Family-run The Chancla heats up Albuquerque’s brunch scene

A love of cooking and multiple years of cheffing brought Candice Billy and Jeremy Jourdian together years ago, and now the two are offering up original culinary inspirations at their business, The Chancla, in Southeast Albuquerque.

The family-operated business, which opened March 1, is one of the city’s newer brunch spots, serving bistro-style New Mexican food at 1248 San Mateo SE.

Menu items — including fresh pastries, chilaquiles, chicken-fried steak, cinnamon rolls and The Chancla, an English muffin with chorizo, scrambled egg and cheese — are made in-house and served from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

Billy, a native New Mexican with 18 years of cooking experience, trained as a pastry chef at Le Cordon Bleu in Scottsdale and worked at Pure Food and Wine in New York before returning to New Mexico in 2012 and meeting Jourdian in the restaurant scene a year later. Jourdian, a cook of 20 years, heard about the two-story San Mateo space becoming available at his most recent gig as executive chef at Triana on Carlisle.

The two, who have been together for 11 years and have a 6-year-old, quickly jumped at the opportunity to start their restaurant venture.

“This is something we’ve always wanted to do,” Billy said.

“We scraped some cash together, my dad put in a small investment and from there, we just started building up,” Jourdian added. “It’s a dream come true.”

The couple moved into the 2,400-square-foot property in January and spent two months preparing the space with fresh paint. The space can comfortably seat 20 people inside and 24 people outside on the patio. The building also has a drive-thru but it is not currently operational; the owners said they’d like to get it going at a later point as they continue growing.

“Altogether, at opening day, after food and everything, we had about $1,700 in the bank,” Jourdian said. “We really just focused on social media and putting the money into the food.”

Billy said the couple’s involvement in the restaurant scene has been helpful, equipping them with established connections to vendors and knowledge of what works and what doesn’t.

The impact of social media hasn’t hurt either, with a TikTok by Albuquerque food influencer Alex Nicolette featuring The Chancla going viral on their second day of business. The March 2 video has received about 111,000 views and more than 6,600 likes.

“Which was very fortunate but also extremely unexpected,” Billy said. “People were starting to show up in droves.”

Billy and Jourdian handle all of the business themselves, with only a dishwasher employed so far, but they’re hoping to hire more help as they grow and expand. The owners said the weight of doing so many things day in and day out has been challenging, but meeting so many new people and working for themselves has been rewarding.

The most popular menu items so far have been the chilaquiles, chicken-fried steak, Tia Burrito, cinnamon rolls and the Five Oh Five Benito, which includes turkey, green chile, Swiss cheese, bacon, poached eggs, English muffin and hollandaise. Prices at The Chancla range from $7 to $16.

“We make everything in-house and whatever we don’t make in-house, we source locally,” Billy said, adding that she and Jourdian craft the meals with “a lot of technique and real quality ingredients.”

Billy’s culinary journey started early, which is reflected in the restaurant’s name, The Chancla. The name is a playful nod to the way a mother uses her sandal to motivate, and sometimes discipline, her kids — a concept many New Mexicans will recognize.

“It’s fun. It signifies the toil and everything that goes into ... mothers making you learn how to cook,” Billy joked.

The iconic New Mexico term and sandal are featured in the restaurant’s colorful logo, created by Billy’s father, Kirk Billy, a Gallup airbrush artist whose artwork has appeared in lowrider magazines and murals across the state.

The restaurant has plans to sell merchandise featuring the logo and is already showcasing artwork from two other local artists on its walls.

“This is our passion, and we want to show that with our food,” Jourdian said. “We hope to grow and be part of the restaurant scene in Albuquerque.”