Good Mexican and New Mexican food in Albuquerque? Give me a break. Get thee to Las Cruces, a mini-ABQ-like city about 40 miles north of El Paso. Outstanding Mexican and New Mexican food, and it’s not watered down for the gringos. Skip Socorro (a hole, IMHO) and drive a couple hours further south instead. Cruces also has two excellent brewpubs, and the highest percentage of mid-to-high end independent restaurants of any city I’ve visited. White Sands and Juarez aren’t far away.
If you have the patience, you might want to get a burger at Blake’s Lottaburger, a New Mexico only chain of fast food restaurants. Blake’s employees traditionally work on New Mexico time, though, and it might take longer to get your order than if you were in a sit-down joint.
Roswell and Carlsbad are nice little cities, but not very New Mexican in feel. Las Vegas NM has its charms, but it’s quite poor. Steer clear of Clovis (America’s armpit) and Alamogordo (gaudy and very right-wing). El Paso is basically one big truck stop; it’s a typical Texas city, like Amarillo or San Antonio, only plunked down in the middle oft he desert.
Green chile cheese fries!.. Oooooh, I’d forgotten about that yumminess! San Antonio is a pretty quick drive down the I-25 from Socorro. Parts of the I-25 have a very high speed limit so you can zip from town to town pretty quickly! If you’re going to Socorro, you can make the detour to San Antonio in a heartbeat.
I can’t wait! I can’t wait! I’m coming hooooome!
Sniffs_Markers and I will be going the third week of October. Anyone know if there are going to be any rodeos or any other events involving horses? (Markers used to be a rancher in Australia and likes horses).
We’re going to be mostly in the northern areas (visiting family) – we’re going to detour up to see the “Garden of the Gods” by Colorado Springs and then to the ruins at Mesa Verde, before we come back through Ship Rock and past Chaco Canyon.
I’ll be bookmarking this thread for eating ideas too. But if anyone can think of any activites involving horses, please, please, let me know.
Ideally, we’d like to rent some horses and tack so we can go on some trails – on our own. We don’t want to go on the horseback tours where you can be a total horse newbie that just sits there like a sack of potatoes while your horse follows all the other horses in the line. I loved those as a kid in Red River, but I’ve kind of outgrown it.
HOLY COW! Excellent tip! I consider myself a major connoisseur of cheese fries! Green chile cheese fries??? Sounds like something that simply can not be passed up.
That one was already on my list, and was the reason I’m going the dates I’m going. (It was originally planned to be from 9-24 thru 10-3, until I found out that the Trinity Site was only open two days a year–and one of those days would be the day after I left.)
Yep. Planning to do the Caverns and the Living Desert at the least.
I’ll arrive on Oct 1 and leave on Oct 10. I’ve actually done the Balloon Fiesta before, but I don’t know that I’ll be able to work it in this time.
Around Carlsbad, the Living Desert is awesome, and of course the caverns are, too. If you have time, Sitting Bull Falls is very close by and worth a drive, as is Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas.
And if you eat in Carlsbad, tell “Chef Pete” I said “Hi.”
Not really–while in Carlsbad, Do Not Eat at Chef Pete’s!!
:mad: meet me at the corner of Troost and Linwood, we’re gonna have to sort this out.
Hey Earl: What is the agenda? I just wanna hear about it.
Other good non-new mexican places: Did I mention Flying Star Cafe? it’s worth eating there, but YOU MUST go there for dessert, you’ll see why.
Olympia Cafe -my favorite greek place, run/owned by real greek people. Right across from UNM
I think I mentioned Saggio’s for Italian. I’d like to mention it again.
Also, I hear good things about Capo’s for italian, and I wanna say Mama mia is another good place but don’t hold me to that one.
OOoh, then DEFINITELY go to Jemez Springs, eat at Los Ojos, and have a Chile Charley (gooey meaty chile cheese fries) IF you can lay off the Jemez Grande burger.
I don’t know if you are planning to stop in Albuquerque but if you are I’d second Los Cuates. Just be forewarned that the place can be very crowded and the wait for a table can be long; for lunch you’d want to get there about 11:30 and for dinner about 4:45.
And no matter how cute they are, don’t try to pet the prairie dogs.
Arriving in Albuquerque on Oct 1, spending that and the next night in Santa Fe.
Next night in Socorro.
Next two nights in Carlsbad.
Next night in Roswell
Next week Aldebaran and Betelgeuse (gotta love those Roswell vehicles with the time travel options)
Next two nights in Santa Fe, leaving for Albuquerque on Oct 9
Last night in Albuquerque.
The original plan was to spend all the “northern” time in a bloc, but planning for Trinity caused us to have to break it up (well, that and the fact that the Tucker-Babe objected to the amount of same-day driving (Alb. to Carlsbad) we’d have to do immediately upon arriving). Also, when we were there before, we spent most of our time in Albuquerque (during Balloon Fiesta time), and this time we wanted to “get out” more. However, we still managed to go as far north as Taos, and as far south as Carlsbad in just a six-day trip. This way, we’ll have about the same amount of distance to drive, but not as much per day since we’ll have more days to work with.
Hi Earl, hope you and Ms.Tucker have a lovely time while visiting New Mexico.
In Socorro, I would recommend Martha’s Black Dog Cafe for breakfast or lunch. And Socorro Springs Brewing Co. was still good last time I was there, which was this past winter. They serve “upscale” pizza and sandwiches. Very nice micro-brews, my husband likes the Prohibition stout. Both of these places are on the plaza.
IMHO the Range in Bernalillo has gone downhill, so I stopped going there. I must admit I miss their nice strong margaritas, though.
If you are looking to save some money while in Santa Fe, Castro’s on Rodeo Road is a nice local place, nothing fancy, but their red is very good. El Farol on Canyon Road serves tapas and has live music every night.
My favorite New Mex food in ABQ is Los Cuates. If you are sick of chile by this point (God forbid!), O’Niell’s Pub on Central is a relaxing place to hang out and get pub grub. Casa Vieja in Corrales is in a lovely old adobe among the cottonwoods, nice for a romantic dinner. Phil Lenk, uncredited composer of the theme to “A Man and a Woman”, plays piano Tuesdays through Saturdays during the evening hours at the Ranchers Club lounge in the ABQ Hilton, with jazz artists sometimes sitting in.
Hope I’ve been of some help! Welcome back to La Tierra Encantada.
Not sure how your cholesterol is, but if you want to test it, you have to go to Grandma’s K and I Diner, down in the stockyards in Albuquerque. They have a menu, but if you order anything but a Travis they will mock you.
What is a Travis, you ask?
A Travis is a football-sized beef burrito, smothered in green or red, then covered with french fries and cheese. It is permissible for people to order a “half-Travis”, but only women can order a quarter. I had a male friend they flat-out refused to feed because he tried to order an eighth.
Yummy - but don’t plan on doing much afterwards. And make sure you are near a restroom if you’re not accustomed to spicy stuff.
Yep, green chile cheese fries are the best. If you do decide to stop in San Antonio for food (I definitely recommend Manny’s over the Owl Bar), there’s this little gas station in between Manny’s and the Owl where they make the best fudge. Mmmmmm… chocolate walnut fudge…
"Socorro: Armijo’s, if it’s still there. But if you’re in Socorro, you have to go about a dozen miles south to San Antonio and hit the Owl Bar. They literally invented the green chile cheeseburger, but they no longer have the brothel upstairs – that disappeared when the scientists working on the bomb left town. The best burgers on the planet and pretty cool history.
Santa Fe: Tomasita’s kicks ass, but it can be crowded, so the rellenos at Blue Corn are worth trying. The Shed is a good local place – near the Plaza – and where I usually go when I’m in town.
Taos: Doc Martin’s (in the Old Taos Inn), but it ain’t cheap. I’ve heard Don Fernando’s is good, but I’ve never been there. Basically anywhere in Taos will be overpriced because… it’s Taos.
Roswell: How the f**k should I know? The only time I went to Roswell was to play high school football. Not a real tourist destination.
If he’s going through Albuquerque (which he must be, considering where he’s visiting and the fact that there really aren’t that many roads to choose from), he should hit the M&J Sanitary Tortilla Factory. As I recall you got my t-shirt from there in the divorce. Ron’s Camino Real is good and has it’s own good divorce story. Plus Eloy’s.
If he’s on the road looking for fast food, hit Blake’s Lotaburger – really good green chile and it’s a New Mexico chain, not national. McDonald’s sometimes carries green chile and Wendy’s consistently does."
So there you go. Straight from the horse’s ass…er, mouth.