What They Are Sayin’

While the downtown La Lecheria is starting off slow with just coffee, pastries from local bakery American Pie and bespoke ice cream, later this week, it will will begin to roll out lunch items. As befits a small space, it will offer just a few things at a time, with room to grow, filling a desperate need for quick, inexpensive lunch options downtown.

“On the surface, it seems like a really basic thing — some dairy, some eggs, some sugar, spin it — but to make really good ice cream, there’s more to it than that,” he says. “That’s something I didn’t necessarily understand before, and when I did, it changed things a bit for me.”

Santa Fe’s food scene has been steadily moving beyond conventional Southwestern fare. Recent restaurant additions include La Lecheria another newcomer, specializing in artisan ice cream; try locally inspired flavors such as green chile. However, Santa Fe is also elevating Southwestern food.

"New Mexicans have had a valuable weapon against the heat ever since [La Lecheria opened]. Well, hold that thought — this being New Mexico, you better believe there are chiles occasionally involved, as brown sugar red chili and (of course) green chile both figure into the seasonal flavor rotation alongside menu stalwarts like sea salt chocolate. So it’s possible your palate will be feeling a little heat, but it’ll be so blissfully pleased you won’t mind a bit.”

When you need to wash down all those green chiles, head to this little shop where chef Joel Coleman of Santa Fe restaurant Fire & Hops specializes in stabilizer- and preservative-free exotic flavors, like miso brown sugar. This season, look out for the banana leaf candy ginger, which combines some of our favorite Asian flavors into a perfectly balanced scoop.

La Lecheria is one of Santa Fe's most unique ice cream parlors, founded by executive chef Joel Coleman, noted for his work at local eatery Fire and Hops. All of the company's ice creams are prepared traditionally without stabilizers or other artificial ingredients, crafted with milk from Albuquerque's Rasband Dairy. Unique specialty flavors are also served up throughout the year, ranging from unusual savory variants such as sweet corn or green chile to internationally-inspired flavors like vegan coconut miso.