the seed

Around the same time she was learning how to grow food in the high desert, with its scarce water and slim soils, owner/founder Erin Wade had the idea for a restaurant that served delicious and satisfying entrée salads like the ones she was making for herself and her friends, and that she could never find at a restaurant. She began developing the menus and concept of a restaurant that made healthy eating playful and easy with the produce she was growing.

how we
sprouted

Erin opened the first Vinaigrette in 2008, in a very old and funky adobe house she renovated in downtown Santa Fe, at the end of a dirt road. It's actually an alley. But when the new restaurant that served "just salads?" got very busy, she got schooled.

the roots

Sustainability, and looking to nature as a model for commerce, is part of our company's DNA. The original Nambe farm still supplies seasonal products (mixed greens, arugula, kale, peppers, peaches, apricots, cherries, apples, tomatoes, scallions, basil, heirloom potatoes, beans, mint, and eggs) for the New Mexico restaurants and composts restaurant waste into nutrient-rich soil amendments for the garden beds.

the roots

Sustainability, and looking to nature as a model for commerce, is part of our company's DNA. The original Nambe farm still supplies seasonal products (mixed greens, arugula, kale, peppers, peaches, apricots, cherries, apples, tomatoes, scallions, basil, heirloom potatoes, beans, mint, and eggs) for the New Mexico restaurants and composts restaurant waste into nutrient-rich soil amendments for the garden beds.