Has anyone reading this blog ever been to Sante Fe, New Mexico? For those of you who haven’t, Sante Fe is one of the art capitals of the country, labeled the “different city” for its off-the-beaten-path ways and overflow of local artists and creativity. 

It’s a pretty small town filled with mostly traditional New-Mexican food, so you probably won’t find a million vegan options, BUT, that is not to say there is none. As any vegan knows, you can find vegan food anywhere if you look hard enough. So we’ve compiled a list of places we went to in Sante Fe with vegan options below, to hopefully ease your travels should you ever visit the city (town?) soon. 

1. Our hotel 

Because I’m blogging while in Sante Fe and don’t want to give my location, I won’t give the name of my location, HOWEVER, I will say the hotel’s vegan breakfast options are probably pretty similar to any hotel’s vegan breakfast options. For breakfast at our hotel, we got oatmeal with berries, frosted flakes with almond milk (a childhood favorite), and a fruit plate. We asked to omit the yogurt and honey from the fruit plate, but I think they forgot. Bella also got a half-orange-juice-half-grapefruit juice as well. Again, nothing crazy in terms of vegan options, but they did have almond milk, which was awesome! Everything was great. No complaints here. 

2. Sante Fe Farmer’s Market

So here’s the thing, folk, we don’t actually know if we went to the correct Farmer’s Market because we ended up at more of an artisan fair, rather than anything food-related. However, the small-business artwork and crafts were beautiful and we did end up buying a bunch of goodies, like art, jackets, magnets, etc. 

However, there was a small coffee shop connected to the art market that had a few vegan options! My sisters got oat milk matcha lattes and regular oat lattes, while I opted for a prickly pear kombucha… because ya know, when in Sante Fe. They really liked their lattes. I wished my kombucha was a bit sweeter, but it was refreshing on a hot day! 

They also had a huge selection of vegan chocolates and goodies, which we didn’t get to try, BUT they looked very yummy #getinmybelly. 

3. Sushi8

This is your standard sushi place. It was super close to our hotel, so we just Uber Eat-ed it. We got an avocado roll, a cucumber roll, and a roll literally labeled “Super Vegan Roll”. We also got Inari. It was super overpriced, considering how small the rolls are, but the sushi was decent. We were big fans of the Super Vegan Roll, so if you’re going to order from here, get yourself one of those! Really yummy.

4. Paper Dosa

This Indian restaurant was actually recommended to us by a vegan we met on the plane on the way to Santa Fe. Considering she has been a local Sante Fe resident for 25+ years, we knew her rec was gonna be baller. Turns out, it was! Paper Dosa is an Indian restaurant in Sante Fe that isn’t all vegan but has TONS of vegan options (all of which are marked on the menu). 

All their dosas, curries, and Indian pancake things (I’m so sorry, I forgot the name of the dish) could be made vegan by removing the ghee. They also had three specified-vegan appetizers, including soup, these Indian savory donuts, and pappadums with accompanying chutneys. Bella and I got the pappadums (fried lentil chips) to split and really enjoyed it! The sauces were super yummy. 

To accompany our pappadums, we also got Indian lemonade, which could be made salty or sweet – so, of course, we had to go with sweet like the basic betches we are. It was amazing! 

For dinner, my sister and I split the masala dosa and the caramelized onion pancake thing (again, my sincere apologies for the lack of remembering the food’s proper names. I mean no disrespect to the culture!) We all LOVED dinner. It was so flavorful and the dosa was literally *chefs kiss*. If you like Indian food, come here!! And even if you don’t, it’ll convert you, I promise. Even my non-vegan older sister loved all the vegan options.  

5. Cayote Cafe

This was another restaurant recommended to us by our older sister’s friend who said they had options that could be modified to be vegan. They indeed did! We started out the table with chips and guac/salsa. Very yummy.

Then my sister and I got the tortilla soup. I believe it was under a different name, but it was essentially tortilla soup. It was super yummy, just a bit spicy, so the avocado on top was definitely needed to soothe my sensitive ass palatte. For the main course, we had the modified veggie/mushroom tacos, which were BOMB. Soooo yummy. I forgot how yummy they were until I started writing this. Definitely recommend! 

6. Route 66 Cafe

GUYS – this place is all vegan. Can you believe that!? An all-vegan cafe and bakery in Sante Fe!?!? My sis and I almost melted when we discovered this place, so, of course, we ran there (figuratively) as quickly as we could. 

The little cafe is so adorable and so is the man who runs it. You can really tell how passionate he is. The cafe has a plethora of vegan beverages, sandwiches, salads, and, of course, desserts such as brownies, cookies, challah buns, etc! We were in heaven. 

Bella got a vegan peppermint patty and a chickpea salad sandwich on a Challah bun. I tried both and they were AMAZING. The Challah bun was so sweet and soft. Perfect to go with the savory chickpea salad. She also got a matcha latte that she was practically drooling over. 

I got a little Challah bun and a fruit salad, made with agave, poppy seeds, and lime. Both were 10/10. My non-vegan older sister also loved the cookies and Challah she got. If you’re in Sante Fe, you MUST run, not walk, to Route 66 like we did. 

7) Ten Thousand Waves 

GUYS. Ten Thousand Waves is such an epic place (and I mean 1 million/10) that it’s worth FLYING to Sante Fe for. I’m not even kidding. It’s probably one of the coolest places I have ever been in my life. It is a LITERAL Japanese restaurant as well as a hotel and Japanese SPA. I don’t think I can even capture the beauty of Ten Thousand Waves. You just need to experience it for yourself.

To start, the spa was EPIC. There was a huge jacuzzi with a waterfall, massage huts, foot baths, saunas, ice baths, etc. So if you are in Sante Fe, you must go to Ten Thousand Waves.

But the real star of Ten Thousand Waves, was the restaurant. It is called Izanami and it is one of the coolest restaurants I’ve ever even to. It is a Japanese restaurant and you can even request to sit on the floor (no shoes) and enjoy dinner, which we OBVI did. The waiter was super nice and told us which things could be modified to be vegan. I felt like I was literally in Japan eating here. It’s amazing.

To start, we got a delicious green tea. To eat, we got this mushroom dish, as well as the grilled avocado. BOTH WERE DELICIOUS. I want them both right now.

The star of the meal was the vegan Bipimbop. It came in a hot stone bowl and mixed together was DIVINE. The chile paste it came with was so good and the fresh wasabi from Japan that they served was the best wasabi I had ever tasted in my life. 

We also got a side of french fries (the dip wasn’t vegan) but they brought 3 different dipping sauces for us to use (miso, avocado mouse, and chile paste). The fries were BOMB. 

To end the night, my sister got the persimmon sorbet and it tastes SOOOO fresh. I don’t even like sorbet that much, but that one was 10/10.

Okay, I’m done ranting about Ten Thousand. You have to experience it for yourself. 

8) Eco Gelato 

My sister wanted to check this place out because she was hoping they would have vegan gelato. Unfortunately, they did not. They did have two vegan sorbet flavors (strawberry and lemon or something) but aint nobody got time for that. Luckily, they actually had a vegan sandwich labeled on their menu so we got that! It came with hummus, avocado, tomatoes, greens, onion, cucumbers, and carrots. I think we added mustard as well? Was it groundbreaking? No. Was it filling and yummy. Yes! Wouldn’t go out of my way for this but if you are hungry and need a quick bite, this should suffice! 

9) Gas Station 

On our way to horseback riding on Ghost Ranch, we stopped at a gas station which had an array of accidentally vegan protein bars, chips, etc. I also got a delicious boxed apple pie which was BOMB.

10) Any airport 

My new vegan airport hack is to go to any sandwich place/deli (there is usually one in every airport no matter where you are) and just get a sandwich with sourdough, veggies, avocado/hummus if they have, and then oil/vinegar with salt/pepper or mustard. It’s usually not the most amazing sandwich but it fills you up and is yummy! 

Anyway, if you go to Sante Fe, I hope this is helpful 🙂