TASTE MAY BE SUBJECTIVE, but any current debate on New Mexico’s best restaurants must include a mention of Mesa Provisions. At the Albuquerque standout, green chile enchiladas come smothered in a velvety oyster and chestnut mushroom sauce. Pillowy duck fat tortillas steal the show. And smoked beet tartare makes you wonder why anyone bothers with beef. The restaurant’s artfully plated dishes feel both dynamic and deeply vernacular, rooted in regional flavors yet unafraid to pull inspiration from far-flung places.
“I wouldn’t call it New Mexican food,” says chef and owner Steve Riley. “That means something very specific to me. But my food is very New Mexico influenced—I have a passion for it, it’s where I’m from.”
Since opening in 2021, Mesa Provisions has become a fixture in the city’s dining scene. On any given night, diners pack the intimate Nob Hill dining room, eager for Riley’s latest riff on root vegetables or a playful dessert from pastry chef Ryan Barnes (think horchata mochi). In 2024, Riley was a James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef Southwest, joining Santa Fe’s Eduardo Rodríguez of Zacatlán in representing the state at the star-studded gala in Chicago. Yet behind the restaurant’s seemingly rapid rise is a local success story—one born in Burque’s soil, sidewalks, and dish pits.
Mesa Provisions chef and owner Steve Riley.
On a Thursday afternoon during prep service, the restaurant’s tinted windows obscure Central Avenue’s bustle, creating a cozy, laid-back retreat with simple blond-wood tables, colorful paintings, and soft lighting. In the back, the compact kitchen hums with focused urgency. A four-person team moves in practiced choreography, peeling carrots, breaking down chickens, and adjusting a vibrant passion fruit sauce.
Amid the movement, Riley exudes the quiet command of a sea captain, a comparison he’d likely find amusing given his self-described “wild” years of playing punk music throughout Duke City. “I wanted to be a rock star,” he says. “But eventually, you realize you need a real job.”
Cooking started as a necessity. As the latchkey kid of a single mom in grad school, he taught himself to make grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, and whatever else he could scrape together from a fridge that was often bare. “We never ate very healthy,” he admits. “It was always feast or famine. Government-issued food would come in at the first of the month, but by the end, you’re staring into an empty freezer like, now what?”
Scallop crudo with Fresno peppers.
A teenage gig washing dishes at Ragin’ Shrimp, which stood just a few blocks from the eventual location of Mesa Provisions on Central, soon led to a promotion to kitchen manager. Then Jennifer James, one of Albuquerque’s most revered chefs, offered Riley a garde-manger position at Le Café Miche, where he first got his exposure to fine dining in his early twenties. “It was the best culinary decision I ever made,” he says. “Jennifer showed me what real quality food tasted like.”
In 2001, Riley moved to Los Angeles, landing a job under chef and co-owner Robert Bell at the late Redondo Beach mainstay Chez Mélange. “They had a really ambitious model where three or four items on the menu changed every day,” recalls Riley, who developed a love for local ingredients and cooking in sync with the seasons. “I had to learn a lot of things quickly and experiment to come up with new dishes.”
Bell and Riley collaborated on Mama Terano’s, an Italian-inspired restaurant Riley helmed for seven years until the pull of New Mexico proved too strong. “I did what I’d set out to do in LA, but I never really fit in there,” he says. “When I’d visit New Mexico, it always felt like I’d never left.”
Local art decorates the dining room.
Returning to Albuquerque in 2017, he reacquainted himself with the food scene during stints at Frenchish, a catering truck for Better Call Saul, and as executive chef at Farm & Table. Working closely with local growers reignited a passion for the flavors of his home state and shaped a vision for his own restaurant. After some pandemic-related setbacks, Riley was finally ready to open a place that reflected his full culinary identity.
“My food is the culmination of my life experiences and interests,” he says. Mesa Provisions blends his New Mexico upbringing; California’s seasonal, vegetable-forward approach; Italian techniques honed at Mama Terano’s; and a deep fascination with Southern and Mexican cuisines. “I think you can see all of those things in my dishes,” he adds.
In Mesa’s charred turnips, fire-roasted local turnips are nestled on a bed of creamy lemon aioli, then crowned with toasted almonds, a drizzle of garlic chile oil, and a crisp tangle of fried spring onions. The flavor-packed dish fuses fine-dining finesse with punk-rock nonconformity. “Turnips grow so well here, but they usually just get tossed in a salad,” Riley says. “I wanted to make them the star.”
Later that evening, I take a seat at one of the restaurant’s coveted counter spots alongside my husband, an organic vegetable farmer who—full disclosure—has been supplying Riley with produce since his Farm & Table days. As we swap bites of a bright spring-pea-and-carrot salad draped in curry-lemon dressing and a birria-like local lamb ragù, it occurs to me that I’ve never had the same meal at Mesa Provisions twice. Riley’s commitment to versatility ensures that his menu, like the landscape that inspires it, is always changing.
The chef continues to evolve too. “I think what success looks like now is the ability to take a week off,” he says. But Riley might have to wait on that. Mesa Provisions recently announced it is moving into Zinc Wine Bar & Bistro’s former—and much larger—space in Nob Hill. “We’ve gotten so busy with customers from out of town that our regulars are having a hard time getting a reservation,” he says. “That’s great, but Albuquerque is my priority.”
Senior Editor Candolin Cook is an executive committee member for the International Association of Culinary Professionals 2025 Cookbook Awards.
MESA PROVISIONS PINTO BEANS WITH RED CHILE SOFRITO
One of Mesa’s most requested recipes, this pinto dish packs serious flavor thanks to a smoky red chile sofrito. Chef Steve Riley says the spicy sauce is useful to keep on hand because it’s also great in soups, stews, braises, rice, and marinades.
BEANS
- 2 cups New Mexico pinto beans, washed and sorted
- 10 cups water
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 cloves garlic, lightly crushed with a knife
- 1 jalapeño, slit open but still intact
- 2–3 tablespoons red chile sofrito (see recipe below)
- Salt
RED CHILE SOFRITO
- ⅓ cup garlic, minced
- ⅓ cup shallot, minced
- 1 ounce vegetable oil
- 4 ounces tomato paste
- 1½ tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon hot New Mexico red chile powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 1 ounce dry white wine
- 1 cup roasted red bell peppers, peeled, seeded, and finely minced
Makes 6 cups
BEANS
- Combine beans, water, oregano, garlic, and jalapeño in a medium stockpot and bring to a boil.
- Lower heat and simmer for 3 hours, until beans are soft and not starchy.
- Stir in sofrito and salt to taste.
RED CHILE SOFRITO
- In a saucepan on medium heat, sweat garlic and shallots in oil, until soft and aromatic. Do not brown.
- Add tomato paste, smoked paprika, chile powder, oregano, cumin, and salt. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3–4 minutes. The mixture will be thick.
- Add wine and cook for an additional minute.
- Add roasted red peppers and lower heat to a gentle simmer, stirring often for 10–15 minutes (if mixture is too thick, add a small amount of stock).
- Cool and store in fridge until ready to add to beans, up to two weeks.
MESA PROVISIONS DUCK- FAT FLOUR TORTILLAS
Duck fat makes these thicker tortillas both flavorful and airy. At Mesa Provisions, they accompany the smoked half chicken and pinto beans, a beloved entrée that stays on the menu year-round. Steve Riley says you can make these tortillas as big or small as you like, and freeze any extras.
- 6½ tablespoons duck fat
- 6½ tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3⅓ cups whole milk, divided
- 9⅓ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 2⅛ tablespoons baking powder
- 1⅔ tablespoons salt
Makes 2 dozen or more, depending on size
- In a sauce pot, heat duck fat, oil, and 2 cups milk until just about to boil.
- Remove from heat and stir in 1⅓ cups chilled milk, set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients.
- Slowly fold the warm liquid into the dry ingredients, until a shaggy dough forms.
- Pull together and knead for 3–5 minutes.
- Divide into even balls (about golf-ball size for tacos). Cover and let rest for 45 minutes.
- Roll out each ball with a lightly floured rolling pin.
- Cook on a hot comal or nonstick pan for about 1½ minutes each side, flipping once.
