On the side
MY MOMS ★★★★
500 Fourth St. NW, 505-247-2943, mymoms505.com
Marie Yniguez’s My Moms has an inviting dining room that wraps around the corner of a blockish office building.
Prices for breakfast, served until 11, run from about $6 up to $12.50. Almost all of it is savory, spicy New Mexican comfort food like burritos, biscuits in green chile gravy, and Huevonas, a version of huevos rancheros made with thinfried potatoes.
The festive red and green colors of the Avocado Tostada ($6.50) seemed appropriate for the season. A pile of chopped tomatoes and shredded lettuce dressed with salsa hid an egg cooked over easy. When broken, the egg yolk made a sauce for the refried beans and fresh avocado below.
The restaurant’s imposing, impeccable biscuits turn up in a few different items. Least expensive among these is Marie’s Green Chile “Bizquits” and Gravy ($8.50). The white gravy flecked with red and green chile was smooth, fiery and unctuous and struck an appropriate balance with the hulking biscuit. An ideal dish for a cold morning.
Sweet breakfast items on the menu are limited to Berries and Yogurt ($6) and French Toast ($9). The latter consists of two thick slices of bread cut in half and served with an egg and a choice of bacon or sausage flattened and seared on the grill. The toast wrapped around the sausage and dipped in the maple syrup makes a terrific breakfast sandwich.
The lunch menu starts off with Green Chile Stew ($9) and Grandma Celia’s Posole ($9). The latter earned high praise from my friend, a trusted authority on this classic Mexican stew. The sample I tried had plump tender pieces of pork in an electric red chile-based broth.
A mix of cold and hot sandwiches is available for $7.50 each. Of note is the Fried Bologna Sandwich ($7.50), three thick slices of baloney seared at the edges and wrapped in melted cheese and bread lightly buttered and finished on the grill.
There’s also a side menu of favorites that bear the names of Yniguez’s family members. Perhaps most unique among these is My Moms Little Bowl of Love, a delicious mash-up of chile con carne and noodle soup.