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We have stopped through Albuquerque several times on tours, often after long drives through the desert, with another long drive ahead of us. Sadly, we never had time to really get to know this beautiful place. Thankfully, this Spring’s flamenco study and family vacation allowed us a full week steeped in Nuevo Mexico cultura (not nearly enough, but a beginning) and delicious food.
Our long time friend April is a flamenco dancer at The National Institute of Flamenco in Albuquerque. We have flown her into Albany to perform with us several times, and in turn, she has been encouraging us to come stay with her in New Mexico and check out the rich flamenco community she has become a part of.
This spring our baby turned 1 and we decided it was time to celebrate and finally make this trip happen. I was going to dabble for the first time in flamenco dance classes at the conservatory, and we both had private music lessons lined up. Our eldest son was excited to check out the science and children’s museums in the city. And we were all interested in knowing more about the Native history, present experience and resistance movements.
On our first day, April brought us on an a beautiful journey into the mountains of Jemez, joining many families on an Easter Sunday hike to a hot spring.
As if that weren’t enough, that evening we were invited to a family paella party! We were reluctant because we know that vegan paella is far from the norm and we hate to be impolite guests. But we were reassured that April’s friend, an amazing cook, would have something special for us. Little did we know that she actually prepared a huge vegan spread which included our own vegan paella. My son, a serious foodie, was thrilled! It could not have been a more special end to our perfect first day in New Mexico.
April wanted to take us out somewhere that would really highlight the delicious and unique cuisine of New Mexico. She chose a place called El Patio of Albuquerque, which as its name insinuates, has a relaxed outdoor seating area where locals of all types come to chill and enjoy the delicious food. The waitress was very sweet to our family and was happy to help us think through vegan options on the menu. There were plenty of possibilities to choose from. Gaetano and I ordered spinach enchiladas, which came in a blue corn tortilla stuffed with spinach and beans and smothered in Albuquerque’s famous green chile. Yabisi had the vegetarian plate which came with an avocado burrito smothered in green chile and a bean taco. The servings were huge and there was plenty to share with our baby Caona. The dishes also came with sopapillas, a special fry bread of the region, which became our favorite New Mexican food. We enjoyed El Patio so much so that we went back again later on in the week. Ordered the exact same things. Sopapillas… mmm.
Our son loves Thai food, and when searching on happycow.com we discovered there is a restaurant literally called Thai Vegan. We tend to lean away from restaurants catered completely to vegans, because we’ve noticed the food often lacks a bit of soul. But our Thai food loving vegan foodie insisted that this was his dream come true and demanded morning, noon and night that we go to this restaurant. We finally succumbed one evening, and to our surprise, the food was phenomenal! We have been to a Thai restaurant in just about every corner of the country and this one would definitely be in the top 5 for us. It was reasonably priced, delicious, and the presentation was beautiful. Our rice came shaped in a heart, and I know that doesn’t change the taste of it all, but somehow when my plate is sort of smiling at me I find the dining experience a touch more enjoyable.
The last exciting vegan find on our Albuquerque trip was at a place called Guava Tree Cafe. The name alone sounds delicious! They offer a unique fusion of Cuban and Colombian cuisine. Amid the rusty adobe colored buildings of Albuquerque, Guava Tree Cafe is a small refreshingly bright Caribbean decorated building with indoor and outdoor seating. The owners Mari and Diego are super sweet, clearly enthusiastic about what they do. The morning we went, we started off with guava and passion fruit smoothies and espresso. This was followed by 3 orders of the Arepa Machilla, which is an arepa (Colombian flat, round corn flour patty) stuffed with black beans, sweet plantains and roasted veggies (we ordered ours “sin queso”). We loved this breakfast so much we could have eaten it every day. Sadly, we discovered it on our last morning in Albuquerque, but it will definitely be the first place we stop on our return.
