Latest visit: May 2023
First visit: Sep 2015
The day from hell continued into the night, with frantic calls while eating dinner. Like I said, time to retire. Before jumping into the review, this would be a good time to let you all know that yes, Mrs. RJG and I ran over 3 miles every morning while in Santa Fe. We like the La Tierra Trails for that. It's about a 15 minute drive each way from the hotel. The weather was very pleasant, with a little bit of rain, but mostly sunny and cool in the early mornings. This allows us to eat more food than usual. For whatever reason, Fire and Hops seems to be the place that reminds us we're not young anymore.
I was thinking of ordering something else other than the Cubano. The hamburger sounded good, but doggone it if that isn't what I had for lunch. And for a gastropub, their offerings are awfully static. I would expect some menu rotation, but that doesn't happen here. The food is exactly what it was last year, and I just can't finish the potatoes. I didn't struggle slurping down two beers however...
But Mrs. RJG decided to branch out and try the Thai Curry. Last year's Sesame Udon Noodle Bowl was a huge hit, so I was surprised she diverted. And it was a disaster. She said it was nothing like a Thai Curry and it seemed like they used Valentina sauce or something similar to make it red. Yuck. She hated it. And she also declared Fire and Hops is going down to the minors. Both restaurants on Wednesday had a bad day. Fine with me, the parking is still a nightmare at Fire & Hops.
--- 4/14/22 update
For the original review I stated boldly "We will be back again next time!". Wellll, this is our second visit. We didn't go in 2016 for whatever reason, and the following subsequent visits were too short. Didn't want to forego this opportunity, and glad we didn't, as this proved to be one of the better meals of the week so far. I stuck with the Cuban - yet again - which was very good as described below, though probably still behind Second Street and Starr Brothers versions. But better than Hidden Mountain's. The salt and vinegar potatoes were also good, though once again I couldn't finish them. I'll have the hamburger next time I think. The big hit, at least in terms of enthusiasm, was the Sesame Udon Noodle Bowl. Not really my style of dish, but Mrs. RJG devoured it with much glee, stating it was perfect in every way. And it's spicy, so always a plus. Seems Fire & Hops has moved up a few rungs in the RJG Santa Fe hierarchy.
BTW - parking still sucks. We had to go a few blocks away and look for metered parking. Fortunately most of the meters are broken lol. It was a cold windy walk to and from though.
---original 9/10/15 review
Fire & Hops is a classic Craft Tavern (fka Gastropub), with focus on locally grown ingredients, small and large plates, and of course, craft beer. Seems as if these places were designed specifically with the RJG in mind! The definition of "small plate" wildly varies from place to place. In San Francisco, it means a small appetizer, whereas at Fire & Hops it means a full meal. And a large plate means we couldn't finish it. And what was my massive dinner? A Cubano sandwich. It was giant! I was expected a regular size sandwich with a handful of homemade potatoes. Well I got a bushel full of those as well. And they were delicious! The sandwich was almost perfect, especially the bread, but the pork was unfortunately a bit tough for a sandwich, and I ultimately pulled it out and cut it with a knife. But the flavor was fantastic. Mrs. RJG went with the Ground Burger, which received a huge thumbs up and the hand cut fries were out of this world. She did comment "I'm eating and drinking like a guy" as we both waddled out. Somehow I sense we're dining on salad all next week... There are many other mouth watering items on the menu that we're hoping to try in the future.
New Mexico doesn't have the most robust craft beer culture, but it's rise has been slow and steady. As such, many of their beers are brought in from Colorado and California. But we were defiantly going all New Mexico, and I had my first beers from a brewery in Albuquerque called Bosque Brewing. Both the Scaletipper IPA and the Riverbank Brown were superb for their respective styles. In addition to beer, Fire & Hops has a fine selection of wines and ciders.
Fire & Hops is in a trendy area of central Santa Fe on Guadalupe, north of Alameda and south of Paseo del Peralta. Not far from the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. As usual with places such as this, finding parking is a pain in the butt. Just drive around until you find something that isn't prohibited. The earlier you go, the better your chances. The restaurant itself is in an old house and is very comfy and charming. Patio seating is also available.
9/10/15 (new entry); 4/14/22; 6/5/23
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