Albuquerque and Sadie's
Dining Room have come a long way since 1950. Then the Duke City's
population was 96,815, up 173% from 1940 and Sadie Koury had just
launched her first Albuquerque restaurant on Second and Osuna.
Albuquerque was more pastoral back then and Sadie's restaurant was but a
diminutive nine-seat diner on what was then one of the city's most busy
thoroughfares.
Today, the Duke City flirts with a population of
nearly half a million and Sadie's may be the city's most popular (and
certainly one of its most commodious) New Mexican restaurant, one that
seats 375 diners. 
A descendent of
Lebanese immigrants, Sadie retired in 1979, the year in which her
restaurant moved into the noisy confines of Valley Bowl where it
remained for sixteen years.
Sadie passed away in 1986, four years
before her family opened the palatial dining establishment on Fourth
street that still bears her name. Since her retirement, her
younger sister and brother-in-law, Betty Jo and Bob Stafford and their
progeny have carried on her legacy.
Today, a large mural
taking up nearly the entire South-facing main dining-room wall depicts
Sadie's humble diner and its business neighbors, all back-dropped by the
Sandias. On the roof of the diner was a large sign reading
simply "Hamburgers" while signage reading "Chops"
and "Steaks" flanked the restaurant's door and sole frontage
window.
In the accolade-laden shrine that is the hallway between
the dining room and the restrooms are dozens of framed newspaper
articles touting Sadie's restaurant, but also holding a place of
prominence is the original grill in which Sadie prepared her famous
hamburgers.
Sadie's is renown for
several things, among which are: its rags to riches success story,
consistently hot chile and prodigious portions. Over the years it
has developed a growing and faithful following that has remained
steadfast in its devotion.
Avid proponents make a good case for
Sadie's being one of the best restaurants in the state. A fellow
gourmand whose opinion I value swears the triumvirate of Sadie's in the
North, the Owl Cafe in Central New Mexico and Chope's
in the state's Southern region are the three best restaurant's in the
Land of Enchantment.
Unlike so many other
so-called New Mexican restaurants, Sadie's hasn't "dumbed
down" its chile which retains a piquant flavor that makes your
tongue tingle. Perhaps that's the reason so many native New
Mexicans crowd Sadie's while non-natives eager to prove their mettle or
obtain an endorphin rush also list it among their favorites.
At
Sadie's, salsa is complementary and masochists like me might polish off
two bowlfuls as our brows glisten (sometimes profusely) courtesy of the
capsaicin rich, green chile endowed salsa (which, by the way, is bottled
and sold in stores throughout New Mexico).
Portion sizes are
gargantuan! Some platters would feed a developing nation or Jay
Leno might joke, one endomorphic American diner. Hefting home a
doggie bag won't burn off many of the 2,000 or so calories you just
consumed, but it does provide tomorrow's lunch or dinner. Most
"dinner" plates includes frijoles and papitas.
There are a couple of
items no restaurant in Albuquerque does nearly as well as Sadie's.
One is papitas, little cubes of potato perfection with the taste of
well-salted, square-shaped French fries. If your entree doesn't
include papitas, by all means order them on the side.
Another is any entree
featuring a pounded steak patty--the likes of which Sadie herself may
have hand-formed back in the 50s. The "Roberto Special"
features just such a pounded steak. It is topped with enough
artery-clogging melted queso to up your cholesterol 50 points, but is so
sinfully delightful you can't stop eating it.
Sadie's carne adovada
burrito is definitely top tier. During an April, 2006 visit, my
friend and colleague Steve Coleman (of Steve's
Gastronomic Web) who normally doesn't order meat-based
entrees couldn't believe how flavorful and tender is Sadie's red chile
blessed cubed pork. He couldn't believe how good the complete
Sadie's experience is.
At
many New Mexican restaurants salsa and chips are no longer complementary
and it's increasingly rare to find restaurants which also don't charge
for sopaipillas. That's definitely not the case at Sadie's where
each meal is accompanied by several of these puffy treasures.
During a 2006 Food
Network episode of the Secret Life of...Southwestern Food, host Jim
O'Connor spent a day at Sadie's where he learned all about sopaipillas.
He ate stuffed sopaipillas, sopaipillas with honey and sopaipillas by
themselves and enjoyed every single morsel.
Sadie's stuffed
sopaipillas are indeed very enjoyable; they're among the very best
in town. They can be had with spicy beef, chicken, grilled lean
ground beef or just frijoles and can be topped with green or red chile
(or even better, Christmas style).
The house specialty at
Sadie's is the enchilada dinner, a platter-sized plate brimming
with two soft corn tortillas rolled or stacked with Cheddar cheese and
onions and served with frijoles.
The
enchilada dinner is as flexible as the soft corn tortillas on which it
is made. That means you can have it with blue corn tortillas
instead of the standard yellow corn tortillas. You can have it
with boneless grilled chicken or with Billy's spicy ground beef and if
that's not enough, you can customize your creation--maybe one ground
beef enchilada and one with chicken.
Your customization
might also extend to the chile where you can have red or green chile or
preferably both (what New Mexicans call Christmas style). You can
even ask for a third enchilada if you're so inclined. By all means
ask for a fried egg on top of your enchilada. It's the way New
Mexicans have had their enchiladas for generations.
There's also a separate
entree in which the enchilada is made with carne adovada.
It just may be the best entree on the entire menu, but that's a claim
that will be disputed heartily by fans of other Sadie's chile-laden creations.
Even
non-chile eaters will find something to love at Sadie's. One such
option is the grilled pork chops, two bone-in chops grilled to a
smoky perfection and served with papitas. These are flavorful
half-inch thick chops which retain their succulent juiciness and are
imbued with delicious, smoky charred edges.
Allow me to introduce yet another
contender into the highly disputed "best green chile cheeseburger" in
New Mexico category. That would be Sadie's version of the
ubiquitous burger practically worshipped by local eaters.
Sadie's burger is crafted with a
six-inch, hand-formed meat orb topped with chopped green chile (or green
chile sauce if you prefer), tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese. The
meat is grilled and prepared to your exacting specifications and the bun
is lightly toasted. It is sensational, a wonderful alternative to
other entrees.
There's something for
everyone at Sadie's.
Sadie's Photo Courtesy of
Kathy "Wanderer 2005" Perea
