Traditions You Can Taste

IPCC's Virtual Culture Guide

Chef Ray at Pueblo Harvest
Chef Ray at Pueblo Harvest

Food is an important part of any culture. Visitors and repeat local customers dine at Pueblo Harvest, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center’s premiere restaurant, to experience cuisine rooted in culture and presented with pride. The menu incorporates traditional and contemporary ingredients that tell a delicious story of Pueblo culture and history, and the many influences involved in more than a millennium of cultural presence.

Pueblo Harvest is led by Chef Ray Naranjo, who is of Native American roots from the Ancestral Pueblos of the Southwest and the Three Fires tribes of the Great Lakes. He believes in the preservation of the foodways and ancestral knowledge of his people, and strives to continue on this path. With the use of modern and ancestral cooking techniques, he attempts to push the limits of what is known, unknown, and forgotten about the Indigenous food culture of North America.

Chef Ray has a culinary degree and more than 25 years of service in the modern kitchen industry. He has experience in exclusive hotel and casino resorts in the Southwest, with various titles ranging from Executive Chef to Food & Beverage Director. Chef Ray has also been presented with several awards in Modern New Mexican Cuisine, with a focus on the chile of New Mexico.

Native Superfoods Griddle Cakes
Native Superfoods Griddle Cakes

“My goal for Pueblo Harvest is to give an experience that mirrors the present-day food culture, but is also inclusive of the ingredients from the Ancestral Puebloans and the ingredients that would have been available via trade routes from tribes from the south,” Chef Ray says. “I will attempt to blend the past and the present to tell a story that will lead us to the future of Native American food cultures.”

Pueblo Harvest is currently serving a streamlined menu for patio dining or curbside pickup. The menu offers plenty of individual servings, plus new family-style dining options, and meal kits for families to enjoy creating their own Native tacos at home. We’ve also listened taken our customers’ requests to heart, and added several new items, including some breakfast items that will be available all day.

With Native Super Foods Griddle Cakes and Waffles, you can choose between waffles or griddle cakes featuring indigenous ingredients of blue corn, quinoa, amaranth, currants, piñon, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds. This delicious dish also comes with triple berries, pure maple syrup, and your choice of pork sausage, turkey sausage, or Nueske’s bacon.

Harvest Salad
Harvest Salad

Another new breakfast item is the wonderfully aromatic Pueblo Oven Bread French Toast with crème brûlée-soaked Pueblo oven bread, triple berries, pure maple syrup, and your choice of turkey sausage or Nueske’s bacon.

We’ve also added the Pueblo Turkey Melt on green chile Pueblo oven bread with oven-roasted turkey, green chile, grilled tomato, pepper jack cheese, and a pile of our crispy, delicious fries. On the lighter side is the Harvest Salad with locally sourced mixed greens, heirloom tomatoes, rainbow carrots, green chile bread croutons, and your choice of dressing. You can see all of the new selections on our website.

There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and Pueblo Harvest’s spacious covered patio is a great place to unwind with a good meal and craft cocktail or draft beer. The patio is large enough to allow for ample social distancing, and we can accommodate groups of up to six guests. All Pueblo Harvest employees wear masks and observe state-established guidelines for COVID-safe practices to help protect guests and staff.

Pueblo Turkey Melt and Draft Beer
Pueblo Turkey Melt and Draft Beer

Loaves of Pueblo oven bread, Pueblo pies, and Pueblo cookies are also available for pickup during business hours. If you want to eat at home or enjoy a picnic, you can choose curbside pickup after ordering by phone or online. Patio entrance and curbside pickup are located on the north side by the big Pueblo Harvest sign.

Current hours for Pueblo Harvest are 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. Carryout and curbside orders can be placed until 5:45, with pickup available until 6:30. See the menu and place your order at www.PuebloHarvestNM.com, or by phone at 505-724-3510. We hope to see you soon!


Pueblo Pies, Pueblo Cookies, and Pueblo Oven Bread

5 responses to “Traditions You Can Taste”

  1. Paul Yamauchi says:

    A major reason why my wife and I would move to New Mexico is because of its incredible culinary traditions!! If I were younger, I’d start a New Mexican restaurant in Chicago – can’t believe nobody has done it yet!!! Chef Ray Naranjo should open a place here, instant success!!! I’d eat there as much as possible!!! Most delicious to us are the red and green chile stews (hotter the better!), Indian fry breads, Navajo tacos, and the tamales!!! Were sopapillas inspired by pueblo fry breads, or did the Spanish bring them over? They’re great too, with honey!! I’m getting hungry just thinking about them all!! Wish we lived there right now!!!

  2. Claudia L Sanchez says:

    Looking forward to when I can have a bowl of red chile stew and a fried bread

  3. LISA MARTINEZ says:

    Nicely done! I see more!!

  4. Kimi says:

    I cannot wait to come to Pueblo Harvest next time we need to come into town — it’s always been the highlight of our “city errands,” and it’s been too long! Best food ever.

  5. Helen white says:

    Hope to look you up the next time I am in Albuquerque. My daughter and I like to try new foods.