketPlace
Enjoy your choice of local and organic foods at this natural grocery - fresh and deli style. Along with main dishes (featuring the likes of tempeh, tofu and falafel), you can pick up smoothies and juices, baked goods, coffee, fine cheeses, and a wide range of organic fruits and vegetables.
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Mudu Noodles
Pan-Asian, often-organic delights like salmon dumplings, Vietnamese spring rolls and Malaysian laksa inspire throngs to line up out the door. The noodles (of course) and specials are always recommended, and almost everything has a vegan version.
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Museum Hill Café
Despite having a captive audience on Museum Hill , the café serves excellent salmon en papillote (around US$9 ), New Mexico and Navajo-inspired fare.
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O'Keeffe Café
An elegant eatery with shaded patio dining, this fine café boasts an exceptional wine list and exquisite, mostly organic mains like the Colorado lamb chops with a red chile honey glaze. And it's all right next to the O'Keeffe Museum . The café also offers wine tastings and 'Emerging Oenophile' classes.
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Old House Restaurant
Dine by the fireplace at the El Dorado Hotel's award-winning restaurant where executive chef Paul Wade combines organic and artisan food in innovative dishes like coffee-crusted red deer loin with root vegetables and black cherry stew (around US$32 ). Each is accompanied by a much-heralded wine list, as you might expect.
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Ore House
Folks willing to indulge their inner tourist should stop here for its 40 different margaritas and balcony tables overlooking the plaza. Oh yeah, and good, hearty food - but that's almost beside the point.
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Palace Restaurant
To learn more of Doña Tules' story, or just get a sense of bodice-ripping old Santa Fe, check out The Wind Leaves No Shadow, by Ruth Laughlin. Or just stop by Palace Restaurant , on the site of Tules' old sala , for a toast.
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Plaza Café
Serving hearty meals since before the roads were paved, this Formica-furnished 1918 establishment still makes one of the best breakfasts around and offers great New Mexican food. (The café's 'not responsible for chile that is too hot.') It prides itself on a varied menu, welcomes kids and offers an unusual perk - a list of New Mexico politicians' phone numbers. Give someone a ring and let them know what you think.
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Plaza-side vendors
Tacos, burritos and fajitas are specialties at these city-licensed stalls where you can dispense with table manners entirely.
