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Maria's New Mexican Kitchen

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MoDean
MoDean
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4 out of 5
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3
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Editor Pick

Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen

  • July 1, 2008
  • Rated 2 of 5 by SeenThat from Tel Aviv, Israel
Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen

The margarita wasn’t strong enough to make me forget the meal, that was clear from first sip; but I am jumping ahead, allow me to begin the story a couple of hours earlier.

Maria’s History

Maria Lopez began a Mexican food take-out during the Santa Fe Fiestas in 1950; since then the place operates at the same location. In 1985 the place change hands. It is one of the best-advertised places in town for New Mexican Food and margaritas. It was just a matter of time for me to reach it in order to find the difference between Mexican and New Mexican food; my initial assumption was that the claim was just a gimmick.

Location

Located on 555 W. Cordova Road, Maria’s is close to the Central Plaza, but not enough for doing the way by foot. Luckily, the establishment has a large parking lot for the customers.

Ambience

Maria’s - as much of Santa Fe - is within a low adobe structure and features several rooms. We arrived in a group of seven – after having made a reservation – and were offered a private dining room. Its location next to the Maria’s bar allowed the noises from the Mexican television to invade our space, but the table was huge, the chairs comfortable and the courtesy chips and salsa placed immediately in front of us helped to forget the annoyance.

Side Dishes

Most dishes arrived in large plates and contained similar side dishes; hence, I’ll present here the ubiquitous add-ons separately.

Chips and Salsa: the most popular snack in New Mexico was a courtesy of the house (for the first serving, afterwards it costs $2.5). The chips were regular ones while the salsa was very spicy, not all members of our groups could eat the fierce chilies. Fortunately, our water glasses were kept constantly full.

Rice:

After having spent long periods of time in South East Asia, rice became a painful issue while in the Americas, from Bolivia to the US something always is wrong with the rice. In Maria’s it was watery and covered with a light red sauce, which gave it an ill appearance.

Refried Beans:

With some main dishes approaching thirty dollars and margaritas reaching $48, Maria’s cannot be defined as a fast-food joint. Yet, they add to most dishes a mushy paste of refried beans, the cheapest staple food in the Mexican cuisine. Adding injury to the insult, it was covered by cheese-analogue (coalesced milk proteins which resemble cheese but are much cheaper).

Tortillas:

Corn tortillas were one of the accompanying options for the main dishes. They arrived in couples and covered by a cloth to keep them hot; they were thick, fresh and tasty.

Sopaipilla:

Square in shape, these delightful fried buns arrived with honey and added a sweet tone to the otherwise extra-hot meal.

Salad:

Coming from a salad-oriented culture, this is another point of constantly painful experiences for me while abroad. In Maria’s, an innocent bowl was piled high with very tired vegetables. The last arrived in big chunks and thus mixing them up was difficult; decent dressings were missing. This modern Babylonian tower was covered with cheese-analogue and avocado salad; the avocado was great.

Main Dishes

Among he group, I was the only non-vegetarian; my hosts graciously conceded me a meat dish; soon we discovered it was the only respectable option in the menu. Maria’s pride itself on its extensive vegetarian menu; however, in practice, all the vegetarian dishes suffered from an attempt to use the cheapest ingredients available.

Fiesta Tamales Plate:

Made with corn masa protected by chalas (maize leaves), the vegetarian version of the tamales was filled with chilies and other unrecognized-vegetables. "I have tasted better ones," the victim summarized.

Blue Corn Enchiladas and Burritos:

Enchiladas are rolled tortillas, which can contain a variety of fillings; a Santa Fean variation features blue corn tortillas, filled with chilies and other vegetables. I found myself in troubles while trying to pinpoint the difference between a burrito and an enchilada; the main difference is one of presentation, a tasty sauce always generously covers enchiladas, while burritos are just a rolled tortilla.

Carne Adovada:

This was my choice for a main dish. Lean and tender pork is marinated in red chili, herbs and spices and then baked; this is the flag-dish of New Mexican cuisine. The meat was superb and it drew longing glances even from strongly committed vegetarians.

Margarita

Maria’s pride is the margaritas. Over a hundred types are served, ranging from $6 for the Home Margarita and reaching $48 for La Margarita de Paradiso (sic, the menu featured several Spanish errors, adding thus another disturbing detail to the visit. Where is Maria?).

We were handed a very specific paper describing what margaritas are. Over twenty stories try to describe their history; Maria’s even sells a book on that. However – according to them – the most credible story is that after World War II corporate America discovered it around Palm Sprins, California, while on golf outings. They used to take a shot of tequila, a bite of lime and a lick of salt, a local bartender added the Cointreau and the ice and created the cocktail.

The cocktail is prepared with tequila, triple-sec and limejuice; the last is a shortcut taken by Maria’s. Following the trend with the vegetal ingredients of their dishes, they have exchanged the lime by lemon juice, justifying the move by claiming taste inconsistencies in the lime. Tequila is a Mexican liquor (regardless the producer, the real staff is marked "NOM" with four numbers afterwards, as a sign of being regulated by the Mexican government) produced from the sugary juices extracted from the agave plant. Tri-sec and Cointreau are orange liquors made from sun dried orange skins in the West Indies; the tri-sec denotes the triple distillation process used; Maria’s uses the cheaper Tri-sec. Finally ice is added and salt sprinkled on the glass rim.

The drink was enjoyable, but the margarita wasn’t strong enough to make me forget the meal. We didn’t stay for a coffee.

From journal Eating in Santa Fe

Editor Pick

Maria's New Mexican Kitchen

  • April 12, 2005
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Nombiri from Taipei
The best time I had in Santa Fe was probably at this restaurant. We were coming back from Bandalier in the midst of a heavy snowstorm, starving after a long day of hiking. The snow had hit suddenly and blanketed everything except for ten feet in front of us in white. Our original plan had been to eat before we got back into town, but the weather made that impossible. Being in Santa Fe, we were hungering for some Mexican food but weren't sure how to find our way to a more than memorable restraunt, and we were also a bit confused on the 'Mexican' versus 'New Mexican' cuisine distinction.

Maria's New Mexican Kitchen appeared almost out of nowhere, and we managed to slide our way into the parking lot. It was packed from the moment we made it in through the door, but the staff offered us free chips and salsa and access to the bar while we waited for a table. We managed to find a table near the fireplace in the waiting room and soon learned that Maria's was famous for its margaritas.

There had to be nearly 100 different types of margaritas on their menu, ranging from the $5.50 house margarita to a number of $30 and $40 margaritas. To start I tried the house margarita, which was the best I have had so far. It packed a punch but managed not to taste as though it did.

For dinner, I had a plate of tacos for about $12, and the sopapillas at the end were complementary. The service was excellent, and they had both a smoking and non-smoking room.

From journal A Snowy Spring in Santa Fe

Editor Pick

Maria's New Mexican Kitchen

  • January 8, 2005
  • Rated 5 of 5 by MoDean from New York, New York
At the end of a day exploring museums, galleries, and shops, strolling the Plaza, or taking in the mountainous outdoors surrounding Santa Fe, you’ll want a little something to round out a perfect day. The folks at Maria’s know exactly what that little something is: a really good margarita.

And they take their margaritas seriously, using only by-the-book authentic tequila made in Mexico, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and top-quality triple-sec. They’re very stringent about where their tequila comes from—distillers must meet a long list of requirements—and even have the amount of ice in every serving down to a science. Nothing is added, and they’ll never stiff you on the tequila. The result is a real, no-frills, lip-smacking margarita. Once you’ve had one at Maria’s, you’ll be a convert for life.

Since even the best margarita is no good on an empty stomach, they’ve got the food thing covered too. The New Mexican menu adheres faithfully to the homemade quality of Old Santa Fe cooking, and it’s full of delicious options, most of which are available in vegetarian versions. Blue-corn enchiladas, that perennial Santa Fe dish, come with pork, chicken, or cheese, and they’re excellent by all accounts—go for the green chile sauce (it is spicier, but as I said in my overview, this is your chance to give up on that unfortunate aversion to spicy foods). Other favorites are the fajitas (which have won many a culinary award in Santa Fe), chiles rellenos, and the tortillas, which are not an entrée, but I would gladly eat them by the pound anyway. All menu items are priced moderately, and you get a lot of bang for your buck.

Come to Maria’s any night, but definitely come on a weekend night, when Mexican troubadours liven up the atmosphere. Expect friendly, attentive service, an excellent regional meal, and margaritas so good, you’ll love them even after the hangover. Just keep in mind that, because of the high altitude here, it won’t take as many as usual to hit your limit. And since Maria’s is a little outside walking distance from the Plaza, be sure one person lays off the margaritas for the drive back to your hotel. You can always switch off on another night—all the more reason to come back!

P.S. Margarita lightweights, don’t despair—there’s a very satisfying menu of fruity margaritas, too. All made with unsweetened whole fruits, of course.

From journal Santa Fe: Jewel of the Southwest

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