Tomasita’s marks 50 years of red and green in Santa Fe (58 characters)

Tomasita’s, a New Mexican restaurant in Santa Fe, is celebrating 50 years in business. Founder Georgia Maryol said the milestone marks decades of serving red and green chile from a red brick building on South Guadalupe Street.

The story began on Hickox Street, where Maryol and her oldest son, Jimmy, visited a small restaurant called Tomasita’s after hearing about its red and green.

“I was really impressed, and I was like, ‘Who’s the cook?’ and they said, ‘Oh, Tomasita,'” Maryol said. “So, I went and met her, and she was this little wiry lady, chain smoker. She was a riot, and I told her how good her food was, and she would say the same thing: ‘If you like it, tell your friends. If you don’t, tell me.'”

Maryol and Tomasita became friends, and when the original restaurant came up for sale after its owner had an accident, Maryol purchased it. The pair ran the Hickox Street location for five more years with Tomasita at the helm of the kitchen.

The opportunity to expand came when the South Guadalupe Street building, a red brick structure Maryol had admired since high school, became available. A banker who owned the property gave Maryol the lease, surprising her.

“The banker calls me a week later and he says, ‘Why don’t you come over here and let me interview you a minute?'” Maryol said. “So, I went in and he said he had decided who is going to take over the building, and I said, ‘Well, I guess it’s going to be,’ and he says, ‘It’s going to be you,’ and I said, ‘Me. Are you kidding?’ and he says, ‘You have them lined up at the door, and I want this to be a success.'”

Tomasita ran the kitchen at the new location for another decade before she died. Maryol said she was with Tomasita when she passed.

“She passed away about 10 years after we moved here. In fact, I was with her when she passed away. But she was great. She was a real professional,” Maryol said.

Tomasita’s has now been in the Santa Fe building for 45 years, for a total of 50 years across both locations.

Maryol said the red and green chile has been the backbone of the restaurant since the beginning.

“Red chile was actually made from your red chile pods, no powder. We don’t use powder, we use red chile pods,” Maryol said. “Green chile is pure green chile, and that’s New Mexico. Red and green New Mexico.”

Maryol’s youngest son, George Gundrey, now runs the restaurant. He said the chile has stayed the same for generations, with red chile pods sourced from a southern New Mexico town called Salem through a multi-generational relationship with the farming family.

“One thing, the red chile pods, they come from a southern town called Salem, and she bought those pods from the old man, and the daughter took over the farm, and I get them from the daughter now,” Gundrey said. “We’re multi-generational, and those chile pods are multi-generational too.”

Gundrey said the food’s simplicity is the key to its consistency.

“One of the things with our food is it’s very simple. It’s probably 12 ingredients put together in different ways,” Gundrey said. “It’s the ingredients. We don’t mess with the chile. It’s very simple recipes, but focusing on getting the best ingredients you can and putting them together simply.”

Maryol said her approach to employees has shaped the restaurant’s success over five decades.

“First of all, I believe in treating all employees equally. They are all important. The dishwasher to the manager. Everybody is important,” Maryol said.

Gundrey said his mother focused on customers rather than building an iconic brand.

“I think that my mom wasn’t thinking about being an iconic restaurant so much as just taking care of every single customer, making sure that all of the food is prepared correctly, that every plate comes out correctly, that the service is smiling and that’s, you just do that for a long time, and you get good at it,” Gundrey said.

Maryol said she is ready to hand the business to the next generation.

“It’s been a lot of fun. I enjoyed it a lot. But it’s time to turn it over to the younger generation,” Maryol said.