Feb. 26—Santa Fe favorite Market Steer is inching closer to its big move to the former El Mesón building on Washington Avenue. But the owners say a little bit more love needs to be put into renovations before that happens.
In the meantime, owners Kristina Goode and Kathleen Crook, who opened Market Steer in 2018, have extended service at their current location in Hotel St. Francis through the end of March. The steakhouse was initially slated to close at the end of February before the opening of the new location.
But the couple says the renovations to their Washington Avenue space are ongoing and on track for a late April or early May opening.
"As soon as you start to get into stuff, you realize that there's a little bit more love that needs to be put in the property than we had anticipated," says Goode, also the steakhouse's general manager. "And that's kind of where we ended up is [that] you get one shot to do it right. We wanted to make sure that we did our due diligence with the building."
That due diligence, the couple says, includes more renovations than initially expected, including a new roof and windows "that ultimately ended up causing a little bit of a delay in opening over there," Goode said.
The couple is also excited to put their stamp on the drinks they serve.
At Hotel St. Francis, since Market Steer doesn't operate the bar, they are limited on the types of drinks they can serve. With a liquor license at the new location, they said there will be room to offer drinks unique to Market Steer sourced from seasonal and local ingredients.
They have also brought on Tyler Rudoff, who joined Market Steer in September to be the beverage director and sommelier, to operate the Tack Room — the name they will use for the new location's bar.
"This allows us full autonomy in our space to expand our operation into the beverage side," Goode said. "And so that is going to be a huge opportunity for us to grow and expand our business and our footprint."
The couple says while they are giving the new space a "needed face-lift," they plan to make their mark on the building, which previously housed El Mesón from 1997 to 2021 and Dee's Donuts from 1976 to 1996.
That meant they had to bring the building down to the studs to get the style they desired for the space, which will feature paneled walls, Southwestern touches and a color palette that will include hunter green as a nod to the Rocky Mountains.
"We made it feel a little bit more authentic to our vision," Goode said. "Kathleen [Crook] has deep roots in the southern part of the state. She comes from a long line of farmers and ranchers. Before she was a chef, she worked at her family's ranch and was a rodeo competitor, and so we really wanted to tie into her equestrian roots.
"We've been able to tell our stories through food, but we haven't been able to do it through the design of the space and the beverage program," Goode added. "I think those are two huge things for us."