{"id":299,"date":"2026-04-18T03:54:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T09:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=299"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:32:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T21:32:57","slug":"il-vicino-albuquerque-new-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=299","title":{"rendered":"Il Vicino – Albuquerque, New Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
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Il Vicino in Albuquerque’s Burgeoning Northwest Side.\u00a0 The Heated Patio is a Godsend in January<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Undoubtedly the most oft-quoted line on Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall<\/em>” is “good fences make good neighbors<\/em>.” Frost, a four-time Pulitzer Prize award winning American poet certainly didn’t have Il Vicino (“the neighbor”) in mind when he penned his prose. Fortunately fences are no obstacle to patrons of this popular contemporary Italian trattoria. A well-regarded neighborhood eatery with three Albuquerque locations, Il Vicino is probably best known for its wood-oven pizza and award-winning brewery with popular micro-brewed ales but it offers much more than that. Known in some circles for prized beers, Il Vicino has a private wine label designed to complement its menu. Victuals include salads, panini and piadine-style sandwiches and baked lasagna, too.<\/p>\n

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The Huge Wood Oven is Definitely the Cynosure of Il Vicino<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Il Vicino has long been a fixture in Albuquerque’s Nob Hill area (3403 Central Avenue, S.E.) with a second location in the far Northeast Heights (11225 Montgomery Boulevard, N.E.). In November, 2009, a third Il Vicino was launched in the burgeoning Northwest side (10701 Coors Blvd, N.W.). You’re never too far away from Il Vicino.\u00a0 Every year, Pizza Monthly<\/em>, a highly respected trade publication, mails out surveys to independent pizzerias across the nation. Using their responses, they compile a \u201cHot 100 list\u201d \u2014 a ranking of America\u2019s 100 largest independent pizza operations<\/a><\/strong> based on sales. With nearly eleven-million in sales, Il Vicino (three locations in Albuquerque, one in Santa Fe, two in Colorado Springs and two in Wichita, Kansas) ranked 12th, just missing the top ten.<\/p>\n

To celebrate the 100 year anniversary of pizza in America, James Beard Award-winning food writer Ed Levine<\/strong><\/a> ate nothing but pizza for an entire twelve month period, taking a representative pulse of the best from among thousands of pizza purveyors. His terrific tome, Pizza A Slice of Heaven<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, published in 2005, provides a definitive guide to a beloved staple that in its elemental form is simplicity itself\u2013bread, cheese and whatever toppings a pizzaioli artisan might care to add.\u00a0 Il Vicino was one of only two New Mexico pizzerias mentioned in Ed Levine’s terrific tome.<\/p>\n

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The Rustico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When it’s on its game, Il Vicino does it well–a wood-oven baked, thin-crusted pie with just a hint of char on a (usually) crispy crust replete in its outside edges with airy holes. Because of the thinness of the pizza, the pizzaiolis sometimes extricate it from the oven before it’s completely done. That means you’ll occasionally (okay, once in a long while) get a doughy, incompletely baked pizza. Unlike cookie dough, near raw pizza dough is nearly inedible. At other times, the pizza is crispy and done to perfection.<\/p>\n

Obviously my experiences with doughy pizza may vary from your experiences–or from that of “culinary authorities.”\u00a0 Consider that in July, 2019, The Daily Meal compiled \u201cThe Best Pizza in Every State<\/strong><\/a>\u201d and its choice for New Mexico\u2019s best was Il Vicino. With four New Mexico locations, Il Vicino\u2019s \u201cem>pizzas are baked hot and fast in a wood-fired oven, made with fresh, high-quality ingredients, and inspired by chef Tom White\u2019s trips to Italy.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The basis for naming Il Vicino the best in the Land of Enchantment is the opinion of a panel of culinary authorities who weighed in and voted for their favorites from more than 800 great pizzerias across the fruited plain.<\/p>\n

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Pescatore Salad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

18 April 2026<\/strong>: At the Northeast Heights location, the mouth of a ferocious lion serves as the door to the oven in which more than a dozen different pizzas are prepared. Having visited all three Il Vicino restaurants, I believe the leonine oven is responsible for the most consistently well-baked pizzas in the triumvirate of neighborly restaurants.\u00a0 In all three Duke City Il Vicino restaurants, the cynosure–that is, the focal point of the restaurant is most definitely the wood-burning oven.\u00a0 The aroma of wood smoke permeates the dining room, helping allay the bite of winter winds.\u00a0 During an April, 2026 visit to the Corrales Road instantiation of Il Vicino, we discovered what thus far has been my favorite pizza.\u00a0 Surprisingly, it’s a pie sans meat.\u00a0 The Rustica<\/strong><\/em> (marinara sauce, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, roasted garlic, capers, fresh oregano) has a flavor profile that bespeaks of tanginess.\u00a0 That tang comes from artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, capers and the marinara sauce.\u00a0 To make it even more tangy and add a touch of sour, we added goat cheese.\u00a0 My vegetarian friends will love this pizza.<\/p>\n

Il Vicino’s prowess is by no means exclusive to pizza. It also crafts some of the most highly regarded panini and piadine sandwiches and most colossal calzones in town as well as sizeable salads and pasta al forno. Two lasagna entrees are among the latter. One, the lasagna giardiniere is a vegetarian’s delight, replete with layered pasta, fire-roasted bell peppers and onions, mushrooms, spinach, ricotta, parmesan, mozzarella, marinara sauce and pesto.\u00a0 Meat lovers will enjoy the Lasagna Bolognese<\/strong><\/em>, pasta layered with marinara sauce, ground beef, tomatoes, onion, mozzarella, ricotta, mushrooms, fresh oregano and parmesan. It’s a filling pasta dish though somewhat on the salty side–and the level of doneness may result in a relatively dry lasagna you can literally scrape off the plate.<\/p>\n

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Hero<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Il Vicino has certainly managed to discover the perfect balance of ingredients when crafting both folded flatbread (piadine) and conventional panini sandwiches. Neither vegetables nor meats nor cheeses or sauces dominate the competition for the rapt attention of your taste buds. Instead, the ingredients meld together like a well-orchestrated musical arrangement.\u00a0 These aren’t behemoth Dagood sandwiches that tower over your plate.\u00a0 They’re “right-sized” so that even hardy eaters will eat half at the restaurant and take the other half home for later.<\/p>\n

18 April 2026<\/strong>: In the latest episode of Mars and Venus Misaligned or Ralph and Alice Kramden visit a restaurant, I was rebuffed repeatedly in my attempts to convince my Kim that the salad we should split is the Pescatore Salad<\/strong><\/em> (Romaine, light albacore tuna salad (dolphin safe), sun-dried tomato mayonnaise, pesto dressing, feta, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, diced tomato, capers). Fortunately, a female passer-by overheard our debate and told my Kim it was the best salad in the restaurant. Obviously this stranger carries more weight with my dear wife than I do because we ordered the Pescatore Salad\u2026and of course, after my Kim ate most of it, she gave copious credit and lavished praise on that woman. Go figure.<\/p>\n

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Calzone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

19 January 2020<\/strong>: My very favorite of the folded flatbread sandwiches on Il Vicino’s menu is the Hero.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Not only is “Hero” one of the many aliases (submarine, hoagie, grinder, etc.) for America’s favorite hand-held delight, its apropos for this delicious piadine. Like the very best hero sandwiches, this one is heaped with layers of thinly sliced meats, vegetables and cheeses: Capocollo ham, hard salami, Dijon mayonnaise, mozzarella, provolone, pepperoncini, red onions, Roma tomato, romaine and house vinaigrette. Il Vicino does not scrimp on ingredients nor does it make your jaw sore with its girth.\u00a0 It’s perfectly “right-sized” for most.\u00a0 Two things stand out for me–the Dijon mustard which has a definite attention-getting tang and the pepperoncini, a rare addition to sandwiches, but one which definitely belongs on the Hero.<\/p>\n

18 April 2026<\/strong>: My Kim, who eschews bread-based dishes, surprised me by ordering Il Vicino’s Calzone<\/strong><\/em> (Capocollo ham, marinara sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, goat cheese, balsamic onions, roasted red peppers, fresh basil).\u00a0 It surprised me even more when she polished off half of it in one seating.\u00a0 Though it looks from the photo below as if the calzone has a surfeit of bread on the edges, those edges are replete with cheeses.\u00a0 By the way, the goat cheese stands out with a much stronger (and preferred) flavor profile than the ricotta and mozzarella.\u00a0 The puffed-up middle is where most of the ingredients are concentrated.\u00a0 The balsamic onions (outstanding) and roasted red peppers counterbalance the richness of the cheeses while the capocollo lends its distinct smokiness.\u00a0 My Kim asks for marinara sauce on the side, but doesn’t use much of it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Pollo E Pesto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

19 January 2020<\/strong>: On the panini section of the sandwich menu, you’ll find the Pollo E Pesto <\/strong><\/em>(roasted chicken, pesto mayonnaise, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, red onions, roasted red peppers).\u00a0 With the recent upsurge in the popularity of fried chicken sandwiches, a notable roasted chicken sandwich is becoming a rarity.\u00a0 This is a good one thanks in large part to the invigorating flavors of a traditional basil-based pesto.\u00a0 My Kim likens most pesto to freshly mowed grass, but she raved about Il Vicino’s version.\u00a0 The melding of nutty-rich artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers play very well with the pesto with the roasted chicken proving a worthy foil.<\/p>\n

19 January 2020<\/strong>:\u00a0 Arguably the most memorable line in Mario Puzo’s immortal The Godfather was “Leave the gun.\u00a0 Take the cannolis<\/em>.”\u00a0 It’s rare that we visit an Italian restaurant and leave the cannolis.\u00a0 They’re harder to resist than the snooze button on your alarm clock.\u00a0 Il Vicino’s cannoli<\/strong><\/em>(sweetened ricotta cream cheese with chocolate chips inside a crisp pastry) is more than a bit on the sweet side which made it a perfect dessert for my bride.\u00a0 For me, the plain cheesecake proved far superior.\u00a0 It’s dense, firm and lush, a forkful of deliciousness.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Cannoli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

19 January 2020<\/strong>:\u00a0 With advancing geriatric progression (I’m 39) comes a diminished liking for sweet desserts.\u00a0 Give me dark chocolate every time.\u00a0 A cornucopia of fruit would be nice.\u00a0 So would a gateau from France where pastry chefs don’t try to rot your teeth with an overload of sugar.\u00a0 When made well, tiramisu<\/strong><\/em> is among my favorite of all desserts.\u00a0 Il Vicino’s tiramisu (lady fingers soaked with espresso and brandy, layered with mascarpone) is made very well.\u00a0 \u00a0The prevalent flavors are that of a lightly sweetened expresso, the smooth and warming brandy and the subtly sweet mascarpone.\u00a0 This is a beautiful, fork-tender dolce that warrants a visit (or ten) to Il Vicino.<\/p>\n

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Tiramisu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Libations are ostensibly as good as the food–or at least Il Vicino’s root beer <\/strong><\/em>is. It’s a hearty, full-bodied adult root beer with little froth and just enough sweetness to appeal to children of all ages.<\/p>\n

One visit and you might wish all your neighbors were like Il Vicino.<\/p>\n

Il Vicino
\n<\/strong>3403 Central, N.E.
\nAlbuquerque, New Mexico<\/strong>
\n(505) 266-7855
\nWebsite<\/strong><\/a>| Facebook Page<\/strong><\/a>
\nLATEST VISIT<\/strong>: 18 April 2026
\n# OF VISITS<\/strong>: 10
\nRATING<\/strong>: Very Good<\/span><\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Good to very good food; generally solid; delivers consistent quality, strong technique, and a comfortable, enjoyable dining experience
\nCOST<\/strong>: $$
\nBEST BET<\/strong>: The Hero, Root Beer, Cheesecake, Canoli, Pollo E Pesto, Tiramisu, The Rustico, Calzone<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Undoubtedly the most oft-quoted line on Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall” is “good fences make good neighbors.” Frost, a four-time Pulitzer Prize award winning American poet certainly didn’t have Il Vicino (“the neighbor”) in mind when he penned his prose. Fortunately fences are no obstacle to patrons of this popular contemporary Italian trattoria. A well-regarded neighborhood eatery with three Albuquerque locations, Il Vicino is probably best known for its wood-oven pizza and award-winning brewery with popular micro-brewed ales but it offers much more than that. Known in some circles for prized beers, Il Vicino has a private wine label designed to complement its menu. Victuals include salads, panini and piadine-style sandwiches and baked lasagna, too. Il Vicino has long been…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":80032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[440,703,71,68,5631],"tags":[1794,2370,5683,1950,5687,5685,5684,2313,5682,5686,2523],"class_list":["post-299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-albuquerque","category-dog-friendly","category-italian","category-pizza","category-very-good","tag-calzone","tag-cannoli","tag-canoli","tag-cheesecake","tag-lasagna-bolognese","tag-pescatore-salad","tag-pollo-e-pesto","tag-root-beer","tag-the-hero","tag-the-rustica","tag-tiramisu"],"yoast_head":"\nIl Vicino - Albuquerque, New Mexico - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=299\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Il Vicino - Albuquerque, New Mexico - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Undoubtedly the most oft-quoted line on Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall” is “good fences make good neighbors.” Frost, a four-time Pulitzer Prize award winning American poet certainly didn’t have Il Vicino (“the neighbor”) in mind when he penned his prose. Fortunately fences are no obstacle to patrons of this popular contemporary Italian trattoria. A well-regarded neighborhood eatery with three Albuquerque locations, Il Vicino is probably best known for its wood-oven pizza and award-winning brewery with popular micro-brewed ales but it offers much more than that. Known in some circles for prized beers, Il Vicino has a private wine label designed to complement its menu. Victuals include salads, panini and piadine-style sandwiches and baked lasagna, too. 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