$$$$Price: Very Expensive • Latin American • Santa Fe
Originally from Mexico City, Chef Fernando Olea, formerly Chef of Epazote, has been enthralling diners in Santa Fe since 1991. Chef Olea creates sophisticated flavors using Old Mexico’s indigenous and culinary traditions alongside ingredients from around the world. His menu is deliberately small, featuring fresh and locally sourced produce and meats when possible.Nothing evokes the mystery of Mexican cuisine more than mole, a sauce of complex flavors that usually includes toasted and ground spices, seeds, nuts, chocolate and chile. Many mole recipes contain more than thirty ingredients and some recipes have five varieties of chile alone. Chef Olea is delighted to share his moles that include his "New Mexican Mole" that he created to commemorate Santa Fe’s 400 year anniversary in 2009. The large mural in the main dining room, was painted and presented to Chef Olea by Federico Leon De La Vega, a well- known artist from Mexico City.