From Alabama to Arizona: Reaching for the Pepcid in Albuquerque
- Connie Pearson
- 23 hours ago
- 2 min read
We have GOT to do a better job of handling our meals. Remember that big steak on Monday and the fried onion burger on Tuesday? Well, add two meals today of New Mexican cuisine and you get a bloated geezer and geezerette. The abundant green and red chiles appearing in virtually every dish are no joke. I will say, though, that I'm a big fan of fresh sopapillas with honey. Oh my.
We left Amarillo, TX at 9:00 a.m. and hopped once again onto I-40 West. For 45 minutes, the scenery stayed flat, filled with an unbelievably vast sky. Then it gradually changed to more hills and unusual vegetation. The cattle and wind turbines remained. We crossed into New Mexico and watched our clocks go back an hour thanks to Mountain Daylight Time.
We took a slight detour at Tucumcari, NM to check out a few more sites on Route 66, then we watched the Sandia Mountains come into view.
A Very Old Cafe
It was past our normal lunchtime when we rolled into Albuquerque, so we went straight to a place in Old Town that I saw featured on the Food Network a few weeks ago. Church Street Cafe was a family home (Casa Ruiz) from the time it was built in 1709 until the last family member died in 1991. We shared a combination plate -- a pork tamale, and beef-filled chile releno, and a cheese quesadillo with a side of zucchini (yes, zucchini). There was a poster on the wall stating that their queso was the best in the city, so, of course, we had to try it. Our grandchildren would have LOVED it. Entrees include sopapillas. Yes! It was good. We should have skipped dinner.
A B & B on the National Register of Historic Places
Our room for the night is in Casas de Suenos (Houses of Dreams), a B & B within walking distance of Old Town Albuquerque as well as several of the city's best attractions. It was built in 1938, but has modern amenities such as complimentary Wi-Fi, etc.
A Few Sites in Old Town
For dinner we walked to Little Anita's New Mexican Foods. Once again, we shared an entree. This time we had New Mexican style enchiladas -- which means there were three flat ones stacked on top of each other. The server asked if we wanted red chile sauce, green chile sauce, or "Christmas." Naturally, we chose Christmas. :) It was very good, but a few bites in, we knew we could not possibly eat another bite. I'm sure you know the feeling. Walking back to Casas de Suenos helped a little bit. Pepsid, please pass the Pepsid.
Tomorrow we're headed to Santa Fe for two days. We want to eat the local specialties, but we don't have to eat ALL of them.