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Patrons seem to feel right at home with Prickly Pear Bar & Grill’s New Mexican and Mexican menu. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal)
There are very few restaurants that call themselves a “bar & grill” and throw open the doors during breakfast hours each day. Typically, breakfast, lunch and dinner joints are diners or cafes more associated with quiet, social group meals rather than a night out with cocktails, televised ball games and live entertainment. Bucking that stereotype is the newcomer on the San Mateo strip called Prickly Pear Bar & Grill, serving all manner of Mexican and New Mexican tastes all day long.
Before tackling a main dish, have a sip of one of the house margaritas ($6.50) in flavors from candy-sweet (prickly pear) to pleasantly tart (cucumber). Before 7 p.m. the price is a buck lower, ensuring everyone is in the mood for some appetizers.
Skip the bland and skimpy guacamole ($6.50) and order Navajo Sliders ($6.50), a duo of open-faced sopaipilla burgers touched by chile, and scored with crunchy grill marks. After those are gone, you’ll have to make do with the plate of fresh chips and their tiny cup of fiery salsa – tasty enough to ensure a second order.
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Prickly Pear Bar & Grill LOCATION: 5210 San Mateo NE, north of McLeod, 872-0363, www.pricklypearabq.com HOURS: 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sundays FULL BAR |
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Prickly Pear is a place good enough for Goldilocks with a menu that is not too short and not too long, evident upon first perusal of the enchiladas, burgers, soups and tacos. Many items offer customization from meat to sides, making your true range of possibilities far larger than the 18-item entree list.
Zoom in on a few Mexican dishes like Puffed Tacos ($11.50), variants on the rich corn masa pockets called gorditas you’ll find in the southern part of the state, or Tacos al Pastor ($10.50) replete with marinated pork, pineapple and avocado in corn tortillas. Based on lackluster home fries and interesting but not awesome chile mashed potatoes, it’s a better move to order beans or some buttery calabacitas as one of your sides.
Rellenos ($10.50) are one thing for which Prickly Pear is quickly building a fan base – they’re battered lightly to retain crunch and stuffed to the gills with jack cheese. Have them smothered in chile if that’s your thing, or leave at least one naked to enjoy the taste of batter and chile on its own. Prickly Pear’s chiles are not overly hot – the salsa seems to be the spiciest thing on the menu – but the flavor is perfectly fine.
As with other restaurants in town that have Mexican and New Mexican foods, the Mexican dishes are a better bet and offer variety from our typical New Mexican habits.
Lunch hours are a bit quieter, of course, but the menu is the same and the service still friendly. Given that Prickly Pear opens at 8 a.m., one might expect a breakfast menu and indeed there is a small yet standard breakfast list from eggs to pancakes and beyond. Personally, I have a hard time turning down eggs regardless the hour – that makes huevos rancheros an all-day food, while my enchiladas must have the egg-on-top adornment.
In the evening, we noticed something else that would curry Goldilocks’ favor: ambience that is not too boisterous yet not too sedate. I’m a skeptic of any eating establishment with televisions and a stage, but somehow both the live sports and the jazz-inspired band were background elements to the whole experience rather than something to have to talk over.
While dining we saw patrons of all ages, groups of all sizes, occasions from birthdays to date night. There’s something about Prickly Pear that makes folks feel at home, right down to the sweet vanilla natillas ($3.50).
