Eating local is as important to us as we hope it is to you — to support local culture and businesses, preserve culinary heritage while celebrating new creativity, and to simply enjoy fresher, fuller flavors.
Here’s where to eat your way through Farmington, and what that means to us.
But first: a primer on New Mexican cuisine
Of course, the US is covered in different regional cuisines — us having our own regional cuisine isn’t unique, but the combination of different influences is. There are very few parts of the country that have, effectively, completely different cuisine than anywhere else — southern Louisiana comes to mind as one of the rare others, for example. New Mexico is one of these places.
Native New Mexican influences
The foundation of New Mexican cuisine comes from the culinary traditions of our Indigenous people, namely the Navajo, Apache, and Pueblo. As the basis for New Mexican cooking, of course these influences are everywhere on local menus in Farmington.
There are some ingredients to these Native culinary traditions that are especially foundational to New Mexican cuisine:
- Corn — particularly blue corn
- Squash
- Beans
- Anasazi bean
- Piñon
- And most famously, red and green chiles!
Less specific versions of these foods are found throughout the country of course — famously, Midwestern states will argue over who has the best corn, and kitchens across the US cook with lots of squash every autumn — but the New Mexico heirloom varieties out here are pretty much unique to the region.
Anasazi beans, for example, are speckled purple-and-white heirlooms that were cultivated by the Ancestral Puebloans for millennia. Piñon are a uniquely New Mexican pine nut beloved in both cooking and just for snacking. Our corn, as mentioned, is often uniquely New Mexican blue corn — and the corn-and-maize-growing tradition in this part has been going on for 4,000 years, meaning it’s far more vast than just the sweet corn grown in other parts of the country.
And of course, perhaps most famously, is New Mexico’s chiles.
These include green and red varieties — red chiles are often found dried in bunches and can be powdered, rehydrated, or thrown into soups and stews to impart flavor. They have heat, yes, but also a pleasant tanginess. Green chiles are less common dried, and are great for roasting. Both varietals can be the backbone of deliciously flavorful sauces.
If you’re interested in learning about and cooking with traditional Indigenous ingredients from our Four Corners region, you can buy blue corn pancake mix, corn pollen, and juniper ash from Navajo Pride or the NAPI Region 2 store just outside of town, or at the gift shop inside the Farmington Museum and Visitor Center.
Spanish influence
Along with the Native ingredients, the Spanish brought additional cooking techniques, plus some herbs and spices that have since become essential to many New Mexican dishes.
Signature ingredients from this Spanish influence include:
- Cumin
- Oregano
- Garlic
- Pork
- New techniques for drying chiles and new ways to use them
Popular New Mexican dishes
All of these ingredients and techniques from Old World and New have come together to create an arsenal of New Mexican dishes. Here are some favorites:
Green chile stew: a warming stew of chiles, pork, and potatoes combining Spanish and Native ingredients and techniques.
Posole: a sort of opposite version of the green chile stew — red chile sauce, pork, and hominy. You’ll want a cut of pork with enough fat and connective tissue to be able to stew for a long time to break down without becoming dry. Shoulder or butt works well.
Green chile burgers: less a dish in and of itself, more a concept. Roasting green chiles, then chopping them up and adding them to a burger adds a whole other element of spice and tang. Try it with different cheese, bacon, caramelized onions — whatever you like!
Calabacitas: a sort of summer squash hash, often with corn, green chiles, onions and other vegetables.
Navajo taco: basically Navajo fry bread with taco fillings. For obvious reasons, it’s super delicious! This is super common in Farmington and the surrounding area, with many restaurants offering their variation.
Local spots around Farmington
We’ll start with places to focus on New Mexican cuisine:
Where to get New Mexican cuisine
First stop, The Chile Pod. 
Beyond their delicious dine-in menu, The Chile Pod also sells their green and red chiles by the quart. As the name suggests, they’re known for their outstanding chile-based menu, with the owner having won many local competitions. They also recently expanded with the Studio Bake Shoppe, which also offers green chile pastries.
Another option is Si Señor. Here they roast Hatch Valley chiles in-house — and also sell them by the quart! These guys have been serving made-from-scratch New Mexican dishes for over 25 years, including homemade tortillas and sopapillas.
Farmington breakfast spots
Here, we have the aforementioned Studio Bake Shoppe, which has freshly-made baked goods every day.
Another great spot to start your day is the Juniper Coffee Eatery. Beyond having outstanding coffee, here you’ll find a focus on the local and Indigenous-based dishes, including blue corn waffles, breakfast burritos, and Navajo blue corn mush.
Other great places for lunch or dinner
This of course isn’t comprehensive, but it’s a good place to start!
If you want to grab a beer and meal, Three Rivers Brewery & Eatery is a spot locally-owned in downtown Farmington. There’s also Clancy’s Pub & Irish Cantina, which has been serving up a variety of foods since the 1970s.
Then there’s Los Hermanitos — we’ve talked a lot about New Mexican cuisine, but we’ll happily vouch that this could be the best Mexican, sans “New,” food in Farmington.
Lastly, we have to mention Boons Family Thai BBQ. They’ve been family-run in Farmington for over 20 years, with noodle dishes, curries, seafood, and other Thai classics.
At the end of the day, one of life’s greatest joys is eating good food with lovely people. We think Farmington offers so much variety, from classic New Mexican cuisine to loads of choices beyond.
When you come to visit, be prepared to come hungry and leave full!