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Classic restaurants stand as timeless reminders of culinary excellence, having weathered the test of time to become more than just eateries.
These establishments, steeped in tradition and laden with stories, are a testament to the enduring allure of exceptional dining experiences. With a history that stretches across decades, the top classic restaurants transcend ordinary food service, evolving into local cultural landmarks that have witnessed the ebb and flow of changing times.
In every state, these esteemed restaurants blend both a hint of nostalgia and a nod toward the future.
Food & Wine has recognized the standout classic restaurant in each state:
“There were FOMO-provoking dishes long before social media had them traveling around the world, people planned vacations just to eat (do you even New Orleans?), and America had celebrity chefs and must-see cooking shows, back when it was mostly PBS doing the heavy lifting. And we are still so fortunate, truly, to have so many of those restaurants, and even some of the chefs, with us still, from that long-ago era. We're talking about the classic restaurants, which, let us say, for the sake of drawing a line, are the ones opened right around the millennium and earlier (ideally, way earlier.)
This nearly 17,000-word survey features nearly 250 restaurants, from furthest Alaska to sunny South Florida. It represents an attempt at examining each state's unique fingerprint on this vast, remarkably diverse thing that we call American food. It draws on years of experience traveling around the country on assignment, as well as the deep back catalog of Food & Wine's annual Best New Chefs and Best New Restaurants franchises, alongside countless feature articles.”
In New Mexico, the noteworthy title goes to the following:
“Back in 1978, when the Barelas Coffee House opened up shop in one of Albuquerque's oldest neighborhoods, there wasn't much left of Barelas, which had become one of the city's most deprived places after decades of precipitous decline. Still, the restaurant wasn't far from the seat of local power downtown, and over time, the restaurant — renowned for their red and green chile, best consumed with puffy, freshly pressed flour tortillas — became known as the place to mix with a who's who of Albuquerque. Today, things remain much the same, even as the neighborhood (once again) changes. Being known for both your red and your green is sort of a big deal; many a classic restaurant around the state will be recommended on the strength or one of the other. At Mary & Tito's, another Burque institution (since the early 1960s), it's traditionally all about red, and the house tortillas, while at The Shed, just off the Square in Santa Fe since 1953, the color of the day is always green.
For more than half a century, Santa Fe's Rancho de Chimayo has been doing the most to promote New Mexican cooking, not to mention the idealized version of the regional lifestyle; the restaurant's alluring, indoor/outdoor setting makes a perfect backdrop for blue corn enchiladas, carne adovada, and stuffed sopaipillas for dessert.
Before breakfast burritos were a trend, Santa Fe's Cafe Pasqual was rolling some of the best —roasted green chile, gruyere, organic eggs, and potatoes.”