As we speak, local food publication Edible New Mexico is in the midst of its 2026 Local Hero Awards, an annual affair highlighting all kinds of cool food stuff in the state. And though there are all kinds of categories for which to vote (and you can do that by clicking here), including Beverage Artisan, Pop-Ups, Trucks, Farms, Nonprofits and so on, we thought we could take a look at the chefs from Santa Fe who made the final list so anyone interested in voting could do so in an informed manner. The following are listed in the same order in which they appear on the ballot. Oh, and before anyone asks us something about how we’re pointing to competing food coverage out there, we love Edible and think they do cool stuff, so BACK OFF.
Ahmed Obo, Jambo Café
Obo is no stranger to SFR’s Best of Santa Fe poll and consistently tops categories in our own annual issue. The fare at his Jambo Café is what we’d call Afro-Caribbean, but don’t forget he also salvaged the old Bobcat Bite as Jambo Bobcat Bite, and his burgers taste like the old days. Jambo’s original menu is expansive, though we’d personally recommend the banana leaf wrapped spiced mahi mahi or the classic jerk chicken. Spiral outward from there into more adventurous dishes later (unless you’re already familiar).
Dakota Weiss, Coyote Café
Woah, we were just talking about Weiss’ Capital Coal Neighborhood Eatery last week, and we must say we’re not shocked to see her on the list. She’s kicked off fast-casual chains, she’s embraced micro-concept dining and she even does the fine dining thing at one of Santa Fe’s most iconic restaurants. Right now it’s looking like Coyote hsa a lot of good seafood options, but don’t worry, people who need to eat red meat—they pecan coffee rubbed prime flat iron steak or smoked Wagyu beef rib both sound dope as hell.
Dale Kester, The Compound
Formerly of Santacafé, Kester is executive cheffing for Beardo-winning chef/Compound owner Mark Kiffin up there on Canyon Road. Scuttlebutt around town is that Kester makes fine dining excellence into a more accessible experience, and also he’s apparently pretty damn creative. Right now when it comes to the menu at The Compound, we’re feeling drawn to the pan-roasted Icelandic cod, but the wild mushroom with stone ground polenta and black truffle relish sounds like a dream.
David Sellers, Horno Restaurant
Sellers has been around, baby, including stints at Santacafé about a million years ago, plus his own stuff at eateries like Amavi and Street Food Institute. At Horno, he’s managed to merge the style and experience of fine dining without all the stuffy pomp and circumstance. That means that your stupid-ass rich friends won’t complain when you head over there for a bite, but you won’t feel like you need a second mortgage because of a steak. We rec dumplings and Leo’s Smackdown Burger (which won Edible’s Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown in…some year), but try also the strawberry rhubarb pop tart.
Eduardo Rodriguez, Zacatlán
He’s been nominated for a Beardo, he’s worked his way up from a dishwashing job to one of the most exciting chefs in town and he’s been working on opening a restaurant downstairs from our office in the Design Center for just long enough for us to get impatient and wanna eat there—he’s a badass. Remember that Zacatlán brunch is pretty dang reasonable price-wise, and that the nighttime becomes a creative fusion of fine dining and Mexican flavors. For the love of God, try the pork belly carnitas with the strawberry rhubarb tamal, but never forget the 16-hour braised short ribs with rosemary-feta mashed potatoes.
Fernando Ruiz, Escondido
Ruiz has been super-open about his time in prison some years ago and how that brought him to food. He also presides over one of the most beloved (yet still quite new) taco joints in town. Escondido does the Mexican thing so right, and Ruiz is talented as hell. If you’re curious about how to make tacos like him at home, never forget he was featured in an award-winning 2022 SFR story that included a recipe! Start with literally any tacos at Escondido, then go back and try everything else (word to the ceviche). Oh, and PS: he beat that smug Bobby Flay at making food, so…score.
Hue-Chan Karels, Alkemē
Woah, did you know Karels was in that same story with Ruiz, and that she also offered up a recipe for something amazing? She’s been shortlisted for a Beardo, too, alongside her fellow Alkemē (say it like “alchemy”) chef Erica Tai, and perhaps coolest of all? She’s a real kind person in SFR’s experience. Perhaps you should start with the Alkemē tasting menu for a taste of its Asian fusion flair, just know that Karels combines so many flavors from so many lands that you’re bound to find both familiar and completely new foods over which to obsess.
Kathleen Crook, Market Steer Steakhouse
If you’ve been living under a rock and not paying attention to SFR and also The Fork, this might be the first time you’ve heard of Crook. If so, fix your life. She’s a former Rodeo champ and a kitchen genius who hands down makes the best steaks in Santa Fe right now. If you’re looking for something a little less white tablecloth, Crook’s Tack Room bar menu is INSANE/SO GOOD (word up to the steak, the smash burger and the faux Frito pie). In other words, if meat is your treat you’re going to want to get over there as soon as humanly possible. Seriously. Do it now.
Martín Rios, Restaurant Martín
You know him, you love him, his Galisteo/Paseo de Peralta eatery has been the subject of much buzz pretty much always and he’s been in the Beardo discourse since as far back as anyone can remember. Yeah, Santa Fe loves chef Rios like woah, and we have to agree. If you’re looking to swing by, think about ordering the maple leaf duck breast or the beef tenderloin. If you’re less decisive, the vegetarian tasting menu is also the real deal. Did we mention the desserts are gorgeous?
And that’s all of ‘em for the chef category, buds. Go forth and vote should you so desire. Excelsior!
Also
While we’d normally break down a bunch of local goings-on in this section, we instead wanted to address the video from YouTube channel Amagnsett Press entitled “Aggressive French Fool Makes a Huge Mistake.” See, this YouTuber came to Santa Fe to do…we don’t even know what, and came away with a video wherein they dunk on the owner of Café des Artistes for being not thrilled about the filming. OK, word. Let us first say that it’s true that we, meaning people, have no reasonable expectation of privacy when we’re in public spaces. Still, the classier thing to do would have been to understand that some folks don’t love it—and no, we don’t count politicians and cops—so maybe it would be OK to just go about your business and not bother them? Mainly we’re bothered by the real asshole-quality title of the video. You caught some dude at not his best. Cool? Good job? Seems gross. And since we assume that our writing about this will pop up for these YouTube dorks in some analytics way, we want to mention that we’re not really gonna read any angry emails from them, we don’t love gotcha shit and we think our town is a lot cooler than the video with the mean title would have folks believe. And now we’re never going to think about it ever again. If you must, you can watch the video below.
More Tidbits
An olive oil brand from Greece is now crowned the best olive oil in all the land. The Master Miller won, like, 10 gold medals at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition in a field that apparently rolled up more than 10,000 brands from nearly 40 countries. Wild. Must be pretty good, we guess.
In holy-cow-this-is-weird news, the makers of Nilla Wafers have a new Star Wars branded product that seems to just be smaller Nilla Wafers died a sickly shade of green. Why? Well, they’re calling it a collaboration, but it’s really just an image of Baby Yoda (whose name we will NEVER learn) slapped on a box because apparently that puppet is the star of some new movie. See the cookies here and wonder when the same basic color as mold became a cool look for cookies.
We just found out about a chef in France who has 18 Michelin Stars, but he’s somehow not famous outside of France. And all’s we can say about that is “good for him.” Is it a bad thing that homeboy is killing it in his homeland and not at the forefront of everyone else’s minds? He already lives in the place where vacations are mandatory—let him be! Seriously, though, chef Yannick Alléno sounds like a total champ!
In Summation
It’s not that we don’t think people should be held accountable, and we’re certainly proponents of criticism, but we’re just not sure what the value of a video is when the point seems to be dunking on some dude who doesn’t want to be filmed. Again, if it’s cops or politicians, film them all day. And if a restaurant sucks, people have a right to know. Criticism is valid! Dragging some poor dude is gross, though, unless he’s treating his workers badly. The internet has made us all very weird people. Anyway, we’re gonna have a croissant.
Smooches,
The Fork
Dining and Cooking