The year was 1958. The average American wage-owner’s income was $4,650 per year. A Ford automobile cost between $1,967 and $3,929. Milk was $1.01 per gallon. Bread cost 19 cents a loaf and a can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti went for 19 cents a can. First class US postage was raised to 4 cents after having held at 3 cents for more than a quarter-century. A gallon of gasoline cost 24 cents. In 1958, the United States had two-thirds of the world’s 47-million television sets and many of them were tuned in to Gunsmoke, Father Knows Best, Dinah Shore and The Jack Benny Show. France gave the world the disposable Bic pen (which very few people under 20 have even heard of today). Corningware dishes, the hula hoop and stereo records were introduced. To pay for this copious consumerism, American Express introduced the first credit card. The “King” Elvis Prestley was inducted into the United States Army. Prince, Andy Gibb, Madonna and Michael Jackson were born.
In the world of sports, Pele scored two goals to lead Brazil to victory at the 1958 World Cup. Wilt Chamberlain left the University of Kansas to play with the Harlem Globetrotters. Ohio State defeated Oregon in the Rose Bowl while the St. Louis Hawks bested the Boston Celtics to win the NBA championship. The New York Yankees claimed their unprecedented eighteenth title. Closer to home, the University of New Mexico Lobo basketball team lost every game they played. With future NFL Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy at the helm, the Lobo football team had a 7-3 record.
In 1958, Belen, New Mexico wasn’t quite the bedroom community for Albuquerque it is today. In fact, it was downright pastoral with many families continuing generations-old farming traditions. Moreover, Belen was the hub of the Santa Fe Railroad, which to this day remains a major employer in the community. Hard-working railroad workers, farmers and ranchers are a hungry lot, a fact that wasn’t lost on local entrepreneur Gilbert “Gil” Tabet who in 1958 opened the first of two Circle T Burgers restaurants in Belen.
Tabet was a pioneer of sorts, introducing green chile on his restaurant’s burgers at a time when America’s love affair with the hamburger was just starting to ramp up. Though it might surprise New Mexicans, almost no one in Valencia county was showcasing the area’s fantastic green chile on their burgers until Tabet led the way. Soon other restaurants followed and the rest, as the proverbial “they” say is history. Generations of Belen residents grew up on the Circle T’s food and remain steadfastly loyal today. Gilbert Tabet passed away several years ago, but the restaurants he founded are in good hands with scion Phillip Tabet. Phillip is a fountain of knowledge, especially of Belen history. Moreover, he’s a nice guy and great host. He’s happy to tell you about the World War II scooter that bisects the restaurant’s two seating areas.
The Circle T on Belen’s Main Street has the look and feel of the 50s-style restaurant it is. In years gone by, when you approached the restaurant from the north, you would espy a 1960s icon for A&W’s teen burger, a fiberglass statue of a teenager sporting a letterman’s sweater emblazoned with an encircled letter T. The teenager is holding a frosted mug on one hand and a gigantic burger on the other. The years were not kind to that statue which is now just a memory. A large sign confirms you are indeed at Circle T Burgers. A large enclosed patio faces Main Street while an old-fashioned pick-up counter can be found on the restaurant’s southern parking lot, ostensibly for calling in your order in advance and picking it up quickly.
The restaurant’s real treasures are indoors where nostalgia abounds in the form of vintage art and period signage festooning the walls. You’ll want to stroll up and down the aisles and study the collection Gil Tabet amassed over the years. A collection of framed photos back-lit by small LED (light emitting diode) lights is well worth checking out. My favorite is one of Central Avenue (Route 66) in the Duke City looking east near the intersection of Carlisle. It’s amusing to see all that’s changed since the photo was taken, probably in the late 1960s, and what remains the same in our beloved Land of Mañana.
Also on the walls are framed photographs of the I Love Lucy television show so popular in the 1960s. A hooked rug depicting a chile ristra hangs on one wall as do many things of interest, including several framed newspaper articles celebrating the restaurant and the Tabet family. Modernity is no stranger to Circle T, however. Signage suspended from the ceiling directs you to the restaurant’s Wi-Fi hot spot and invites diners to visit the restaurant’s Facebook page. It’s an interesting dichotomy.
The menu hangs above the order and pick-up windows. It, too, is a period piece. On the left-hand side, the menu lists burgers which range in size from regular (1/6th pound) to jumbo (1/4th pound). Listed below these burgers are optional additives: chile, cheese, bacon and jalapeno. Other burger options include a tortilla burger and a taco burger, both with cheese and chile. The right-hand side of the menu is captioned “Sandwiches and Fries” and it’s easy to see why. Favorites include a jumbo barbecue burger, hot dogs, fried bean burritos, chicken wraps, chicken sandwiches, fish sandwiches, chile cheese fries, nachos with jalapenos, French fries and two sides: green chile or nacho cheese. Though your intended meal may be a green chile cheeseburger, it would be easy to get get off-course. Everything on the menu sounds delicious.
5 July 2010: Should you stay on track and opt for the green chile cheeseburger, you’ll be rewarded with one of the very best in New Mexico. The secret to this burger is definitely the green chiles the Tabet family purchases from Rosales Farms in nearby Lemitar. This chile bites back with a piquancy rarely found in Duke City burgers (though owner Phillip Tabet tells me it used to be much more piquant, but time has apparently tamed taste buds and guests now prefer a more “timid” chile). It’s a fresh, delicious neon green pile of deliciousness, spread generously on lightly toasted buns. Other ingredients on this burger are fresh tomatoes, red onions, pickles, crisp lettuce and mustard. The burger made it to the New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail.
Everything on the menu is prepared to order on a well-seasoned flat metal grill that retains flavors well and cooks at consistent temperatures. The results are an excellent green chile cheeseburger, the type of which you might want a second or third as I did. The coalescence of fresh ingredients and the lean, fresh, hand-pressed beef coupled with terrific green chile places this burger in rarefied company as one of the very best in New Mexico. That’s not just my contention. Circle T competed in the governor’s inaugural green chile cheeseburger competition (or as TJ Jackson recommends “Death Match) during the 2009 state fair and made an excellent accounting for itself.
23 April 2023: Another surprising, albeit non-traditional burger, you won’t find anywhere else is Circle T’s jumbo barbecue burger, a quarter-pounder resembling a sloppy Joe. It doesn’t taste like a sloppy Joe. The ground beef on this magnificent burger is ameliorated with a tangy barbecue sauce tinged with red chile for even more bite. It’s a handful and if you’re not careful, the contents may find their way onto your clothes (Murphy’s Law postulates that you’ll be wearing a white shirt when you eat one). My Kim had a barbecue burger during our inaugural and second visits. She compares it to the sloppy Joe at Albuquerque’s 66 Diner.
22 April 2023: In recent years, both “tortilla burgers” and “taco burgers” have increasingly grown as a popular alternative to New Mexico’s sacrosanct green chile cheeseburger. We’ve usually found both alternatives somewhat lacking especially since many purveyors use tortillas that are much too thin to hold in all ingredients, particular moist ones. The tortillas at Circle T look as if they may have been made by a tortillera at a home kitchen. They’re thick, but not overly so. Moreover, they have that inimitable homemade flavor and texture. Circle T’s tortilla burger has all the accoutrements: lettuce, tomato, onions, cheese and green chile. It’s a good one!
French fries are also quite good–as in “Best of the County” good according to several framed certificates on the wall. They’re the thin variety, the type of which you might find at LotaBurger, but they’re lightly salted. That’s easily remedied or you can opt for a ketchup coverage instead. Circle T Burgers is on the New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail. It’s less than half an hour away from Albuquerque and well worth the visit. Taste what Belen residents have enjoyed for more than fifty years–one of New Mexico’s true restaurant gems serving one of its best green chile cheeseburgers and so much more.
Circle T Burgers
523 South Main Street
Belen, New Mexico
(505) 864-4135
Facebook Page
LATEST VISIT: 22 April 2023
1st VISIT: 5 July 2010
# OF VISITS: 2
RATING: 20
COST: $ – $$
BEST BET: Half-Pound Green Chile Cheeseburger, Jumbo Barbecue Burger, Tortilla Burger, Fries
Circle T was a great Drive In in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. I grew up eating their delicious green chile burgers. Good hangout place. About 15 years ago my brother, still living in Belen, showed me a picture on the Circle T wall of a packed Onate theater. Picture was taken from the stage. On the right side I recognize some of my brothers and sisters. Cruising was popular in those days. Many had great looking cars. Cruising Circle T, Yslas, Lotta Burger and other drive-ins > the thing to do. Belen Schools, with great teachers, > tops as evidenced by all the successful graduates. (this comment from an out-of-state former Belen High School 1962 graduate)
Hi Gil, minor correction. The line, “first of two Belen Circle T Burgers restaurants in Los Lunas”. Maybe that was supposed to read first of two Belen Circle T Burgers restaurants in Valencia County? Great Blog! Please review more Valencia County restaurants!
Hi Gerald
Thank you for pointing out that error. It has been rectified.
Valencia county restaurants reviewed on my blog include Harla May’s Fat Boy Grill, Pete’s Cafe, Benny’s Mexican Kitchen and the Luna Mansion. Please let me know of any other Valencia County gems I need to visit.
Gil
And you still can’t spell chile’ correctly
What is typical of Belen is close family relationships where sons and daughters are justifiably proud of their father and the wonderful family business which has served the community for generations. Liz and Renee are very sweet people and their love for their father is very touching. I commend you for publishing their loving comments.
Do Liz and Renee Tabet think this is their father’s blog? Typical of Belen, can’t read or use the internet properly.
Hi Gil,
I was rummaging through your blog and discovered your review of Belen’s Circle T Burgers and your many references to 1958. I must have been asleep when you did this one. What a great review, and it was especially great for me. Here is why.
Although I use Lobo59 as my username, I matriculated at UNM with the 1958 class. I actually graduated on Jan. 3, 1959, however. (In brief, my chemistry lab instructor found out I was ditching chem lab to play table tennis when the class was scheduled and making up the lab on Saturdays. She did not like this. So I had the choice of an “F” or a “W”. I took the latter.)
Anyway, I had great fun with your references to 1958 (you were a toddler?). Reading your review brought back lots of good memories and images. A sample. I believe it was the clean-cut Four Freshmen who performed at the UNM 1958 Senior Prom. To save money, I used to eat a can of Franco-American Spaghetti (rather than Chef Boyardee) for lunch on occasion. I would keep it in the sun in the morning to heat it up by noon. In addition to the TV shows in your review, there was the Danny Thomas show, which due to my Lebanese Toledo ancestry was a personal favorite.
In regard to your credit card reference, here is an almost totally unknown footnote. My dad actually sold the first credit card in Albuquerque. He convinced First National Bank of the idea of the credit card and they supported it—sort of. This would probably have been in 1956. They called it FINA-Charge. The bank did not give it enough support so my dad had to come up with more money. In short, it failed in less than 2 years and my dad and my Ohio relatives who had invested in it, went broke. Ah me.
As for basketball: in the summer of 1954 I played a basketball pick-up game in old Carlisle Gym with legendary Lobo, Toby Roybal. What a treat that was! By 1958, however, the Lobos were awful—though I actually thought we won one game—but perhaps we only came close, once. My good friends and fellow Civil Engineering students, Dave Smith and Mel Castillo (from Belen) and I went to many games together, rooting for the hapless team. We would be 3 of only a couple of dozen fans in (at that time) the new Johnson Gym.
Mel and Dave lived near the campus, but I lived with my parents in the NE heights. Though we made some forays to Belen with Mel, I do not recall that we ever did eat a burger at Circle T’s. However, Dave and Mel often studied with me at my house, and around 10:30 pm we would drive over to a Lot-a-Burger on Menaul near San Mateo for cheeseburgers and fries to keep us going until 1 or 2 am. I think this was the second Lot-a-burger in town and I always have felt that we helped them stay in business.
Mel and Dave were both AFROTC students. Dave got his masters in Meteorology and became an executive with the National Weather Service before he passed away, too soon, at age 63. Mel stayed in the air force and retired as a colonel. He married the redhead he always dreamed about (this one was Italian), got a PhD in engineering and after retirement had a good career in the aerospace industry.
See how far your blogs can reach? A long waaaay baaaack!
Now, I gotta drive down to Belen and check out the Circle-T!
Thanks for a great blog.
Bill
P.S. The Zia Diner in Santa Fe has a great green-chile and pinon infested meatloaf. One of the best meatloaf’s I have ever tasted. You might want to check it out.
Hi DAD! Yes . . . . we all miss those green chili burgers! My favorite is the green chili tortilla burger and of course the fries! The hand made shakes and malts are sure the best desserts! Being home for a short while this summer was a sure pleasure eating at the drive-in and visiting with people from Belen again.
We used to eat at the Circle T back in the late 50’s and early 60’s when we’d return home to Belen every summer for The Fiestas of Belen on the gounds of Our Lady of Belen.
My one big complaint about that and other burger places is the shredded lettuce. I hate it!!!
The perfect cheeseburger is an In-N-Out, the California based chain…….but with New Mexico green chile.
I also hate, hate, hate chopped green chile. The traditional was to prepare green chile is to squish it through ones fingers in a bowl wearing plastic gloves.
Chile’
In and 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮out burger 🤮🤮🤮🤣🤣
Oh, you forget! Along with Michael jackson, Donny Osmand, and Madonna, I was also born in 1958. How could you forget, Dad?
OK, it’s been way too long that I’ve been home. Dad, I am hungry for the french fries, first of all. No ones compares to yours anywhere! Next it’s always a conflict with the BBQ burger that is so amazingly different than any other burger I’ve tasted, or the Hamburger with green chili and don’t forget mayonaise….no mustard!
i will be home to enjoy one soon, I hope. Much love to everyone!