La Cocina Restaurant

La Cocina, on US 284/85 in Española, about a half-hour north of Santa Fe, is family owned and operated. Opened by Eddie and Jessie Martinez as La Cocina Café in 1970, the initial concept was to have a small shop and café catering to locals. They moved to their current location in 2002 and renamed it La Cocina. The food, made from old family recipes, is mostly northern New Mexican. Signature dishes include Jesse's Combination Plate (a cheese enchilada, a beef enchilada and pork tamale served with whole pinto beans and posole) and the unusual guacamole and chicharrones burrito. They also offer the very American Chicken Fried Steak as well as sandwiches. They cook the way the abuelas have done it for generations. Their goal: to treat customers as friends, to serve them well-prepared authentic food and to get it to them quickly.