Zacatlán Restaurant in Santa Fe opened last year and is serving up Southwestern and Mexican cuisine to local residents.
The restaurant began operations in July of 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Head chef and owner Eduardo Rodriguez told the New Mexico Sun about the difficulty of opening the restaurant during such a tumultuous time and credited his restaurant's success to the support he got from his workers and family.
"The first three months was scary for me," Rodriguez told the Sun. "I was thinking I didn't know if I was doing the right thing to open [the restaurant] at the moment, but I thank God for all my crew and my family and all the support from them."
Opening his own restaurant has been a dream long in the making for Rodriguez, who says he waited 24 years to fulfill that dream while working at other restaurants. He recounted the first time he knew he wanted to be a chef, when he first came to Santa Fe and was visiting his brother who was working at a restaurant.
"I saw all the energy in the kitchen," Rodriguez told the Sun. "I saw two chefs walking into the kitchen with those amazing white chef coats. From that moment I decided I really wanted to wear a coat like the chefs someday and open my own restaurant too."
When asked if he had any plans for expansion, Rodriguez replied that for the time being, he would rather improve and strengthen his current location and had plans to expand his menu in the future.
"For now, I just really want to do one small place like what I have right now," Rodriguez told the New Mexico Sun. "For me I think its better to keep one strong."
Rodriguez recommends newcomers try the cochinita pibil, a traditional Mexican slow-roasted pork dish.
Zacatlán restaurant is named for Zacatecas, the north-central region of Mexico where head chef and owner Eduardo Rodriguez was born, according to its site. The name Zacatecas means "the habitants of the land where grass grows."
The restaurant recently obtained its liquor license and is curating that menu for release.