Market Steer eyes former El Mesón property
Jul. 31—Market Steer Steakhouse, which opened in the Hotel St. Francis in August 2018, will be moving into the former El Mesón building on Washington Avenue early next year.
"We had outgrown our arrangement with the hotel," said Kristina Goode, who owns the restaurant with her wife and Market Steer executive chef Kathleen Crook. "It was important for us to find a space where we have full autonomy. We reached a point where we could no longer grow."
The couple — as KGC Hospitality LLC — bought the El Mesón building in March, less than two months after approaching the real estate agent.
"We've been eyeballing other spaces as well," Crook said.
The El Mesón building, 213 Washington Ave., sits amid after-hours street parking on Washington, Federal Place and the Santa Fe Community Convention Center Municipal Garage two blocks away.
"We are negotiating for additional parking as well," Goode said. "We wanted to make sure we're still centrally located. We still want a fair amount of foot traffic."
Legendary tenants have occupied the 1951 structure for nearly 50 years, with Dee's Donuts from 1976 to 1996 and El Mesón the occupant from 1997 to November 2021. Owners David and Kelly Huertas also owned the building, which they put on the market March 25, 2022.
The sale included all the furnishings and equipment for a restaurant and bar, but Crook and Goode will outfit with their own tables and chairs and kitchen gear.
"We've been working with [Thom Ortiz Design] the last few months on what we want this to represent and what story we want to tell," Goode said.
The bar at El Mesón captivates Goode and, especially Crook, who already knows she will call it the Tack Room. It is a missing ingredient for them at Hotel St. Francis, where the hotel operates the Secreto Lounge.
"It gives us a new creative outlet," Crook said. "We will have some [menu] things specific to the Tack Room."
"We will have a happy hour in the Tack Room starting at 3:30 p.m.," Goode added. "It will be open until 11 [p.m.] and stay open later on weekends."
Crook and Goode do have beverage experience — they operated a bar while they ran the Steakhouse 316 in Aspen, Colo., for seven years starting in 2010.
They hope to become the 13th Santa Fe entry on Wine Spectator's best restaurants for wine list.
"We're going to put a large emphasis on our wine program," Goode said. "We will have a sommelier on the floor every night."
Market Steer has become a local favorite; many on social media deem it the best steakhouse in Santa Fe. Crook grew up in a ranching and farming family in Artesia, and between their Aspen and Santa Fe gigs, Crook and Goode operated The Farmer's Feast food truck in Artesia.
"The core menu has to stay the same," Crook said, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for tinkering. "I can have a little more voice with my food."
"We have no intension of reinventing who we are," Goode added.
But the new location will be different.
"The kitchen is going to be open," Goode said. "That will change the kitchen dynamic a lot."
Market Steer now is closed on Sunday.
"We will have more control over hours," Goode said. "Our hope is seven days a week."
Their goal is to make fine dining fun.
"We will have a small private event space," Good said. "We want the experience to be elevated but comfortable, where fun dining meets fine dining."
