Alkemē

Heritage Cuisine Reimagined

The name, Alkemē, the phonetic spelling of “alchemy,” says it all. “It represents transformation,” explains ChefOwner Hue-Chan Karels. “ We chose Alkem ē as the name for our restaurant for a very specific purpose— that purpose is the recognition of the magic of transforming or combining ingredients into something new. You start out with ingredients, which then come together as food. But food, for me, is far more than just a means to satisfy hunger; it’s a powerful tool for bringing people together, for breaking down barriers, making friends, exploring new frontiers, discovering new flavors...and that really is a form of alchemy.”

Alkemē brings to Santa Fe a chef-driven upscale restaurant with a food menu that is Asian heritage cuisine reimagined. Chef-Owner Hue-Chan Karels and Executive Chef Erica Tai are reinterpreting heirloom recipes from their culinary roots of Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea, and Hawaii’s Pacific Rim in a modern context, combining traditional and contemporary techniques to create exciting layers of flavors and diverse textures.

Hue-Chan’s special relationship with food is a direct result of her own life experience. She came to the Unites States in 1975, as a refugee from Vietnam, and suddenly everything in her life changed. “There was no Asian food, no ingredients to make anything familiar, and as a young kid that was really upsetting to me.” She was not alone, because other minority communities felt the same way and people started to connect, gathering around food and finding ways to improvise.

Fast forward to 2014, when Hue-Chan arrived in Santa Fe and reimagined Open Kitchen, a farm-to-table restaurant that she had launched in Washington DC in 2009, offering cooking classes and catering private dining events. The business flourished and she became a well-known name in the culinary community, often appearing as a speaker at special events. It was at one of those events, at the Santa Fe Community College, that she met Erica Tai, a graduate student from the Culinary School, who is now the Executive Chef and General Manager for Alkemē

Erica is from Taiwan, and spent her first years in the US in Hawaii. The menu will feature top quality ingredients, many from local farmers and ranchers, and dishes will be authentic, offering a variety of choices to accommodate different dietary preferences. Alkem ē’s curated full liquor beverage menu harmonizes with the flavor profiles of their dishes, from eclectic wine and beer to creative craft cocktails and mocktails.

Alkemē is not just a fine dining restaurant, it’s a new and different kind of lifestyle. We want to bring people together,” says Hue-Chan, “not only to connect and eat well, but to share new experiences and feel nurtured in every sense of the word. That is something that has not been done before and we are excited to be bringing this new culinary concept into people’s lives.”

Alkemē

227 Don Gaspar Avenue 505.982.9704 alkeme-santafe.com