Bouche Bistro, Bobcat Bite owners list 2 homes for $7M

The prominent owners of four Santa Fe restaurants have put two of their homes on the market for nearly $7 million.

The homes owned by Jennifer and Jimmy Day at 1240 and 1244 Camino de Cruz Blanca were listed June 9 and 10 with Gary Bobolsky, a broker at Sotheby’s International Realty Santa Fe.

The 6,743-square-foot, six-bedroom, eight-bathroom house at 1240 Camino de Cruz Blanca had been the Days’ primary home for 14 years and is listed for $4.395 million, among the highest-priced Santa Fe listings in recent years.

The home at 1244 Camino de Cruz Blanca is behind and above the other residence and has three bedrooms, 3½ bathrooms and is listed for $2.595 million. This is the green house that led to a March lawsuit by the city for not adhering to the approved colors for buildings in the historic district. The Days are in the process of repainting it a darker brown that Jennifer Day describes as “Tom Ford brown.”

The Days, who own Trattoria A Mano, Bouche Bistro, Lucky Goat and Bobcat Bite restaurants, are keeping a third home they own on the same street as well as the 100-acre Bobcat Bite property. They also own the Bouche Bistro and Lucky Goat buildings, Jennifer Day said.

She said a “family tragedy” involving her son means the couple likely won’t be back to Santa Fe for a year as “we are concentrating on teaching our son to walk again.”

Day said government approvals have delayed the opening of Bobcat Bite, which is now scheduled for July 1 after previously announced openings back to 2019 fell to the wayside. The Days, as NM Fine Dining LLC, plan to reopen Trattoria A Mano, Bouche Bistro and Lucky Goat once New Mexico “completely reopens,” which could be in July.

“We’re not leaving Santa Fe,” Day said. “When we come back to Santa Fe, we will be living on the property of Bobcat Bite.”

She said they bought 1240 Camino de Cruz Blanca about 17 years ago, 1244 about seven years ago and the third house on Camino de Cruz Blanca about nine years ago. They are located near St. John’s College.

The Days have been away from Santa Fe all this year and are at their San Antonio, Texas, home. They got into the restaurant business here four years ago, first acquiring Bouche Bistro in 2017 and that same year opening Maize and Trattoria A Mano. They opened and closed Jimmy D’s at Garrett’s Desert Inn in 2019, closed Maize in 2019 and opened Lucky Goat in 2019. Coronavirus closed all their restaurants and they have chosen not to reopen any of the downtown eateries while any restrictions remain in place, though Bobcat Bite could open before then.