Casa Chimayo: same adobe, new family in the kitchen.

We added this one because our old advice stopped working. For years it went: book The Shed, and if The Shed is full, go to Pink Adobe. Pink Adobe rebuilt its kitchen and reworked its menu this year, so that second half is out of date. Here's what we'd say instead.

If you want The Shed's food and can't get The Shed, go to La Choza in the Railyard — it's the same family's other restaurant, the same recipes, and it's already in our guide. If you want traditional New Mexican with its own character, go to Casa Chimayo. Those are different answers to different questions, and the second one is the one worth explaining.

Casa Chimayo is an old adobe on West Water Street, three blocks off the Plaza, and it has been the Cordova family's house since the 1930s. Tim Cordova grew up in it and opened the restaurant there in 2011, cooking off recipes that came down from the village of Chimayó, about thirty-five minutes north of town. Chimayó grows a strain of red chile that doesn't taste like anyone else's — deeper, nuttier, hotter on the finish — and this kitchen cooks with the real thing.

One thing to know before you go: it changed hands. Benina and Joaquin Quintana bought it from the Cordovas in 2023. Joaquin is the chef, he came over from his restaurant Bella's in Taos, and he has kept the Chimayó backbone while working in touches from his own Diné cooking. Search Casa Chimayo, but look for a sign that says Bella's — that's the right door.

The order is the blue corn enchiladas. Guy Fieri shot them for Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives back in 2013 and they're still on the menu, listed now as Guy's Venerated Enchiladas. After that: the chile rellenos, the Burritos de Chimayo, and Grandma Tita's pastelitos.

The room is an old house and it feels like one, with white tablecloths that are dressier than the food needs to be. Out back there's a walled patio with bright rugs and painted tables, and that's the seat to ask for. Dogs are welcome out there.

Practical notes. 409 West Water Street. Closed Sunday and Monday. Opening times move around the rest of the week — some days a lunch and a dinner service, some days straight through — so call (505) 428-0391 the same day if you're planning lunch. Reservations are recommended, and we'd make one for more than four. It's an easy walk from the Plaza and about fifteen minutes' drive from either of our houses.

Pair it with: a morning on the Plaza, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum a few blocks north, or an early dinner here before a Canyon Road gallery walk at golden hour. It's downtown, so you can park once and do the whole afternoon on foot.