STROLLING BENEATH the hand-cut vigas and soaring adobe of Hotel La Fonda on Taos Plaza, you can practically taste the rustic charm of old New Mexico. But if you want to experience the actual flavor of that history, head inside to the hotel’s La Luna at La Fonda restaurant. 

“We focus on Indigenous-forward fine dining,” says owner and co-founder Maria Valdez, who is informed by her Tlaxcalan heritage. So you’ll find no chicken, pork, beef, dairy, wheat, or cane sugar in any of the dishes. Instead, La Luna features rabbit, boar, bison, corn, and other staples native to the Americas prior to contact with Europeans. “You’re going to find a lot of familiar dishes,” she says. “But you’re going to find my rendition.” 

Maria and her husband, business partner and chef Robin Valdez (Taos Pueblo), use Indigenous ingredients to craft favorites of world cuisine, ranging from classics such as duck confit and bison steaks to vegan roasted-hibiscus-flower adovada. No single dish captures the ethos quite like the Game Plate, an Indigenous charcuterie board featuring the umami flavors of duck prosciutto and rabbit pâté draped over slightly sweet cassava crostini still warm from the oven alongside a selection of local fresh and pickled vegetables.

While La Luna is the fulfillment of their efforts, the shift toward ancestral ingredients and away from processed foods started at home. With two children on the autism spectrum, Maria altered their diets to reduce their need for medication and improve their cognitive function. The experience inspired them to bring those same ingredients, recipes, and benefits to guests at the restaurant. “It’s very important to me that what I serve my family, I’m also serving to the public,” Maria says. 

from left Maria and Robin Valdez. The roasted poblano stuffed with beans, corn, and squash. Photographs courtesy of Taos Ski Valley and La Luna at La Fonda.

Still, the journey to La Luna has been a long one. Maria started her career helping build multiple restaurants and catering businesses with her first husband, Jean Antoine Galipeau. Robin grew up in the Taos area and worked with Maria and Galipeau as a chef in Albuquerque. After Galipeau passed away, Maria and Robin worked as private chefs and caterers, eventually married, and moved to Taos in 2024.  

The Valdezes’ mission runs even deeper than what you find on the plate. Maria educates guests about what makes Native American ingredients healthful and delicious. Robin takes extra pride in bringing these dishes to the area where he grew up. “It takes a special person to respect the story behind the food,” Maria says. They’re also helping to spearhead an effort to create a new James Beard Award category honoring restaurants and chefs that specialize in Indigenous cooking. 

While Maria expects La Luna to remain at La Fonda for the time being, the couple’s dream is to open a restaurant on sovereign pueblo land. “I want people to come in and experience what it would have been like if a European landed here,” she says, “but adapted to what was available, working with the land, the shorelines, those ingredients.” For Maria, that is what true American food would look like today. 

LA LUNA AT LA FONDA

108 S. Plaza, Taos; 505-550-1119.