Santa Fe Bite has new owners, but old owners remain on board

Feb. 27—The French have a saying: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Bonnie Eckre since 1989 has been the emblem of sameness — and agent of change — at Santa Fe Bite and, before that, Bobcat Bite.

The latest twist in that theme came Jan. 1 as Bonnie and John Eckre passed ownership of Santa Fe Bite over to Angela Mason and Armando Rivas.

As much as the Eckres have been owners of both Bites since 2001, Mason and Rivas have been partners and largely operated Santa Fe Bite since it moved to St. Michael's Drive in October 2019. Both have been on board since the Eckres rebranded and opened as Santa Fe Bite at Garrett's Desert Inn in 2013.

The menu has largely been Rivas' creation for the past 10 years.

Now, Mason and Rivas call the shots as co-owners. Bonnie Eckre pondered for less than a second in evaluating the Eckres' new roles.

"We're employees," she said. "John roasts [coffee] for food and I'm an employee."

The Eckres — who have legions of fans — will stay on. John Eckre will continue on-site coffee roasting, a passion he took on about three years ago.

Santa Fe Bite will remain Santa Fe Bite, Mason stresses.

"It's important for people not to look at this as the end of an era," Mason said. "It's the continuation of a tradition."

The signature green chile cheeseburger will remain, as perfected for the last 20 years by John Eckre and Rivas. But the Santa Fe Bite green chile cheeseburger may just become available in Dubai and elsewhere in the country and world.

"What I want to focus on is branding," Mason said. "Part of the branding is the coffee program. We're working on doing a stronger retail program. We have talked for two years with Goldbelly about shipping green chile cheeseburgers."

Goldbelly is an online marketplace for food products used by Momofuku's David Chang, Girl & the Goat's Stephanie Izard and celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson.

"It very well could happen this year," Mason said.

The return of breakfast will happen even sooner. Bobcat Bite and Santa Fe Bite had never been full-time breakfast destinations until the foursome opened at 1616 St. Michael's Drive in October 2019 — just five months before the pandemic shut down dine-in dining.

"We're bringing breakfast back March 21," Rivas said.

"He makes the best eggs Benedict," Bonnie Eckre said as she heard the breakfast opening date for the first time during The New Mexican's visit.

"We'll have waffles, pancakes, maybe French toast and breakfast tacos," Rivas said.

Rivas does not have any big plans to shake things up now that he's a co-owner.

"No big changes," he claims. "It's exciting and scary at the same time. We can explore new ideas in the future. We have been planning fajitas."

John Eckre's eyes light up at "fajitas."

Bonnie Eckre said Rivas doesn't plan major changes because the menu has changed greatly over the 10 years Rivas has been on board. She recalls telling him at the outset he can cook as he does for his family at home.

That's how the tacos, enchiladas, flautas, chalupas, salsa and guacamole made it to the Santa Fe Bite menu.

"He brought the steak sandwich," she said. "All the soups are Armando's creations."

The Eckres brought in Mason and Rivas in 2013 as they first opened the 150-seat Santa Fe Bite because of their experience with larger restaurants. The Eckres had only mom and pop experience at Bobcat Bite, at that time a small, 27-seat restaurant with at most six staff, including the Eckres.

"John and I feel we could not have made downtown happen without Armand and Angie," Bonnie Eckre said.

Mason had come to Santa Fe in 1999 to escape the winters of Milwaukee.

"We had a hellacious snowstorm," Mason recalled. "I shoveled the car eight times that day."

She quickly landed a job at Harry's Roadhouse, then worked at San Marcos Cafe and Chocolate Maven.

"John and I fell in love with Angie while she was managing Chocolate Maven," Bonnie said.

Mason needed wooing to leave Chocolate Maven.

"Probably the main reason was Bonnie asked me," Mason said. "She asked me three times. I knew I couldn't go wrong."

Rivas also arrived in Santa Fe in 1999 from Coahuila, Mexico.

"I have relatives over here," he said. "I was visiting and I stayed. I fell in love with Santa Fe."

Hotel restaurants were his stomping ground: La Fonda on the Plaza for nine years, Eldorado Hotel & Spa and the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi. He left Cafe Pasqual's to join Santa Fe Bite.

"He was fine dining," John Eckre said. "We were the opposite. We had to meet somewhere in the middle."

John Eckre had come to Santa Fe in 1982 from Ojai, Calif.

"I was an Ojai hippy, lived in a commune, all that stuff," he said. "I had some friends who moved here. They wanted me to visit. I came out and there was a big thunderstorm. I love thunderstorms."

John was in construction and metalworking for decades, until he and Bonnie acquired Bobcat Bite in 2001. He built several of the grills for the Bites.

He also introduced Bonnie in 1989 to then-Bobcat Bite owners Bob and Judy Amos, whose home Eckre was working on.

Bonnie Eckre had arrived in 1985 from Colorado, where she had a cake decorating business. Here she taught at Santa Fe Public Schools and worked the front desk at El Gancho Fitness, Swim & Racquet Club, where John Eckre played tennis.

"John asked me 'Do you want a job? I have some friends who need some help,' " Bonnie recalled.

She started at Bobcat Bite part time in 1989 and within a month and a half was full time, "waitressing, then prepping and cooking. Before long, I was doing it all."

The Eckres married in 1991.

A decade later, the Amoses suggested the Eckres take over Bobcat Bite. John Eckre stepped away from construction and became a restaurateur.

"Restaurant work will be easy, I will do that," John Eckre recalled saying at the time.

Backyard barbecue was already Eckre's thing.

"He was going to make it the best hamburger," Bonnie Eckre said. "Next thing I know, I had a meat grinder in the kitchen. He went to all the butchers in Santa Fe and Albuquerque."

John, 69, and Bonnie, 65, thought they were retiring when Santa Fe Bite shut down at Garrett's in 2018. Mason went on to jobs at Loyal Hound and Prometric Test Center, and Rivas returned to Cafe Pasqual's.

Exactly a year passed from the closing at Garrett's to the opening on St. Michael's Drive.

"When we closed, we knew this would happen at some time," Rivas said.

"Other jobs were placeholders," Mason said. "As soon as I knew, I walked out the door."

And, yet, John and Bonnie Eckre are still not retired.