Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [213]
The Frontier
2400 Central Ave. SE
505–266–0550
Albuquerque, NM
Open 24 hours except 1:30 A.M.–4:00 A.M., Fri & Sat | $
A Roadfood landmark on old Route 66 across from the University of New Mexico, the Frontier boasts that it is “home of the latest in broiled food and the Frontier sweet roll.” We’re not up on broiled food trends, and frankly, the famous butter-dripping Frontier sweet roll, while awesomely sized, is on the doughy side. Nevertheless we love this place—not only because it is cheap, informal, and open round-the-clock, but because the New Mexican food is outstanding.
At breakfast, for instance, huevos rancheros are available with a choice of four toppings: salsa, green chile stew, red chile, and green chile. The last one is the hottest, with a full-tilt chile punch, giving the plate a roasted, earthy aroma that is insanely appetizing. Cheddar cheese is technically an option, but should not be left out of this big platter that looks like a mess but eats like a dream. On the side comes a puffy, just-cooked flour tortilla (you can watch the man make them behind the counter) that is almost too hot to handle. Orange juice is freshly squeezed. Quart pitchers of coffee are available for $2—a good deal for students who come to pore over books early in the morning.
The lunch menu includes such Land of Enchantment specialties as a carne adovada burrito, green chile stew and, naturally, a chile cheeseburger, here dubbed the Fiesta Burger. Homemade lemonade is available to drink.
One thing that makes dining at the Frontier fun is its breakneck pace. Because meals are ordered fast, cooked fast, and served instantaneously, you are guaranteed that things that are supposed to be hot are piping hot; we’ve gotten hamburgers still sizzling from the grill. Although many students come to linger over coffee and homework, it is possible to be in and out, with a good meal under your belt, in five minutes. The system is serve-yourself. While you wait in line, study the overhead menu and make your decision. When the green light flashes, indicating someone is ready to take your order, step up to the counter and say what you want. Approximately two minutes later, you are carrying your meal to an open table.
Leona’s Restaurante
4 Medina Lane
505–351–4569
Chimayó, NM
LD (closed Tues & Weds) | $
The village of Chimayó is off a winding road in the foothills of the Sangre de Christos, but it isn’t obscure. Generations of weavers have made its cloth a western legend, and its early-nineteenth-century Santuario is a destination for religious pilgrims who believe that dirt from the earthen floor has miraculous healing powers. For four decades, hungry travelers have come to Chimayó to eat Leona’s tortillas.
Leona Medina-Tiede knows wheat. When she was growing up, her mother grew it and harvested it with a sickle. “We rubbed it on a screen to get off the thistles,” she remembers. “We’d hurt our hands bad doing that. Then we’d pick it up and the wind blew the thistles away.” She and her mother took the wheat to the Chimayó mill where, Leona recalls, “They wouldn’t grind it too well, so you’d get little crispy nuggets of un-ground wheat in your flour. It was so good!” Leona’s mother rolled out fresh tortillas three times a day for her and ten siblings.
The first time we drove through New Mexico in the mid-1970s, Leona had a roadside stand on Highway 76 where she sold tortillas and chiles. At harvest time in the fall, you could pull over and get a sandwich of just-roasted chiles wrapped in a fresh tortilla—one of the great roadside snacks of all time. She now makes and sells flavored tortillas (apple cinnamon for breakfast; onion, garlic, piñon, or pesto) and she runs a little restaurant, shaded by an ancient catalpa tree just below the Santuario. Here she serves tamales that radiate corn flavor, red and green chile stew, posole, and the traditional hangover cure of posole and tripe known as menudo.
Leona’s serves exceptional burritos stuffed with fiery carne adovada (chile-marinated