Customer Reviews

The Food of Santa Fe: Authentic Recipes from the American Southwest

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Food in Santa Fe is a major part of the style and ambiance of the city. New Mexican regional products, especially chilis and corn, and southwestern cooking styles, everything from barbeque to Tex-Mex to authentic regional Mexican and Indian cooking, are strong influences. But Santa Fe has everything from tiny cantinas with home style New Mexican cooking to 5 star restaurants where New Mexico is an influence, but suave professionalism, integration of tastes, and high presentation is the norm.

The Food of Santa Fe takes you there, telling you about the food, the style, and the best restaurants. We've been to Santa Fe many times and reading the book is like taking a brief (and teasing) visit. I have to head for the kitchen and check out the chili supply. It's also a good way to prepare for a trip -- briefing you on what to expect, what to look for, and where to find the very best examples.

There are many Santa Fe cookbooks -- those from Mark Miller and the Coyote Cafe being the best known -- but this is perhaps a better overview, and a very pretty book to read.

We expect to buy copies for our Santa Fe loving friends as Christmas gifts.

Man! This is a GOOD cookbook. I have many many good cookbooks and this one is just to die for. The recipes are gorgeous to look at and even better to eat. One word of caution, if you are not an experienced home chef and a fairly adventerous eater, tread cautiously. These are restaurant-level creative funky recipes with lots of unusual ingredients. If this is just your speed (as it is mine) then go for it!

Dave and Nancy are gods in the hot and spicy food business. As usual you can expect concise information along with mouth-watering recipes. As host of the television series "The Sonoran Grill" and author of 4 cookbooks, I know good food writing when I see it and this is as good as southwest cooking gets. Just click on "All Books" by either Dave or Nancy and you'll see why they are so qualified to write this important cookbook and why I must add a copy of it to my collection

Having read and tried recipes from several NM/Santa Fe cookbooks, I feel this one is the one to get. This is the authentic stuff. Although a Californian, I'm a NM visitor and southwest food enthusiast. I grow chiles, mail order what I can't grow properly, make my own tortillas, take this stuff seriously.

The recipes for Carne Adovada, Green Chile Stew,Chicken Enchilada filling, Piquin Chile Salsa are totally great and, if you have the ingredients, very simple. The Carne Adovada recipe, while non-traditional, is off the dial. If you've visited Santa Fe and want to re-live the essence of this earthy, elemental cuisine, get this book.

Directions are simple and direct, pictures are beautiful, local ingredients info and historical background is great. First rate.

It's okay; but many of the recipes are not authentic and have been "calmed down" for general consumption. Try the WEB, there are some really great Santa Fe recipes there. Snce 1967, I have been to Santa Fe at leat 25 times; it is a shame what has happened to the "authentic" retaurants as the outsiders have moved in!! There is very little true Santa Fe foods available in Santa Fe; you have to get at least 20 miles out of town to find true New Mexican recipes.

I was really impressed with this cookbook because it is so much more than a cookbook. It has history, culture, food background, and much, much more. In face, it is only part cookbook. I have been fascinated with all that I learned about Santa Fe. I originally bought the book because of a research paper I was doing on Santa Fe, but then I fell in love with the book itself.

There are really some colorful pictures of the foods as well as the city itself.

As far as the recipes, they are easy to follow. It would be easy to cook with these recipes.

I love this book and the recipes, however I had to go as far to grow my own chillies to utilise this book. I did try to make them with normal 'green', 'red' and birds eye chillies from the local grocers however the subtleties in heat and taste of the authentic recipes is sorely lacking.

So if you have access to at least 15 different chillies you should be right, even some of the more familiar ones like anchos or new mexicos you should be fine, but if not you are depriving yourself of a truely unique food experience. Cintains all of the typical southwest dishes and a few I have not seen before, a book sure to please those familiar and new to southwest cooking.