Alex De Vore
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believe it or not, award-winning culture editor for @SantaFeReporter. moonlight as fibber guitarist. he/him. email me about art at alex@sfreporter.com
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Articles by Alex De Vore
In the Can
Oh, it’s been a minute since SFR had the space and inclination to run content based in the movie world, but now that we’re a week or so removed from the 18th Annual Santa Fe International Film Festival, I must admit I’m feeling pretty sporty about the whole we-love-film-here thing just now.
SFR Picks: October 28, 2026
Halloween and Such Yeah, it’s Halloween, man It feels like our duty to inform or remind you that this year’s Halloween falls on a Saturday. This sounds great for both kids and drinkers alike, but let us not forget that the holiday is kind of about a season and not one singular night sure to end with a sugar and/or booze hangover. If you’re looking to get into the feels of it all, we’ve gathered a few recommendations for capturing the creeps. Par exemple?
The Art of Culture
Holy smokes, Counter Culture just turned 30! by Alex De Vore Food October 28, 2026 10:17 AM I’m having a little memory as I sit down to write this piece—something from some years ago during which someone I’d just met angrily questioned why I’d never eaten one of the famous cinnamon rolls from Counter Culture (930 Baca St., (505) 995-1105). Oh sure, I’d eaten at that Baca Street Railyard bastion known for a little bit of everything any number of times, I’m just not the biggest pastry guy.
SFR Picks: October 21, 2026
Scare Your Kids It’s practically Halloween, so here’s a couple things for the kids It’ll only be about a week and a few days until Halloween when this edition of SFR drops, so we figure it’s about that time for folks to start thinking about picking up a second bag of candy for trick-or-treaters (since you probably already ate the first one), prepping to watch the Garfield Halloween movie (or the Peanuts one where Linus tries to gaslight every last kid and dog in his vicinity about some kind...
Fried Chicken Quest
In the days of yore when I was a young man working in restaurants and acting like I wasn’t just one of the most godawful employees, I actually spent a chunk of time bussing tables at Santacafé under chef David Sellers.
SFR Picks: October 14, 2026
Lights, Cameras, Etc.! Santa Fe International Film Festival turns 18 with biggest program yet “We got more than 7,000 entries for this one, and that’s as many as any of the top film fests in the United States with the exception of a couple, like maybe Sundance and one or two others,” Santa Fe International Film Festival co-founder and Artistic Director Jacques Pasiner tells SFR.
Fish Sticks the Landing
A few years back I went on this crusade to prove to Santa Feans we were missing out if we didn’t consider our hotel restaurants worthy of our culinary attention. It was the green chile double smash cheeseburger at the Hilton’s Ortiz bar that did it to me, but I kept right on trying hotel eateries and, in 2024, fell in love with Agave at the Eldorado Hotel & Spa.
Radioactivity
As long as we all shall live, Santa Fe-based filmmaker and educator Siena Sofia Bergt (who, full disclosure, previously worked for SFR) will have the distinction of being the first Columbia film school student to complete a feature film while still in classes. Bergt’s first feature OPIA debuted some 10 years back, and you can still find it online, but nearly as soon as they’d finished their first full-length, New York City life started to feel constraining.
SFR Picks: October 7, 2026
The Big Screen Santa Fe movie-lovers will often deliver that speech about how lucky we are to have so many movie theaters for a town our size. And y’know what? They’re right.
All Mixed Up
REMIX Audio Bar could be entering a new era—what that looks like is up in the air by Alex De Vore Food October 6, 2026 6:33 PM I get it, truly, and many times I’ve bowed out of doing something last-minute even though I like the idea of that something on paper. And I also still don’t/never will love the idea that I owe anyone anything just because we’re both from around here.
SFR Picks: September 30, 2026
Ongoing Art openings tend to dwindle in the fall and winter—but don’t forget ongoing exhibits Certainly there’s a kind of magic to a visual arts opening, especially in Santa Fe where seeing and being seen are part of the equation. Still, there are the minor annoyances (looking at you, people who stand in front of a piece just to have the longest conversation about nothing on record with a bunch of other jabronis instead of just going outside or saving it for the wine bar or whatever).
Hot Diggity Dog
People always come up to me or call me or employ semaphore to ask what local restaurants they might try. I eat professionally, so it’s probably a safe bet that I have a lot of recommendations to hand out, which is true enough most of the time, at least when I’m in review mode.
SFR Picks: Sept. 23, 2026
Wine *and* chile, potential govs, bambooooooo and fall foliage by Alex De Vore SFR Picks September 23, 2026 9:33 AM Eat, Drink, Be Merry Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta hits 35—you should go By the time this paper hits your hot little hands (or screens or whatever), the 35th Annual Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta will have already begun (it starts on Tuesday, Sept. 22, and please be aware that some events have been moved to the Midtown Campus rather than Fort Marcy).
So Nice They Did it Twice
The funny thing about heading to El Sendero Marketplace on the Southside—which you might know as the former outlet mall—is in how you start to wonder if you’re even allowed to be there. That little shopping zone has been various things over the decades, but today it sits mostly empty, at least when I visited alongside a companion one recent evening. Then you see it in the distance like some kind of Mexican fusion oasis: La Fogata Table (8380 Cerrillos Road, Ste.
SFR Picks: Sept. 16, 2026
Route 66 Hits 100 We might as well celebrate a road in style, right? Oh, how Route 66 has been romanticized. From timeless songs and what we can only assume must be a fairly robust postcard industry to writing, poetry, road trips and so much more, there’s surely a reason for everyone to have some kind of memory with the immortalized highway. We won’t ask, though, because those reasons are your own (and probably valid).
3 Questions with Singer-Songwriter David Berkeley
When last we spoke with Santa Fe-based musician David Berkeley circa 2024, he was set to drop his most recent record, A Pail Full of Fire, and learning to live in a post-COVID/second-term-Trump era. At the time, Berkeley said, he wasn’t leaning into the political so much, but finding comfort in his long-standing process of sorting through emotions through song. The abridged idea was to connect folks.
The Low Point
There was a time in human history when I didn’t even have to think about it when someone would ask where to get a killer breakfast burrito in Santa Fe. “Baja Tacos,” I’d say. “Did you know they put hashbrowns right in there?!?” And those were crispy hashbrowns, too; and Baja didn’t skimp on the eggs—a revelation when served with the restaurant’s green chile for a morning meal. It was my go-to drive-thru for ages.
Four Galleries Beyond Canyon Road
ARTISTS AND GALLERISTS have made themselves at home on Canyon Road since the early 1900s. By 1962, the city designated the road a residential arts-and-crafts zone, and the ’80s art boom set the tone for the famous stretch of galleries we know today. Still, as much as Canyon Road and the surrounding streets of downtown Santa Fe remain a mecca for visual arts, several galleries are moving into other parts of the city.
Four Galleries Beyond Canyon Road
ARTISTS AND GALLERISTS have made themselves at home on Canyon Road since the early 1900s. By 1962, the city designated the road a residential arts-and-crafts zone, and the ’80s art boom set the tone for the famous stretch of galleries we know today. Still, as much as Canyon Road and the surrounding streets of downtown Santa Fe remain a mecca for visual arts, several galleries are moving into other parts of the city.
Five-oh-FOIVE!
When my friend Benji turned 21, a group of us hotheads took him to the long-since closed downtown nightclub Swig—a bad plan as we were already pretty well soused by the time we got there. At some point, we realized Benji had gone missing, and it was nearly an hour or so later that we found him wandering the nearby streets, still drunk.
Hey, Buddy
Bonafide puppetmaster/local artist Devon Hawkes Ludlow walks pretty casually through Santa Fe coffee shop Betterday for a guy whose first feature film just did the rounds at Sundance, South by Southwest and Comic-Con.
SFR Picks: September 9, 2026
Let's get some kids some instruments, the Indigenous side of Route 66, that one big music fest in Abiquiú and that one big film fest in Madrid by Alex De Vore SFR Picks September 9, 2026 12:00 AM Fest Your Eyes on This Musician Nacha Mendez hosts part show/part fundraiser Frida Fest For the last five years or so, local musician Nacha Mendez has helmed her own nonprofit scholarship/band fund sort of thing with the Nacha Mendez Scholarship.
Artists on Artists: Jason Garcia
SANTA CLARA ARTIST Jason Garcia, who is also known as Okuu Pín, annually shows contemporary work like his series at Santa Fe Indian Market and co-curated , currently at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. He recently had the opportunity to reach through time to a long-dead family member.
SFR Picks: Sept. 2, 2026
This Week’s Stuff to Do Can’t decide what to do and where to go? Why not a bunch of things and places? We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, winter is coming, and not in that annoyingly weird eight-seasons-of-Game-of-Thrones-way where it all just fizzles and undoes a decade of world-building—we mean in a much sadder way wherein everyone hibernates. Longest sentences ever aside, we found some events for locals to enjoy this week that look cool as hell.
Artists on Artists: Erika Wanenmacher
WHEN ARTIST ERIKA WANENMACHER came through New Mexico in 1975, she hadn’t planned on making Santa Fe home. A stopover in the City Different changed her path forever. “I think it was my first night in Santa Fe, and I was walking around the Plaza at 9:30,” she says. “I was looking in the storefronts that aren’t there anymore—Woolworth’s, Bell’s Department Store—then, down San Francisco Street, there was this glowing cube.” Wanenmacher followed the light to the long-since-closed Hills Gallery.
Artists on Artists: Erika Wanenmacher
WHEN ARTIST ERIKA WANENMACHER came through New Mexico in 1975, she hadn’t planned on making Santa Fe home. A stopover in the City Different changed her path forever. “I think it was my first night in Santa Fe, and I was walking around the Plaza at 9:30,” she says. “I was looking in the storefronts that aren’t there anymore—Woolworth’s, Bell’s Department Store—then, down San Francisco Street, there was this glowing cube.” Wanenmacher followed the light to the long-since-closed Hills Gallery.
Santa Fe Playhouse Puts Annual Melodrama on Hiatus
Citing $25,000 shortfall in 2025, Santa Fe Playhouse puts annual Melodrama production on hiatus—but former cast, workers and board members say the decision feels short-sighted by Alex De Vore News August 28, 2026 2:01 PM Despite what former cast members describe as packed houses during its run last year, an altered episodic video version produced during the height of pandemic social distancing and a history spanning more than 100 years, the Santa Fe Playhouse’s annual Melodrama (née Fiesta...
Get on the Soul Train
When we look back to 2021 and all that particular year was about—y’know, pandemic nonsense and the continuation of some of the weirdest times of our lives—it’s almost hard to believe restaurateur James Anthony Moore managed to open a Midtown eatery like Anthony’s Grill and make it last. Yet he did just that.
Skin Deep
Not to sound like a broken record, but longtime tattoo collectors in Santa Fe can likely recall a time in town when there was a mere smattering of artists worth the time (and the pain). This has, of course, changed in recent years with new shops, new artists and those who went off to make their fortunes in faraway lands then returned to lay down roots and so forth.
SFR Picks: August 26, 2026
Your Week in Music If it’s shows you want, shows we’ve got We’ve come to realize over time that most people are generally looking to get out in the evenings, maybe have a drink or a snack and hear some live music. Wee, too, have been known to take a look around and be like, “Now what?!” OK, word—you want to go out, you want to hear some music, you want to laugh and leap and sniff and love! Don’t worry, we’ve got you.
7 Days: August 26, 2026
facebook twitter youtube instagram RSS 7 Days: August 19, 2026 You laugh so you don't cry by Alex De Vore 7 Days August 26, 2026 9:17 AM ICE AGENTS MAKE ARRESTS IN LA FAMILIA PARKING LOT Classy bunch, these ICE-holes, yeah? BEAR SIGHTING PROMPTS SHELTER-IN-PLACE ORDER FOR SOME SANTA FE SCHOOLS Yes, bears look cuddly and, of course, it’s a shame we can’t pet them, but absolutely do not fuck with them.
Moving Company
In my review of Rowley Farmhouse Ales from last year (Locals Only!, April 16, 2025), I opined something about how one of the major selling points of the long-beloved local brewery and gastropub from owner/brewer John Rowley and chef Jeffrey Kaplan was how tourists would very likely not simply happen upon the place. Since RFA opened roughly 10 years ago in its Maclovia Street environs (the actual tenth anniversary hits Sept.
SFR Picks: August 19, 2026
Keep it Going Still buzzing from the artistry of Indian Market? Try these shows… Last weekend’s 104th Santa Fe Indian Market was a mega-blast for a lot of folks who both live here and don’t.
3 Questions with Filmmaker/Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival Lead Film Programmer Cole Forrest
3 Questions with artist Daniel McCoy "We want films that are about community, we want cultural stories from other communities that connect to ours and obviously we want to highlight Southwest filmmakers." by Alex De Vore 3 Questions August 12, 2026 12:00 AM By now, most folks know this weekend in Santa Fe is all about Indigenous arts and artistry, and much of that will play out across three big markets: the Southwestern Association of American Indian Arts’ Indian Market, Free Indian Market...
The Same Old Tune
Believe me, I got quite the earful about how SFR is staffed with terrible monsters following the April 1, 2025 edition of our food newsletter The Fork. That one was titled “We can no longer sit idly by while Tune-Up Café serves disappointing food,” and it was admittedly…let’s just say it didn’t really pull punches in expressing its disappointment.
SFR Picks: August 12, 2026
Marketing Two of the most impressive—if not the most impressive—Indigenous arts markets begin Now that the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts’ Indian Market event is well over 100 years old, it’s pretty easy to say that it is likely the most popular and impactful event of its kind in the friggin’ world.
The Cider House Rules
New Mexico Hard Cider founder Craig Moya’s slow but steady process leads to respectable mini-empire by Alex De Vore Food August 5, 2026 10:00 AM By the time Time Travelers Gastropub opened in the Casa Solana Center at the tail end of 2024, we were already four years into the pandemic. And though humankind seemed to have formed a shaky kinship with COVID-19 by then, it was still an objectively weird time to open a new restaurant.
SFR Picks: August 5, 2026
Eat or drink or both, get surfy, get psych-y and then find yourself a bagel to go with your bluegrass by Alex De Vore SFR Picks August 5, 2026 10:00 AM Eat, Drink and Be Merry A smattering of food and drink events in town this week Most people will tell you Santa Fe is a food destination town—probably something to do with how chile kind of infiltrates your brain and rewires it. We tend to agree, especially given the size of the city and the smallness-to-killer-food-and-drinks ratio.
3 Questions with artist Daniel McCoy
In 2019, Santa Fe-based artist Daniel McCoy (Muscogee Creek/Citizen Band Potawatomi) told SFR his obsession with art might have begun with his artist father, but also Hot Wheels and Star Wars. At the time, McCoy was borderline obsessed with the Americana of Allsup’s convenience stores, and by paying homage to their oasis-style high desert existence, he found a sublime counterpoint between high art paint and ink and the relationship between the hoi polloi and chimis.
7 Days: July 29, 2026
facebook twitter youtube instagram RSS 7 Days: July 8, 2026 Seven lonely days make one lonely week by Alex De Vore 7 Days July 29, 2026 9:47 AM SFR PARENT COMPANY CTRLP BUYS ROSWELL DAILY RECORD That’s certainly a thing that happened. OKLAHOMA MAN FIRES AT SFPD OFFICERS AT MOTEL 6 We understand that people don’t like being shot at.
SFR Picks: July 29, 2026
Free Fallin’ Here’s a bunch of free things to do this week in Santa Fe Times are tough because this country is an absolute garbage fire just now, and if you’re counting pennies yet still believe that life should include some element of enjoyment, we feel your pain. Luckily, in Santa Fe summers, you’ll find lots to do that won’t cost a dang thing. We’ve gathered a few options herein.
3 Questions with artist Andrea Vargas
In another life, Santa Fe painter Andrea Vargas might have been a lawyer. Travel, however, rewrote the script, leading the artist down a path of constant observation, discovery and, ultimately, shared connection through oil pieces that border upon abstract technique while staying representational in nature—and of nature. Vargas hails from California, but has called Santa Fe home since 2012. This means some pieces will likely look plenty familiar to those who know about Southwestern landscapes.
SFR Picks: July 22, 2026
Collectivism Balkan ensemble Rumelia Collective takes over Unit B Y’know, it’s not so easy to explain what an obsessive quartet of Balkan, Middle East and Eastern European music enthusiasts sound like to people who aren’t particularly familiar with the sounds of those lands, but Rumelia Collective co-founder, singer and multi-instrumentalist Alysha Shaw can sure try.
No Name Cinema shutters after five years
That's a wrap on Santa Fe's anti-profit DIY movie theater by Alex De Vore News July 20, 2026 6:09 PM After five-ish years of showing experimental cinema at its trés punk/anti-profit/DIY warehouse space in Midtown, combination movie theater and events space No Name Cinema shall screen no more.
SFR Picks: July 15, 2026
Three-Zies Three events in Santa Fe worth your time As summer continues summering along, it would be easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of things popping off about town, and a lot of it’s free!. Luckily for you, people tell us about all sorts of events, and we think the following options could be good for anyone looking to get out and get weird.
SFR Picks: July 8, 2026
Slow Fashion Mottainai vintage/record shop hits the terrible twos with live music, food, fashion and more Sure, Early Street vintage clothes/new and used record shop Mottainai sells stuff, but as much as owners Angela Cefaratti and Brad Brooks are looking to be a place for fashion fans and music dorks, they wanted to provide one of those nigh-mythical third spaces Santa Fe so desperately needs. In other words, you can spend money at Mottainai, but it’s not required.
SFR Picks: July 1, 2026
If You Can Somehow Still Feel Patriotic… Fourth of July is here and…well, it’s here Look, do we think this is one of the hardest points in human history to be proud Americans? Yes, we certainly do. And that’s really saying something given the whole…everything. Do we also think that fireworks are really weird and terrifying to our cats, whom we love deeply? Also yes.
3 Questions with filmmaker/educator/podcast host Siena Sofia Bergt
Full disclosure, the new chair of the New Mexico School for the Arts’ film program Siena Sofia Bergt is a former SFR staffer. But it’s been years since Bergt worked here, and they’re also a bit of a genius, so...as we speak, Bergt is assembling a curriculum for the local arts school’s more cinema-minded students, but that’s hardly the only project they have in the works.
Sheer Poetry
Sometimes a new restaurant opens in Santa Fe, and the non-food writer part of your brain tells you to wait a little bit and let them get settled before you worry about turning in a review. Other times, the wait becomes unbearable, you just keep thinking about that place, then you finally tell your buddy you’re sick of waiting—the time is now.
…And other “M” words
Multimedia maven Erin Currier opens her seventeenth solo show at Blue Rain Gallery by Alex De Vore Arts & Culture June 24, 2026 9:59 AM Every so often, Santa Fe-based artist Erin Currier puts out a call to local art-lovers, fans, collectors and media types: If you’d like, she says, you can swing by her studio, a gorgeously appointed area within her South Capital apartment from which Currier has been kicking out her signature pieces for ages.
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