Going to be in Albuquerque for 3 months

Welcome sir. We have a few dedicated BAs that get together regularly and I have hung with @denver10 (and I am overdue for that too!) in the past. I'll send you a private message on that front.

For New Mexican: Tia Betty Blues, Cervantes, Cocina Azul, El Modelo, Duran's Central Pharmacy, Loyola's. All great.

Let me know if you need Santa Fe recs too, I'm happy to offer.


Brewery-wise, La Cumbre I think is reigning supreme across the board in every styles. Marble and Bosque are always good and occasionally put out bottled or specialty items that keep things interesting.

Dialogue, Bow and Arrow, Quarter Celtic and Canteen can all be very hit or miss, but worthy of an occasional visit.

In Santa Fe, I still highly recommend Second Street and their new location is awesome. It's conveniently close to perhaps the most exciting development for NM's brewing scene which is Rowley Farmhouse Ales, which is doing a variety of wild ales.

 

If you're staying by Presbyterian you can walk to Marble, though there is plenty of human trash walking around at night too. Not a dangerous area, but you might come across a mentally ill or drug addicted person. Maybe you'll make a new friend.

You'll also be close to downtown, which means basically nothing beerwise. There's Boese Bros. Brewing. It's...there. Also Sidetrack Brewing, which is a great little spot with ok beer. Very relaxing place. You have a choice of two bars with decent beer: Anodyne and Sister. Anodyne's tap lines may have been cleaned once though you'd never know it. Stick to bottles or cans. Sister has 42 taps, a nice selection of locals, always has Elevated from La Cumbre on tap and some Bosque and Boxing Bear taps. Has 2016 BCBS on tap right now.

Short Uber ride to Nob Hill. Nob Hill Bar and Grill has the best selection of non-local stuff, always something interesting. New brewery in that area called Hops. Place opened without having an IPA, curious when you're called Hops. They do have an IPA now but I didn't try because when I went in, they weren't selling individual pours, only a full flight and I wasn't ready for that much beer at 11:30 am, being the notorious lightweight that I am.

 

Welcome! As far as great food... Depends on what you like. Naruto Ramen is very close to Pres and is fantastic! The best Thai in town is up Central at Washington called Thai Cuisine II. Be forewarned, if you order "Thai hot" you'd better be ready. For Vietnamese, head further up central to Louisiana and bahn mi coda, behind Talin market is the bomb. There are also several pho places close that are all good but Pho II is my favorite. My favorite New Mexican Restaurants for breakfast and lunch are pretty close to each other. Barelas' coffee house is Southwest of Pres in the Barelas neighborhood. A little further South on Second is El Modelo. Both of these places are amazing. The best New Mexican for dinner IMO is Casa de Benavidez. The house margarita is a good deal and really is the best house margarita in town. For tacos, El Paisa on Cesar Chavez is the shit. But so is Taqueria Mexico on Lomas and that is closer to you. For pizza, you're very close to Farina and that place has some of the best in town and also has a good selection of local craft beer and Italian wine. If you're looking to spend less $$ and have more of a pizzeria/sports bar vibe, I really like Brickyard and they also have a lot of local handles. For a pub feel, I really like Two Fools in Nob Hill. They have great fish and chips and I really haven't had anything there I didn't like. Great Scotch eggs. Marble, La Cumbre and Tractor regularly have very good to OMG food trucks out front. Look for Don Choche, My Sweet Basil, and Street Food Sensations... seriously some of the best food in the city can be found at these trucks.

Hope you enjoy it here. If you want to have a look behind the curtain at La Cumbre, just shoot me a message when you want to come over.

 

Where is Pho II? I am always on the lookout for a new Pho joint.

For Pho, I stick with Pho #1 or Cafe du Lat. I tend to recommend Pho #1 to others when asked but split my time between 2 spots pretty evenly (usually weekly). Lately, though, Pho #1 started throwing crushed nuts, cucumbers and tomatoes into their Pho for some weird reason which I think is pretty terrible. Just ask for it without....though I still feel odd asking for Pho without nuts every single time. I swear the owner/server has looked at me crazy with that request....only to then serve me my Pho with crushed nuts in it.

I do agree with Thai II being the best thai in town. Best is relative, though. Thai is probably my favorite kind of food and I just have not been impressed with what ABQ has to offer with thai. Thai II is enjoyable though, so I am not trying to hate on that particular restaurant....but i guess I kinda am as I will say I don't think it's great. I guess my final words on it is that I find it to be good to maybe really good on its best days....obviously, just my opinion...and i don't claim to be any kind of expert, just opinionated. If you do go, try to go on a weekday lunch. Their lunch special is probably the best food deal in town that I have come across.

@erway also got me hooked on Magakoro with a previous recommendation for it. I go for lunch as I like their rice dishes. Dinner is noodle dishes, which are good but I am much of a ramen fan, which is the bulk of that menu.

If you like a hearty (and expensive) sandwich or a good burger, Fork & Fig on Louisiana & Menaul is worth your time, IMO. A sandwich and a side is going to cost you over $10 but its hearty and good. I leave full every time. As an East Coast transplant I am partial and picky with my reuben's and I am sucker for their New Mexican Reuben. I also enjoy their rendition of a Banh Mi Sandwich, not close to being authentic, just very tasty and good.

For some nice cheap Mexican, I like Taqueria, which is on Lomas and right near Marble.

For beer, that has already been addressed. La Cumbre, and Marble are the top of the class, IMO. They each have amazing flagships lineups. Marble has been pushing out an amazing variety and selection of pilot/on-off releases for the past year. There always seems to be something new and interesting when I hit them up.Some are really good, others not so much. But I appreciate them experimenting as much as they do. La Cumbre is more sparse in their pilot offerings, but their pilot beers are more consistent in quality, IMO. You will be hard pressed to find a bad beer at La Cumbre (you might not like everything they offer, but that should be more due to tastes). Marble, IMO, has the best barrel program in the state as well. Some is available in bottles, others draft only.

Bosque is hanging out right below those, IMO. But they are most definitely capable of producing some of the best beers in town. Unfortunately, IMO, as I have mentioned in the other thread, they have haven't been producing much of those beers in 2017. Their Lager is awesome and always on tap and they are in the midst of releasing a series of 4 wet hop beers. The wet hop DIPA currently on tap is awesome and an example of their A-game.

If looking to meet up for a beer sometime, I'd be game.

 

That's because we dump a fair amount of bad beer. In all seriousness, we are using that pilot system to dial in recipes, trial yeasts, trial changes coming down the line... At the end of the day, what Marble has, and it's awesome, is a fully functioning brewery that does not brew any standard offerings. I'll also add that my friend Josh might have the best brewing job in Albuquerque. We have a very adept nano 3 bbl that could potentially pump out a couple hundred bbls/yr, but so much of it right not is being dedicated to trials that would interest no one besides those trying to educate themselves on the difference in pilsner malts, yeast strains, and hop combinations. Sometimes these come out so good, that we decide to release them. Other times they are simply dumped.

 

Let me know if you need a tester for those beers. haha.

I'm with you on almost all of your food recommendations.

I have to say, I enjoy Amore and, above all, Giovanni's for pizza.

And as far as Thai Cuisine II, I have to disagree with @denver10 as I actually find their food better than many Thai spots I've been in my travels.