With a hearty breakfast being so pivotal to having a successful day, why not have your morning meal at a first-class spot? In New Mexico, you’ll find a wide variety of top-notch breakfast joints serving up everything from fluffy biscuits to huevos rancheros. Here are the 10 best breakfast places in the state.
Stop at this restaurant and you’ll experience a sensory overload of delicious smells, fin-ger-licking good fresh-baked muffins, cakes, pies and breads plus mouthwatering break-fast food. Fresh-squeezed orange juice, pinon coffee, enormous biscuits, eggs cooked to perfection and fluffy pancakes and French toast help make breakfast here just the right way to begin the day. All baked goods are made fresh daily. The menu provides for vegetarian and vegan requirements. Open daily.
Breakfast is served all day at this folksy come-on-in-and-sit-awhile restaurant. From the bright red and gold stagecoach out front, to the cowboy art to Naugahyde-topped tables, this is a place that hollers simple and homespun and the food reflects that. Enter with an appetite because the portions are huge. The chicken biscuit and tater paired with chicken-fried bacon will have you coming back again and again, and if they don’t then the biscuits and gravy, huevos rancheros and homemade pies will do the trick. Fresh-made salsa from tomatoes and peppers grown on-site. Open seven days a week.
Charlie’s Spic and Span, as it is also known, lives up to its name—it’s clean, bright, cherry and warmly inviting. The bakery display case is filled with fresh eclairs, donuts, cookies, cream puffs, brownies and cupcakes. If that isn’t enticement enough, specialties of the house on the breakfast menu include empanadas with minced meat and pinon nuts, stuffys or sopapillas stuffed with eggs and meat, green chile stew and, of course, huevos rancheros. Homemade tortillas from the in-house tortilleria accompany most dishes. Breakfast is served all day.
Breakfast on the covered patio at this restaurant in the charming town of “The City of the Crosses” is a foodie delight. Of course, there’s red and green chile. There’s absolutely blue corn tortillas. There’s also a tantalizing eggsadilla, a fun take on a traditional quesadilla. The gingerbread pancakes are so good they’re served year-round. The French brie delight merges fresh-baked oatmeal bread and brie cheese slathered in syrup and pecans. All meals are made from scratch with the highest quality ingredients, plus all breads are made fresh daily.
Humor and a smile is what you’ll get from the owner of this small, funky restaurant in a town named after, of all things, a 1950s game show. The interior is a wild mishmash of bold colors and unique artwork. The food, however, is unique and inventive. The break-fast salad is a specialty—organic mixed greens, home fires, bean cakes, tomatoes, bacon, veggie sausage topped with tow eggs and pico de gallo—and amazing. Try the Bistro Benny, an interesting twist on a breakfast standby that features a roasted jalapeno hollandaise. Hearty and healthy breakfast fare served all day. Vegetarian and gluten free options available.
At one of the few locally-owned and operated restaurants in this town just north of Albuquerque, home on the range isn’t a reference to the classic western folk song, it’s a nod to this restaurant’s commitment to making quality comfort food that is reminiscent of wherever you call home. Its kooky, offbeat atmosphere with funky art and kitchen kitsch—in the form of old stoves—is an ideal backdrop to the creative food found here. Their motto is “ordinary food done extraordinary well.” Humongous portions are great for sharing.
The challenge here will be how to choose one thing off a menu that has literally hundreds of options … and they are all extraordinary! Family owned and operated since 1974, the very casual, homey atmosphere reflects that generational loyalty. A place that makes 50 gallons of red and green chile every day is a place that knows the essence of New Mexican fare which is spotlighted in many of their dishes. Homemade pastries and breads are a sweet complement to the savory offerings.
This is one of those hard-to-find places that you really don’t want to tell anyone about—the food is so good it’s worth keeping that knowledge to yourself. What awaits you inside this converted single-wide trailer is food made by a chef that does everything from scratch with the freshest ingredients. Stuffed French toast, biscuits and gravy, homemade waffles and fluffy pancakes are the standouts, but there’s standard fare like omelets, pigs in a blanket and steak and eggs that give those standouts a run for their money. Open for breakfast Saturday and Sunday. Cash only. Reservations suggested.
The bright yellow roof of this landmark restaurant is like a beacon, drawing diners through its doors since 1971. The menu is not extensive but what you do get is plain ol’ down home good cooking. The Frontier sweet roll is legendary—so good you can get a six pack of them. Homemade flour tortillas are the basis for the exceptional breakfast burritos. You can buy those by the half-dozen too. Breakfast is served until the 1 a.m. closing time which makes this a great place to begin or end your day.
There’s something to be said for a place that’s been serving food to locals and travelers for close to 70 years — hooray! This is the kind of spot you want to know about, a place that feels like home when you walk in. The menu is a blend of northern New Mexican favorites and traditional American fare. Everything is made-from-scratch with fresh, su-perior ingredients. The blue corn cinnamon pancakes are outstanding, as is a unique combination of pantry fries topped with chile, cheese and two eggs called the Buenos Dias. Great burritos, huevos rancheros and red or green chile, of course! They also serve up impeccable service and a great value. Open seven days a week.