March 28, 2024

Santa Fe Cafe, New Mexico-inspired restaurant, opens in Mount Ayr

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MOUNT AYR – A new restaurant has opened in Mount Ayr with a style of cuisine stemming from co-owner Mark Roybal’s roots: New Mexico.

After spending much of his life in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and later building a career in plumbing and electrical work, including working in Leon, Roybal and his family moved back to Mount Ayr, where his wife, Amy, is from.

The couple opened Santa Fe Cafe last week at 115 N. Taylor St. in Mount Ayr.

“I love to cook. I watched my mom and grandma cook as a young child,” said Roybal, 41. “I, myself, have been cooking since I was a teenager. No training or anything like that, just watching Mom and Grandma.”

The location was previously a breakfast-only restaurant called The Early Bird, owned and run by Jamie Miller of Jamie’s Coffee Mill and Deli in Mount Ayr. Her restaurant recently closed so she could focus solely on her coffee, food, and gift business, but she and her husband, Keith, continue to own the building that now houses Santa Fe Cafe.

“Jamie’s closed in September, and I had the chance to get into it,” Roybal said. “It was either now or never, so I did a compete 180 on the career.”

Miller renovated the building, which was formerly The Office bar and grill, and then recently did additional work on the interior and redecorated it with Mexican-style decor before the Roybals opened their restaurant.

Roybal said Santa Fe Cafe brings two features Mount Ayr was lacking: Mexican food and sit-down breakfast.

“When The Early Bird diner shut down, they didn’t have a breakfast place at all in town other than going to Casey’s to get a piece of breakfast pizza or a station east of town with limited breakfast,” Roybal said. “So, a lot of people were missing having a full breakfast meal in town. As for the Mexican food, people in town were having to drive to Creston, Afton or Osceola for it.”

Cuisine

Growing up, Roybal began learning from family members as well as teaching himself to cook authentic New Mexican food.

“The breakfast is just a traditional breakfast. There’s nothing New Mexican about it,” Roybal said. “The dinner is a New Mexican style. It’s a little different than your typical Mexican food, spices and ingredient-wise.”

For example, while most Mexican sauces are a chile sauce with mainly red and sometimes green chiles, Roybal’s sauce has meat in it.

“Instead of rolled enchiladas with meat or cheese inside, mine are tortillas laid flat smothered with chile, usually two of them stacked up on each other, with cheese in between and garnished with more cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion on top,” Roybal said. “Some of the Mexican stuff, they have chipotle peppers, cumin, things like that; those are ingredients I don’t use. I use mostly garlic, onion, salt, pepper and the chile itself.”

All of the chile ingredients Roybal uses come from New Mexico.

The enchiladas are likely the most unique item on the menu, he said. Other dinner items include chips and queso or guacamole and burrito, taco and taquito plates.

“Everything he makes is from scratch; everything is fresh,” Miller said. “It’s authentic Mexican, and there have been some people who want it spicier – because, authentically, it’s pretty bland – so he’s going to spice it up a little bit.”

“I’ve started off real mild,” Roybal said. “I, myself, can eat fire. But, I didn’t know what to expect from people. I just brought in some of the chile I use at home and we’re going to try that, spice it up a little bit and see what people think. I didn’t take it all the way to my (heat) level but somewhere in between.”

As of now, the Roybals and a couple of waitresses run the restaurant. Breakfast hours are from 7 to 10:30 a.m. Dinner is from 5 p.m. until business dies down, which currently is around 8 p.m.

“I was hoping to stay open until 9, but this time of year, there’s not much call for it,” Roybal said. “Maybe in the summer, we will.”