"Why,
this here sauce is made in New York City!"
"New York City? Git a rope!"
Uttered in a 1980s commercial for Pace
picante sauce, those lines expressed the ire of several hungry cowboys
who threatened to string up the cook for serving a "foreign" salsa
(translation: not made in Texas).
That commercial also brings to my mind
the annual issue in which Hispanic magazine names its top 50
Hispanic restaurants across America.
The sentiment so eloquently expressed
by those ravenous cowpokes is how many New Mexicans feel when Hispanic
magazine lists among its top 50, only two or three New Mexico
restaurants. It really rankles us when both Texas and California
have four times as many selections on that list.
Just as you won't find too many
cowboys who appreciate salsa made in New York City, you won't find many
New Mexicans who will freely admit that California, much less Texas, can
have edible Hispanic food. Hispanic magazine further loses
any credibility among New Mexicans if that top 50 list includes
restaurants in, heaven help us, Georgia or Mississippi.
Hispanic
magazine did have a lot of credibility among the Albuquerque dining
crowd when, for three consecutive years (2002-2004), it named Padilla's
Mexican Kitchen among its elite fifty.
For more than twenty years, Padilla's
has been the anchor tenant of a small shopping strip which appears to be
doing a booming business--at least around meal time.
If you arrive for lunch only a couple
minutes past eleven, you'll have to park on a side street somewhere
because neighboring businesses have a strict prohibition against
Padilla's customers parking in front of their stores.
Arrive ten minutes past eleven and
you'll queue up behind a line of hungry patrons, most of whom were
waiting outside the restaurant's door until it opened promptly on the
hour. It's the only way employees of neighboring businesses can
get back to work within the lunch hour.
For
what it's worth, most of Padilla's patrons seem to be locals who know
the difference between real New Mexican food and the kind that might be
served in New York City. New Mexicans of several generations have
made this restaurant one of the most popular dining establishments in
the city.
Unfortunately, it's not one of the
largest restaurants in town despite two dining rooms. If you're
seated in the front dining room, you might feel a little cramped as the
line of diners queues up behind you and all eyes are seemingly on the
deliciousness on your table.
Padilla's is sparsely decorated.
Several Southwestern landscapes festoon the walls. That's to be
expected in New Mexico. Out of the ordinary, however, are a number
of elephant pictures and figurines throughout the restaurant. It
turns out the owner, Mary Padilla likes restaurants (Padilla's
pachyderms?) and knows that elephants facing east with their trunks
raised bring good luck.
It's certainly been more than good
luck that has made Padilla's such a success story because it's certainly not
its business hours. The restaurant is open only Monday through
Friday from 11AM to 7:45PM. Patron loyalty is so strong that
you'll swear the same crowd which queued up before lunch returns to
their place in line for dinner, and in some cases, they do.
The
sense of triumph at finally being seated is akin to having won a small
jackpot--the longer your wait in line, the more exhilarating your
triumph.
Once you are seated, a small bowl of
salsa and some of the largest toasted tortilla chips you'll find
anywhere are quickly dispatched to your table. The chips are
unfailingly crisp and have a pronounced corn taste.
The salsa is like a nearly pureed
tomato sauce with flavorful, piquant ingredients. It doesn't quite
run off your chips, but it's also not the thickest salsa in town.
At about medium heat, it's also not among the hottest salsas around.
Padilla's menu includes a la carte
guacamole salad and a guacamole tostada only in season (other
restaurants don't seem to realize that fresh avocado is a seasonal
item).
Despite the name on the
marquee--Padilla's Mexican Kitchen--the food is definitely New Mexican
through and through. All dinner plates are served with beans, rice
and two sopaipillas.
The daily special on Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday showcases the restaurant's outstanding carne adovada:
carne adovada dinner (Monday), carne adovada burrito (Tuesday) and carne
adovada dinner (Wednesday). The Thursday special is carnitas,
papas and quelites (canned spinach at Padillas but known as "lamb's
quarters," a sort of wild spinach to native New Mexicans), a
treat not that many New Mexican restaurants deign to serve.
A
la carte orders (which you can upgrade to dinners for a pittance more)
include a variety of burritos and stuffed sopaipillas. The stuffed
sopaipillas are among the very best in town. That's because they
start with a base constructed of some of the most wonderful sopaipillas
you'll ever have.
The sopaipillas are fabulous!
They're light and pillowy forming a perfect pocket in which to insert
honey or meat and beans. It's certainly worth upgrading from a la
carte just so you can have two of these honey colored treasures.
One of the a la carte items you should
order is the restaurant's tacos, made with crispy tortilla shells
stuffed with seasoned ground beef, cheese, lettuce and salsa. One
taco will be gone in six or seven glorious bites so you might be tempted
to order two instead.
Padilla's enchiladas are also quite
good and served with chicken, beef or cheese. You can also have
blue corn enchiladas (pictured above) which are even better. When
your server takes your order, you'll be asked whether or not you want
onions on your entree, a courtesy you don't see elsewhere.
Despite
my whiny sniping at Hispanic magazine, I admire the gumption it
takes to create a list that's bound to stir up controversy. The
magazine takes special care to recognize restaurants which have carved
out a niche in a competitive market in the way outstanding restaurants
do--with delicious food and good service that build a loyal clientele.
Padilla's has certainly done that.
Padilla's has established itself as an
Albuquerque institution, one of the city's very best New Mexican
restaurants. Credit that to tremendous fan loyalty--not only to
the restaurant, but to Mary Padilla and her family, many of whom work in
the restaurant.
Despite lines snaking out the door
just prior to opening time, no one really wants Padilla's to expand into
larger quarters. Expansion sometimes takes away the charm and
personality that makes some restaurants locally beloved and Padilla's is
certainly one very loved restaurant.
