Good Food in Albuquerque

Mac's La Sierra
6217 Central Avenue NW, Albuquerque

(just east of Coors Boulevard)

For a South Texas boy like me, finding acceptable Mexican food west of the Pecos is a challenge; finding good Mexican food was, I thought, beyond hope. I feel renewed now, though.

The desk clerk at our hotel recommended this place; I almost didn't take up her suggestion, because it seemed a little too far, especially since my experiences of Mexican food out here have all been pretty dismal. But what the hell, I decided; the alternative she suggested was Chili's, which held no attraction for me either. At least, I figured, I might get a good, snarky review out of the local place.

First, the look of it: straight out of a Southwestern version of Happy Days, the show they should have made, but with Nacho instead of Fonzie. The place looks like it was built in the 50s, added onto in the 60s, and untouched since. Could use a larger parking lot, but otherwise it exudes a working-class cultura-coche charm: soda fountain-style stools in the front, tables and booths in the back (and I think there was another dining room beyond the kitchen). All done up in a red shade you haven't seen since before Nixon resigned, with some classically uninteresting prints on the walls.

Next, the service: after an initial bobble -- a pregnant pause before menus and water appeared -- the service was excellent, and included an apology for the misunderstanding between staff members that resulted in the delay. The waitress was very helpful as we tried to make our selections (one of the big problems with trans-Pecos Mexican food is the language barrier: they use the same words, but for all different things). And all her recommendations proved solid.

The food was almost great. The chips were only so-so, but the salsa was pretty good. My wife chose the daily special for her meal: green chili stew. I had just a taste of it, but found it delicious and piquant, and it sure looked good, with nice chunks of potato and other good things in a deep dish of ... well, green chili salsa. My own dish was the "house special," steak fingers and enchiladas, with an egg added (one of the waitress's recommendations). It was served with charro beans, some pretty good Spanish rice, a little salad, three very small breaded steak fingers (which looked kind of sad all by themselves on a side plate), and puffed bread called sopapillas. (Sopapillas are a dessert dish back home....) Because I'd ordered the egg on top, the enchiladas were served open, and topped on one side with red salsa (which they call "chili" here) and on the other with green salsa.

My biggest objection to the style of Mexican food out here is the amount of chili powder they use in their red salsas: it's overpowering. But tonight I discovered that if you mix a runny egg yolk into it, it becomes quite good. Better than merely acceptable. And except for the puniness of those steak fingers (which still tasted good; well, they're fried, you know, and fried food is always tasty. You could deep fry squirrel leg and it'd be good eatin', as I'm sure most of my peeps in West-by-God-Virginia can attest), everything was really enjoyable. The salad was fresh, the tortillas in the enchiladas had excellent texture, the cheese was creamy and not so profuse as to be overdone (a common affliction of many  American adaptations of ethnic cuisines), and even the bread was flavourful, if not as tasty as a good flour tortilla.

We had all this for about ten bucks a head. That, I think, is pretty good value.

THE CURMUDGEON'S RATINGS:
FOOD: 4 1/2 chili peppers (out of 5)
SERVICE: 4 1/2 chili peppers
AMBIENCE: 3 1/2 chili peppers
VALUE: 3 1/2 chili peppers

 

Recipe Post

I keep a supply of paperback books in the car, for those unexpected times when I find myself with time to read. The current book -- I don't even know the name of it, but it's a spy story about a guy who can't keep it in ... you know -- anyway, this book closes each chapter with little synopses of the preparation of dishes mentioned in the chapter. This one I've made a couple of times, and really like it:

Kremlevskiye Griby so Shpinatom
(Kremlin mushrooms and spinach)

Ingredients:

olive oil
sliced mushrooms (as much as you want, depending on how many servings you want)
fresh spinach (you can use other greens instead, like chard) (if you're going to use this recipe as an appetizer, chop the spinach first)
capers, drained (I use about a tablespoon for 2 servings)
salt and pepper to taste
prepared mustard sauce (regular, Dijon, or spicy, depending on your preference)
vinegar (any kind, but the taste will be very much affected; I prefer white wine vinegar, but would also recommend a good balsamic)

If you're making this as an appetizer, you'll want a bunch of large mushroom caps too.

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushroom slices and sauté until the edges begin to brown; about 7 minutes. 

2. Add the spinach or other greens, and the capers; toss until wilted, about 4 minutes. 

3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium, and add mustard and vinegar. Spoon sauce over greens until it thickens, about 3 minutes. Serve lukewarm.

If making appetizers, stuff the mushroom caps with the spinach mixture.

County Count Synopsis

With the unfortunate but long-expected demise of my old Dell computer running Windows XP (which, I confess, I prefer to this Mac Airbook running OS-X), I can no longer access old WordPerfect documents ... like the document where I kept my list of states with a count of how many of their counties I have been to. Rather than recreating it in Apple's "Pages" format -- which I find tedious and unintuitive after 30 years of word processing -- I'll just put it here, where I can update it whenever.

So here goes:

States I've been to all the counties in:

as of August 2016

Arizona
Arkansas
Connecticut
Delaware
Hawaii
Kansas
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Minnesota
Mississippi (just finished this last trip)
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York (also just finished)
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Texas
Vermont (also just finished)
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

States yet to finish (with number of counties remaining):
Alabama (1, of 67)
Alaska (there aren't any counties there; haven't decided how I'll count it when I eventually go)
California (6, of 58)
Colorado (2, of 64)
Florida (7, of 67)
Georgia (68, of 159; counties there are really small)
Idaho (10, of 44)
Illinois (14, of 102)
Indiana (9, 0f 92)
Iowa (43, of 99)
Kentucky (28, of 120)
Massachusetts (2, both islands; of 14 -- the only counties left to visit in New England)
Michigan (20, of 83)
Missouri (7, of 114)
Montana (20, of 56)
Nebraska (10, of 93)
North Carolina (4, of 100)
Ohio (6, of 88)
Oregon (12, of 36)
South Carolina (11, of 46)
Tennessee (15, of 95)
Utah (2, of 29)
Virginia (16, of 95, plus a few of the independent cities, which I haven't decided whether to count)
Washington (5, of 39)