Arguably
the very best programming all year long on KNME, Albuquerque's Public
Broadcasting Station (PBS) comes during its four annual fund-raising
campaigns.
For sandwich lovers all
over New Mexico, no PBS feature is more greatly appreciated than
Sandwiches That You Will Like, a documentary by Rick Sebak of
television station WQED in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The
documentary showcases unique sandwich offerings from throughout America.
Voracious viewers like me practically salivate at the
scrumptious sandwiches on display and lament the fact that most of them
can't be found within the borders of the Land of Enchantment.
Watching the documentary is torture of the most delicious sort, no doubt
prompting a rush to the refrigerator for even the least tortured among
us.
One of the sandwiches featured, a staple in the Buffalo,
New York area, is called a "Beef on Weck." Weck is a colloquial
diminutive of Kummelweck, a salty roll topped with pretzel salt and
caraway seeds.
The lovely and brilliant
Becky Mercuri who wrote a scrumptious
companion book to the PBS documentary
describes the Beef on Weck sandwich deliciously in both the book and the
documentary. By the way, the Beef on Weck recipe alone is worth
the cost of the book.
The
bottom of the Kummelweck roll is piled high with a slow-roasted, thinly
carved rare roast beef. The top of the roll is dipped into au jus
from the roast. The condiment of choice is usually freshly grated,
spicy-hot horseradish with a nasal clearing temperament.
You might think that an Albuquerque area restaurant named
"Weck's" would serve a Beef on Weck sandwich, but that's not the case.
The name Weck's is a shortened form of the original owner's last name,
Weckerly.
Doug Weckerly launched the restaurant in 1991 and opened
two other Weck's in the Albuquerque metropolitan area before selling the
local chain in 2004 to local restaurateur Art Kaplan and his wife Toya.
Today there are four Weck's restaurants in Albuquerque,
one in Rio Rancho and one in Lewisville, Texas with more sites planned.
The restaurant's motto is "A full bellied tradition since
1991." Rarely have truer words been uttered. Weck's is
renown for serving titanic portions.
Weck's mission statement reads in part: "We will
consistently serve our community great tasting foods, promptly and
politely. We will greet all our customers with a smile and provide
them with courteous service in a clean and orderly environment. We
will do this with the knowledge that if we take care of business today,
we will build business for tomorrow."
Humongous portions and a customer orientation that's much
more than lip service are but two of the reasons Weck's is a family
favorite. Other reasons include good value for your money and some
genuinely wonderful menu items.
Weck's serves only breakfast and lunch and you'll
sometimes experience short waits as faithful patrons finish the platters
of food gracing their tables. More often than not they leave the
restaurant hefting dinner in doggie bags the size of shopping bags.
Breakfast is served all day long and in full bellied
tradition may fill you up for the entire day. Pancakes are
the size of car tires, an order of papas (hash browns with your
choice of red and/or green chile, Cheddar and Jack cheeses and two eggs
any style) is mountainous and omelets are made with four eggs.
You could feed a developing nation on lunch portions from
a menu that includes big sandwiches, belly busting burgers, big salads
(where are you now
Elaine Benes)
and substantially portioned New Mexican food.
Burgers
and sandwiches are served with fresh, homemade potato chips or unique
crinkle wedge fries or, if you prefer, a little of both. A
little of both means prodigious portions of each that would dwarf any
competitor's offerings.
The potato chips can be terrific if not left too
long on the fryer. They're slightly thicker than the bagged chips
which all too easily crumble into annoying little pieces. The
chips are also relatively lightly salted. The crinkled wedge fries
are Texas sized and delicious.
The mound of tortilla chips Weck's serves with its
salsa are also homemade, unfailingly fresh and lightly salted.
The salsa is jalapeno based and slightly reminiscent of Pace Picante
Sauce without the acerbic aftertaste. This chunky salsa is mild on
the piquant scale but that doesn't detract from a pleasant flavor.
Weck's guacamole is also quite good. Constructed
from fresh avocados, it has a distinct hint of lime which some of the
best guacamoles use for flavor (and to keep guacamole from browning too
soon with exposure to the air).
The
green chile cheeseburger is a handful with a beef patty easily exceeding
eight ounces. I've always asked for my burger to be prepared at
medium rare--and rarely have my exacting specifications been met.
Burgers typically seem to be served at medium or medium well.
The green chile could use some wildness as it is tame
even by "gringo" standards. Melted Cheddar cheese and a slightly
toasted bun are the burger's saving graces.
New Mexican food is available for both breakfast and
lunch. Breakfast burritos are the size of a motorcycle's sidecar.
They start with three scrambled eggs folded inside a flour tortilla
smothered with your choice of red and/or green chile, Cheddar and Jack
cheeses served with hash browns.
One of the best New Mexican entrees is the chicken
enchilada plate served with beans, hash browns and a garnish of
guacamole, sour cream, lettuce and tomato. The chicken is moist
and delicious, wholly unlike the desiccated poultry you sometimes find
in enchiladas. If the enchiladas didn't have a barely discernable
hint of cumin, they would rate much higher.
While
some of Weck's portion sizes would challenge the most edacious of
gurgitators (competitive eaters), most people do walk out with dinner in
tow.
One reason not to finish your meal is so you can
indulge in one of Weck's tummy stretching desserts. These include
saucer sized cookies, brick sized brownies and best of all,
cinnamon rolls big enough to share.
The cinnamon rolls are glazed with a generous sheen of
icing and are redolent with the aromatic essence of thickly spread
cinnamon. For best results, ask your server to grill the cinnamon
roll instead of microwaving it. The grilling lends a delightful
flakiness to the crust while a thin coat of melted butter will cut the
sweetness ever so slightly.
Even without the Beef on Weck sandwich, there are plenty
of reasons for repeated visits to Weck's. It truly is a family
restaurant which has earned the loyalty of long-time patrons by treating
them like new customers whose repeat business they want.
