A building that once housed a gas station and auto shop has become one of Santa Fe’s most talked-about places to eat.
Leo’s, at 1200 Hickox St., has quickly built a reputation around Thai and Malay-inspired cooking, a communal dining room and a menu that is designed to be shared. Now the restaurant has picked up another major piece of national recognition after being named to Bon Appétit’s 2026 list of Best New Restaurants in America.
That honor follows an appearance on Esquire’s 2025 Best New Restaurants in America list, giving the relatively young Santa Fe restaurant a growing collection of national accolades.
The attention is not difficult to understand once you look at what Leo’s is doing differently. It combines a building with decades of local history, Southeast Asian flavors and a dining room that feels more like a lively neighborhood gathering place than a formal restaurant.
A Former Auto Shop Has A Very Different Second Life
Leo’s occupies a building with a long working history.
The CdeBaca family operated a gas station and auto shop at the site from the 1950s until 2015. The building later became the home of the Boyd & Allister furniture studio before eventually being transformed into Leo’s.
Some of that past still gives the restaurant its character.
The space was shaped by designer, woodworker and cook Jonathan Boyd, whose connection to the building goes beyond its current restaurant life. Today, the industrial bones of the property provide a backdrop for a much more polished dining experience.
That combination is part of what makes Leo’s feel different from a typical new restaurant. The setting has history, but the cooking is focused firmly on what comes out of the kitchen now.
Thai And Malay Cooking Takes Center Stage
Leo’s describes its food as homestyle cooking inspired by Thailand and Malaysia.
The menu goes well beyond the familiar dishes many American diners associate with Thai food. Ingredients and techniques such as pandan, tamarind, green papaya, chili, sticky rice and fermented flavors appear across the menu, creating a mix of spicy, sour, savory and herbal notes.
Current dishes include northern Thai pork laab, fried chicken with jiao chili sauce, catfish som tum, crab nam prik with steamed custard and a pork belly bar steak served with roasted garlic prik phao and a fried egg.
The menu also includes a whole steamed dorade with nam jim chili-lime sauce and a spiced shepherd’s lamb shoulder with Thai chili yogurt and tamarind.
There is a clear reason to order more than one dish. The restaurant’s cooking is built around contrasting flavors and textures, making a shared meal a better way to experience the menu than settling on a single entree.
The Communal Tables Are Part Of The Experience
Leo’s is not designed around quiet, isolated dining.
Long communal tables form a major part of the dining room, creating the kind of close, energetic atmosphere that fits the restaurant’s shareable menu. The space can become lively when the room fills, but that energy is part of the restaurant’s appeal.
There is also counter seating, along with an enclosed patio, giving diners a few different ways to experience the restaurant.
The small size of the restaurant also helps explain why demand can be noticeable. Leo’s currently accepts a limited number of reservations each night while keeping most seating available for walk-in guests.
The Food Is Meant To Be Shared
A meal at Leo’s makes more sense as a collection of dishes than as a traditional one-person entree-and-side dinner.
The current menu includes options such as charred cabbage with tom kha broth and bird’s eye chili, spring snap peas with pla ra and herbs, charred oyster mushroom laab and satay ayam with Malay peanut sauce.
For larger plates, diners can choose dishes such as steamed dorade or the spiced shepherd’s lamb shoulder.
That variety allows a table to move between bright, fresh flavors and richer, spicier dishes during the same meal.
Dessert keeps the Southeast Asian influence going. Current choices include Boh tea panna cotta with palm sugar caramel and peanuts, along with pandan kek ‘kaya’ served with coconut jam.
The Restaurant Has Built A Strong Reputation Quickly
Leo’s opened in August 2025, making its rise to national attention especially notable.
The restaurant was previously included on Esquire’s 2025 Best New Restaurants in America list. In August 2026, Bon Appétit added Leo’s to its own Best New Restaurants in America list, putting the Santa Fe restaurant among a much larger national group of newly opened dining destinations.
Closer to home, Leo’s was also named Best New Restaurant in the Santa Fe Reporter’s 2026 Best of Santa Fe food and drink awards.
That combination of local and national recognition has helped turn the restaurant into one of Santa Fe’s more closely watched new dining spots.
A James Beard-Winning Chef Is Part Of The Team
Leo’s is a collaboration involving Jonathan Boyd, executive chef Stella Achenbach and James Beard Award-winning chef Zakary Pelaccio.
Pelaccio won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast in 2016, while Achenbach leads the kitchen at Leo’s.
The restaurant also puts an emphasis on products from local farmers, markets and vendors, connecting the Southeast Asian-inspired menu with ingredients sourced in New Mexico.
That local connection helps keep the restaurant from feeling like a concept simply dropped into Santa Fe. Its food has a distinct Southeast Asian direction while still being rooted in the place where it operates.
What To Know Before Visiting Leo’s
Leo’s is currently open Thursday through Monday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and is closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Walk-ins are welcome, while a limited number of reservations are accepted each night. The restaurant says most of its seating remains available for walk-in guests.
The restaurant is located at 1200 Hickox St. in Santa Fe, with limited parking directly in front and street parking available in the surrounding neighborhood.
For diners who enjoy trying something beyond the usual restaurant menu, Leo’s offers a particularly different experience. The food is bold, the setting has a story of its own, and the national attention has arrived surprisingly quickly.
What began as a very different kind of business has become one of Santa Fe’s newest dining destinations—and the latest national recognition suggests Leo’s is not finished attracting attention yet.
