Restaurant in Santa Fe, United States
Fine dining New Mexican. Book early or miss out.
Sazón is Santa Fe's most credentialed fine dining option — Chef Fernando Olea holds the 2022 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest, and Pearl named it a Recommended Restaurant for 2025. The $$$ dinner menu draws on Latin and Mexican tradition with a wine list of 175 selections strong in Spain and Mexico. Book well ahead; this is not an easy reservation.
Sazón is the right call for a special occasion dinner in Santa Fe when you want New Mexican cuisine taken seriously at a fine dining level. Chef Fernando Olea won the 2022 James Beard Award for Leading Chef: Southwest, which puts Sazón in the same credentialed tier as Le Bernardin in New York City, Alinea in Chicago, and Atomix in New York City — restaurants where the cooking is the point. If you want a casual green chile fix, go to Tia Sophia's instead. If you want the most technically ambitious plate of New Mexican food in the city, Sazón is the answer.
Sazón sits at 221 Shelby St in downtown Santa Fe, close to the Plaza district. The cuisine is rooted in Latin and Mexican tradition , a formal, ingredient-driven interpretation of New Mexican cooking rather than the casual Southwestern staples you find across the rest of the city. Chef Olea and wine director Lawrence Becerra, who also co-own the restaurant, have built a program that treats regional cuisine with the same seriousness you would expect from a destination restaurant. The wine list runs to approximately 175 selections and 1,100 bottles in inventory, with particular depth in Spain, California, and Mexico , a lineup that reflects the kitchen's Latin throughline and gives the meal a coherent identity from glass to plate.
Seasonality shapes what Olea is cooking. New Mexico's chile harvest runs late summer through fall, and that calendar has a direct effect on what arrives at the table. Visiting in September or October means you are eating at the peak of local produce availability. A winter or spring visit still delivers technically accomplished food, but the pantry shifts , expect more preserved, dried, and root-driven ingredients in those months. If the chile harvest window matters to you, plan accordingly. For broader context on timing your Santa Fe trip, see our full Santa Fe experiences guide.
At the $$$ cuisine price point (a typical two-course dinner runs $66 or more, not including beverages), Sazón is one of the higher-spend options in Santa Fe. That price is defensible given the James Beard credential and the ambition of the cooking, but it means this is a deliberate booking, not a casual drop-in. Compare it to the $$-range at Cafe Pasqual's or the low-cost counter at El Parasol , the gap in price reflects a genuine gap in format and ambition.
The wine list earns a $$ pricing tier, meaning there is range across price points rather than a list skewed entirely toward expensive bottles. Spain and Mexico are the areas of particular strength, and given that Olea's cooking pulls from those same culinary traditions, the food-and-wine pairing logic is tighter here than at most Santa Fe restaurants. Lawrence Becerra manages both the front-of-house and the cellar, which means the wine recommendations at the table come from someone with direct ownership investment in getting the pairing right.
Pearl has named Sazón a Recommended Restaurant for 2025. Combined with the 2022 James Beard win and a 4.6 Google rating across more than 1,100 reviews, this is a venue with consistent recognition across credentialed and popular measures , a relatively rare alignment. For comparison, The French Laundry in Napa and Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg represent the ceiling of that kind of sustained critical and popular recognition; Sazón operates at a similar level of intentionality within its regional category.
Reservations: Book well in advance , this is a hard reservation to secure, particularly on weekends and during the fall harvest season. Budget: $$$ cuisine pricing ($66+ for a typical two-course meal before beverages); $$ wine list with a range of price points and particular depth in Spain, California, and Mexico. Meals: Dinner only. Dress: No formal dress code is confirmed in available data, but the price point and occasion-driven clientele suggest smart casual as a baseline. Address: 221 Shelby St, Santa Fe, NM 87501.
For more Santa Fe dining options across price ranges and formats, see our full Santa Fe restaurants guide. If you are planning a broader trip, our Santa Fe hotels guide, bars guide, and wineries guide cover the rest of the city.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sazón | WINE: Wine Strengths: Spain, California, Mexico Pricing: $$ i Wine pricing: Based on the list\'s general markup and high and low price points:$ has many bottles < $50;$$ has a range of pricing;$$$ has many $100+ bottles Selections: 175 Inventory: 1,100 CUISINE: Cuisine Types: Latin, Mexican Pricing: $$$ i Cuisine pricing: The cost of a typical two-course meal, not including tip or beverages.$ is < $40;$$ is $40–$65;$$$ is $66+. Meals: Dinner STAFF: People Wine Director: Lawrence Becerra Chef: Fernando Olea Owner: Lawrence Becerra, Fernando Olea; Pearl Recommended Restaurant (2025); James Beard Award 2022 Sazón has been recognized with the 2022 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest. Restaurant Details: • Location: Santa Fe, NM • Chef: Fernando Olea • Cuisine: Unknown • Award Year: 2022 • Award Category: Best Chef: Southwest This 2022 James Beard Award recognizes exceptional achievement in the culinary arts and represents one of the highest honors in American dining. | — | |
| Harry’s Roadhouse | — | ||
| Santa Fe Bite | — | ||
| Cafe Pasqual's | — | ||
| El Parasol | — | ||
| Five & Dime General Store | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
It works for solo dining if your goal is serious food and wine. The $$$ price point means you are committing to a full dinner investment alone, but Chef Fernando Olea's James Beard Award-winning kitchen rewards that commitment. Call ahead to ask about bar or counter seating options — solo diners often get more flexibility on placement than couples or larger groups.
Cafe Pasqual's is the closest alternative for serious New Mexican cooking in a more casual, lower-cost setting. For something completely different, Harry's Roadhouse delivers comfort-driven New Mexican food at a fraction of Sazón's $$$ price tag. If budget is the constraint, El Parasol is the honest local choice for fast, no-frills New Mexican staples.
Bar seating availability is not confirmed in current venue data, so contact Sazón directly at 221 Shelby St before assuming it's an option. For a James Beard-level restaurant at the $$$ price tier, bar dining — where available — can be a useful route when the main dining room is fully booked.
Specific menu items are not confirmed in current data, so avoid planning around dishes you've read about elsewhere — menus at this level change seasonally. What is confirmed: the kitchen is rooted in Latin and Mexican tradition under Chef Fernando Olea, and the wine program (175 selections, 1,100 inventory) covers Spain, California, and Mexico at a $$ markup — ask Wine Director Lawrence Becerra for a pairing if you're spending $$$ on food anyway.
Yes — this is one of the clearest special occasion calls in Santa Fe. The 2022 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest, the $$$ dinner pricing, and the formal ingredient-driven approach all point to a room that takes the meal seriously. Book well ahead: weekends and fall fill fast, and this is not a walk-in venue.
No dietary policy is documented in current venue data. At the $$$ fine dining tier, kitchens at this level typically accommodate restrictions when notified in advance — contact Sazón directly when making your reservation and state your requirements clearly rather than assuming flexibility on the night.
Budget $$$ for dinner (two courses without drinks), book as far ahead as possible, and treat this as a planned event rather than a spontaneous meal. Chef Fernando Olea's James Beard Award (Best Chef: Southwest, 2022) is the anchor credential — this is New Mexican cuisine treated as fine dining, not a casual introduction to the region's food. The wine list runs 175 selections with particular strengths in Spain, California, and Mexico, so arrive ready to engage with it.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
