Santa Fe BK

A New Brooklyn Restaurant Serves a Top Notch Green Chile Cheeseburger | Eater NY

"Flying the New Mexico flag with the Zia sun symbol on a brilliant yellow background, I visited Santa Fe BK, which opened last Saturday on North Eighth Street in Williamsburg; for now it’s essentially a wooden porch with a blue-green Dutch door whose top half opens to distribute a short menu of burgers, burritos, fries, and coffee. Co-owners Melissa Klein and John Watterberg, both New Mexicans who have plotted this place for years, told me they’ll open the dining room and backyard once they secure a liquor license and will expand the menu to include red and green chile stews; Klein said they make their green chile from scratch with Hatch chiles. I went before noon to a lively porch scene and was hooked on the green chile cheeseburger: a modest, cooked-through patty wrapped in yellow paper stamped with the logo, minced green chiles oozing out under melted yellow cheese — the chiles were piquant, with an almost burning bite that elevated the burger. The fries ($3) are crinkle-cut and crunchy, the zigzag providing extra crispiness; they’re not Williamsburg’s best but perfectly serviceable. Breakfast burritos (available from 8 a.m. until they run out) come on thin homemade flour tortillas tasting of milled wheat and include egg, cheese, green chiles plus bacon, sausage, or potato (pick bacon for strong flavor, potato for something more mellow). The coffee, made by New Mexico Piñon Coffee, is over-roasted and strong; still, it’s the green chile cheeseburger that’s seared into my memory and what I’ll be coming back for." - Robert Sietsema