Zagat Survey Rates Doc Martin's Restaurant at the Historic Taos Inn #1 in Taos and Sante Fe "An 'innovative menu' of 'casual' contemporary Southwestern fare ('great chile', 'outstanding meat') makes this 'fine' old Taos favorite in a 'classic building' a 'good food place to meet friends..." --Zagat Survey A "26" rating ("excellent to perfection") places Doc Martin's above any other Taos or Santa Fe restaurant in Zagat's 1998 Southwestern Restaurant Survey, and number two in the state of New Mexico.
					Scott Spencer, Executive Chef, (center, with mixing bowl) and his kitchen staff
		History of the Taos Inn & Doc Martin's Restaurant The Historic Taos Inn is made up of several adobe houses, which date from the 1800's, and which surrounded a small plaza -- now the Inn's spectacular lobby. A community well was located in the center of the plaza. In its place today, a fountain is surrounded by vertical vigas which rise two-and-a-half stories to a stained glass cupola. In the 1890's, when Dr. Thomas Paul (Doc) Martin came to Taos as the county's first, and only, physician, he bought the largest of the houses -- now Doc Martin's Restaurant. Doc was a rugged individualist, but was dearly beloved because of his deep concern for his fellow man. Covering the county to treat his patients meant hitching up a team of horses -- and later his tin lizzie -- to travel for miles through mud and snow to set bones, break fevers and deliver babies.
						Doc Martin
		Doc's wife, Helen, was noteworthy in her own right. A gifted batik artist, she was also the sister-in-law of artist Bert Phillips, one of the "Taos Founders." It was in the Martins' dining room in 1912 that Phillips and Ernest Blumenschein founded the Taos Society of Artists. The Martins later purchased additional buildings surrounding the plaza, renting them to writers and artists. When the only hotel in Taos burned the same year that Doc died, Helen entered the hospitality business. She bought the Tarleton house which was the last remaining property on the plaza (and now the site of the Adobe Bar). With the aid of Doc's former patients, she enclosed the plaza. The Hotel Martin opened in 1936. Through the years, the Hotel Martin was the hub of Taos' social, intellectual and artistic activity. Later owners renamed it the Taos Inn, added the popular neon thunderbird sign (Taos' oldest) and the carved reception desk. In 1982, the Inn was placed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places. The Martins' tradition of service and commitment to the arts lives today. The Inn's Meet The Artists Series, continuing invitational exhibits of the best northern New Mexico art, and its founding sponsorship of the Taos Talking Pictures Festival pays tribute to our founders and the vibrant tri-cultural community we serve.