New Mexico Food (La Posta de Mesilla, Church Street Cafe, Frontier Restaurant, Standard Diner, Los Magueyes, and El Toro Bravo)

After spending some time in El Paso for a convention, I rented a car and went on a whirlwind tour of New Mexico. Here's some of the food from that whirlwind.

La Posta de Mesilla:

The town of Mesilla was very pretty with lots of adobe architecture. While there, I had lunch at a sprawling restaurant called La Posta de Mesilla. They've been around since 1939 so they must be doing something right. 

I had a combination plate which included a tamale, taco, enchilada, chili con carne, rice, and beans. It was a huge amount of food for a reasonable price.

Church Street Cafe in Albuquerque:

Moving on to Albuquerque, I had breakfast at Church Street Cafe in Albuquerque Old Town. My decision on where to eat was made easy because this was the only restaurant I found open for breakfast in Old Town.

Chips and salsa at 10:30 am.

I had Huevos Rancheros topped with half green chili and half red chili sauce. Homefries, beans, and tortillas were served alongside the eggs. New Mexico's green chili is delicious.

Frontier Restaurant in Albuquerque:

This restaurant was recommended to me by somebody who grew up in Albuquerque. Located right across the street from the University of New Mexico, Frontier had somewhat of the same feel of the indoor portion of Atlanta's Varsity with very different food.

I had the Mexican Combo, which came with an enchilada, taco, rice, beans and flour tortilla. I also ordered a cup of green chili stew, because green chili must be eaten everywhere in New Mexico. The combo was good, but not the best Mexican food I've ever had. It didn't seem nearly as authentic as my meal in Mesilla. The green chili stew was delicious though.

Standard Diner in Albuquerque, NM:

A second breakfast the next morning in Albuquerque. This time at a restaurant called the Standard Diner.

I had the Rail Runner. This was named after the commuter rail connecting various cities in New Mexico (with a way cooler paint job and better sound effects than Orlando's SunRail). It consisted of scrambled eggs and chorizo over a cheddar biscuit, topped with New Mexico green chile, pimiento queso, and white cheddar. Black beans and hash browns were served on the side. This was pretty delicious!

Los Magueyes in Santa Fe:

Moving on to Santa Fe, I had dinner at a restaurant in downtown called Los Magueyes. They were located on a side street closed to traffic called Burro Alley and had seating in the street.

Live music was happening.

I had the Nuevo Guadalajara Special. It came with flautas filled with chicken served over a piece of steak, a tamale, rice, beans, and garnishes. For some reason I was expecting a chicken flauta and a steak flauta rather than chicken flautas served over steak. It was unexpected and resulted in a lot more food. Everything was good (although the steak was a little tough).

El Toro Bravo in Roswell:

Roswell and aliens are such a big part of American pop culture that I couldn't not stop at the UFO museum. I had lunch on the next block at El Toro Bravo. How could I not want to eat at a restaurant with mariachi aliens painted all over the outside of the building?

They had a lunch buffet going on. How about we not talk about the food on the buffet and focus on the cute tire tread alien above? After the Mexican food deliciousness that I had eaten all week, this was pretty disappointing. I guess the extraterrestrials haven't quite figured out how to have good Mexican food on a buffet yet...