Congratulations to our Hospitality Industry Awards nominees!

We’re proud to announce that three of our chefs here on the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC) campus have been nominated for the New Mexico Restaurant Association’s Hospitality Industry Awards. Joshua Aragon and Rita Toledo of the Indian Pueblo Kitchen (IPK) and Tina Archuleta of Itality in Avanyu Plaza have all been recognized for their outstanding work in New Mexico’s hospitality community. 

Joshua Aragon, who comes from the Pueblo of Laguna, is nominated for the Chef of the Year Award. He has worked at IPK for seven years and holds a deep appreciation for the restaurant’s staff and the work that they put in to make every dish memorable. “Food is more than sustenance- it is medicine, memory, and the heartbeat of the land,” he said. “It nourishes our bodies, connects our spirits, and feeds the soul of our people.”

Rita Toledo and Tina Archuleta are both nominated for the Diversity Award, recognizing leaders in the hospitality industry who celebrate culture and inclusion in their work while creating welcoming spaces. 

Tina, who is from the Pueblo of Jemez, began making her own food as a way to bring healthy, plant-based eating back to the Pueblo community in response to most Pueblos’ limited access to affordable and healthy food options. In creating Itality, she took inspiration from Ital philosophy, which involves eating natural and unprocessed food. 

“It really means a lot to me,” Tina said of the nomination. “Because there’s not many Pueblo-owned or Native women-owned restaurants in the state…being acknowledged for that in the whole state I think would be really meaningful to me.”

Rita is also from Jemez and has become known for the baked goods that she makes for IPK, including pies, pastries, and IPK’s iconic Pueblo oven bread. Her baked goods are sold both at the restaurant and at the Four Winds Convenience Store next to IPCC, where they regularly sell out. Rita takes pride in her work and its connection to Pueblo culture.  “Every loaf of oven bread and every baked good holds a story – of the hands that shaped it, the fire that baked it, and the ancestors who passed down the recipe,” she said of her creations.

The Hospitality Industry Awards will be held on Sept. 29 at the Sheraton Albuquerque Uptown.