Most patrons of Rancho de Chimayó probably don’t know it, but walking into the restaurant is like taking a trip back in time.
From the old photos of the Jaramillo family that adorn the walls, to the food made from family recipes, Rancho de Chimayó attracts tourists and locals, alike.
The photos of people from decades past are Arturo Jaramillo’s family. In fact, the restaurant used to be the Jaramillo family home before it was converted into a restaurant in 1965, by Arturo and wife Florence.
The couple has long since parted ways, but Florence Jaramillo remains active at the restaurant, overseeing the day-to-day operations, making sure the food that leaves her kitchen passes her inspection and that the business runs like a well-oiled machine.
Serving perhaps hundreds of people every day, consistently good food, is no easy task. Maybe that’s why Rancho de Chimayó was recently awarded the James Beard Foundation’s America’s Classic Award.
“I was really surprised,” Florence Jaramillo said of the phone call she received, alerting her to the fact that she’d won the award. “I thought, ‘Who’s playing a joke on me?’”
She said the call came out of the blue, from New York, at 10 a.m. in early February.
She first found out her restaurant was in the running for the award with that call, but wasn’t allowed to tell anyone until the winners were announced on Feb. 23. Representatives from the James Beard Foundation traveled to Chimayó during the last week of February to take photos of the restaurant.
According a press release from the Foundation, five recipients were awarded the America’s Classic Award.
“The America’s Classic Award is given to restaurants that have timeless appeal and are cherished for quality food that reflects the character of their community,” the release states. “The 2016 honorees join the ranks of nearly 100 restaurants that have received the award since the category was introduced in 1998.”
Jaramillo, along with her nephew Joseph Ortiz, of Santa Fe, and daughter Laura Ross, of San Antonio, Texas, traveled to Chicago on May 2 to accept the award during the James Beard Awards Gala at the Lyric Opera. A reception followed the ceremony and featured top chefs and beverage professionals from across the country.
“We met the whole staff (of the Foundation) in Chicago,” Jaramillo said. “They were super people.”
There are two main requirements to be eligible for the America’s Classic Award: The restaurant must be locally owned and have been in business for at least 10 years.
“The honorees are selected each year by the James Beard Foundation’s Restaurant & Chef Awards subcommittee, a group composed of restaurant critics, writers, editors and other experts,” the press release states.
Jaramillo said she’s not sure who nominated her establishment for the award.
“James Beard would have loved these restaurants; they represent how America eats,” Susan Ungaro, James Beard Foundation president said in the press release.
Change of scenery
A native of Connecticut, Jaramillo met her husband while on vacation in 1951, in Virginia Beach, Va. The couple married in 1953 and visited New Mexico a couple of times before they settled in Santa Fe in 1963.
She said the Jaramillo family made it very easy for them to buy the house, which would be converted into the restaurant.
Her ex-husband began working on the renovations to the home and the couple kept negotiating with banks to secure the needed funding. Jaramillo worked a bookkeeping job in Santa Fe, while the residence was being converted.
Finally, Rancho de Chimayó opened in 1965 and it’s been in business ever since.
Jaramillo said getting the business off the ground was difficult at first because of the location. They did, however, get a lot of business from those living and working in Los Alamos, who would venture to Chimayó for a native New Mexican meal.
“When I moved here, it was still a closed city,” she said of Los Alamos. “A lot of them liked to come down this way.”
Things finally started looking up when in 1970, New Mexico Magazine featured an article on the restaurant.
Following the New Mexico Magazine feature, other publications heard about the restaurant and also began visiting and writing about Rancho de Chimayó.
Keeping it authentic
The food that was prepared in 1965 was done so from Jaramillo family recipes, which is still true today.
Jaramillo said the most difficult aspect of keeping to the family recipes was trying to take them from a small scale to a large scale, to feed all the restaurant’s patrons, without sacrificing quality or taste.
“We were trying to keep everything the same,” she said.
Through trial and error, the restaurant’s chefs were able to get the recipes perfected, down to every ounce. However, that didn’t mean there weren’t bumps in the road, along the way.
“People would come in and try to change everything,” she said. “We nailed everything down. We don’t use big vats for chile, we use small pans, we make small batches.”
Local ingredients
Jaramillo said the restaurant uses local ingredients whenever possible. The chile, which is a staple in many dishes, comes from the Hatch, N.M. area. Ristras are made in the fall, using the green chile, which is turning red. They hang there until the following year. When they’ve dried, they’re taken down and used to make red chile.
“We’ll be taking them down, soon,” she said. “The ristras will be used to make (the chile for) our carne adovada.”
At this point, restaurant staff are making three to four trips a year to the southern part of the state to purchase and bring back chile.
“We just brought a truckload in,” Jaramillo said.
Fan favorites
Rancho de Chimayó’s menu features everything from soups and salads, to hamburgers, steaks and of course, enchiladas, burritos and stuffed sopaipillas. However, Jaramillo said the most popular dish is the carne adovada.
“People like anything with carne adovada,” she said. “You can get it in a burrito, an enchilada, or by itself.”
Winners
The other four restaurants that won the America’s Classics award are as diverse in geography as they are in the food they serve. They are: the Al Ameer Restaurant in Dearborn, Mich.; Brooks’ House of BBQ in Oneonta, N.Y.; Matt’s Place Drive-In in Butte, Mont.; and Bully’s Restaurant in Jackson, Miss..
“Florence and Arturo Jaramillo envisioned this restaurant as a living tribute to the heritage of New Mexico, a way to honor the land and the culture,” the Foundation’s press release, announcing the winners, states. “Arturo Jaramillo is a direct descendant of the first settlers to the Chimayó Valley in the late 1600s, and the hacienda was the home of his grandparents. The menu has expanded over the years. At the core are peerless regional dishes like carne adovada, tamales, posole, pinto beans, sopaipillas, flan, and natillas. The village of Chimayó is celebrated for its particular cultivar of red chile. Ristras of those chiles dangle decoratively from the eaves of the hacienda, a reminder of the import of local goods and local traditions.”