La Panza Cafe

La Panza Cafe is owned by husband and wife (and native New Mexicans) Andy and Jessica Razatos. The food is traditional Northern New Mexican, which is a combination of Spanish, Native American and Mexican ingredients and cooking techniques, which have been practiced and refined for over 400 years.  This family business hails from a long, successful history as Andy’s father opened the acclaimed, and now famous, Plaza Cafe in Santa Fe in 1947. Andy worked there for most of his career until he and Jessica decided to bring their four children to Portland to spread the love of enchanted, Nuevo Mexicano cuisine. At La Panza (the belly), we believe that less is more. Our dishes are simple, New Mexican soul food. We present all our menu items exactly as we grew up eating them in New Mexico (with a few minor improvements that allow more people to experience them such as vegetarian and gluten free options.) Some distinctive elements of New Mexican food on our menu are the use of red and green chile, blue corn, sopaipillas, posole and stacked (rather than rolled) enchiladas. We are eager to accommodate any dietary requests and can make most of our dishes vegetarian and gluten free. We have improved our red and green chile recipes to be both gluten free and vegetarian by substituting flour with cornstarch and chicken stock with vegetable stock.