I'm waiting to depart ABQ, so I thought I'd share a few notes.
Sadies on 4th - really loved the spicy salsa and fresh crispy tortilla chips. I had a combo with a tamale and a braised pork rib, the rib was meltingly tender. Good flavors but an old-school gut bomb in terms of all the cheese melted over everything.
Monica's el Portal - lunch before going to the museum. Nice fluffy flour tortilla on the burrito, but the carne adovada was rather dry and under-seasoned.
Mary & Tito's - another lunch, good beans in the burrito but otherwise not very special.
2000 Vietnam - had a combo bun for dinner with an assortment of really delicious meats. I would have liked more vegetables and herbs but otherwise was happy.
Karibu Cafe - weird disconnect with the manager, but really good jerk chicken wings and pretty good chicken curry. Lentils were bland.
Artichoke Cafe - finally someplace with a freaking salad on the menu! I know nothing grows in the desert, but still :slight_smile: Ceasar salad was well executed, duck breast on farrotto with orange-cassis coulis was a highlight of the trip. Out of my frozen dessert trio the rosemary brown butter ice cream was my favorite, the red chile caramel ice cream was disappointing, and the passion fruit sorbet was too intense to eat, tasted like the pastry chef had poured a jar of Perfect Puree passion fruit concentrate into the ice cream machine.
El modelo - grabbed a few bites on the way out. Smelled amazing, I was wishing I had kept a cooler to pack full of tamales to bring home. Red chile chicken tamale was another highlight, but the carnitas in a brown paper bag were dry and disappointing. I guess carnitas aren't really a NM thing, it's all about the adovada?
And the Chocolate and Coffee fest, where I was all weekend - huge event, tons of attendees but sales did not live up to other large chocolate events I've been to. My booth was next to Ohori Coffee, who kept me awake yesterday with their nice strong pour-over. I was kind of surprised that there were so few higher-end chocolatiers (maybe four or five of us?) but I guess it is just a different market from Seattle. I don't know if I'll come out again next year, but it was a good excuse to get out of the rain and have a mini spring break.
