Tag Archives: Shohko Café

Taste New Flavors of Santa Fe Dining

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The raw enchilada plate at BODY Café. (Credit: Santa Fe: A Colorful Journey)

Have you read “Turning Over a New Leaf on Santa Fe Dining” on the Santa Fe: A Colorful Journey blog, which is marketed as the Official Travel Blog of Santa Fe? Check it out if you haven’t and you may discover new some flavors to add to your palate while dining in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The article is a few years old, but the advice is still sound!

The raw enchilada plate at BODY Café. (Credit: Santa Fe: A Colorful Journey)

The raw enchilada plate at BODY Café. (Credit: Santa Fe: A Colorful Journey)

Frequent visitors and residents alike have their favorite restaurants and their favorites dishes. However, the author of this tantalizing article urges you to visit new places or just to order something new off the menu and expand your perception of what Santa Fe cuisine is.

The author takes us on a journey to his or her familiar eateries and invites us to sample new menu items with them as well as make a couple stops at previously unvisited restaurants. From ordering raw enchiladas at the BODY Café to green chile clam chowder La Choza and more, a new Santa Fe dining experience is shared with us.

The article ends with this advice:

“So maybe like me, you didn’t know that enchiladas taste wonderful raw, that green chile can hide its essence inside a tempura crust, or that the cool north and the spicy south get along so swimmingly in a bowl. These are just a few tactics by which Santa Fe creates a river of adventurous flavor running through our renowned restaurant scene.” (“Turning Over a New Leaf on Santa Fe Dining“)

Read it in full and enrich your own Santa Fe dining experiences.

Shohko Café: Santa Fe’s First Sushi Bar

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Shohko Cafe logo
Shohko Cafe Seared Scallops: Sushi in a 200 year-old adobe house (Source: TOURISM Santa Fe)

Shohko Café Seared Scallops (Source: TOURISM Santa Fe)

Last night my bride and I followed massages at Body Spa with a pitstop at Shohko Café to prolong the sybaritic pampering. In addition to being the original, longest running, and most reliable sushi restaurant in Santa Fe, Shohko Café offers another rather unique bonus. The whole establishment is fragrance-free. This policy was originally a response to the owner’s scent sensitivity, but it has grown into a welcome retreat for many Santa Feans like my bride who choose/need to avoid fragrances.

A demi-carafe of Kikumasamune Taru Sake Cedar Cask… Now my post-massage mellow shifted into overdrive!

My meal was—and always is—delicious. I started with some warm ginger tea followed by a demi-carafe of Kikumasamune Taru Sake Cedar Cask. Now my post-massage mellow shifted into overdrive!

My bride started with miso soup and a tempura oyster mushroom roll, and I enjoyed “Prawns Blanketed in Snow”, three sizable tiger prawns wrapped in rice flour and lightly fried. It’s gluten free! I swapped the chili miso sauce (which apparently has a trace of gluten), instead dipping my crisp prawns in gluten free tamari.

I followed my appetizer with a couple pieces of bluefin high toro nigiri sushi and then dove into the “Chef’s Choice”, an impressive roll that included too many exotic ingredients to make a proper accounting. It was melt-in-your-mouth delicious!

And one final recommendation…

Santa Fe Roll (Source: Clare M. via Yelp)

Santa Fe Roll (Source: Clare M. via Yelp)

A past favorite (before my gluten free shift) was the “Santa Fe Roll” comprised of green chile tempura, shrimp tempura, and avocado. Makes me miss the old days.

Welcome to Shohko Café

Shohko Cafe logo

Welcome to Shohko Café, Santa Fe’s original Japanese restaurant. Since our founding in 1975, we have strived to serve delicious and wholesome food. Our menu was developed with your utmost health in mind and abounds in organic and all-natural ingredients. We remain committed to serving you good food for good health. (Shohko and Hiro Fukuda, 2010)

The Fukuda family opened New Mexico’s first sushi bar, and they are dedicated to serving authentic Japanese cuisine as well as providing innovating new flavors inspired by the region. Take a look at their lunch menu, dinner menu, sake menu, and sushi menu to see the variety of meal combinations you can create.

Housed in a former 19th century bordello with 3-feet thick adobe walls and original vigas, the restaurant’s décor fuses simple Japanese and Northern New Mexican design elements. (Shohko Café)

Get a glimpse into the history of the Shohko Café by visiting their photo gallery. To learn more visit their website shohkocafe.com. Or call (505) 982-9708. You can also visit the Shohko Café Facebook page.

Visit Shohko Café

Shohko Café is located at 321 Johnson Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501. Find it on the map below: