MANHATTAN AVENUE DELI, SANTA FE

On the second floor of the Santa Fe Jewish Center, Manhattan Avenue Deli brings a bite of the Big Apple to the high desert. It’s New Mexico’s only kosher restaurant and one of the rare places you can score a real New York bagel. “We get them trucked in par-baked, and finish them in-house,” says manager Rabbi Shmuel Itkin. The deli is the realization of his family’s longtime dream to bring East Coast comfort food to the Southwest, so the menu sticks to the classics: falafel-stuffed pita, golden-crisp latkes, and hot pastrami on rye. “If you don’t have pastrami and corned beef, it’s not a deli,” says Itkin, a Pennsylvania native, who spent years in Brooklyn. But this spot is more than a lunch stop, as regulars linger over matzo ball soup and savor the sense of belonging that’s baked into each potato knish. “It’s a third space—a place to be part of the community,” he says. Although rooted in tradition, the deli might have some New Mexico twists on the horizon, Itkin hints. “We’re testing out a green chile brisket,” he says. TRY THIS: Kosher Reuben, with corned beef, Russian dressing, and sauerkraut on toasted rye. Don’t forget the pickle.

📍 230 W. Manhattan Ave., Santa Fe; 505-448-0400

Chaos’s Grass Grazer. Photograph courtesy of Yelp.

CHAOS, SILVER CITY

When I need nourishment fast, I head to Chaos. The sandwich shop shares a building with a gas station convenience store perched on the edge of San Vicente Arroyo near downtown Silver City. The unassuming exterior gives no hint of the delights inside. Each of the more than 20 menu options offers a surprising and satisfying blend of textures, flavors, and whole fresh ingredients. Even the Classic—smoked turkey, sweet heat bacon, and veggies on marbled rye—is no ordinary sandwich. “It’s definitely not boring,” says co-owner Benjamin Marquez. “We have sandwiches that have mac and cheese or coleslaw inside.” The flavor combinations come from years of “playing around with food at home,” he says. Still, he welcomes special requests. “Customers order these insane sandwiches!” he laughs. TRY THIS: The Grass Grazer, stacked with charred veggies, cotija, and queso asadero, on seedy wheat bread.

📍 801 N. Hudson St., Silver City; 575-654-8175

Los Toasties Deli Co.’s No. 5. Photograph courtesy of Los Toasties.

LOS TOASTIES DELI CO., ALBUQUERQUE 

At Los Toasties, the smoked turkey sandwich doesn’t last long. Piled with cheddar, green chile, avocado, lettuce, and tomato on jalapeño bread, the shop’s bestselling No. 2 is so popular that co-owner Mike Matias says, “We have a hard time keeping up with smoking that turkey.” Tucked in an industrial pocket of Albuquerque, the tiny white building with bright yellow awnings has become a lunchtime magnet since opening in March. Matias, a New York transplant, and his childhood friend David Hernandez, a native New Mexican, set out to blend East Coast bodega tradition with New Mexico flair. “It was a balancing act,” Matias says, “paying tribute to a classic deli and our community, while adding a little bit of our own flavor.” House-made potato chips, fresh-baked empanadas, and daily specials round out the menu at this shop, which proudly calls itself “the People’s Deli.” TRY THIS: The No. 5 is a “cult favorite,” says Matias, featuring his mom’s chicken parmesan and vodka sauce with mozzarella and garlic aioli on a hoagie roll.

📍 3225 Girard Blvd. NE, Albuquerque; 505-503-7682