Indigo Crow Cafe – Corrales, New Mexico

The Indigo Crow on a moonlit spring night

Now I lay myself down to sleep
I pray oh lord my soul to keep
Cause if I should die before I wake
I hope up in Heaven they’ve got lobster and steak
It’s a sin if Heaven ain’t got an Indigo Crow
Best food down here up there they’ve gotta know.
A Sin if Heaven ain’t got an Indigo Crow
But if they don’t then why the hell should I go.

Now I’ve tried every joint around here
I’ve had green chile stew, I’ve had had my root beer
But when I want to treat my taste buds right
I know this place is drop-dead tight
It’s a sin if Heaven ain’t got an Indigo Crow
Best food down here up there they gotta know.

- Oscar Butler

What would possess troubadour Oscar Butler to rhapsodize in his inimitable melodious timbre about a charming rural retreat in Corrales, New Mexico which serves some of the very best food in the metropolitan Duke City area? A native New Yorker now living in Albuquerque, Butler sums it up in four words, “Great food, great atmosphere!”

The Indigo Crow’s garlic infused bread and an olive oil dip with several herbs and spices

There’s a lot to love about the Indigo Crow and it starts with ambiance (atmosphere, if you prefer). During a moonlit autumn or spring night, savvy diners will dine on the restaurant’s patio where very little light pollution interferes with the twinkling of celestial bodies punctuating the ebony night skies. When spring is in the air and trees are starting to bloom, the melodic songs of birds provide nature’s best entertainment. When the weather turns cold, a raised fire pit is set up on the patio and though plumes of smoke ascending toward the skies obscure the stars, the fragrant bouquet of piñon more than makes up for it.

Ambiance isn’t lost on the inside of the restaurant, especially on cold winter nights when the restaurant is dimly lit and the crackling firewood on the Kiva hearth provides a gavotte of light and shadows. It’s especially memorable if you have the occasion to be seated across the restaurant from Marla Tellez, KOB’s pulchritudinous former morning anchor whose smiling countenance and beauty are accentuated by the undulating lights of the fireplace. A January, 2010 visit to the Indigo Crow was made more memorable because I was fortunate enough to have been seated with just that perfect vantage point.

Gorgonzola Wedge:
iceberg lettuce, bacon, tomatoes, marinated red onions, creamy Gorgonzola dressing

Ms. Tellez and the aforementioned Mr. Butler aren’t the only local celebrities who love the Indigo Crow. KRQE’s manic meteorologist Mark Ronchetti revealed in the 2009 edition of Albuquerque The Magazine’s “Best of the City” magazine that his favorite restaurant is Indigo Crow. Tending to be more star-struck by food than television personalities, I’d better not think much more about the beauteous Marla Tellez or I might never finish this review.

The Indigo Crow is nestled beneath towering deciduous trees in what was once a family home which also housed the Desert Rose, one of the village’s most popular restaurants back in the early to mid-1990s. The Indigo Crow has been wowing patrons for more than a decade now and despite the economic downturn, there appears to be no surcease to its popularity. This is a restaurant for which reservations are definitely recommended, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights, but even if you don’t make a reservation, the staff will do their best to accommodate you.

Skewers of orange glazed beef with sesame seeds and a tangy teriyaki sauce

That may mean eating at the bar which is in close proximity to a kiva fireplace, something for which you might be thankful on winter nights because most diners enter through the bar. The bar is reputed to have a very good wine list, one worthy of the food destined to accompany the fruit of the vin. During the summer, the Indigo Crow offers live music on the patio featuring local musicians like the aforementioned Oscar Butler. During the winter, the restaurant features acoustic solo artists at the bar.

Since the Crow’s menu tends to be seasonal, ingredients also tend to be incomparably fresh. No vegetable is served before or after its time; they’re all served at the optimum of in-season freshness. Even avowed vegetable haters can be converted at the Indigo Crow. Salad lovers will appreciate the nine salads on the menu, especially if you want a back to basics salad that doesn’t include every ingredient conceivable. There’s plenty to love on the Gorgonzola Wedge (iceberg lettuce, bacon, tomatoes, marinated red onions and creamy Gorgonzola dressing). On most restaurant’s menus, it would probably be the most popular salad, but at Indigo Crow, that honor goes to The Catalina (chopped romaine, tomatoes, eggs, bacon, avocado, Gorgonzola, Parmesan, Louie dressing), the chef’s unique interpretation of a Cobb salad. It’s a beautifully presented masterpiece prepared in a large bowl then shaped in a circular timbale to give it a memorable and enticing appeal. Half and full portions are available.

Grilled Ham and Smoke Gouda Sandwich:
grilled ham, smoked Gouda with jalapeno Dijon mustard, lettuce and tomatoes on a french baguette

Our favorite appetizer when on the menu is the Crow’s rendition of satay, the popular Thai street food which is essentially marinated meat skewered onto bamboo sticks and grilled over an open flame. At some local Thai restaurants, the grilled meat is so thin that the grilling dries it, leaving it chewy and tasteless. The Crow’s satay is somewhat thicker and grilled to about medium, imparting it with a moist deliciousness. A nearly as terrific lunch-time alternative sometimes on the menu is an orange glazed beef with sesame seeds and a tangy teriyaki sauce.

The lunch menu showcases a number of sandwiches, wraps and burgers, none of which are the standard “you can make it at home” variety. Most of us can craft a fairly decent grilled ham and cheese sandwich. It takes genius to craft something like the grilled ham and smoked Gouda sandwich (grilled ham, smoked Gouda, jalapeño mustard, lettuce and tomatoes on a French baguette). The jalapeño mustard is nearly as incendiary as Chinese hot mustard, lending a delicious kick that counterbalances the saltiness of the grilled ham, the sweet creaminess of the Gouda and the acidity of the tomatoes.

Chefs Hobo Burger
green chile cheddar cheese kaiser, portobello mushroom, bacon, smoked Gouda cheese and guacamole

My friend Larry McGoldrick, the esteemed professor with the perspicacious palate, rates the Indigo Crow’s green chile cheeseburger as one of New Mexico’s top ten. For uniformity of comparison, he orders his burgers “competition style” meaning bun, patty, cheese and green chile only; no adulterants or contaminants. Alas, my good intentions to try a plain green chile cheeseburger were quashed by the Chefs Hobo Burger, the very antithesis of competition style. The canvas for this behemoth burger is a thick green chile Cheddar cheese kaiser roll in which both green chile and Cheddar are baked right onto the bun (which would make a great dinner bread on its own). As with Hobo stew which is made with virtually any ingredient you can find, the Hobo Burger is a virtual mishmash of ingredients inventively put together. Standard offerings are portobello mushroom, bacon, smoked Gouda and guacamole. Green chile isn’t a standard ingredient on the burger unless you request it. It’s a unique take on a green chile cheeseburger and is large enough for two to share.

The dinner menu includes a surprising number of seafood items, the hallmark of each being uncommon freshness. You may forget you’re in land-locked New Mexico when your palate is luxuriating on the very best mussels anywhere in the Land of Enchantment. There was a time, just a few years ago, in which a bowl of mussels at the Indigo Crow was big enough for a party of four to share. During a visit in January, 2010, our serving of this magnificent mollusk was miniscule, a penurious portion of twelve mussels, just enough for three a piece among the four of us. The mussels were submerged in a saffron and white wine sauce which by itself would have made a superb soup.

The Indigo Crow’s version of Moules Frite (Mussels and Fries)

Though we felt deprived of the briny sweetness of the mussels, we indulged lustily in the perfume-like essence of fragrant saffron sauce which we sopped up with the Indigo Crow’s wonderful garlic-infused bread. Tiny cloves of roasted garlic were actually embedded in the yeasty, oven-warm bread, a perfect complement for the sauce. An olive oil dip resplendent with fresh herbs, red pepper flakes and garlic proved an excellent complement for the more tempered saffron sauce. The Crow’s bread is among the very best in New Mexico and it’s replenished faithfully by the always attentive wait staff.

The mussels are served with perfectly salted shoestring fries, perhaps an Indigo Crow tribute to the French favorite Moules Frite (mussels and fries). The shoestring fries, as thin as the name suggests, straddle that fine line between crispy like a potato chip and just soft and pliable enough to be considered fries. They are delicious, particularly when dipped in whatever saffron sauce you may want to allocate to these waifishly thin fries.

Grilled rack of lamb

Another certain to satisfy seafood starter you will savor are the chipotle clams, delicious bivalved mollusks in a white wine, sun-dried tomato and chipotle broth. As with the mussels, the bowl isn’t exactly brimming with a profusion of clams, but the flavor combinations–smoky and slightly piquant chipotle, acidic and rich tomato, sea-savory clams–go so well together, you’ll relish each and every bite, all the while wishing there were more.

The Indigo Crow incorporates seafood in several pasta entrees, one of our favorites being the lobster ravioli, an open face ravioli with a three cheese (Mascarpone, Asiago, Parmesan) triumvirate (four if you count the ricotta filling), spicy lobster cream sauce, fresh slipper lobster tail, and lobster claw meat. It’s a plate-licking concoction that melds piquant, sweet and creamy flavors and textures, not to mention the richness and utter sea spawned deliciousness of lobster. As much as you may want to ravage this ravioli, take your time because there’s not a lot of it. (I have a theory that all my favorite Indigo Crow entrees are in smallish portions just to keep me wanting more.)

Seared scallops and shrimp (herbed truffle butter)

If your lobster lust isn’t sated by the lobster ravioli, Indigo Crow’ summer menu has offered a bucket of five slipper lobster tails served with garlic butter and spicy fries. Slipper lobster meat is almost pearly white in color and has a sweeter taste than regular rock lobsters. Slipper lobsters are fairly uncommon, some say even rare, and tend to be used mostly in soups such as bouillabaisse. Interestingly, the French refer to them as “sea cicadas” because the sound the slipper lobster makes when it cracks its claws sounds like the chirping of the cicada, an insect with which New Mexicans are well acquainted.

Carnivorous types will love the Lolly Pop Pork Chops grilled and served with a raspberry chipotle sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and the sweetest snap peas you’ve ever had. Despite the name, those pork chops are formidable–almost an inch thick and as tender as any pork chops you’ll find anywhere. The raspberry chipotle sauce imbues the chops with a smoky, sweet and slightly piquant flavor. It’s an excellent entree.

Bailey’s Irish Cream – Milk Chocolate Mousse with Pretzel Crust

The restaurant’s most expensive entree (and my favorite) is the grilled rack of lamb served with a roasted red pepper and cucumber mint relish, parmesan risotto and garlic sauteed baby spinach and carrots. To me, this is the epitome of a fine-dining, gourmet entree and one of my very favorite meals. Lamb is the Rodney Dangerfield of meats, not accorded with the respect it richly deserves. Dissenters decry it as a gamy meat and while that may be the case with inferior lamb, it’s certainly not so at the Indigo Crow where the lamb is succulent and utterly delicious.

Desserts take a backseat to no restaurant in the Albuquerque area. In the summer, the epitome of seasonal freshness can be found in the Indigo Crow’s fruit pizza, a sugar cookie crust topped with cream cheese and a panoply of berries–raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. Not only is this dessert rich in antioxidants, it’s absolutely delicious, a melange of sweet and tangy flavors sure to please even the most discerning diners. The winter equivalent may be the Lemonberry cake, a rich white cake layered with mascarpone and imbued with berries. Oh, the delicious decadence. It’s almost sinful.

Three Berry Bread Pudding

The chef’s creativity certainly extends to desserts. A sliver of chocolate mousse pie certainly demonstrates this. The chocolate mousse is a decadent combination of Bailey’s Irish Cream and milk chocolate. The Bailey’s Irish Cream leaves a faint reminiscence of the cream-based liqueur and tempers the sweetness of the milk chocolate. What makes this dessert special is the pretzel crust which lends just enough saltiness to balance the sweeter, creamier ingredients. The pretzel crust also provides a delightful textural contrast.

Rating number four (as of May 1st, 2013) on Larry McGoldrick’s bread pudding hall of fame is the Indigo Crow’s Tree Berry Bread Pudding. It’s one of my very favorite bread puddings, too. There are many elements that make this a very special bread pudding. Texturally it is about as perfect as bread pudding can be and the tartness of the berries prevent it from being cloying, but one of my favorite elements is the dash of salt.

The Indigo Crow’s ambiance is hard to beat and it remains one of the most romantic restaurants in the Albuquerque area, particularly on nights when the moon is full. In nearly two dozen visits over the years, we’ve sampled many menu items and have enjoyed almost everything we’ve had. It’s so good we just might join Oscar Butler in a chorus or two of his Indigo Crow song.

Indigo Crow
4515 Corrales Road
Corrales, New Mexico
(505) 898-7000
Web Site
LATEST VISIT: 27 April 2013
# OF VISITS: 21
RATING: 23
COST: $$ – $$$$
BEST BET: Mussels, Lobster Ravioli, Lolly Pop Pork Chops, Slipper Lobster Tails, Lemonberry Pie, Fruit Pizza, Grilled Rack of Lamb, The Catalina Salad, The Hobo Burger, Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich, Three Berry Bread Pudding

Tune-up Café – Santa Fe, New Mexico

The Tune-Up Cafe, already a neighborhood standard

Dave Who? From 1981 until its closing in 2008, the converted residence at 1115 Hickox Street was the home of Dave’s Not Here, a quaint and quirky neighborhood favorite loyalist locals described as “unforgettable.” Perhaps “memorable” would have been more appropriate, because as the Eagles reminded us in their 1976 hit song New Kid In Town, “they will never forget you ‘til somebody new comes along.” That somebody new…the new kid in town… the usurper who made many of us forget about Dave’s Not Here is the Tune-Up Café.

When it first launched, the Tune-Up Café was always mentioned in the same breath as its beloved predecessor. Over time, however, the equally funky Tune-Up Café has carved out its own identity and it’s no longer just “that restaurant which replaced Dave’s Not Here.” Vestiges of Dave’s Not Here remain if you look closely, but for the most part, it can truly be said that Dave’s now truly gone. The shoulder-to-shoulder personal space proximity dining room hasn’t grown up any, but a small covered patio has been added. Not even a mirror on the dining room’s west-facing wall can make the Tune-Up Café any larger.

Dave Was Here Burger with Green Chile

The Tune-Up Café is the brainchild of Jesús and Charlotte Rivera, both veterans of the Santa Fe restaurant scene. Jesús is originally from El Salvador while Charlotte’s roots are in Northern Louisiana. They’re co-conspirators in developing a menu interesting enough to intrigue the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives program which showcased the restaurant in an episode called “Neighborhood Favorites.” Host Guy Fieri called the Tune-Up Cafe “a perfect example of what we’re looking for on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” meaning “they scratch-cook just about everything, the place is full of character and the neighborhood totally digs it.”

Not surprisingly, the Food Network worthy menu features some Salvadoran specialties as well as Mexican and New Mexican entrees with a smattering of American favorites, too. Open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and brunch on weekends, the Tune-Up Cafe can no longer be categorized as just a “neighborhood favorite.” Fans of the Food Network’s “Triple D” show from throughout the fruited plain have made pilgrimages to the restaurant, too. Many of them have returned.

The Cubano

The menu once paid a playful mark of respect to its predecessor tenant with a burger named “Dave Was Here,” but that burger has been rechristened the Tune-Up Burger. It’s one of three burgers on the menu, including a vegan made burger–the brown rice nut burger (a housemade patty served on a brioche bun). The similarities between the Tune-Up Burger and the burgers served by Dave’s Not Here start with the sheer size and volume of these behemoth burgers. Dave’s was famous for its 9-ounce beef patty and the Tune-Up Burger has got to approximate that prodigious size. There are similar burger toppings, too, like the green chile, grilled onions and sautéed mushrooms, but the Tune-Up Café also offers Cheddar, Jack, Blue, Manchego and Provolone cheeses.

While Dave’s Not Here obtained its beef from a local market, the Tune-Up Café grinds its beef daily. One of the biggest differences in the burgers is in the bun. The Tune-Up Café uses a sesame seed covered brioche bun instead of the standard, run-of-the-mill bun. The Tune-Up burger comes standard with homemade mayo, lettuce, tomato and a pickle spear. The rest is up to you. The green chile warrants a “gringo” rating in the piquancy scale, but it’s got a nice roasted flavor.

Salvadoran Pupusas

The brioche bun is hard-crusted and formidable. That means that unlike so many standard burger buns, it won’t wilt and wither under the weight and moistness of the ingredients you may choose to pile on. It also means the bun may be a bit chewy, but on the Tune-Up Burger, that’s a good thing. You’ll have to open up as wide as you do for your dentist with this two-fisted masterpiece. It’s a gigantic burger with a lot of flavor. All burgers and sandwiches are served with hand-cut French fries.

The Tune-Up Café serves up its own rendition of the seemingly de rigueur Cuban sandwich. Where many Cuban sandwiches in the area seem to be waifishly thin with parsimoniously portioned ingredients, the Cubano is thick and generously engorged with its ingredient melange. The canvass for the Cubano is a ciabatta roll which is dressed with a citrus and garlic marinated pork loin, cured ham and Swiss cheese. The menu indicates this sandwich is pressed, but you wouldn’t know it the way the ingredients bulge. In any case, the restaurant’s panini grill must be super-sized to accommodate this Cubano. It’s an excellent sandwich, one which can easily be shared. It’s one of three sandwiches on the menu, the most intriguing being a Ginger Chicken Sandwich on ciabatta with Provolone and basil aioli.

Cinnamon Roll

In New Mexico’s melting pot of cultural cuisine, one cuisine which has captured the fancy of culinarily intrepid diners is Salvadoran cuisine. New Mexican diners who have embraced Salvadoran cuisine have one-up on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives host Guy Fieri who had never even had a pupusa until his visit to the Tune-Up Cafe. He called it “crazy good,” effusively praising the “crispy, crunchy masa on the outside with the corn and the cheese oozing out of it.” It warranted a high-five for the chef along with the comment, “you have completely train wrecked me, man.”

The pupusa is the national snack of El Salvador; it’s a thick, hand-made corn tortilla stuffed with sundry ingredients. Unlike New Mexican tortillas, Salvadoran tortillas are made with no baking powder and very little (if any) salt. They’re made with a maize masa. Of all the pupusas we’ve ever had, none have the pronounced corn taste of the pupusas at the Tune-Up Café. None are any bigger. Where the standard pupusa seems to be about four-inches in diameter, these are roughly the size of a pancake. Two different pupusas, served two per order, adorn the menu. Our favorite of the two is stuffed with flank steak, chile pasado and queso fresco.

Huevos Salvadorenos

Accompanying each order of pupusas is a Salvadoran cabbage salad somewhat resembling the pinkish pickled relishes served at some Mexican restaurants. Curtido is made with pickled cabbage, onions and just a hint of red pepper. The Tune-Up Cafe makes the best curtido I’ve ever had, so good it will postpone enjoying the pupusa itself.

Another delightful Salvadoran entree is the Huevos El Salvadorenos, scrambled eggs with scallions and tomatoes, refried beans, pan-fried banana, crema and corn tortillas. It’s not exactly a novel concept with similar offerings–the Huevos Motuluenos at Cafe Pasqual and Huevos Yucatecos at Tecolote Cafe–being familiar to Santa Fe diners. The Tune-Up Cafe’s huevos would be much improved with chile, but with both red and green tinged with cumin, we opted against it. The highlight of this dish is the melding of sweet, caramelized pan-fried bananas and the slightly sour-savory crema. The huevos themselves are perfectly prepared.

Banana Pancake with real syrup

Sweet-toothed diners who look for a high carb morning pick-up will enjoy the cinnamon rolls, spiral-shaped beauties large enough to share. The cinnamon rolls are redolent with cinnamon and are iced generously. The Tune-Up Cafe’s buttermilk pancakes are among the very best in town. Best of all, they’re served with real syrup and can be topped with blueberries, bananas or chocolate chips.

In time we may forget what life was like without the Tune-Up Café. It may already have supplanted its predecessor for local loyalty, a funky ambiance and a menu replete with deliciousness.

Tune-up Café
1115 Hickox Street
Santa Fe, New Mexico
(505) 983-7060
Web Site
LATEST VISIT: 27 January 2013
1st VISIT: 10 May 2008
# OF VISITS: 2
RATING: 19
COST: $$
BEST BET: El Salvadoran Pupusas, Dave Was Here Burger, Cubano, Hand-cut French Fries

View Tune-Up Cafe on LetsDineLocal.com »

Sophia’s Place – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Dennis and the lovely Sophia at the viewing of the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives episode featuring his outstanding restaurant (Photo courtesy of Sandy Driscoll)

There are several reasons Sophia’s Place gifted proprietor and chef Dennis Apodaca (pictured above) is such an accomplished and innovative restaurateur. Sure, he’s got a very impressive pedigree that includes stints at some of the best restaurants in San Francisco and Santa Fe.* True he’s worked for several world-famous, cutting-edge chefs in some of America’s most renown restaurants, but there’s so much more to this rising star than that.

Apprenticing under luminary chefs may make apparent the genesis of some of his culinary influences, but it’s also obvious that Apodaca loves his craft and plies it with enthusiasm and style. I heard him speak once of his annual pilgrimages to New York and of dining at such restaurants as Katz’s, a Manhattan deli I hold in reverential esteem. Like most great chefs, he is always in pursuit of new ideas and techniques.

Sophia’s Place may not be as visually appealing as other restaurants, but it serves beautiful food

Dennis launched the restaurant he named for his then eight-year-old daughter on December 3rd, 2002. It is situated at the former site of the once very popular, but now defunct Fajitaville, a restaurant at which he served as chef before launching his own operation. As popular as it was, you don’t hear many former Fajitaville patrons lament the change. That’s because they’ve been completely won over by Apodaca’s inventive, eclectic and funky menu–a menu that includes a range of sophisticated salads and soups, extraordinary sandwiches and lots of pleasant surprises.

Dennis is also a stickler for using fine ingredients, many of which are flown in and delivered daily to his charming North Valley restaurant. He insists on the preparation of each meal to order; you won’t find anything sitting under a heating lamp here. You also won’t find a freezer in the premises. Dennis believes in ultra-fresh. His menu is replete with specials of the day which change frequently, usually crafted from fresh ingredients he procures from the farmer’s markets. Sophia’s also does not have an oven or burners, just two grills, but sheer magic is created on those grills.

The interior of Sophia’s Place. Note the poster signed by Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives host Guy Fieri

On August 25th, 2008 the Food Network’s Guy Fieri taped a segment at Sophia’s for his Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives program. On a signed poster which hangs on one of the restaurant’s walls, Fieri wrote “little place, huge flavors.” That pretty much says it all, not that Fieri didn’t say quite a bit more about Sophia’s. After that segment aired on Monday, November 24th, 2008 getting a seat at this fabulous restaurant became even more difficult. Fortunately Dennis opened a second restaurant, Ezra’s (named for his son), in late September, 2008. That helped handle the overflow crowds for a while, but when Ezra’s became well known and nearly as popular as Sophia’s, his legion of fans began to wish Dennis had more children for whom he could name other restaurants.

On January 17, 2011, Dennis launched a third restaurant, one he named for his mother. Unfortunately, Jo’s Place didn’t meet with the same success or critical acclaim as Ezra’s and especially Sophia’s. After more than ten years in the same location, Sophia’s remains one of Albuquerque’s most highly regarded and popular restaurants. In fact, only my review of the Buckhorn Tavern has more reader visits from from among the more than 700 restaurants reviewed on Gil’s Thrilling (And Filling) Blog.

Chips and salsa at Sophia’s

An expansive parking lot belies the space-constrained hominess of Sophia’s, an inviting restaurant which has only about a dozen tables. Weather permitting, a covered outdoor patio will accommodate twice as many guests as the main dining room. It’s not the swankiest or most attractive restaurant in town, but it’s done the Dennis Apodaca way. Guy Fieri pegged it correctly when he called him “a hands-on chef who’s doing things his own way.” That includes touches like making his own butter and crafting all his culinary creations by hand.

One holdover from Dennis’s days at Fajitaville are some of the best salsas in town. An order of salsa and chips rewards diners with two salsas–a roasted tomato salsa and a pico de gallo style salsa coupled with housemade chips served warm. Neither of the salsas are especially piquant, but both are redolent with freshness and flavor. The chips are lightly salted and oversized for Gil-sized portions of salsa. Unfortunately you’ll run out of salsa before you run out of chips.

Grilled Sirloin and Green Chile Sandwich on Sage Bakehouse Bakery Bread with Shoestring Fries

Breakfast and lunch entrees are served all day which is a great thing because you never know when the urge will hit for a world-class sandwich. Sage Bakehouse bread, a New Mexico treasure, is the foundation upon which those sandwiches are built. Each sandwich is served with your choice of potato salad, green salad or homemade shoestring potatoes (a must-have). Don’t desecrate those shoestring potatoes with ketchup. Ask instead for a small bowl of Sophia’s red chile and dip your fries into that. Some of the best chile and some of the best fries in town–you can’t go wrong with that combination.

Sophia’s grilled pastrami sandwich is a poor man’s version of the aforementioned Katz’s in which pastrami is piled on skyscraper high. Even though Sophia’s doesn’t lay the pastrami on as thick as at Katz’s, it’s also not apportioned in waifishly thin shreds like the sandwiches the chains proffer. In Albuquerque I’ve not had a better pastrami sandwich (although it dropped just a bit in my estimation when packets of mustard replaced the gourmet mustard once dolloped on the sandwich). Apodaca gets his pastrami flown in from Chicago where this brisket derivative is best made.

The green chile cheeseburger at Sophia’s

Also exceptional is the green chile bacon cheeseburger on hard-crusted Sage Bakehouse bread. As the hack comic Banya would tell Jerry Senifeld, “it’s the best, Jerry, the best.” In a city and state in which green chile cheeseburgers are a religion, Dennis Apodaca is a high priest, serving something just a bit different. This cheeseburger is a two-fisted edible piece of art with an explosively delicious taste.

The green chile is not so assertive that it prevents the salty sweetness of the bacon to sneak out. Instead they meld together wonderfully. The texture of the lightly toasted Ciabatta bread is a nice departure from the traditional soft burger buns. The bacon is crispy and thick. There’s no iceberg lettuce in this masterpiece; it’s salad quality mixed greens.

The breakfast burrito, Albuquerque’s very best

The simply named Breakfast Sandwich on (what else) toasted Sage Bakehouse bread is a concordant composition of fried eggs, bacon, cheese and fresh salsa that will help make your day start off on the right foot. It may well be the best breakfast sandwich in Albuquerque, not that there is a plethora of competition in the breakfast sandwich arena.

Sophia’s breakfast burrito has done something I had thought impossible. It supplanted Milton’s breakfast burrito as my favorite breakfast burrito in New Mexico. The primary reason is a wondrous red chile, a deep, earthy, sweet and utterly delicious chile of medium piquancy. This chile is in rarified company with Mary & Tito’s legendary red which I’ve long considered the best in the Duke City area. It’s the type of chile you might want to lick off your plate so as not to leave any of it behind. If Dennis were to offer New Mexican food exclusively, it would probably be the best in the city. Make sure you order your burrito “smothered” so you won’t be lamenting that there isn’t enough chile on your plate. In its September, 2011 edition, the staff of Albuquerque The Magazine undertook the enviable task of selecting the Duke City’s very best breakfast burrito. Sophia’s was rated tenth best. To paraphrase the immortal words of former world boxing champion Max Schmeling’s manager Joe Jacobs, “they waz robbed!”

Huevos Mexicanos, Sophia’s unique take on Huevos Rancheros–two eggs any way you want them and corn tortillas topped with green chile stew. Served with black beans and a side salad.

There’s only one thing wrong with Sophia’s red chile. It’s that the red is so good, I may never again order the breakfast burrito “Christmas style” (with both red and green chile). That would be sad because the green chile is outstanding in its own right. It’s a fruity chile with a comal roasted aroma and flavor. The breakfast burrito is crafted from organic eggs, potatoes, cheese and salsa. You can have it with your choice of bacon, pork carnitas, chicken, beef or vegetables.

The daily specials on Sophia’s menu truly earn the accolade “special.” Such is the case with a breakfast enchilada with turkey sausage, Cojita cheese and poblano chile. The melding of these ingredients make for an outstanding breakfast entree that I may have to bide my time to see returned to the menu. Fortunately, there’s always something else intriguing and invariably delicious to mollify my appetite.

Another special special, duck enchiladas with a green chile cream sauce

Duck enchiladas served with a green chile cream sauce

Another very special special are the duck enchiladas served with a green chile cream sauce (pictured above). Somehow Dennis manages to segregate the least fatty parts of the duck while retaining all its characteristic flavor and he engorges corn tortillas with the delicious canard. A generous dollop of mildly piquant green chile sauce crowns the enchiladas with even more flavor. This special is served with black beans studded with Cojita cheese as well as a mixed greens and mango salad. This is just Dennis and his free spirited whimsy; he loves to play with ingredients and has a knack for making seemingly disparate ingredients meld together in perfect flavor synchronicity.

The Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives taping took place on a day in which the special of the day was another version of duck enchiladas, this time with tomatillo sauce. Watching the step-by-step construction of this entree revealed the depth of Dennis’s talent, but even more so, just what a perfectionist he is. Every preparation step is meticulous and well practiced, obviously the result of extensive experimentation until everything is absolutely to the chef’s exacting standards.

Scallop Tacos

The duck, which is left in the bone and skin, is seasoned and rendered in duck fat for several hours then is de-boned by hand and seasoned again (lime, cilantro, Mexican red chile, sugar, salt and other ingredients) on the flat top. Two legs per order of succulent duck meat are then placed on two soft corn tortillas with Asadero cheese then topped with the tomatillo sauce, toasted pumpkin seeds, scallions and queso fresco. Fieri uttered “really good” three times punctuated with “an explosion of flavors” and “you’ve got it going on with this one.”

A Washington Post writer recently proclaimed, “Ok so who in the hell doesn’t do a scallop taco?” He obviously hasn’t been around the restaurant scene in Albuquerque where scallop tacos are a novelty. In fact, Dennis is just one of a handful of chefs in the landlocked Land of Enchantment I know of daring to depart from the de rigueur fish taco (which is rarely done well in New Mexico). His version starts with gigantic sea scallops which he tucks into soft, pliable corn tacos then garnishes with a mild salsa, avocado slices and Crème fraîche. There are two scallops per taco, two tacos per order and they’re at least twice as good as the best fish taco I’ve ever had.

Sophia’s shoestring fries with red chile

Sophia’s scallop tacos are inspired–an amalgam of flavor combinations which work very well together. The pearlescent scallops are grilled so they have a nice char on top and at bottom while retaining an opaque clarity that means they’re absolutely perfect. I’ve tried in vain several times to duplicate Dennis’s wizardry with scallops, but have concluded begrudgingly that my scallop skills are rudimentary compared to the chef.

The Saturday and Sunday brunch menu features several items not available during weekdays. These weekend specials have made Sophia’s an intensely popular dining destination. You might have to wait in line ten to fifteen minutes to place your order then another half hour for your order to reach your table. It’s worth the wait.

Chilaquiles

One of the best reasons to get up on a weekend are Sophia’s Special Pancakes, priced daily and served with fresh fruit and real maple syrup. Those special pancakes might be sour cream and lemon pancakes with a piñon butter topped with blueberries. The tartness of the blueberries and lemon create a palate pleasing harmony with the maple syrup. The sour cream changes the texture of standard pancakes by adding moistness while retaining the fluffiness inherent in great pancakes.

Sophia’s pancakes will cure the early morning blues (or anything else that ails you). A large stack (four) of pumpkin pancakes with pinon nut butter topped with assorted berries may be the very best pancakes you’ll ever have. They’re stick to your ribs pancakes, the panacea for cold mornings. Cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice emphasize the flavor of pumpkin while the berries provide a tangy contrast. The syrup brings together the complementary tastes of sweet, tangy and pumpkiny. Share these with people you love.

Turkey Sausage Enchiladas with Red and Green Chile

One of the things that makes Dennis’s pancakes a panacea is his homemade butter, a culinary rarity that blew even Guy Fieri away. Fieri who has probably seen just about everything on his road tours seemed amazed that Dennis would go to that extent. After sampling Sophia’s homemade butter (made from separated heavy cream mixed with toasted pine nuts, dried cherries and honey), Fieri called it “outstanding.”

Other brunch favorites include Sophia’s version of chilaquiles and a very unique interpretation of Huevos Rancheros called Huevos Mexicanos. This dish is constructed from corn tortillas topped with two eggs prepared any way you want them then slathered with green chile stew. The green chile stew is terrific, the type of which you’d appreciate at any time, but especially on a cold wintery day. The chilaquiles are simplicity itself though its flavors are complex and delicious. Chilaquiles are a traditional Mexican dish with which Sophia’s takes a few liberties, topping the eggs and tortilla chips with red chile instead of the more conventional salsa.

Lemon and sour cream pancakes with blueberries

Sour cream and lemon pancakes with a piñon butter topped with blueberries

Dessert treats include the most moist and delicious pumpkin brownies imaginable. They’re thick and have that pumpkin pie spice and nutmeg flavor that drives diners wild. Try them with Sophia’s homemade ice cream which is sinfully rich and served ice cold. Most recently added is a German chocolate cake made from scratch daily. It is simply the very best German chocolate cake in Albuquerque, even better than the one served just up the street at the Calico Cafe. Perhaps even better is a banana nut cake with a fabulous banana and cream cheese frosting.

With the launch of Ezra’s Place, Sophia’s is no longer serving dinner. Sophia’s new hours are 7AM to 3PM Monday through Friday and 9AM through 2PM Saturdays and Sundays. You’ve got to experience this gem for yourself to find out what so many diners know–Sophia’s Place is one of Albuquerque’s very best restaurants of any genre. Overflow crowds and accolades don’t tell the whole story. That lies in each and every wonderful morsel of pure deliciousness fashioned by the inventive hands of the chef and owner.

Pumpkin pancakes with pinon nut butter

*Among the gastronomic glitterati for whom Chef Apodaca has worked are Mark Miller, the high priest of modern Southwest cuisine and founder of Santa Fe’s Coyote Cafe and the pioneering Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse, the original California cuisine (focusing exclusively on organic, locally produced foods in season) restaurant in Berkeley, California.

SOPHIA’S PLACE
6313 4th, N.W.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
(505) 345-3935
LATEST VISIT: 2 February 2013
# OF VISITS: 19
RATING: 25
COST: $$
BEST BET: Grilled Pastrami Sandwich, Breakfast Sandwich, Chipotle Bacon Cheeseburger, Simple Noodles, Breakfast Burrito, Special Pancakes, Scallop Tacos, Chilaquiles, Huevos Mexicanos, Grilled Sirloin Sandwich, Pork Carnitas Tacos,

Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog

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Category Archives: Brunch

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