by Heather Hunter
a fresh-forward, Southern-inspired menu shines at Santa Fe’s Radish & Rye
SOME OF THE BEST food memories start in childhood, and that’s exactly how chef and co-owner Dru Ruebush landed on a name for his restaurant.
“My grandparents grew radishes on the farm,” he says. “There’s a family tale about me sitting in the field eating radishes as a child. And because we wanted to focus our restaurant concept on American whiskey, it flowed nicely to use ‘rye,’ which we are passionate about. Then we discovered that radish and rye are complementary crops, so it all made sense.”
Coming up with a restaurant name isn’t usually that easy—but combine the story with Ruebush and his wife and co-owner Camille Bremer’s shared love of Southern food, and it’s clear how Radish & Rye came to be in 2015, in an adobe house on Agua Fria. From the start, the couple knew the concept would fill a niche that was missing in Santa Fe, and it has since become a local favorite. In 2019, they relocated to a larger, premier spot at 505 Cerrillos in the Luna Santa Fe, where Bremer’s interior design skills and Ruebush’s culinary refinements come together. There, they continue to wow guests with locally sourced, Southern-inspired cuisine.
Of the small but well-edited menu, more than half are considered signature dishes. As is expected of a good Southern restaurant, the fried green tomatoes are a hot-ticket item, as are the smoked baby back ribs, corn chowder and roasted beets. With a menu that leans heavily on vegetables, diners can request any vegetarian dish without dairy, making it vegan-friendly as well.
With eight hearty entrees on the menu, the pan-fried trout has become the dish Radish & Rye is now known for, closely followed by the beef ribeye steak, pork rib chop, blackened snapper and chicken and waffle.
Dietary accommodations are woven throughout the menu without ever feeling like an afterthought. The chicken and waffle dish is gluten-free, and in fact only a few items on the current menu contain gluten at all, which is a welcome surprise for gluten-free diners. “For those items that do have gluten, we use organic flour,” Ruebush says. “It makes sense to us to be sensitive to this, and it makes our job in the kitchen a little easier.” That same care carries through to dessert, where three of the four offerings are also gluten-free, making it effortless for diners to say yes to a sweet ending.
And the bar menu is every bit as impressive. A collection of more than 175 bottles of American whiskey—bourbon, rye and single malt—stands as a testament to the restaurant’s affinity for everything Southern. Radish & Rye also offers signature cocktails made with bourbon or rye, an award-winning wine list—much of which is American—and a full bar program. “If you’re not familiar with American whiskey,” Ruebush notes, “start with bourbon. We offer cocktails for beginners, as well as seasoned drinkers. We also have a wide variety of whiskey flights for those who want to explore different styles and flavor profiles.” So, whether you’re inspired by the radish or the rye, curious diners will have fun exploring both the food and beverages.
