Fire & Hops in Santa Fe Brings the Heat

One’s first meal in Santa Fe, New Mexico should probably come from any of the taco stands and southwestern restaurants all over the historical town center, but ours came at the Fire and Hops gastropub not far from where we would be staying for our vacation. I saw it on the map while looking up where we would be for the weekend, and after a look at the menu, I couldn’t resist.

Dishes that come from disparate inspirations come together to form the Fire and Hops Menu. It’s unusual for any part of the world. My husband sat down without having looked at it an expressed some concern that we wouldn’t be getting much of a southwestern experience at the establishment, but there are some hidden places that the flavors of the region come into play– most notably in their dessert section. But that’s for later.

We began our meal with a bowl of their buffalo chipotle organic popcorn and a side of fries to jump start our appetites after a day of travel. The popcorn fulfilled its purpose and arrived to the table hot and fresh, but most importantly, the level of spice delivered by the combination of buffalo and chipotle did not overwhelm the midwestern palette. It kept us thirsty for beer, and the three beers that we finished each by the time the meal was over spoke for themselves.

​The fries arrived shortly thereafter and were accompanied by a simple garlic aioli and ketchup. The cool aioli served the hot and crunchy fries well by bringing down the temperature and adding flavor. Even in the southwest, a good bowl of fries tells me a lot about a place. They cared about those fries.

My husband and I ordered a plate of their Kalua Pork tacos to split– two tacos for both of us. These pork tacos arrived on white corn tortillas with a drizzle of korean hot sauce, some slaw, and pickled onion on the top. The hot sauce masked much of the more nuanced flavor in the slaw and the pork, but the pickled onion helped cut both the heat of the sauce and the fattiness of the pork. The shredded pork was still tender, and tasted separately from the hot sauce, tasted as if it were lightly spiced on its own as well.

We ended our meal with a single scoop of an ice cream flavor that you just can’t find in the Midwest: tamarind chipotle. We see some tamarind as a result of the south asian cuisine brought into Green Bay by Hmong refugees and immigrants. Chipotle arrived with many of our South American immigrants as well, but I have never seen them combined until this scoop of ice cream landed on the table.

It is an unusual tasting experience, especially so as a dessert. The tamarind hits first in a caramel-like flavor that is quickly overtaken by the smoky and spicy chipotle to leave a pleasantly warm aftertaste on the end of a cold ice cream. If we hadn’t gorged ourselves on the snack plates at the start of our meal, I think we would have ordered a second scoop. I’ve never had anything like it until sitting down at that table.

The quality of the food could only be outdone by the quality of the waitstaff. Our first evening in Santa Fe turned out to be a disorganized one, and we arrived thinking we would be the only ones coming to dinner. Halfway through our own meal, my husband’s father and their family let us know they would be joining. The waitress didn’t hesitate to move our two seater table in to a four seat table and allow us to hold down the fort while we waited for the crowd to arrive.

Jokes were made about our invisible guests. We sampled beers while we waited. Everyone that went by our table proved to be as kind as the next. Good service is harder to find than good food, and you can get both at Fire and Hops in Santa Fe. Is it a must eat? I don’t know. This is my first time down here, and we walked in on a whim. I was not disappointed, however, and I recommend Fire and Hops to anyone dropping into downtown Santa Fe without a plan.

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