Compound Restaurant

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Chef Mark Kiffin, James Beard Foundation's "Best Chef of the Southwest 2005", revitalizes The Compound Restaurant, a renowned restaurant at the cultural center of Santa Fe.

The Compound, remembered for its distinctive style and elegance since the 1960’s, has been rejuvenated with the energy and excitement that made it a leading destination in its early years. The Compound has been recreated with a modern menu layering bold flavors based on historic culinary traditions; a knowledgeable and highly attentive staff; and an inviting, elegant setting.

The Compound Restaurant has a heritage that is rich in history and regional influences. Before its incarnation as a restaurant, the Compound was the centerpiece of a group of houses on Canyon Road known as the McComb Compound. In the earlier part of the 20th century, when Santa Fe was a long way from the rest of the world, movie stars, industrialists, and socialites visited, where they could rent a house in relative seclusion. Eventually, Will and Barbara Hooton acquired the main house and converted it into a restaurant. It was their decision to bring in designer Alexander Girard, who gave The Compound Restaurant its distinctive look and who is best remembered for his generous donation of more than 106,000 pieces to Santa Fe’s International Folk Art Museum as wells as, the design of New York Restaurant, La Fonda Del Sol.

A recognized leader in Southwestern cuisine, Kiffin has chosen to create and focus his menu around the true regional ingredients brought to the Southwest United States by the Spaniards. When a group of Spanish settlers from Mexico City founded Santa Fe in the late 16th Century they forever altered the course of cuisine in the Southwest. The first Spanish settlers brought many food items that were not indigenous to the region such as cattle and wheat. As Santa Fe was at the end of the 1500-mile Camino Real from Mexico City, its Plaza eventually became the trading center where cattle were traded and a new variety of seeds were sold for harvest. It is from these New World influences, along with the influences of the Mediterranean, that Kiffin has created his dishes as Contemporary American Cuisine.


The Compound reopened on May 30th, 2000 and has since been named “Restaurant of the Year for 2000-2001”, in the Santa Fe Reporter’s Annual Dining Guide and “Best New Restaurant” in New Mexico’s Culinary Magazine La Cocinita. In January 2001, Chef Kiffin was honored to participate in the Master Guest Chefs series at The James Beard House in New York City. Since this dinner Kiffin has participated in three more Beard events including; hosting a prestigious out of house James Beard Foundation Dinner in March 2002 and as one of only 25 chefs invited from around the world to cook at the James Beard Foundation Awards reception, the culinary equivalent of the Oscars. In October 2002, Gourmet Magazine listed The Compound in its “Guide to America’s Best Restaurants.”

Chef Mark Kiffin has embraced the restaurants history and continues to preserve the landmark's tradition of elegant food and service, while celebrating its enlivened atmosphere.