{"id":79845,"date":"2026-06-27T00:01:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T06:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=79845"},"modified":"2026-07-01T08:43:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:43:44","slug":"la-sierra-new-mexican-restaurant-albuquerque-new-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=79845","title":{"rendered":"La Sierra New Mexican Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"
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La Sierra Mexican Restaurant on Alameda Just West of Corrales Road<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“I eat uno, dos, tres, quatro burritos<\/em>
\nPretty soon I can’t fit in my Speedos<\/em>
\nWell, I hope they feed us lots of chicken fajitas<\/em>
\nAnd a pitcher of margaritas”<\/em>
\n~Taco Grande by Weird Al Yankovic<\/strong><\/p>\n

While perusing the slogans–One Bite And You’re Hooked; Cooked Slow, Served Hot, Loved Fast; Hot Chile makes Everything Better” on the windows of La Sierra, I half expected to see lyrics from the “Weird “Al Yankovic song “Taco Grande”<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 (a parody of the song “Rico Suave”).\u00a0 What I didn’t expect was for La Sierra to live up to its self-aggrandizing hype.\u00a0 Of course, diners always hope a restaurant is as good as it professes to be, but all-too-often an eatery doesn’t live up to the hype.\u00a0 La Sierra does…and then some!<\/p>\n

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You’ll Find The Slogans on the Window Are True<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Albuquerque’s very first instantiation of La Sierra (not to be confused with the venerable Mac’s La Sierra<\/strong><\/a>) launched in July,\u00a0 2025 on the corner of Menaul and University at the site of a former Little Anita’s<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0Some nine months later, a second La Sierra opened its doors.\u00a0 This one is located on Alameda just west of Corrales Road. You may recall that this location once housed The Whole Enchilada<\/strong><\/a> which was later renamed Tarasco.\u00a0 Both locations of La Sierra are owned by impresario Gabriel Nu\u00f1ez whose father\u00a0 Leo also owns the epoonymous Leo’s Nightclub<\/strong><\/a> on 12th and Candelaria..<\/p>\n

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La Sierra Dining Room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We were somewhat surprised that La Sierra wasn’t more crowded during our inaugural visit.\u00a0 If there’s one positive to be gleaned from the restaurant not being packed, it’s that we got to spend time with the personable Gabriel Nu\u00f1ez and the restaurant’s effusive greeter-server Jazmine.\u00a0 Based on our inaugural experience, it shouldn’t be long before teeming throngs discover La Sierra which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.\u00a0 Not only is service efficient and affable, the food is quite good.\u00a0 It’s also very inexpensive (a bonus for these economically challenging times).\u00a0 La Sierra’s current operating hours are 8AM through 3PM but Gabriel plans to expand business hours once he fully staffs the restaurant.<\/p>\n

Gabriel explained that La Sierra sources its red chile from Chimayo and its green chile from Hatch.\u00a0 La Sierra is comfortable on both sides of the line of demarcation between New Mexican and Mexican food.\u00a0 Both of Gabriel’s parents grew up in Mexico, but Gabriel has spent his entire life in the Land of Enchantment.\u00a0 Family business ventures have had a presence in Albuquerque since 1985.\u00a0 Cumin is added to dishes made with red- and green-chile, but it’s barely discernible even to me (that’s a huge plus).\u00a0 The menu is extensive, offering a few dishes you won’t find elsewhere.<\/p>\n

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Chips and Salsa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first page of the menu is dedicated to breakfast, the most important meal of the day.\u00a0 Listed first are “breakfast tapas:” sopaipilla and French toast.\u00a0 Appetizers–including such surprises as birria pizza, mini chimis and birria beef tacos–are listed next followed by kids’ breakfast and a sixteen-item breakfast menu.\u00a0 Page two of the menu lists six burgers, five vegetarian plates, five skillet plates, four kids’ meals and seventeen lunch and dinner plates.\u00a0 Among the more intriguing offerings are the “Rio Grande mango shrimp.”\u00a0 The third page of the menu lists a la carte items, drinks, aguas frescas and desserts.\u00a0 Among the aguas frescas listed is one made with mango, not a very common offering in Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

24 April 2026<\/strong>:\u00a0 As you peruse the delightful menu, make sure you’ve got an order of chips and salsa<\/strong><\/em> at your table.\u00a0 Salsa ingredients include jalape\u00f1os, onions and cilantro.\u00a0 It’s a very good salsa, just thick enough for Gil-sized scoops.\u00a0 The yellow corn chips are formidable enough for those scoops (I’ll never dip a chip).\u00a0 In terms of piquancy, it’s become disengenuous for me to declare any New Mexican or Mexican item as “mild” because virtually every chile- or jalape\u00f1o-infused item is mild to me.\u00a0 That said, La Sierra’s salsa is pleasantly hot.\u00a0 It provides that adrenaline kick<\/p>\n

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Fajitas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

14 April 2026<\/strong>: “Weird” Al Yankovic’s “Taco Grande” song begs “Give me something hot and spicy now<\/em>.”\u00a0 That may be perfectly fine for New Mexican volcano-eaters, but those of delicate taste buds would beg to differ.\u00a0 Fortunately jaunty Jazmine, obviously intimately familiar with the menu, pointed out every item that can be made without chile.\u00a0 My Kim’s choice was the chicken and beef fajitas<\/strong><\/em> which arrived sizzling and smoky. Punctuated with red, yellow and green peppers as well as pearlescent onions, the fajitas are beautifully nestled on an iron skillet which ensures they remain hot for the duration of your meal.\u00a0 They’re served with thin tortillas and sour cream.\u00a0 My Kim, a fajita fanatic declared La Sierra’s version “outstanding<\/em>” and “among the best I’ve had<\/em>.”\u00a0 They must have been good; she gave me only one piece of each protein.<\/p>\n

14 April 2026<\/strong>: New Mexico is well-worthy of its “Land of Enchantment’ sobriquet.\u00a0 “The Enchanted Enchilada” (flat or rolled cheese, blue corn enchiladas smothered in red and green chile; meat and fried egge optional; served with rice and beans) is also deserving of its appellation.\u00a0 The Enchanted Enchilada<\/strong><\/em> (which I ordered “stacked,” the way they’re made in Northern New Mexico) is beautifully plated on a triangular white plate.\u00a0 As with the aforementioned fajitas, the plate is almost too hot to handle.\u00a0 One of my (many) pet-peeves is food that’s served lukewarm.\u00a0 Flavors seem to jump out at you more when food is served at a hot temperature.\u00a0 It’s only one of the many reasons The Enchanted Enchilada was so good.<\/p>\n

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Enchiladas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Chimayo chile is probably the main reason.\u00a0 Chimayo red is superb, the very best in a state which boats of the best chile in the universe (especially the red chile at Mary & Tito’s<\/strong><\/a>) .\u00a0 La Sierra’s green may be slightly more piquant and is quite delicious in its own right.\u00a0 I eschewed rice and asked for two portions of the refried beans.\u00a0 They, too, were wonderful.\u00a0 While my Kim doesn’t like beans much, Gabriel and I reminisced about growing up having beans for breakfast, lunch, dinner…and snacks.\u00a0 Long live los frijoles.\u00a0 The canvas for the Enchanted Enchiladas were blue corn tortillas.\u00a0 Crowning the plate was a fried egg over easy.\u00a0 Minutes after having left La Sierra, I couldn’t wait to return.<\/p>\n

In discussing what we should order during our next visit, Gabriel was effusive about every menu item.\u00a0 He admitted to enjoying a bowl of posole every other day or so.\u00a0 Fittingly it’s made fresh every other day.\u00a0 My experience is that posole is even better the day after it’s made and all the flavors have coalesced.\u00a0 Maybe I’ll just follow “Weird” Al’s advice: “You see, I just gotta have a tostada, carne asada.\u00a0 That’s right, I want the whole enchilada.\u00a0 My only addiction has to do with a flour tortilla. I need a quesadilla.”\u00a0 <\/em>If our inaugural visit is any indication, we’ll be visiting La Sierra quite often.<\/p>\n

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Posole<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

24 April 2026<\/strong>:\u00a0 In 2015, an Albuquerque man got his fifteen minutes of fame and likely a spot on the America’s Dumbest Criminals television show.\u00a0 According to Police, a hungry housebreaker wanted his mother\u2019s traditional New Mexican posole so much he broke into her home and stole a pot of it.\u00a0 The criminal complain indicates the ravenous robber texted his mom that he wanted some of her posole but she told him he couldn’t have any.\u00a0 The starving sneak thief was arrested on a charge of residential burglary.\u00a0 Hmm, I would hope my mom would never deny her eldest son some of her posole, but…<\/p>\n

If she does, the next best pozole<\/strong><\/em> can be found at La Sierra.\u00a0 The pozole is available in two sizes.\u00a0 The larger size is about as big as a child’s wading pool.\u00a0 Even the small bowl will challenge trenchermen to finish it off.\u00a0 You might notice the spelling on the menu is pozole (from the Nahuatle pozolli)\u00a0 even though the spelling throughout much of the U.S. Southwest is “posole.”\u00a0 Who cares how it’s spelled provided this rich, comforting soup has the characteristic deliciousness and heartiness of an item that presents one of the three sisters (corn, beans, squash) so well.\u00a0 This pozole features tender cubed pork and soft, chewy hominy kernels in a broth flavored with chile and garlic.\u00a0 Chopped onions, limes and cilantro are provided in a separate bowl.\u00a0 This is probably the best pozole you can find at any New Mexican restaurant.\u00a0 It is simply outstanding!!!<\/p>\n

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Sunrise Burrito<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

24 April 2026<\/strong>: According to experts, there are three reasons eople skip breakfast: (1) lack of time in the morning, (2) not feeling hungry upon waking, and (3) actively trying to manage weight. Other reasons include not liking traditional breakfast foods, having a busy schedule, or experiencing a lack of appetite, which can be linked to stress, anxiety, or late-night.\u00a0 The “not liking traditional breakfast foods” can’t possibly be an excuse for New Mexicans.\u00a0 There probably isn’t a denizen of the Land of Enchantment who doesn’t love breakfast burritos, tacos, enchiladas or so many other traditional favorites.<\/p>\n

La Sierra has your burrito hook-up with your choice of the burrito de chicharron special<\/em> or the Santa Fe Sunrise<\/strong><\/em> (scrambled eggs, hash browns cheese and your choice of meat (bacon, ham, sausage, chicharron, adovada, chicken, taco asada).\u00a0 You can have your burrito with or without chile (what kind of burrito would it be without chile)…and because New Mexicans all love chile so much, you’ll want your burrito smothered with red or green chile.\u00a0 The red is phenomenal and La Sierra really does smother it.\u00a0 Already this is in the pantheon of breakfast burritos for me.\u00a0 Every bite is a delicious reminder of how glorious breakfast can be.\u00a0 Fortunately for those of us who use the “lack of time in the morning” excuse, breakfast is served all day (8AM – 3PM).<\/p>\n

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Tamale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

25 April 2026<\/strong>:\u00a0 As a bumpkinly nineteen-year-old stationed in Massachusetts, there were many things about the Land of Enchantment I missed.\u00a0 My dogs and family, of course, I missed most, but New Mexican cuisine was a close second.\u00a0 My Air Force friends and colleagues did their best to introduce me to seafood and Asian food I had only read about, but no matter how much they tried, they couldn’t conjure up restaurants that served New Mexican food.\u00a0 For the most part, my New England friends had never even heard about some of the standards with which I grew up: among them menudo, posole and tamales.<\/p>\n

Once after lamenting how much I missed tamales, my friend Paul promised to take me to a restaurant that served tamales.\u00a0 He couldn’t believe anyone would like tamales.\u00a0 He said most people considered it throw-away food.\u00a0 I should have known we were talking about two different things.\u00a0 That became obvious when he took me to a lobster joint.\u00a0 He ordered two two-pound lobsters, one for each of us.\u00a0 After cracking his open, he proceeded to spoon out a soft, green substance found in the body cavity of cooked lobsters.\u00a0 When I asked what the heck he was doing, he said “I’m giving you the tomalley<\/em>.”\u00a0 Tomalley IS pronounced “tamale.” Aargh, I was to find out some people consider tomalley a delicacy. Indeed, I do too…now. Tomalley has a rich, creamy, and briny flavor often compared to sea urchin or p\u00e2t\u00e9. I’ve grown to love it though not as much as i love tamales.<\/p>\n

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La Sierra Burger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At La Sierra, tamales are made on the premises.\u00a0 They’re available as an entree with beans and rice or you can have one a la carte.\u00a0 Either way, just have one (or six).\u00a0 These tamales have the optimum ratio of masa and pork.\u00a0 Even better, you can have them smothered with either red or green chile.\u00a0 You definitely want to do red.\u00a0 The masa has a pronounced corn taste while the marinated shredded pork is tender and mouth-watering.\u00a0 If you don’t like to mess with the corn husks with which tamales are usually wrapped, you’ll love La Sierra’s tamales.\u00a0 The corn husks have a tendency to render tamales a bit on the dry side.<\/p>\n

25 April 2026<\/strong>: In a 1970s commercials,\u00a0 Wendy\u2019s spokesperson Clara Peller, a tiny octogenarian, posed the question \u201cwhere\u2019s the beef<\/strong><\/a>.\u201d after ordering a burger and receiving a monstrosity that was all buns and only a hint of beef.\u00a0 I can tell Clara where to find the beef.\u00a0 It’s at La Sierra.\u00a0 \u00a0When craving burgers, I very, very, very rarely\u00a0 order anything other than a green chile cheeseburger when it’s available at a New Mexican restaurant.\u00a0 Though he told me the green chile cheeseburger is terrific, Gabriel recommended the La Sierra burger<\/strong><\/em> (two patties, bacon, guacamole, green chile).<\/p>\n

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Chicharron Burrito<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He explained that the burger is constructed from two hand-formed, thick beef patties seasoned to perfection.\u00a0 The green chile comes from Hatch and the guacamole is made fresh.\u00a0 This is a skyscraper tall burger.\u00a0 You need a mouth like a python or like Guy Fieri to take a full bite.\u00a0 Or, you can smash it down a little though that will mean lots of messy guacamole all over your fingers.\u00a0 It helps to be extra hungry because this burger is big enough for two people (though you might not want to share it).\u00a0 On the rare occasion I’m unfaithful to the sacrosanct green chile cheeseburger, it’s nice to know La Sierra burger is there for me.<\/p>\n

2 May 2026<\/strong>:\u00a0 One of my favorite culinary activities that didn’t involve eating was making chicharrones with my mom.\u00a0 Though the very best chicharrones come from a matanza (the traditional, celebratory winter slaughtering of pigs to prepare meat for the year) we often made chicharrones from pork remants my Kim and I would buy at the Kirtland AFB commissary.\u00a0 These crispy, meaty-fatty gems retain an exterior crispness while being juicy and tender on the inside.\u00a0 Memories of the great times with my mom flooded back when Jasmine delivered a gigantic chicharrones burrito<\/strong><\/em> to my table.\u00a0 At some New Mexican restaurants, chicharrones are sparse.\u00a0 At La Sierra, chicharrones are plentiful.\u00a0 They’re large and delicious, especially when smothered by that magnificent Chimayo red chile and topped with melted, shredded cheese.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Green Chile Stew<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2 May 2026:\u00a0 <\/strong>It probably won’t be long before New Mexico’s ineffectual state legislature declares green chile stew as the Land of Enchantment’s official “state stew.”\u00a0 Not that it’s not warranted.\u00a0 It certainly is, but not at the expense of addressing more serious issues that perpetually rank New Mexico lowest in so many quality of life factors.\u00a0 La Sierra’s green chile stew<\/strong><\/em> would make an outstanding poster child for any official (or unofficial) stew.\u00a0 Available in large and small (pictured above) sizes, this is a superb stew replete with green chile and pork.\u00a0 It’s an anytime-of-year green chile stew with plenty of piquancy and deliciousness.\u00a0 For a feeling like being wrapped in your most comfortable blanket, it’s a must-have.<\/p>\n

27 June 2026<\/strong>:\u00a0 Is there something about living within the Land of Enchantment’s sacrosanct borders that elevates otherwise pedestrian cuisine?\u00a0 Can you attribute that preternatural transformation to our inviolable red and green chile.\u00a0 Are New Mexico’s chefs and cooks so much better than elsewhere?\u00a0 I’ve often pondered these questions when considering the superiority of chimichangas in New Mexican restaurants–especially their superiority to chimichangas in Arizona, the state in which these “deep-fried burritos” were invented.\u00a0 As long-time readers may know, my locutions toward chimichangas served in The Grand Canyon State have not been kind.<\/p>\n

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The Zia Chimi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the other hand, I’ve lauded chimichangas we’ve had at New Mexican restaurants.\u00a0 La Sierra’s rendition is a new favorite.\u00a0 Called the “Zia Chimi<\/strong><\/em>,” this behemoth deep-fried burrito is engorged with your choice of protein (ground beef, carne asada, chicken, carne adovada or birria) and served with sides of refried beans and rice (two portions of beans for me).\u00a0 No, “birria” is not a typo.\u00a0 You actually can have a chimichanga stuffed with birria and it’s pretty darn good.\u00a0 Though the tortilla is deep-fried, it’s not desiccated nor does it resemble an egg roll as Arizona’s chimichangas have been served to us.\u00a0 The tortilla is generously endowed with birria, moist and delicious tendrils of beef.\u00a0 As usual, you can have it with red and (or) green chile and shredded cheese.\u00a0 La Sierra’s red chile is in rarefied air.\u00a0 As Food Network star Guy Fieri might say, you can slather it on a flip flop and it would be delicious.<\/p>\n

27 June 2026<\/strong>: For diners who can’t enjoy New Mexico’s claim to culinary excellence (red and green chile), La Sierra offers a number of dishes not served with chile.\u00a0 For natives like me, seeing a dish not slathered in chile is like glancing upward and not seeing our state’s glorious cerulean skies.\u00a0 It’s just not nearly as enchanting.\u00a0 My Kim didn’t grow up with red and green chile, but grew to love it when she married me.\u00a0 Cruel fate and a prescription change desprived her taste buds of their tolerance for piquant foods.\u00a0 As such, she’s probably the only adult at a New Mexican restaurant to order something like La Sierra’s Two-two-two<\/strong><\/em> plate (two eggs, two meats, two pancakes).\u00a0 I don’t much care for eggs that aren’t covered in chile, but do love pancakes and maybe not with chile.\u00a0 La Sierra’s are some of the best we’ve had.\u00a0 They’re fluffy, thick and about the size of a truck tire.<\/p>\n

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Two-two-two<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

14 April 2026<\/strong>: There are only three desserts listed on the menu.\u00a0 When in New Mexico, however, you do dessert the way New Mexicans do dessert.\u00a0 That means sopaipillas<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 La Sierra’s sopaipillas, while not especially puffy and large, are superb.\u00a0 Moreover, they’re served with real honey, not that vastly inferior honey-flavored syrup.\u00a0 The sopaipillas were made to order and arrived steaming hot to our table.\u00a0 Though not a dessert per se,\u00a0 the horchata<\/strong><\/em> is as sweet as left-over milk from a kids’ breakfast cereal.\u00a0 Kids of all ages will love it.\u00a0 My Kim praised the copious amount of cinnamon on the horchata.\u00a0 Just as good are the mango agua fresca.<\/p>\n

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Sopaipilla With Real Honey (Horchata in Back)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

La Sierra is the type of restaurant every New Mexican would like to have in their neighborhood.\u00a0 For outstanding chile, convivial service and reasonable prices, you can’t beat it.<\/p>\n

La Sierra New Mexican Restaurant<\/strong>
\n10701 Corrales Road, Suite 25E
\nAlbuquerque, New Mexico<\/strong>
\n(505) 494-5966
\nFacebook Page<\/strong><\/a>
\nLATEST VISIT<\/strong>: 2 May 2026
\n1st VISIT<\/strong>: 14 April 2026
\n# OF VISITS<\/strong>: 4
\nCOST<\/strong>: $$
\nRATING<\/strong>:\u00a0 Outstanding<\/strong><\/span>\u2013A stand-out; delivers a memorable dining experience through a harmonious blend of exceptional food, attentive service, and consistent quality
\nBEST BET<\/strong>: Chips and Salsa, Fajitas, Horchata, Sopaipillas With Honey, Santa Fe Sunrise Burrito, Pozole, Mango Agua Fresca, Pineapple Agua Fresca, La Sierra Burger, Tamale
\nREVIEW #1522<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I eat uno, dos, tres, quatro burritos Pretty soon I can’t fit in my Speedos Well, I hope they feed us lots of chicken fajitas And a pitcher of margaritas” ~Taco Grande by Weird Al Yankovic While perusing the slogans–One Bite And You’re Hooked; Cooked Slow, Served Hot, Loved Fast; Hot Chile makes Everything Better” on the windows of La Sierra, I half expected to see lyrics from the “Weird “Al Yankovic song “Taco Grande”\u00a0 (a parody of the song “Rico Suave”).\u00a0 What I didn’t expect was for La Sierra to live up to its self-aggrandizing hype.\u00a0 Of course, diners always hope a restaurant is as good as it professes to be, but all-too-often an eatery doesn’t live up to the hype.\u00a0 La Sierra does…and then some! Albuquerque’s very first instantiation of La Sierra (not to be confused with the venerable Mac’s La Sierra) launched in July,\u00a0 2025 on the corner of Menaul and University at the site of a former Little Anita’s.\u00a0 \u00a0Some nine months later, a second La Sierra opened its doors.\u00a0 This one is located on Alameda just west of Corrales Road. You may recall that this location once housed The Whole Enchilada which was later renamed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[440,540,5701,57,112,141,561],"tags":[5676,4049,1210,1883,5679,856,1980,5677,1864,2505,5673,5692,5675,5674,5690,5672,5691,3208,1635,1001,1828,949,5689,994,5693,5678,5787,5788],"class_list":["post-79845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-albuquerque","category-breakfast","category-breakfast-burritos","category-mexican","category-new-mexican","category-new-mexico","category-rating-outstanding","tag-5676","tag-alameda","tag-breakfast","tag-chicharron-burrito","tag-chimayo-red-chile","tag-enchiladas","tag-fajitas","tag-gabrien-nunez","tag-green-chile-stew","tag-hatch-green-chile","tag-jazmine","tag-la-sierra-burger","tag-leo-nunez","tag-leos-night-club","tag-mango-agua-fresca","tag-nunez-family","tag-pineapple-agua-fresca","tag-posole","tag-pozole","tag-real-honey","tag-refried-beans","tag-salsa-and-chips","tag-santa-fe-sunrise-burrito","tag-sopaipillas","tag-tamale","tag-the-enchanted-enchilada","tag-two-two-two","tag-zia-chimi"],"yoast_head":"\nLa Sierra New Mexican Restaurant - 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=79845\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"La Sierra New Mexican Restaurant - Albuquerque, New Mexico - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“I eat uno, dos, tres, quatro burritos Pretty soon I can’t fit in my Speedos Well, I hope they feed us lots of chicken fajitas And a pitcher of margaritas” ~Taco Grande by Weird Al Yankovic While perusing the slogans–One Bite And You’re Hooked; Cooked Slow, Served Hot, Loved Fast; Hot Chile makes Everything Better” on the windows of La Sierra, I half expected to see lyrics from the “Weird “Al Yankovic song “Taco Grande”\u00a0 (a parody of the song “Rico Suave”).\u00a0 What I didn’t expect was for La Sierra to live up to its self-aggrandizing hype.\u00a0 Of course, diners always hope a restaurant is as good as it professes to be, but all-too-often an eatery doesn’t live up to the hype.\u00a0 La Sierra does…and then some! Albuquerque’s very first instantiation of La Sierra (not to be confused with the venerable Mac’s La Sierra) launched in July,\u00a0 2025 on the corner of Menaul and University at the site of a former Little Anita’s.\u00a0 \u00a0Some nine months later, a second La Sierra opened its doors.\u00a0 This one is located on Alameda just west of Corrales Road. 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