Fiesta Azul Tequila House Mexican Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

TIM WALZ: “I have white guy tacos.”
VP KAMALA HARRIS: “What does that mean? Like, mayonnaise and tuna? What are you doing?”
TIM WALZ: “Pretty much-ground meat and cheese.”
VP KAMALA HARRIS:  “Do you put any flavor in it?”
TIM WALZ:  “Uh, no.  Black pepper is the top of the spice level in Minnesota, ya know”

A promotional  video featuring the Democratic Presidential nominee sharing a funny exchange with her Vice Presidential pick revealed the latter’s “Midwestern tastes” which include a “white guy taco.”   Analysis of America’s voting preferences has been done for virtually every demographic category save perhaps the “taco vote.”   Sadly, in the world of politics even a video elicits rancor and outrage when it depicts candidates behaving like normal people a having  normal conversation.  I hope you don’t take umbrage at this introduction to my post.

If there’s one thing American idealogues–conservatives and liberals–should not be divided about, it’s our mutual love of tacos.  As a Hispanic white guy pretty much incapable of being offended, I myself used the term “white guy Mexican food” for years.   In fact, I used terms that were much more disparaging.  Imagine having been weaned on New Mexican food and being sent by the Air Force to Biloxi, Mississippi for technical training.  Biloxi was a culinary wasteland when it came to Mexican food with Taco Bell offering the only facsimile.   Abstinence was preferable.

I often wondered what I did wrong for the Air Force to punish me with a personal purgatory of assignments as far away as possible from New Mexican or Mexican food.  It seemed like a life sentence to serve two tours in England, two years in Massachusetts and eight years in Biloxi without the incomparably preternatural deliciousness of potent chile.  Pangs of withdrawal certainly hastened my decision to retire despite the inevitability of being promoted.  Today–even when we travel–we’re elated to find that Mexican food is widely available and it’s not the faux white guy Mexican food.  It’s the real thing!

We still had some misgivings upon learning that a Florida-based Mexican restaurant was launching a satellite in Albuquerque.  Memories of white guy Mexican food throughout the South flooded back.  We needn’t have worried.  That Florida-based Mexican restaurant, Fiesta Azul Tequila Kitchen is the real deal.  Its website self glosses as “our family-owned Mexican restaurant, where the authentic flavors of North and Central Mexico come alive!  Fiesta Azul has three locations in Florida and now one in the Land of Enchantment.  Our hostess explained that the owner’s family has roots in Chihuahua and Colima while his partner and wife is from Albuquerque.

True to its name, Fiesta Azul is “a distinguished tequila house and Mexican restaurant boasting one of the region’s most extensive tequila collections. Our carefully curated bar features over 130 premium tequilas, including rare artesanal selections that showcase Mexico’s finest agave spirits.”   We wouldn’t go five feet for any premium tequila, but we will travel far and wide for Mexican food.  Fortunately, we had to go no further than Montgomery, just west of Louisiana.  Fiesta Azul occupies the space that previously housed such stalwarts as Liquid Assets, Poki Poblano  and the Independence Grill.

Despite its many incarnations, the edifice which houses Fiesta Azul can’t be mistaken for anything but familiar to veterans of the Duke City’s dining scene.  Sure, the signage has changed, but the restaurant’s three-level seating configuration remains unaltered.  On the upper level (two steps up), you’ll find the bar area where tequila aficionados tend to sit.  Diners tend to sit in one of the two lower areas or on the south-facing patio (weather permitting).  The restaurant is adorned in Monochromatic Minimalism (a limited color palette which creates an uncluttered and calming atmosphere).

We knew right off we’d like Fiesta Azul when our server ferried over a bowl of salsa and basket of chips to our table.  Fiesta Azul is a rarity in that salsa and chips are complimentary.  The salsa is served in a ramekin.  You’ll quickly dispense of the salsa (which has very little bite), but your server (ask for Xavier) will replenish it.  Chips are rather on the thin and brittle side and tend to break with Gil-sized scoops.  Those chips are low in salt and don’t have a pronounced corn flavor, but they’re quite good for the price.

Fiesta Azul’s menu is extensive and a pleasure to peruse.  You’ll likely narrow down to about six to ten items what you’d love to try.  That’s what future visits are for.  The appetizer menu alone lists some lucky thirteen items.  Not all of them are the de rigueur offerings you’ll find at other Mexican restaurants.  You don’t, for example, often see melotes (three plantains filled with queso fresco and chorizo, Topped with sour cream, and Mole negro) on an appetizer menu. Testament to the menu’s authenticity is that you’ll find both elotes (grilled corn on the cob with mayonnaise, fresh lime, cotija cheese and Tijan chili powder) and esquites (grilled corn off the cob, chipotle mayonnaise, fresh lime juice and cotija cheese) on the menu.  Even better, you can opt to exclude an ingredient from your corn.  For my Kim that meant no Tijan chili powder.  The elotes are sweet and nicely roasted though rather on the puny side.

11 November 2024: Even though my Kim dislikes pinto beans (even after living in New Mexico for 26 years), she loves bean dip made from refried dip usually with shredded cheese on top.  Fiesta Azul offers a bean and queso dip, essentially reddish refried beans foming an island in a lagoon of melted queso.   The redishness of the beans comes from paprika which also lends just a hint of piquancy.  Just a hint, mind you, but too much for my Kim.  I’ve long ago stopped feeling sorry for her inability to tolerate piquant foods because it means I can eat them all.

11 November 2024: The most difficult decision for me what in deciding what entree to order from so many varied categories: Rice Bowls, Tacos, Enchiladas; Burritos, Chimichangas and Quesadillas; Seafood, Platos Fuertes, Fajitas and Crudos.  Several items and even greater variety are available within each category.  Honestly, you’ll have a heckuva time deciding what to order.  Ultimately, I made an eenie meenie miney mo decision and opted for the torre de mariscos, a seafood tower described on the menu as “tower of delicious ceviche style seafood including shrimp, scallops, mahi-mahi layered with avocado, mango, cucumber and red onions and a very flavorful sauce.”  This is a fun tower to descend as you polish off one layer after another.   The seafood is very fresh and so tasty from its citrus marinade.

11 November 2024: While many Mexican restaurants don’t offer fajitas at all,  Fiesta Azul offers nine different fajita platers.  Each comes with lettuce, pico, guacamole, sour cream, rice and beans, tortillas.  For an additional ten spot, you can have it made for two.   After sampling the tender, delicious steak on my Kim’s steak fajitas plate,  our landlubber friends John and Lynn ordered steak fajitas, too.  It’s a very good choice, especially if you don’t recognize items on the menu.  Red and green peppers and onions are grilled just right, but it’s the steak that meat-eaters will appreciate most, especially when nestled on a warm tortilla.  Portion size is generous and each fajita plate arrives at your table with the requisite steam wafting upward.

22 May 2025:  According to Global Trade Magazine,  in 2019, the global plantain market rose to $31.9B, surging by 2.6% against the previous year.  To my surprise, the countries with the highest volumes of plantain consumption in 2019 were the Democratic Republic of the Congo (5.7M tons), Cameroon (5.2M tons), and Ghana (4.2M tons), together comprising 36% of global consumption.  I had assumed Central and South America  as well as the Caribbean nations would be the largest consumers of plantains.  Rarely will you visit a restaurant from these three areas in which you don’t find plantains on the menu.  That’s not necessarily the case at Mexican restaurants–or at least those based in the United States.  Even in Mexico, you’ll visit regions in which plantains are very rare while in others (Oaxaca, Yucatan, Chiapas, Puebla) plantains are used extensively.

We were delighted to find that Fiesta Azul offers a plantain-based starter we hadn’t seen in New Mexico’s Mexican restaurants.  That surprising appetizer is called molotes (three plantains filled with queso fresco, chorizo, topped with sour cream, and mole negro).  At the very least, it’s an interesting appetizer, but not a very balanced one.  Despite the presence of queso fresco, sour cream and chorizo, the dominant flavor notes were almost almost dessert sweet.  We had expected a dish somewhere along the line of chiles relleno en nogada which does have a wonderful balance of sweet and savory notes.

22 May 2025:  Portion size at Fiesta Azul is very generous.  It would be very easy for two to share a plate, especially from the Platos Fuertes (main courses) section of the menu.  On the Platos Fuertes section of the menu, you’ll find such mixed grill delights as parrillada (ribeye steak, grilled chicken, mahi-mahi, shrimp, scallops, onions and peppers on a flaming skillet, pico, guacamole, sour cream with rice and beans), molcajete (steak, shrimp, carnitas, chorizo, chicken, cactus, onions, bell peppers, queso fresco, avocado, lettuce, pico, sour cream served with rice and beans), molcajete del mar (fresh caught blend of seafood including shrimp, mahi-mahi, scallops, crab legs, clams and mussels in a boiling volcanic rock with seafood sauce, served with rice, beans, lettuce, pico, sour cream and tortillas), molcajete mamalon (a sizzling feast of ribeye steak, achiote-grilled chicken, chorizo, shrimp, and lobster tail in a bed of smoky chipotle tomatillo sauce—all served in a hot molcajete with cilantro rice, black beans, and a fresh avocado salad) and alambre (steak, chicken, pastor, bacon, chorizo, bell peppers, onions, and nopal. topped with fresh Chihuahua cheese, fresh avocado, chile toreado, and fresh tortillas).

In Spanish, the term “alambre” translates to wire, the type of which we used to repair fences in our ranch-farm in Northern New Mexico. All too often that wire met flesh and elicited very colorful language (though not when my dad was watching). Legend has it that the Mexican dish called “alambre’derived its name from the meats having been skewered.  Whatever the case, alambre is one wonderful dish, especially if you’re partial to meats.  There’s just something magical about the foursome of steak, chicken, al pastor, bacon and chorizo.  The addition of bell peppers and onions is somewhat reminiscent of fajitas…and that’s a good thing.  The alambre is served with flour or corn tortillas which you can use as little “New Mexican spoons” to scoop up the delightful dish.

22 May 2025:  In my review of Rio Tacos, my favorite Albuquerque taqueria, I lament the frequent use of “less than premium” ingredients often used in the construction of tacos throughout the Duke City.  It made me wonder if chefs are emulating French culinary pioneers who  created so many transformative sauces was to mask the flavor of proteins well past their expiration date).   I’m always surprised when a restaurant (such as Rio Tacos) uses premium proteins.  Another restaurant warranting a call-out is Fiesta Azul who actually uses “steak” when steak is a listed ingredient.

Quite often when we order carne asada (literally grilled and sliced beef, usually skirt steak, flap steak, or flank steak though chuck steak can also be used), we don’t often know what we’re going to get.  At Fiesta Azul, an order of carne asada means two thin sliced ribeye steaks, served with, avocado salad, grilled spring onions, rice and refried beans.  Since my Kim doesn’t like refried beans, she opted for two orders of a very good rice.  The ribeye steak was very good, better than you’ll find at many a steakhouse.   Every bite of the tender ribeye pleasured our taste buds, especially when paired with the grilled spring onions.

We honestly expected not to like Fiesta Azul, recalling too many white guy Mexican meals in the Deep South.  Not only are we now besotted of this terrific Mexican kitchen, we can’t wait to return to try such a varied and exciting menu.

Fiesta Azul Tequila Mexican Kitchen
6910 Montgomery, N.E., Suite 1
Albuquerque, New Mexico
(505) 525-8291
Website | Facebook Page
LATEST VISIT: 22 May 2025
1st VISIT: 11 November 2024
# OF VISITS: 2
RATING: 23
COST: $$$
BEST BET:  Salsa and Chips, Queso Dip, Steak Fajitas, Street Corn, Torre De Mariscos, Alambre, Molotes, Carne Asada
REVIEW #1431