Lunch at Mary and Tito's

Mary and Tito's Cafe is an old style family restaurant located on 4th Street NW a little bit north of downtown and the I-40 freeway.

The original route 66 (from 1926 to 1937) came west from Texas into New Mexico but turned north at Santa Rosa (east of Albuquerque) to go through Santa Fe before heading south to Albuquerque and entered the town on 4th Street.

Although many of the tourist related businesses from that era like motels have closed down, the street still has a lot of local businesses including some very good restaurants.

Mary & Tito's has been going for 50 years now with good food and very reasonable prices in a cozy atnosphere. Tito died several years ago and Mary just died this year, but the family continue to run an excellent cafe.

Jukebox by the front door

Main Dining Room

 We arrived at 11:30 on a Saturday and the cafe quickly filled up with the Saturday lunch crowd including a family group that enjoyed this table for 6.

Checkout counter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hadn't enjoyed a tamale yet for the Christmas holiday, so I chose this large combination plate with a tamale, cheese and onion enchilada (hiding under the green chile) and taco. As part of the excellent service we received, the taco which often gets wet in the sauce on a combination plate was served on a separate plate!

Large Combo Plate with Tamale, Enchilada and Taco

 The food was all delicious and the green chile was tasty and spicy although the carne adovada filling for the tamale was a little under marinated.

Carne Adovada Stuffed Sopaipilla

Honey enjoyed the Carne Adovada Mexican Turnover, also known as a stuffed sopaipilla. The carne adovada in the stuffed sopaipilla, on the other hand, was thoroughly marinated and was quite good!

Sopaipillas are a New Mexico specialty, made from rolled strips of dough that are deep fried and bubble up when they fry. They're delicious when you tear open the bubble and add honey!

Or, as in this case, you can stuff a filling into the sopaipilla.

Usually they are served as a side dish with a meal. Size varies but I've never seen sopaipillas this large as a side dish!

Prices are quite reasonable with the most expensive item being only $8.75. Breakfast is served until 11:30.