Yeah, Los Cuates won here and it’s not for some vague hard to describe reasons, either. Alibi readers love Los Cuates (even if they have difficulty distinguishing between Mexican and New Mexican food) because just about every plato served there rocks the damned house. The enchiladas have been known to spawn love ballads when eaten by local rockers and the burritos can make just about anyone sing about how enchanting and piquantly pleasant carne adovada is to the tongue. Did we mention their superlative sopaipillas? It’s all there, home slice, it’s all there. (AM)2) TIE: Cocina Azul/Mary & Tito’s Cafe
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Green Chile Cheeseburger
Blake’s Lotaburger has been around since the time before the before time, when most of what comprises Albuquerque was located in the Valley, Old Town or Downtown. After WWII, the local economy really took off and local entrepreneurs started looking to Califas for marketing ideas aimed at the salvo of returning hero veterans. Hamburger joints were big out West and so Blake’s was born out here in la jauja. Add a great and green Nuevo Mexicano flourish to such suburban El Lay inspired treats and you get the Best Green Chile Cheeseburger in town, nay, the world. (AM)2) Laguna Burger3) Grassburger
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Frito Pie
Traditionally a Frito pie is a homemade treat that kids get for lonche because mama didn’t have time to get to the grocery store before they got home. “Here’s this bag of Fritos, she might gravely intone,” now what to do with it to make it both nutritious and delicious? That’s right ma, add some Nuevo Mexicano flavor to the mix, but don’t forget to add whatever’s in the fridge, too. Heat all that to melting in the microondas and you have a new flavor sensation. And if your mom ain’t available homes, then there is always the Dog House. I bet some dude from “Breaking Bad” ate one of those hot and fresh conglomerations of corn chips, cheese, beans and salsa at the famous local eatery so at least you’ll know you’re in good company as you gulp down the first bite of el cielo. (AM)2) Sister Bar3) Pop Fizz
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Green Chile
Red or green? Why not both? Either way, our readers are in agreement, the best New Mexican staple food can be found at Sadie’s. Their green chile is spicy, bold and smoky. If you can’t make it into any of their three locations, you can pick up jars of their chile sauce in most grocery stores. As long as you like your green chile hot (Sadie’s was also voted Spiciest Food), you’ll love what Sadie’s of New Mexico serves up. (TG)2) TIE: Cocina Azul/El Patio de Albuqerque
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Red Chile
“Sexy Sadie, what have you done?” Well, they make the best red chile in town according to Burqueños. Red chile, made from ripened green chile if you didn’t know, has almost a completely different flavor than its green counterpart. More earthy and delivering a back-heat, Sadie’s red chile goes well on just about anything on the menu. Whatever you order, make sure it is smothered with this local flavor, if you can handle the heat. (TG)2) Barelas Coffee House3) Mary & Tito’s Cafe
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Carne Adovada
Question: What’s steaming hot, coated in a dank red chile sauce, stringy, meaty and satisfying to the palate and made from pure pork brisket? Answer: carne adovada! Golden Pride Chicken, a branch of the legendary Frontier Restaurant, serves the best carne adovada in these parts, according to Weekly Alibi readers. The taste, texture and resulting chile-buoyed delirium that often follows consumption of this traditional meat dish should be a symbol for all that’s sublimely cool—or in this case, hot—about New Mexican food. It’s red and it’s hot and so have another bite. (AM)2) Sadie’s of New Mexico3) Mary & Tito’s Cafe
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Tortillas
In the middle of the ’80s, Frontier Restaurant owners Larry and Dorothy Rainosek revolutionized restaurant tortilla production en El Duque when they introduced a magical machine that produced the most gastronomically pleasing tortillas made outside of your mother’s kitchen. Thin, able to withstand piling upon by at least a pound of your filling of choice, subtle to the taste, yet firm on the tongue and made better by butter, the tortillas at the Frontier Restaurant, and so too at all Golden Pride locations, are the best our city has to offer, say Alibi readers standing in line and waiting for the green light blink. (AM)2) Golden Pride3) Duran Central Pharmacy
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Tamales
El Modelo has been churning out tamales (among other delicious foods) since 1929. Started in the humble beginnings of a three bedroom home, El Modelo has grown to a much bigger building (which was actually built where the original location once stood). Order a tamale plate, but make sure to grab a bag of tamales to take home, because there’s nothing like the hand-rolled perfection of El Modelo. (TG)2) Padilla’s Mexican Kitchen3) Casa de Benavidez
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Sopaipillas
Sopaipillas are part of life for many New Mexican families. The thing is, unlike their simpler to make cousins, the humble tortillas of corn or flour, a lot of our citizens get their favorite dinner indulgence at restaurants throughout the area. Not to be confused with the larger, more elastic deeper-fried Indigenous fry-bread, but similar to it in the way Tibetan fried flat bread is also similar, sopaipillas work best as accompaniment, not featured player. And with each New Mexican restaurant in Burque working on its own variation, we wondered who would come out on top this year. Our voter’s chose the sopas at Sadie’s for their smooth presentation and sweet aftertaste. (AM)2) Stufys3) Little Anita’s New Mexican Food
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Enchiladas
In reality, all enchiladas are the best enchiladas because, you know, enchiladas totally rock. Besides notable Alibi staffers, many humans in the Albuquerque area no doubt feel the same way. This year, though, our readers agreed that the most regal, local representation of this royal dish made from corn tortillas baked together with cheese and sauce—served many ways, with many flavas and many, too many to list variations, here and across Latin America—is at, wait for it, Los Cuates. We’ll have ours flat with Christmas and a fried egg on top. It’s la neta, folks. (AM)2) El Patio de Albuquerque3) Cervantes Restaurant & Lounge
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Chips And Salsa
A staple on every New Mexican restaurant’s table are the chips and salsa. What sets good chips apart from great chips is the freshness. You want something warm, crispy and salty. Sadie’s of New Mexico delivers this in spades. The salsa is equally important to this seemingly easy table food. Sadie’s salsa is so popular that not only do they sell it by the jarful in most grocery stores, but you can buy it by the jug. They obviously know what they’re doing, having been in business since the early ’50s. Now that’s staying power! (TG)2) El Pinto Restaurant3) Los Cuates
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Burrito
There’s always something cooking at the Frontier Restaurant. And since the storied joint use tortillas that Alibi readers have voted the best in the land, it follows that their burritos reign supreme too. Whether patrons order the simple but memorable carne adovada burrito or its big, big brother, the legendary Frontier breakfast burrito, they’ll be winning all day long. We’ll have ours with a sweet roll and a diet coke, please. (AM) 2) The Last Call3) Golden Pride BBQ, Chicken & Ribs
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Indian Taco
The Indian Taco, also known as a Navajo Taco, is that tasty and interesting gastronomic artifact that occurs at the heady confluence of cultures, hispanic and Indigenous. Using fry-bread topped with the tradtional accouterments of the humble taco to create a sort of food-borne neologism is not only innovative thinking, but danged delish, besides. You can get these awesome to eat creations everwhere from weekend garage sales to various county, state and tribal fairs, or you can check out the top of the heap at Pueblo Harvest. Readers responded by naming that newly updated world-class eatery as the number one spot in which to indulge your cross-cultural fantasies. (AM)2) New Mexico State Fair3) Church Street Cafe
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Chile Cheese Fries
Here in New Mexico we like to smother everything in chile and cheese, and fries are no exception. Plenty of restaurants serve this delicious delectable, however none can beat the view you get while eating at Shark Reef Cafe. Where else can you go to watch sharks, sea turtles, and all manners of fish and other sea life swim by while you munch on seasoned crispy fries, covered in local green chile and melted cheese? Nowhere, that’s where. (TG)2) Desert Valley Brewing Company
Best Of Burque Restaurants 2018 Best Tacos
With so many places around town to get tacos, Sister has risen to the top of the pile. From chicken to brisket, Asian pork to curry cauliflower, Sister has got the taco game on lockdown. All the tacos are gluten-free (made with corn tortillas) and they have a couple different selections for vegans and vegetarians. Plus, on Tuesdays all tacos are just two bucks. What more could you want? (TG)2) El Paisa Taqueria3) Brixens
