Breakfast in Northern New Mexico: Tune Up Bistro in Santa Fe and Tomorrow and Tomorrow in Taos

Tune Up Bistro is the new spot from Tune-Up Cafe owner Jesus Rivera. Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a cafe and naturally leavened sourdough bakery at the entrance of Taos' historic plaza district.

Tune-Up on Hickox Street

Jesus Rivera remembers the distinct flavors and aroma of his mother's chicken soup and tamales from his boyhood on a farm in El Salvador. He owns and runs Tune-Up Cafe with his wife, Charlotte. He learned to cook from his mother, a fine cook, he says. After years of farm work, cooking and driving a taxi in San Salvador, he came to Santa Fe from El Salvador with his brothers Pablo and Daniel, and started as a dishwasher. He cooked at Harry's Roadhouse and then at Cafe Pasqual's, where he met Charlotte, who was waiting tables.

Charlotte is from Northern Louisiana. They opened Tune-Up in 2008 in what used to be Dave's Not Here, at first concentrating on El Salvadoran and New Mexican food. They got the Hickox building through a relationship with Dave's owner Annie Baylor. Charlotte says, "I just kept Tune-Up Café because I didn't want a serious name."

The Hickox Room

Charlotte says, "It's all recycled material, nothing new ... Everything is from recycled lumber ... or thrift stores. It's super hecho a mano." The cafe expanded from a capacity of 30 to 50 diners, with another 30 chairs at tables outside when weather permits, and at breakfast you are likely to end up at a communal table. Tourists began finding it when it wound up on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, accidentally. The Food Network thought it was calling Dave's Not Here. Guy Fieri visited the year after they opened.

A Salvadoran Breakfast

These dishes come from the Hickox cafe's own menu, since Tune Up Bistro posts none. Huevos El Salvadorenos is scrambled eggs with scallions and tomatoes, refried beans, pan fried banana, crema and Alicia's corn tortillas. The Tune-Up Breakfast is chile relleno with roasted tomato salsa, two eggs al gusto, refried beans and a corn tortilla. Buttermilk pancakes come with banana, blueberry or chocolate chip, and maple syrup, and breakfast burritos come smothered in red or green chile.

A pupusa or a tamale can come on the side. The Santa Fe New Mexican describes the pupusa as a Salvadoran version of a tortilla, only thicker and stuffed with veggies or flank steak, served with curtido, a Salvadoran cabbage salad, and roasted tomato salsa. Weekly Alibi writes, "There are relatives in the kitchen from Jesus' home country, El Salvador." Rivera says, "For me, it's the point to make different kinds of food from everywhere."

Tune Up Bistro

Tune Up Bistro opened in early May at 204 Montezuma Ave. in the former Saveur space, and only the original Tune-Up has a website. Santa Fe Reporter calls the counter service, table spacing and patio "comfy," made for a quick breakfast, lunch or brunch, and for now it does not do dinner.

Santa Fe Reporter ate breakfast tacos there, with cotija cheese and bacon, and a side of home fries. Those breakfast tacos are not on the Hickox menu. The Hickox cafe is known for its many pies, especially the rhubarb, and other bakery treats, many of them gluten-free.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Tomorrow and Tomorrow opened Tuesday, August 13, 2024, a sourdough bakery and cafe helmed by owner and head baker Matt Burns. The cafe sits on the corner of Paseo and Camino de la Placita, facing south toward Picuris Peak. Outdoor seating aims to evoke a Barcelona street corner. Its own page calls it a daily destination for community and a welcoming table for visitors, with natural practices and organic ingredients.

Inside, Taos News called it "European cafe meets Japanese tea house meets earthy Northern New Mexico home," and said nearly every component is handmade. Taos News names terracotta colored floors, an Italian espresso machine, handmade Italian ceramic tiles and cherry wood butcher block. Taos News describes French press coffee in black clay mugs sculpted by David Michael of The Arc Anewera, and paper lanterns over tables and chairs hand-carved and hand-charred from wood milled by Olguin's Sawmill.

Bread at the Heart

In the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, Burns began the sourdough starter. Whole sourdough loaves, cold fermented for two days, are baked multiple times daily in a French bread oven that is wood-fired, gas-powered and encased in volcanic basalt rock. Chris Brochu built the basalt facade. Burns grew up in South Dakota, worked as a line cook, helped launch The Brooklyn Salsa Company, and ran a supper series called "The Family Meal" in the Catskill Mountains of New York.

The Taos Table

The menu printed on the counter in October 2026 labels breakfast "til we're sold out," with organic sourdough bagels and toasts, avocado toast, egg on toast, and ricotta and local jam, a gluten free Tomorrow Bowl, and Lil Mama's granola, made in Taos. Chokola provides fair trade chocolate for the menu. At opening, Taos News described focaccia with peach, burrata and serrano.

Hours and Addresses

Tune-Up Cafe is at 1115 Hickox St. and Tune Up Bistro is at 204 Montezuma Ave. in Santa Fe. Tomorrow and Tomorrow is at 101 A Camino de la Placita in Taos. Tomorrow and Tomorrow's own page says seven days, 8am to 2pm. Check before you go, and check Tune Up hours. You can linger on the Santa Fe city page when a slow morning is the plan.