At a distance of twenty yards from the Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe, you can smell the unmistakable dark, earthy aroma of roasting chiles. So far from any visible physical source, the scent rises as a smoky puzzle. One wonders whether perhaps trickster chef and restaurateur Mark Miller has alchemically released an etheric chile loop, an Akashic relleno stuffed with the eternal pleasure and nourishment of some of the most cherished foods in history, and the hottest.
Cuisine belongs in a certain place, culturally, historically, and geographically.
Our food should connect us to our cultural path. We used to have a food legacy when religions were full of food prescriptions. It comes as no surprise that Miller completed graduate anthropology work at the University of California at Berkeley in cross-cultural aesthetics before signing on as a chef with Alice Waters. During his tenure at famed Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse, he frequented the Oakland produce market, perfecting the selection of fresh and unusual varieties of vegetables and foods for the restaurant. Three years later he launched, in succession, the Fourth Street Grill and the Santa Fe Bar and Grill in Berkeley, firing up the mesquite grill and hot haute cuisine that became widely popular.