The Coyote Cafe:
Santa Fe Eats come to Santa Fe East?

A recipe from the Coyote Cafe

by Jonathan Bennett

Is Austin ready for a big time national culinary concept? The Coyote Cafe, first created in Santa Fe with its southwestern style of cooking and designed ambiance, opened its third restaurant under the same name on June 13th. The second Coyote Cafe was developed in Las Vegas as an adjunct of the MGM Grand Hotel, which is reportedly the largest hotel in the world. A sister company runs the Red Sage restaurant in Washington, D.C., and plans for an Asian restaurant concept are under way in San Francisco. Markets as diverse as Miami and Seattle are under consideration.

The Coyote Cafe is located at the building that formerly housed the short lived 612 West restaurant on West Sixth Street downtown. The interior has been redesigned with the help of Chris Bodi and craftsmen brought in from Santa Fe to continue the feel of the original restaurant. It is projected to have 110 seats with an average check of $25.00 for dinner service and will offer some of the same original dishes created by Chef Mark Miller, with more original creations geared towards Austin sensibilities by corporate Chef Mark Kiffin, who works closely and has co-written several cook books with Miller.

Interior of the Coyote Cafe

I was curious as to why Austin was chosen for the third Coyote Cafe and discovered that beyond the usual demographic considerations was a sense of territorial respect for the other renowned chefs in Texas that precluded competing in the same market as Dean Fearing in Dallas (at the Mansion on Turtle Creek) or Robert Del Grande in Houston (at Cafe Annie). The restaurant community at this level of quality and commitment is small indeed, and the entrepreneurs recognize that customers are fickle and will support one restaurant at the expense of another. High-end "table cloth" restaurants must be mapped out with extreme care because the overhead in such operations can be truly terrifying. Without deep pockets and a true interest in quality and service, a concept restaurant cannot survive in today's market place unless the owners are subject to divine intervention.

Austin's Coyote Cafe will employ up to sixty individuals who will be trained assiduously following corporate guidelines developed over the last eight years. Executive Chef Rocky Packard and Sous Chef Michael Marx will be come from Santa Fe. Tapped as Pastry Chef is local Austin culinary talent Lisa Fox.

I spoke at length with Mark Kiffin, who is tall and thin and belies the traditional idea of the chef. He had none of the hubris or cockiness evidenced in many young chefs today. Instead he spoke with a confidence that was based on his belief that what he and his staff are doing the best that can be done. He mentioned that the menu created for Austin has already gone through 3 or 4 transformations. The Coyote Cafe organization believes in including as many employees as possible to garner the input needed to hone the dishes that are presented to the public. Thus, the menu will include the Cowboy Steak -- a seared twenty-ounce Black Angus rib-eye steak served with a tomato and chipotle salsa, black beans & onion rings. This is a dish that can be found at all the Coyote Cafes and is what is called a signature dish in restaurant vernacular. Mark states that the restaurant will be working with the Broken Arrow Ranch to create game dishes that will reflect on the bounty of Texas.

The long tradition of using local ingredients where possible to serve the public will continue with the networking of farms and producers in and around Austin. The table settings will be produced especially by Vineyard Porcelain for the restaurant, and the large 12-inch plates for entrees should encourage the public that portions will be ample enough for the value conscious Austinite.

Make no mistake about it, there is passion involved here --passion for taste as well as for presentation. If one is truly devoted to food, he or she will be passionate about the quality of the ingredients used and the taste of the end product before any other consideration.

I hope that the eating public in Austin is capable of discerning the difference and is willing to participate in the discovery. With the arrival of the Coyote Cafe, the other restaurants in town will have a run for their money. If nothing else, we can hope that the standards for good food will be raised beyond the typically mundane fare that sometimes passes for "cuisine" in central Texas.