Church Street Cafe
Church Street Cafe, also know as Casa de Ruiz, has been around for quite some time. During the founding of Albuquerque (1700s) is when this house was built. Casa de Ruiz is one of the oldest structures in Albuquerque which makes for great history. It is named Casa de Ruiz after the The Ruiz Family which had lived there until there last child, Rufina G. Ruiz, died in 1991. More of their story here!
Overall Bites:
Value: You really can’t beat the price of eating at such a historical place. Portion size was more than I could handle and at the price ($10) was great. You’ll usually pay about $10 anywhere but I was expecting it to be pricier.
Taste: I had no idea what i was getting! I asked my partner to order for me because I tend to order the same thing everywhere. He ordered a carne adobada burrito. Red. Being from El Paso, I though “Red? What is that?” I was satisfied with what he ordered for me though. It was salted perfectly. Taste was good and not spicy to the point where it was too much. Chips and salsa were good! I had to ask for more salsa to keep dipping my chips!
Presentation: A New Mexican burrito is different than what I am used to. They’re usually smothered in red or green chile salsa/sauce. Something El Paso RARELY EVER does. I thought they would be messy and all over the place but to my surprise, it wasn’t messy at all! I enjoyed eating this burrito with my fork and knife. Details below.
Vibe: I was definitely vibing with this place. Until we sat in the far back where we were the only ones sitting there. The issue wasn’t the vibes, nor sitting alone. It was the no music! No background noise, nothing. They did in the other room where there was hardly any seats available. The decor was so awesome though! Check out the pics!
Accessibility: It’s in Old Town. If you would point out on a map where the streets were I would not be able to tell you. I do know it’s on Church St., hence the name. It is surrounded by a bunch of shops and boutiques which is totally tourist worthy.
Church Street Cafe – Review
Now, I won’t make this long. I don’t want to bore you guys with how much I like to talk (type) about how much I like a place. It was Wednesday morning and I didn’t have much plans. My partner suggested we go to lunch at the oldest building in town. Knowing how much I like food, I couldn’t pass it up. Also because I was intrigued with the oldest building piece of it.
Church Street Cafe is also known as Casa de Ruiz. As soon as I was walking up to it I loved the looks of it. I instantly took out my phone and started capturing pics! Walking in, there was a host but behind her was a little coffee bar with desserts and sweets. Being a coffee “feen” I knew I wanted some right after lunch! We went around 11 a.m. and boy were all the tables taken. Good thing they had an area towards the back where there were more tables.
Where we were seated was great. There was a fire place with a mosaic on it. The art piece was beautiful and so was the warmth because I am always cold. Our server was quick to come and take our drink order. Looking at the menus we noticed they were dirty with salsa. Dried up salsa. I could see why the menus were dirty, customers clearly like the complimentary salsa and chips they give. I’m also guilty of the salsa falling on my menu but I quickly cleaned it.
Lunch is Served
Several chips later we got our adobada burrito, our red pozole and my little girl’s tortilla con cheese (quesdilla). When I got this burrito I knew there was no way I could finish this on my own. I also knew I couldn’t bite into it due to the fact that it was smothered in red salsa. Using my fork and knife I cut into it and was impressed with how generous they are with their meat. The taste was very good and not spicy to where I couldn’t enjoy. The rice wasn’t anything to talk about. It was surely different for me. Mexican rice and New Mexican rice is different. Mexican rice can tend to be more mushy and New Mexican seems a bit more dry. I ate it though so I didn’t mind it obviously!
I also tried the pozole my partner ordered. He mentioned to me the “New Mexican” way of serving pozole was either red salsa or green salsa. Thought that was cool because it is usually always red! His portion was a great size as you could see on pictures. When I tried it it was a bit spicier than to my liking and I could tell by his face that it was spicy for him was as well.
To this my friends, Church Street Cafe receives 4 Bites from me. It was a good experience and I liked the food but the dirtiness of the menu, the no music and there was also my server that didn’t refill my water after seeing it empty. All in all a definite place to visit while in Albuquerque! Hasta Luego mis amigos!