“Dija Know…”
Joe’s Newsletter #168 March 2025
Sheila
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Roland and Sheila are pleased and proud to pass Joe’s torch to Joaquin Garofalo and his family.
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♦ This newsletter is really a love letter, a love letter to those who have followed us through the long history of Joe’s and some of you even further back to the days of Pizza Etc. in DeVargas Mall. The buzz has been out there for some time that Joe’s will be passed forward to a new owner. Not surprising of course. At 68 and 79, we still have enough piss and vinegar in us for another adventure – whatever that may be.
Besides which, there could not be a more perfect successor. We are proud to introduce you to Joaquin Garofalo, an experienced restaurateur, who popped in one day expressing interest in Joe’s. He, Jaclynn and his young family will take up the reins officially April 1st . . . and that’s not a joke!
A little history It’s been long run – often smooth and happy, sometimes bumpy, sometimes scary as shit. But starting with our move here in 1990 and purchase of our first restaurant in 1995, followed by creating Joe’s in 2002, there has been little downtime. We dove into Santa Fe life with alacrity – country property to develop, four horses to train, ride and keep, various small animals, three food service establishments, Sheila’s osteoporosis wellness center . . . and through it all the honing of some deep friendships and “neighborships” and the loyalty of many many customers like you and our staff, local vendors and businesses – all of these relationships kept our souls satisfied and our hearts on fire.
Our mission statement has guided us in operating our businesses. We continue to apply it more broadly. Healthy humans, healthy lands and a healthy economy are inextricably interdependent.
Sourcing from local food producers has been our guiding principle since our pizza shop in 1995. “Eat local” has become an ubiquitous sometimes mis-used phrase.
But Pizza Etc. in ’95 joined the early adopters of local ingredients — Mark Miller (of Coyote Cafe), Ken (of Trattoria) and the towering icon Elizabeth Berry one of the very first local food producers.
That too was how Roland was trained. Back in the day in Germany there were nothing but local ingredients. Very few imports (well maybe caviar) made it to the kitchens and dining rooms of those fine hotels where he made his apprenticeship to master chef. We have followed that practice as much as possible in our restaurants. And many of you have come to trust that. Admittedly it is more costly to eat that way. But the truth is, we can pay now (with clean food and preventive behaviors) or pay later with medical bills and pills.
Anyways . . . in this newsletter we want to leave you with some observations, lessons learned and principles distilled over the years that we continue to incorporate into our lives. A heads up, this is very personal and sometimes irreverent. In no special order:
• A sense of humor. Nothing helps navigate life more smoothly than the lubricant of laughter.
• Laugh ’til you pee or ’til you cry.
• Health. I wish I’d started earlier! It took a couple of health crises to force me/Sheila to study and learn what the human body really needs and what it is harmed by.
I suggest you do your research too. A wealth of advanced information and technology is available now to support a vigorous, robust and productive life for far longer than insurance charts and conventional bias indicate. Succumbing to diagnoses is truly optional.
• Eat less sugar. We use D-Psicose AKA Allulose. Do your research. This is a life-changer.
• Get your salt. All body systems need salt and a variety of minerals and micro minerals. The pink salt on the table is a great choice – Redmond.
• Eat saturated fat. Yup, that’s precisely what I mean.
• Avoid seed oils as much as possible.
• Drink more water than you think you need. We live in the desert! Don’t wait til you’re beyond thirsty.
• Get your sleep. Try pearl powder. Really.
• Think before you speak, but if you blurt, do it big.
• Be radical. Be bold. Make mistakes. Correct course.
• Downsize and declutter before you have to. Cleaning out all the excess at Joe’s has been a real chore. How could so much stuff be squirreled away here and there “just in case”!
• Train horses with partnership not force.
• Think about having more than one pet/animal. When you’re not there, they need each other.
• Marriage. It’s been 45 years. Roland and Sheila are still
working on creating a pearl. The oyster creates a pearl when irritated by a persistent grain of sand. Hmmm.
• Eat to support human biology. Include meat, eggs, fish, seafood, game, fowl, butter, dairy. Our genes have not changed in millennia. Very few people can thrive beyond 5 – 10 years without the known and unknown nutrients from animal sources. Plants are survival food, not “thrival” food. (I am acutely aware of the contention around this subject.)
• Get sunshine. It’s a shameful lie that proper sun exposure is harmful.
• Move! I tell my health coaching clients, “The less you move, the less you can move, the more you move, the more you can move.”
• Enjoy sex – whatever that means to you.
• A home-cooked meal with friends is treasured no matter what it is. Roland loves a home-cooked meal.
• Meditate if you can. Pray if it comes naturally. Enjoy the pre-dawn peace. Sit with your animals, expecting nothing. Turn off your phone.
“Be still and know that I Am God.” Psalm 46:10.
• And . . . dance. ___________________________________________ Credit is given to the works and words of Abraham Hicks for getting us through some of the rough spots. abraham-hicks.com/
From the bottom of our hearts we thank you our customers, especially those who have been with us for up to 30 years. We thank our staff – some of whom have also stayed the course for 30 years. We thank our suppliers and support businesses like Hutton Broadcasting, The Santa Fe New Mexican and Matt Winter our landlord, who was flexible and forgiving in the rough years. And many many others who have loved and supported us.
As you can imagine this is a big milestone in our lives. Not to get too maudlin, but we already miss Joe’s – the hustle and bustle, the people and the palpable energy.
Regarding Joe’s future, we are confident that Joaquin will do what’s best for the neighborhood and for the continuity and stability of the restaurant.
Some of our favorite concepts: expansion, curiosity, motion, intensity, accountability, fun, honor, common sense, clarity, wonder, spirit, independent thought.
♦ Art at Joe’s. The latest group of local artists. In the main dining room, the exquisite photos of both Scott Vail and Karen Novotny – two highly accomplished photographers. The charming mostly equine works of Chris Pennington hang in the Red Room. Giving a local gift? You couldn’t do better. See Scott’s beautiful book.
♦ A Tuesday night tradition at Joe’s – it’s Spaghetti and Chianti Night. $58 for two will get you Caesar Salad, Spaghetti with homemade Bolognese and a great 1⁄2 liter of Chianti. Wadda deal! The Bolognese sauce is made with our grass-fed-and-finished beef, slow-cooked in the traditional Italian fashion.
♦ Joe’s will give you $10. What’s the catch? Well the way we figure it, if you cut out the middleman by NOT using a credit card, we can give that back to you and then some. Credit cards cost the retail merchant about 3-5%. Now in today’s world one cannot function without cc’s. But there are a few (legal) alternatives that reduce our dependency on the Big Banks and actually save us all money: (1.) Joe’s Check List – If you are a “regular” and wish to pay by check, please ask your waiter to get you on the list. (2.) Joe’s gift card – purchase $100 gift card with cash or check or silver or gold coin, get a $10 free bonus! Your $100 gift card will actually buy you $110 worth at Joe’s.
Who is Joe?
Joe is everyman. He is you. He is me. He is the guy next door, the gal next door. He is José, Guiseppe, Joseph and all female renditions of the name.
Joe is the common thread among us and yet he is one of a kind. He is friendly, unpretentious, straightforward with quietly discriminating tastes.
Joe has a robust sense of humor – he loves to laugh, even at himself. He loves good food, good drink and good company. Welcome to Joe’s!
(Sheila Nixon 2002)
GIGGLES – mature tasteless humor:
• My husband and I laugh about how competitive we are. But I laugh more.
• Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them, you’re a mile away, and you have their shoes.
• Why it is hard for a communist to tell a joke? It’s not funny until everyone gets it.
• Life is like a dick, simple, soft, hanging free. Then a woman makes it hard. (I warned you!)
Joe’s Dining
2801 Rodeo Rd (at Zia Rd) Santa Fe, NM 87507 (505) 471-3800 www.JoesDining.com
“Dija Know…”
Joe’s Newsletter #168 March 2025
Sheila
Mission:
to grow our economy by serving local sustainable food.