Less than a month after announcing it was opening a restaurant in Albuquerque, Santa Fe Bite announced last week it would reopen in its namesake city in a new location.
Santa Fe Bite will reopen in the former Tecolote Café at 1616 St. Michael’s Drive in mid-September, reported the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper. The restaurant will be open daily except for Monday.
Santa Fe Bite co-owners John and Bonnie Eckre closed their restaurant at Garrett’s Desert Inn in October after they couldn’t agree to a new lease with the hotel’s new owners. Former Santa Fe Bite employees Angela Mason and Armando Rivas will help the Eckres run their new venture.
The location at St. Michael’s Drive (map here) sits just a few hundred feet east of the Cerrillos Road alignment of Route 66 and a half-mile from the historic El Rey Inn hotel.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, the original Bobcat Bite opened in 1953 on the Old Las Vegas Highway (aka old Route 66) south of Santa Fe. After a dispute with the landlord there, the Eckres moved a few years ago to the Garrett’s Desert Inn near the Santa Fe Plaza.
The Albuquerque version of Santa Fe Bite opened in mid-July at 3407 Central NE (aka Route 66) in the Nob Hill neighborhood.
Santa Fe Bite’s signature green chile cheeseburger is so esteemed, Hamburger America featured the restaurant, back when it was known as Bobcat Bite, in 2011.
Green chile cheeseburgers remain an essential dish in New Mexico. So many restaurants serve it in the Land of Enchantment, the state’s tourism bureau put together a Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail.
(Image of a green chile cheeseburger at Santa Fe Bite in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2018 by Kevin Jarrett via Flickr)
Having visited Santa Fe Bite last October only 2 weeks before the Desert Inn location closed, I’m very happy to read that there will be a new location in Santa Fe. I would very much like to return to New Mexico for more exploring and more green chile cheeseburger dining.