Filling bellies, but without much flavor

The Santa Fe store opened about a year ago and quickly became popular, especially, I’ve observed, among families with kids. While the food hovers near average, the service rises above the median. The staff keeps water glasses and “bottomless” drinks refilled and promptly brings whatever you need.

The kitchen is quick, and the place looks very clean. The décor reflects what a restaurant might be like if it was built inside a Hobby Lobby. Inspirational plaques, some with references to God, colorful artificial flowers, various decorative pieces, and in the ladies’ room, pictures of high heels with cute sayings.

	Weck’s LOCATION: 2000 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe, 505-471-9111 HOURS: 6:30 a.m.-2 p.m. daily

As you’ve probably guessed, this isn’t gourmet fare. The best thing I tried was the Weck Deck sandwich, a satisfying combination of turkey, ham, cheddar cheese and bacon on whole-wheat toast. Weck’s trademark chicken green chile stew has great flavor but far more potatoes than meat or chile ($8.29 as soup, half sandwich combo).

The red chile here was OK, but much of the food I sampled was bland. The vegetable quesadilla, for example, was mostly tortilla, with carrot shreds as the next prominent ingredient. Adding almonds, sunflower seeds and olives made it more interesting, but the filling was lightly applied on the big tortillas. The cheese was more a condiment rather than the central ingredient as in most Santa Fe quesadillas. I couldn’t taste the chopped green chile.

At breakfast, I tried the carnitas burrito: three scrambled eggs mixed with stewed pork, topped with red chile and melted cheese. The filling was rolled into a thin flour tortilla and served with about two cups of hash browns ($8.39). It was hot from the kitchen and filling. Nothing wrong, but nothing memorable except for the hugeness. I didn’t like Weck’s version of Huevos Rancheros ($8.39) because of the bland, gravylike, tomato-enhanced green chile sauce and the lack of cheese. In addition to the potatoes, this breakfast came with beans and an extra tortilla.

Weck’s uses the promotional tagline “A Full Belly Tradition Since ’91.” If you’re looking for plenty of grub at a relatively skinny price, this is your place. But I’ve got mixed feelings about this approach. Are big-serving places partly to blame for America’s obesity? Or is it generous of them to give customers so much and our own fault if we overeat?

If you look carefully, you can find modestly portioned options on Weck’s menu. A one-egg breakfast, for example. Or soup and half a sandwich. However, most folks, my secret shopper friends and I included, go for the gusto. How about the Belly Bustin’ Burger, half a pound of beef, served with fries, chips or some of each? Or the breakfast Belly Toast sandwich, three thick slices of French toast, two strips of bacon and an egg?

Breakfast choices, available all day, include four-egg omelets and three-egg breakfast burritos, both of which can be made with egg whites for no extra charge. The papas dishes, eight variations, start with a mountain of hash browns, enough for the mom, dad and two kids. If you order the popular Sloppy Papas you get gravy, diced bacon and sausage, melted cheese, two eggs and a tortilla.

I watched a teenage boy and his dad face this mountain of food ($9.89). They added a pancake, as big as a dinner plate and half an inch high, to their orders ($5.99 for two). They left the restaurant with food in a box and smiles on their faces.