Top left, clockwise: Cerrillos Opera House, built in 1881; Ale Republic in Cedar Crest; flight of Belgian-style beers at Ale Republic; Mary's Bar, still in operation in Cerrillos.
affinity for bolo ties and couldn’t help but add another to my collection. Continuing into the second room, visitors are greeted by a stockpile of unfinished semi-precious stones—everything from Cerrillos turquoise to jet to variscite mined from another claim worked by the Browns. In the following room, through the swinging saloon-style doors, is the Cerrillos Turquoise Mining Museum, a semi-organized treasure trove of mostly local artifacts from the turn of the century, when more than one thousand mining claims were active in the region. Artifacts range from items such as shovels, picks, sluice boxes, wooden barrels, and stoves to pots and pans, glass bottles, and even cardboard cutouts of Smokey Bear, 64
edible Santa Fe | SPRING 2018
John Wayne, and Kiefer Sutherland. A cursory pass through the museum easily justifies the two-dollar entry fee, but a more detailed examination is sure to reveal a few diamonds in the rough.
Kelly (wild boar Italian sausage, Dijon, and slaw on a brioche bun) and the Camp Fire Folk Lore (elk and bison smoked sausages with shishito peppers topped with Dijon and smoked sea salt).
Los Cerrillos boasted twenty-six saloons at its peak in the late 1800s, but today, there are only two options, Mary’s Bar and the Black Bird Saloon, which opened in 2016 and occupies a building built in 1885. Black Bird has maintained the saloon’s minimalist, old-timey feel, replete with a restored wooden bar, swinging doors, rustic furnishings, an antique piano, and deer antler tap handles for its draft beers. Its menu also features game meats such as wild boar, elk, and bison, with unique dishes like the Choctaw
After a quick lunch, we continued south toward Madrid. Although our focus was away from the Trail’s most popular stop, which we had visited many times before, we couldn’t resist taking the quarter mile stroll through town, peering in some shops and soaking in the warm temperatures. Before resuming our journey, we made room for some ice cream from Jezebel Studio’s Soda Fountain. Sullivan had black cherry vanilla while I stuck with a personal favorite, cookies ‘n cream. The large deck shared by Jezebel