Sazon

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Chef Fernando Olea and the Art of Mexican Cuisine in Santa Fe

Originally from Mexico City, Chef Fernando Olea has been captivating diners in Santa Fe since 1991 with his distinctive take on contemporary and traditional Mexican cuisine. His approach draws on Old Mexico's indigenous culinary traditions while weaving in ingredients from around the world — and the result earned him the James Beard Award for Best Chef of the Southwest in 2022, one of the most meaningful recognitions in American dining.

Olea opened Sazón alongside business partners Lawrence and Suzanna Becerra, who built the stage for his cooking after years of friendship. The restaurant's wine and cocktail program has earned the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, a distinction the team achieved in consecutive years — a testament to the care that goes into every element of the experience.

Mole at the Heart of It All

Nothing at Sazón speaks more directly to Chef Olea's vision than his moles. Mole is a sauce of complex flavors — toasted and ground spices, seeds, nuts, chocolate, and chile — and many recipes contain more than thirty ingredients, sometimes five varieties of chile alone. Olea has made this tradition his own, including a "New Mexican Mole" he created in 2009 to commemorate Santa Fe's 400th anniversary. A large mural by Mexico City artist Federico Leon De La Vega, painted and presented to Chef Olea, covers the main dining room wall and illustrates every ingredient in that mole — art and food inseparable.

A Deliberately Small, Carefully Sourced Menu

The dinner menu is intentionally concise, featuring fresh and locally sourced produce and meats where possible. Antojitos range from a Camaron-Tini — shrimp in crispy batter with sweet and spicy aioli — to Xochimilco, built around huitlacoche (corn truffle) over mini tortillas with queso fresco. Main courses include a chile poblano tower filled with ground lamb, pork and beef over a cold walnut sauce with pomegranate seeds, and a pan-seared salmon finished with huitlacoche and jasmine rice.

For those who want the full expression of Chef Olea's talent, Sazón offers a nine-course Chef's Degustación menu — a structured tasting that moves through dishes like zucchini blossom stuffed with three cheeses, octopus with pancetta and Thai chile spices, and duck in mole poblano. The optional pairing brings tequila, mezcal, wine from Mexico's Valle de Guadalupe, and beyond into the conversation. The wine list itself is expansive, ranging from Baja producers to top Burgundy and California estates.

The Setting

Sazón sits two blocks from the Santa Fe Plaza, with an outdoor dining area that draws guests on clear New Mexico evenings. The dress code is business casual, the atmosphere refined without being stiff — a place where sophisticated Latin cuisine is taken seriously, and where the room itself, anchored by that mural, tells a story before the first course arrives.