salad

Eric Williams ericwphoto.com

The house that Ben built

If you’re on any kind of schedule, you should probably avoid Ben Michael’s restaurant on even a half-busy evening. The slow-moving spectacle that often passes for service will be frustrating if there’s some other place you need to be. But if you aren’t in a hurry, that same chaos could pass as entertainment. And if you show up during a quiet lunch hour and you’re the only one there, expect to be treated like royalty.

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• ben michael’s
• old town
• guacamole
• enchiladas
• red chile
• green chile
• chile
• salad
• eggs
• adobe
• chicken
• food and beverage
• locavore
• locovore
• review
• restaurant

Eric Williams ericwphoto.com

CSA powerhouse unveils organic meals on wheels

A food truck, like a restaurant, is a logical vehicle for a farmer to add value to his or her product. It seems like an obvious idea, but until the Skarsgard Farms’ Harvest Truck got on the road, no area farms had stepped up to that plate. Now a month into this endeavor, farm/truck owner Monte Skarsgard has a contract with UNM to sell food at the Duck Pond five days a week starting in August. He says he already has plans for a fleet of trucks.

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• the harvest truck
• food trucks
• skarsgard farms
• monte skarsgard
• los poblanos
• los poblanos organics
• smoothies
• salad
• breakfast burritos
• los ranchos growers’ market
• food and beverage
• locavore
• locovore
• review
• restaurant

Eric Williams ericwphoto.com

The omnivore’s deliverance

More and more, hamburgers are treated as high art. And Holy Cow is among Albuquerque’s vanguard of upscale burger parlors. The outdoor patio—on Central where Bob’s Fish and Chips used to be—is protected by a corrugated roof. Inside, you can dine on hamburgers at a table or the bar. The feeling is rowdy and friendly. A portrait of a single word, “burgers,” hangs from an otherwise bare wall.

• hamburgers
• salad
• holy cow
• sweet potato fries
• beets
• beef
• bob’s fish and chips
• fano
• food and beverage
• locavore
• locovore
• review
• restaurant

Sergio Salvador salvadorphoto.com

Eclectic breakfast and lunch on a quiet Downtown corner

Café Lush is like a daydream of the way things might be in some future hybrid of Europe and Albuquerque. It’s an urban café on a quiet street corner, with a small menu of simple yet well-crafted dishes and a pledge to use local, seasonal and organic ingredients whenever possible. But unlike in Europe, the red and green chile won’t disappoint—unless you’re a member of the New Mexico anticumin coalition.

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• café lush
• pizza
• breakfast
• lunch
• espresso
• sandwiches
• salad
• restaurant
• food and beverage
• locavore
• locovore
• review

Ari LeVaux

Carrot tops, spinach bottoms and the whole radish

Sergio Salvador salvadorphoto.com

There’s nothing average about this Jo

If you had to pick a single Albuquerque street on which to dine for the rest of your life, you could do worse than Fourth. The diversity of restaurants on this North Valley artery is matched by a uniform unpretentiousness, as if by some silent but Spanglish-speaking truce. Dennis Apodaca has built a restaurant empire on a single half-mile stretch of that pavement. First came Sophia’s Place, named after his daughter. Then came Ezra’s Place, named after his son. And finally Jo’s Place, named after his mom, joined the block party in March.

• dennis apodaca
• jo’s place
• ezra’s place
• sophia’s place
• north valley
• burgers
• fourth street
• breakfast
• salad
• lunch
• restaurant
• food and beverage
• locavore
• locovore
• review