A few years ago at the urging of an obviously taste-deprived, chain restaurant loving colleague, I had breakfast at a misnomer of a restaurant named Goody’s, a now defunct restaurant on Yale. He bragged about Goody’s breakfast burrito being as good as Milton’s Family Restaurant, sacrilege if it was ever uttered. A business trip provided the opportune time to debunk my colleague’s blasphemy. Not only did Goody’s version of a breakfast burrito provide one of the most insipid breakfasts I can remember, it led to a sacred pledge that defines my last meal in Albuquerque each and every time the friendly skies take me away from the Land of Enchantment.
My sacred pledge is that my last meal in Albuquerque will always be one worthy of the last meal for a “dead man walking.” More often than not, that meal is at Christy’s Food Factory, a mere mile or so from the Albuquerque International Airport. A sandwich would have to be pretty darn good to be a potentially last meal ever. The sandwiches at Christy’s Food Factory are!
Whether you partake of Christy’s Food Factory as a dine-in, carry-out or catering option, you’re in for a treat. Christy’s has been serving the Duke City since 1981 and in more than a quarter-century of doing business has consistently provided quality sandwiches. Christy’s calls itself Albuquerque’s business luncheon catering specialist, but it may be as well known for its smallish, intimate restaurant and its many sandwich options. A second Christy’s location on Central Avenue was short-lived.
Your sandwich choices are actually limited only by your imagination. Christy’s will build you the “perfect” sandwich with your choice of meats, cheeses, breads and dressings. That type of customization can’t be beaten. At Christy’s you can truly have it your way. That means you can choose from any of four meat choices (breast of turkey, roast beef, Danish ham, corned beef), five different cheeses (Monterey Jack, Cheddar, Swiss, Provolone, cream cheese), six dressings (mayo, low-fat mayo, mustard Italian 1000 Island, sweet mustard) and seven wonderful bread options (whole wheat, white, sourdough, flour tortilla, light or dark rye, French roll). You can also order off the menu as I typically do because the menu has one of the best sandwiches you can have anywhere.
It’s called the “Super Sandwich” and rightfully so as it combines turkey, ham, roast beef and salami with jack, cheddar and provolone cheeses plus lettuce, tomatoes, onions and bell peppers on a French roll. Yeah, I know. Every time a menu describes something as “super,” the restaurant delivers something more akin to the milquetoast nerd Clark Kent than the man of steel. In other words, they bring you something boring and lacking imagination.
Not so with Christy’s Super Sandwich. It is an excellent, two-fisted mountain of deliciousness, easily one of the Duke City’s very best sandwich creations and one you won’t want to share with anyone. You can have your Super Sandwich grilled (my preference) or cold, but either way, it’s worthy of high adulation as so many different sandwich ingredients coalesce in deliciousness. All-star accompaniment for Christy’s sandwiches comes in the form of potato salad, homemade potato chips or pasta salad as good as mom might make.
When I can pry myself away from the Super Sandwich, it’s generally for either the tortilla roll-up or the grilled roast beef sandwich which includes New Mexico caliber green chile. The menu also includes a “Philly” sandwich, not at all to be mistaken for a Philly cheesesteak. Christy’s Philly features roast beef along with melted Provolone cheese, lettuce, sliced tomato and Philadelphia cream cheese. It’s a very good sandwich, made even better if you add green chile.
Christy’s offers nine cold deli sandwiches, six hot grilled sandwiches and the custom combo option. It is one of the increasingly rare sandwich restaurants in which you can still get an old-fashioned egg salad, chicken salad or tuna salad sandwich, all of which are reputed to be quite good (since I won’t share my Super Sandwich, I’m never offered a bite of my dining companions’ sandwiches).
Christy’s offers several dessert options. The carrot cake is moist and delicious as is the chocolate cake. Both are topped with a vanilla frosting that’s anything but plain.
Were I on death row, I’m not really sure I’d order my last meal from Christy’s Food Factory, but for a last meal prior to a short respite from Albuquerque, it’s one of my favorite choices.
Christy’s Food Factory
2301-A Yale, S.E.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
LATEST VISIT: 21 August 2012
CLOSED: May, 2013
# OF VISITS: 8
RATING: 19
COST: $
BEST BET: Super Sandwich, Carrot Cake, Grilled Roast Beef Sandwich
