The Top 28 Places to Eat Near Leo’s
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Rank 1. La Choza
Mexican
A casual New Mexican spot that's been around forever, La Choza earns its Michelin Bib Gourmand on the strength of deeply satisfying regional cooking at prices that don't require a second thought. Tamales, posole, enchiladas, and stuffed sopapillas fill the menu, and the combo plates let you hedge your bets. The half-frozen mocha cake is the ending nobody planned on. No reservations, so arrive early or plan to stand around feeling increasingly hungry.
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Duck confit done pad Thai style sits on the same menu as lamb burger with green chile stew, which tells you exactly what kind of place Joseph's Culinary Pub is: a full-service bar and restaurant in Santa Fe where the kitchen roams freely across cuisines and nobody seems bothered by that. Walk-ins are welcome, the bar pours wine, beer, cider, and sake, and the chef earned a James Beard semifinalist nod in 2025.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Southwest · Joseph Wrede
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- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Chef: Southwest · Eduardo Rodriguez
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant
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The wood art on the walls is the first thing you notice, then the menu, which shifts with the seasons but keeps a few old faithfuls around. This is a polished contemporary dining room on Galisteo Street, the kind of place where global technique quietly nudges the New Mexican pantry sideways. A James Beard nominee for Best Chef Southwest, and a Michelin Selected spot. Couples on date night and solo diners at the bar seem equally at ease.
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best Chef: Southwest · Martín Rios
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 5. Paper Dosa
Indian
The paper dosa itself, thin and audibly crispy, served with masala on the side, is the whole argument for this south Indian restaurant in Santa Fe. The menu leans into dosas, those fermented rice-and-lentil crepes, with enough filling variations that a table of four will eat better than a table of two. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks for a room where the food is the point and the prices don't require a long exhale.
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Flower-strung lights and live music greet you at this downtown Santa Fe Mexican restaurant, where the kitchen gardens supply much of what lands on the table. The menu runs traditional with a knowing detour or two, and the lamb posole in guajillo bone broth earned a nod from the New York Times. The room is warm and a little festive on a Wednesday, which is either a selling point or a warning, depending on your mood.
- The New York Times Lamb Posole · The Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Sopapillas with honey at the end of the meal is the oldest dessert trick in New Mexico, and Tia Sophia's has been pulling it off for longer than most of their regulars can remember. This is a breakfast-and-lunch spot on San Francisco Street doing the kind of New Mexican cooking, red chile pork tamales, cheese enchiladas, posole, that keeps a room full of locals who already know what they're getting. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and priced like it.
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Rank 14. Geronimo
Southwestern Mexican
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Rank 18. Jambo Café
Caribbean
Jerk chicken wings with pineapple curry sauce set the tone at this African-Caribbean fusion restaurant on Cerrillos Road, a casual, colorful room where the chef's roots on the Kenyan island of Lamu show up in every bowl and skewer. Goat stew in island curry, chicken curry over cumin-scented coconut rice, it all reads like a very specific passport. A Michelin Bib Gourmand and a James Beard semifinalist nod confirm the kitchen punches above its strip-mall setting.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Southwest · Ahmed Obo
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A New Mexico native runs this steakhouse on Washington Avenue, and the menu keeps things focused: USDA Prime cuts, a serious wine list, and sides that don't phone it in. Regulars know to book ahead, though the bar is always a reasonable fallback. The bourbon pecan bread pudding with sea salt caramel has a way of making the decision to skip dessert feel foolish.
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Rank 23. Arroyo Vino
Mediterranean New American
A short drive outside Santa Fe, Arroyo Vino is a contemporary American restaurant that keeps an onsite wine shop to back up its notably interesting wine list, which is one way to make sure the pours are never an afterthought. Half portions and shareable plates are the format, so grazing is encouraged rather than merely tolerated. The Mediterranean thread running through the menu is subtle enough that you might not notice it until you're halfway through something and oddly happy about fennel.
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An izakaya perched at Ten Thousand Waves resort in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, Izanami commits to the bit with a sake list deep enough to keep you second-guessing your order. The menu runs karaage, gyoza, miso-marinated sea bass, and smoked ribs, the kind of spread that rewards coming with enough people to cover the table. End with the Japanese rice pudding or you'll hear about it later.
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