Friday Favorites: ABQ sights and Restaurants

I’m here for a conference this weekend, and several of my colleagues asked me for recommendations of what to see and where to eat in town, so I thought I would just compile them here:

Things to Do/See/Eat in ABQ:

North/West side:

• Petroglyph National Monument: World-class stone etchings by ancient and modern Puebloans
• Coronado Historic Site: Restored ancient Puebloan village with a spectacular kiva.
• Bosque Trail: A gorgeous old flood-plain cottonwood forest along the Rio Grande.
• Los Poblanos: Farm store for lavender products, produce, and more. They have a really nice inn and a good restaurant as well, Campo.
• Wagner’s: especially in the fall, pick up your chiles and apples
• Dixon’s: ditto
• Sadie’s: mecca for carne adovada; everything else is OK.
• The Range for breakfast: I like their huevos, but everything is pretty good. Get the Death by Lemon for dessert.
• Bien Mur: Native-owned trading house for jewelry, rugs, pots, and other artworks. This is where I’ve bought the majority of my collection.

Old town/Downtown

• Sawmill District: New but fun with lots of local merchants
• Bow & Arrow: Indigenous owned-and-operated microbrewery featuring local/foraged ingredients and a rotating cast of good food trucks
• Indian Pueblo Cultural Center: great spot to buy high-end Puebloan arts and crafts, and don’t miss the Indian tacos in the café
• San Felipe de Neri: Built in 1793 and worth a gander.
• Church Street Café: Legit.
• Mary & Tito’s: the OG New Mexican restaurant.
• Palms Trading: Legit Native American jewelry and art at reasonable prices.
• Anodyne: pool hall/bar–my favorite in ‘burque. Also a great place to hang out and work during the day in their clubby booths with all the skylights, books, and plants.
• Historic El Rey theater: try to catch a show here.

South Valley

• Paletas La Michoacana: Mexican popsicles for hot days–try the nuez.
• Barelas Coffee House: old school, and their carne adovada is pretty good.
• National Hispanic Cultural Center: make sure to go if/when they have a flamenco performance.

University district/Nob Hill

• Duran’s Pharmacy for their red; a total classic.
• El Patio: consistently good with a nice, well, patio.
• Cervantes: mostly you’re here for the mid-century New Mexican ambience, but the food is solid as well.
• Just walk up and down Central in Nob Hill and poke into the strip malls and side streets–ABQ’s best shopping.
• Frontier: I’m not sure you can claim you’ve been to ABQ if you haven’t eaten at Frontier. Go at 1 am and get the green chile stew with a fresh tortilla.
• Hurricane‘s: get the 1/8th Disaster Burrito with carne adovada.

Heights/Sandias:

• Golden Pride for the #2 breakfast burrito. I don’t know why I’m telling you about this; the drive-through line is just going to get longer….
• Little Bear: best coffee in ABQ as far as I can tell.
• Elena Gallegos Open Space: A really wonderful park at the foot of the Sandias with miles of trails; connects to the Pino Trail that ascends (steeply) to the Crest.
• Embudito Canyon: a nice hike that ascends gradually up the bottom of a narrow canyon in Glenwood Hills to Oso Spring, about 2 miles or so (not sure, never measured it). If you follow the left fork instead, you can climb all the way to South Peak; I think it’s about 6 miles one way if you go that route.
• Flying Star Café: On your way back from your sunrise hike at Elena Gallegos, stop here for breakfast. I like the huevos rancheros.
• Sandia Peak Tramway. A bit of a tourist trap, but it’s hard to argue it’s not worth the $45 (or whatever it is now) to soar from 5,000 to 10,000 ft above sea level in a cable car in 25 minutes. (My favorite part is where they stop you over TWA canyon and point out as you swing gently back and forth in the wind that if you fell from right there, it would take you 8 seconds to hit the ground.)
• Sandia Crest Trail: Alternatively, you can get in your car and drive 45 minutes up the back side of the Sandias to the Crest, then hike either direction along a relatively easy trail (though watch the altitude and drink lots of water) with absolutely stunning views of the city and beyond–all the way to Mt Taylor 70 miles to the west, the Magdalenas 80 miles to the south, and the Jemez mountains 50 miles north. That mesa sticking up to the right of Mt Taylor is Cabezon, a volcanic mesa that is in Navajo legend the head of the giant the Hero Twins slayed on Mt Taylor.
• On your way up to the Crest, check out the incredible dioramas at Tinkertown.
• Marble Brewery: The Montgomery Taproom. One of the founding breweries of the outstanding microbrew scene in Albuquerque, and still one of the best.