Taos Ski Valley eateries

One of the greatest ski valley pleasures starts with the burrito bar at Bumps Market, where you can load up on calories and flavor with their signature lamb burrito. The humble burrito bar spares no expense with their popular hand-held burrito that you can crush while you’re on the lift.

Hondo Restaurant

In the upstairs portion of the same building, the Snakedance Condominiums, you’ll find the local favorite Hondo Restaurant. Since the departure of Tim’s Stray Dog Cantina and the St. Bernard, the Hondo Restaurant is where you’ll find ski-bums, powder hounds and long-time ski valley fixtures tossing back pints and fueling up on New Mexican standard dishes such as rolled blue corn enchiladas served with cheese, lettuce, onion and tomatoes and topped with posole, pinto beans and your choice of red, green or Christmas chile.

The atmosphere of Hondo Restaurant is real casual — you can be in your boots throughout lunch and dinner.

Under the direction of new executive chef Marshall Thompson (formerly of Donabe’s) you can expect some Asian-flair crossover, but you can also expect traditions to be upheld.

“We're kind of the only people [in TSV] doing New Mexican. So a lot of that has to stay. People seek that out up there. So a lot of the favorites are going to stay. And then just a lot more Asian influence into other things,” Thompson said.

One of those “other things” is a noodle bowl featuring ham, braised pork, shrimp, mushroom, scallion, cabbage, coconut milk, Chinese yellow curry and rice vermicelli noodles.

In addition to a diversity of style of flavors, there's an emphasis on making items from scratch, such as the veggie patty which is made mostly of chickpea, tahini and chipotles.

Thompson added the restaurant carries on “things that I remembered from working at Tim’s Stray Dog; shredding our own cheese so it has a better gloss. It melts easier, doesn't burn as fast. Things like that, making it so that we have better products.”

Cid's Mountain Market

For lunch you could do no better than Cid’s Mountain Market. Think of Cid’s Mountain Market as The Cellar, a fine-spirits boutique, that can also serve you a freshly made, hot-off-the-grill green chile cheeseburger to pair with your afternoon rosé. The possibilities are endless for the imaginative bon vivants. There’s no shortage of cured meats and aged cheeses and there’s a strong supply of craft beer to go with it.

192 at The Blake

Another restaurant that’s making use of homegrown talent is 192, the open-kitchen restaurant inside The Blake, which is named after the tail number on Ernie Blake’s Cessna. The 192’s executive chef is none other than Taos native Noah Pettus whose culinary expertise was cultivated at fine restaurants in Los Angeles and New York City. After years of perfecting his craft, Noah returned home, bringing his passion for innovative flavors and exceptional dishes. The first executive chef and general manager at Taos Mesa Brewing Company's Tap Room, Pettus has owned and operated other area restaurants, including Wake and Take, a plant-based restaurant in Arroyo Seco. This winter, be sure to experience Pettus’ thoughtfully curated menu at 192 for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It’s definitely the place to indulge in a margherita pizza done right.

“I am thrilled to now be part of the mountain I grew up on and integrate my vision into the culinary space at Taos Ski Valley.”

Der Garten Bistro

To feel cozy and right at home, sometimes you have to eat at someone else’s home. The only way to do that is to dine at Der Garten, which is essentially a guest house that's still technically a guest house but is also a comfy restaurant where you can lose track of time as you sink into a couch by the fireplace.

Co-owners Christoff Brownell and Asia Golden have gone the extra mile to provide something totally unique: a place where you are invited into intimate quarters where the flavors of the food are fresh and the decor is personal.

Golden, who has been in the Taos culinary scene since the ‘90s, has a background in Italian and Ayurvedic cooking but is famous for her salads.

“I don't know if you've ever had one of my salads. It's very thought out, and there will never be a brown piece of lettuce in my salad. You know what I mean” Golden said.

One of those sought-after salads is the supergreens salad which boasts arugula, spinach, kale, pickled onions, artichokes, radish, carrots, red and orange bell peppers, roasted pepitas, hemp seeds, and a house lemon vinaigrette.

They recommend sharing salads if already ordering an entree.

At Der Garten there will be some nods towards South American flavors based on the influx of J-1 visa workers that traditionally arrive at Taos Ski Valley to work the many available jobs on the mountain.

“We want to add some ethnic, some South American dishes, to honor those guys and bring awareness to other cultures and their food,” Golden said.

When you walk into Der Garten, you’ll immediately notice the small round tables, the La-Z-Boy style chairs and the many other home-spun sundry elements. It’s a veritable home. Few things have changed over the years with the exception of adjustments to meet code, such as changing the kitchen floors to epoxy and making the interior fire-approved. The bar area used to be a kitchen but is now more effective as a place to dispense draft brews.

The fireplace was built in 1968. “That fireplace has been there making fire since 1968 which is pretty awesome. So that's now 56 years old,” Golden said.

Golden continued, “We wanted to keep the ambiance of being in your living room, right? The community table back there. That's 56 years old. That's an original table from the house, you know. So we wanted to keep that and not create a lot of changes, so that when people did come to dine with us, they felt like they were sitting in their living room with their fire and a nice glass of wine.”

Golden made a final point: “You walk in, you're going to be treated like you're royalty.”

As a fun fact, the piano seating where you sit on a piano bench was engineered with an add-on to allow for eating and drinking while you sit on it. With Christoff also being a talented musician, there’s the strong possibility he might be more active on the keys this upcoming season.