Fiesta army moves through history on its stomach

Rob DeWalt | The New Mexican

9/4/2008 - 9/5/08

The crowds, the regalia, the music, and the pageantry of Fiesta de Santa Fe's processions and parades — and the rich history surrounding them — float through my head as a jumble of memories. If anything anchors and organizes these memories, it's the food I have seen, smelled, and tasted over those many Fiesta weekends.

But I wanted to go back further, beyond my own sensory recollections. I wondered what Fiesta de Santa Fe — and Santa Fe in general — might have felt like before my time. So I began digging through historical records to see if I could come up with some likely — or at least well-imagined — possibilities. I began my very unscientific research by poring over The New Mexican's searchable digital archives. Then I headed to the Plaza, where I proceeded to stuff my face in hot (and juicy and spicy and buttery) pursuit of present-day truths.

Repasts of the past

If you were just passing through this territory in July 1876, you might have bedded down at the New Era Restaurant and Chop House on San Francisco Street: $10 a week for boarding and a hot meal for a buck. Just up the street, the City Bakery, Confectionery, and Fruit Stand offered pies, cakes, breads, nuts, candies, and, obviously, fruits. If you fancied a bottle of beer, Carl & Company Western Brewery touted its Beer Hall and Depot Saloon as the "finest, largest and most commodious saloon and pleasure-resort ... situated on the Public Square in the heart of the city."

In July 1917, just a few months after the United States entered World War I, Paris Café on San Francisco Street promised "good things to eat" and "special luncheons to automobile parties." An advertisement for Shredded Wheat Biscuit reminded folks, "In these war times you want real food that contains the greatest amount of body-building material at lowest cost." And in the lost-and-found section of the paper, one poor lady requested the return of her twilled-mohair bathing suit, lost somewhere between downtown and Santa Fe Indian School.

Skip ahead to 1950, when a Ranch Burger at the Arctic Circle Drive In was offered at a special price in honor of Fiesta — 49 cents (regularly 59 cents) for a double patty with cheese, fries, special dressing, "and green chile if you want it." The drive-in's building at 1947 Cerrillos Road now houses Los Potrillos, a popular Mexican sit-down joint where the burger has been replaced by sautéed goat meat and guacamole served in a volcanic-rock molcajete — both of which cost quite a bit more than 49 cents.

1958 was a great year for eaters in the City Different, and Fiesta season offered numerous dining options. You could go to Tiny's Lounge for drinks and "sandwiches galore"; La Cocina de Santa Fe for Spanish food and patio dining; or Claude's on Canyon Road for a farolito-lit lobster dinner. Parents frequented Ingram's Family Drive-In on Cerrillos Road for fish sticks and "dari-kreem & ice cream." At what is now La Boca on Marcy Street, a Wednesday-night meal at The Geranium might have included prime rib, and for the adventurous gentleman with some form of transportation, there was The Pink Garter Saloon in Lamy.

But if you just couldn't handle the downtown Fiesta experience a minute longer, a double feature of Teenage Bad Girl and Teenage Wolfpack at the Yucca Drive-In promised "the sins and sensations of thrill crazed delinquents!" They probably sold popcorn there, too.

The city culinary

Now that I have tasted some of Santa Fe's culinary history, I am hopelessly addicted. Finding out how others before me have traversed that landscape has reinvigorated my interest in the edible treasures to be discovered — and rediscovered — at the 2008 Fiesta.

Pat A. Velarde, an employee of Pojoaque's public schools, has been involved with the Fiesta Food and Treat Booth Committee for more than 30 years. He supplied me with a list of the 16 vendors participating in this year's Fiesta and told me that some of them would also be downtown over Labor Day weekend.

My reconnaissance mission on Aug. 30 was brief but delicious. I met John and Louise Sandoval, third-generation Fiesta concessionaires who run El Sabor de Nuevo Mexico, a one-stop shop for fantastic New Mexican and traditional American eats — carne adovada, chicharrones, and chile relleno burritos (outstanding); spicy corn dogs (with dried jalapeño flakes in the batter — a crunchy masterpiece); chile cheese-burgers; hot dogs with mustard for the tykes; and lemonade to wash it all down. The patriarch informed me that the
fourth generation is in training. ¡Que viva El Sabor!

Brian Graves' roasted-corn stand has been a fixture at special events in Santa Fe for the past 15 years. On my visit, Marianne Fernandez and a Santa Fe woman who wished to be identified simply as "the Corn Maiden" served piping-hot cobs drenched in sweet butter, while a fella named Nathan manned the roaster wearing heavy protective gloves. Marianne suggested I top my corn with lemon pepper and red chile powder. This, folks, is the pinnacle of great Fiesta food. Those tender, juicy kernels are like magma — really delicious, absolutely irresistible, corn-flavored magma. But you may want to ask Nathan where he picked up those mitts; those ears are hot!

Onetime Taoseños and current Columbia, Georgia, residents David and Rhonda Frank are totally nuts — but for all the right reasons. The former glass artists hit the food-vendor circuit after Sept. 11, 2001, and never looked back. They've been serving fresh-roasted almonds and pecans seasoned with red and green chile, vanilla, and cinnamon at Fiesta for the past seven years. This is perhaps the least messy and most addictive snack to be found on the Plaza.

But don't take my word for it. Feast on history for yourself. And bring cash. Fiesta food vendors don't accept checks or credit cards.