On the side
MARY & TITO’S CAFÉ
★★★1/2
2711 Fourth NW, 344-6266, maryandtitoscafeabq.com
Mary & Tito’s Café is arguably the most celebrated restaurant in Albuquerque.
In 2018, the foodie website Eater named it one of America’s 38 essential restaurants. Before that, the James Beard Society bestowed on it a prestigious American Classics award for its carne adovada. Mary & Tito’s reputation is such that, on any given day, the dining rooms are filled with a combination of regulars and tourists.
Mary & Tito’s is a place where you get big portions at inexpensive prices and pay your tab at the register. The menu, fitted onto a small, folded-up piece of paper, starts off with such daily specials as huevos rancheros and combo plates for under $8.
The Thursday special of carne adovada chimichanga ($7.75), a large tortilla wrapped around slow-cooked pork and deep-fried, was served with guacamole, sour cream, beans and rice.
Tacos, tamales, enchiladas and flautas make up the dinner selections.
The Small Combination Plate ($7.50) comes with a taco and a tamale with rice and refried beans. Beans are often an afterthought in a New Mexican dish, but here they are smooth and worth savoring.
Tito Gonzales created the Mexican turnovers on the menu as an ode to the Italian calzone. The Combination Chicken ($7.95) was nicely balanced, the exceptional red chile bringing some fire to the filling of shredded white meat, beans and rice.
The food is consistently good and reasonably priced, and the service is excellent. No wonder it’s lasted more than a half a century.