Compound interest: Accolades continue to accumulate for Santa Fe restaurant

Apr. 5—For almost 25 years, The Compound in Santa Fe, has stood out as an exemplary culinary experience.

Its founder, Mark Kiffin, began his culinary journey at age 19 when he attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. It is one of the top chef schools in the world. He was named James Beard Best Chef of the Southwest in 2005. James Beard Awards remains one of the most prestigious recognitions in the culinary world.

Kiffin and The Compound continue to rack up the accolades. The Compound was recently named as a 2024 James Beard Southwest finalist for Outstanding Restaurant. It also received the Distinguished Restaurants of North America's 2024 DiRoNA "Gold" Award of Excellence. It is one of 16 restaurants across North America to receive the honor that recognizes a restaurant for its outstanding menu, curated wine and cocktail selections, impeccable service, and fine dining ambiance, according to the DiRoNA website.

The Compound also recently received the coveted AAA Four Diamond designation for being the top tier of the hospitality industry in North America. About 1,700 hotels and 500 restaurants are on the AAA Four Diamond list.

"To maintain the exceptional standards required for this designation on a daily basis is an outstanding achievement," said Stacey Barber, AAA Travel Executive Director, in a statement. "Four Diamond hotels and restaurants are attentive to guests needs and consistently deliver memorable travel and dining experiences."

The Compound's recognitions solidify its place among North America's top restaurants.

"We go out each day with the care of the craft," Kiffin said. "The craft is hospitality, the craft has great food and great service. And we're lucky enough to be in this building in Santa Fe. But the point is, the awards are acknowledgement, the awards are your peers telling you that even though you're in Santa Fe and not New York or San Francisco, Los Angeles or Dallas, you're still competing with them. And we're the only restaurant in this state that does. I mean, these are national awards, this is not TripAdvisor. You know, those are tourist awards. We get awards based on our food, our service."

Kiffin has operated restaurants around the country including in Atlanta, Dallas, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Nevada, New York and Washington, D.C. He decided to return to Santa Fe, where he owned a home, and bought The Compound in March of 2000. He opened The Compound in May 2000.

"The Compound took months of remodeling," Kiffin said. "I mean, the outside, the upstairs, this is a very large restaurant. It's three and a half acres, 85 parking spaces. This is a large restaurant and historically it needed a boost. So after all the years of larger restaurants and hotels, this was the size that I was looking for and off I went."

The Compound remains resilient through various ordeals that affected many businesses, including 9/11, the housing crash in Santa Fe, and the pandemic.

"We were stronger than ever because of the financials, you know, how I run this operation," Kiffin said of reopening after the pandemic shutdowns. "... The best restaurants in the world are chef owned ... We're not just chef owned and operated, we're chef directed, and that's me. I oversee everything, the front of the house, the financials, the building. I'm the caretaker of this restaurant."

A year and a half ago, Kiffin brought in executive chef, Weston Ludeke, to help with the food program. Prior to joining The Compound team, Ludeke opened a hotel with Jean-Georges Management Group called Keswick Hall just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. He realized Virginia living was not what he wanted and began looking for work in other parts of the country.

"I came across a posting for The Compound and kind of didn't think too much of it, but just sent my résumé over to Mark, and we started talking on the phone," Ludeke said. "He came out to Virginia and visited me, then I flew out, and spent a week out here in Santa Fe, seeing The Compound, seeing the town. And it was the first time, in a really long time, that I felt really confident and comfortable in a transition."

After coming on board at The Compound, Ludeke began to collaborate with Kiffin on the restaurant's menus.

"It's kind of like grassroots my idea, very raw, authentically me, and then (Mark) helps me kind of direct it into the final product that goes out onto the floor," Ludeke explained.

The Compound's menu changes every 90 days to keep things enticing.

"We've got three or four items that are kind of constants, that we really pride ourselves on, and the diners really enjoy," Ludeke said. "Outside of that, everything changes from side dishes, entrees, appetizers. And once I get through those transitions, every 90 days I'll do one to four weekly specials."

Ludeke said most recently he has enjoyed creating a scallop and lobster cake.

"(It is a) really fun play on sort of the feel of a crab cake," he explained. "It's very light. It's very fresh. It's a scallop mousse with lobster meat bound through it, that we warm up and serve with a really in your face, mustardy chive beurre blanc, that's absolutely delicious."

Another offering that Ludeke is excited to prepare is his cod dish.

"It's got chorizo and ricotta raviolis, clam vinaigrette, sautéed kale and chorizo oil," he said. "It's kind of a bit of a riff on Spanish flavors mirroring paella."

A popular lunch item is the venison sausage that is port demi-glace based venison.

"There's a little bit of pork in there, but it's mostly venison, which people really like in this town," Ludeke said. "They like the different cuts of meats. It doesn't all have to be steaks and chicken breasts and so on and so forth, which I really like. And we're doing that with roasted rosemary, potatoes and apples, and caramelized onion gravy."

Another frequent request is a play on a French beef stew braised in red wine.

"(It) is a play on beef bourguignon but it's all poultry based," Ludeke explained. "It's quail with a poultry based bourguignon sauce and then all of your usual suspects of bacon and carrots and mushrooms and potatoes."

The Compound is on its 94th menu seasonal change.

"I'm not talking about 94 dishes, which most restaurants in this town can't even produce, but 94 seasons — lunch, dinner, first courses, entrees, desserts, that's what cooking true to the season, true to the craft (is)," Kiffin explained.

"We're not just picking things, it's not like it's fusion or just grabbing things out of anywhere. We stay to what I originally designed years ago when I bought this restaurant. We are an American restaurant, American chef, me. And we are Mediterranean based because that's where Santa Fe was founded. Santa Fe is from Spain, the Spanish founded us. So we are more Mediterranean, there's no green chile or any of these other things that's everywhere. So we're very site specific and we don't run out of ideas because of that. That's the difference. We're not a fad. This is tradition. This is historical anthropological reasons of why Santa Fe and its culture, its food, are so important."

The Compound's recent recognitions stem from hard work and dedication.

"I'll tell you, it's a lot of work, it's a lot of keeping the passion going, which is something that Mark instills in how he's designed the menus, changing seasonally," Ludeke said. "I don't think you can allow yourself to kind of get into a rut of sorts. You kind of always have to be pushing to evolve, pushing to stay relevant, doing your research, going to eat at places locally and abroad that really keep your pulse on what's going on in the service industry."

Kiffin said he is constantly traveling with his family and continues to learn from each of his experiences.

"Everywhere eats, everywhere has food, and everywhere has restaurants," Kiffin said. "I have traveled, and I have cooked, and I have done cooking classes in Casablanca, Morocco. I have done multiple stages in Singapore, where I was a guest chef. You go down into those hotels, around the regional hotels, gorgeous hotels in Asia, and they're not speaking English and you can't speak their languages, but (with) food, I'm bilingual everywhere in the world."