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A place to gather: Rio Grande Social is up and running smoothly on the West Side
For years, the lot on the northwest corner of Coors Boulevard and Seven Bar Loop on Albuquerque’s West Side existed in a kind of purgatorial state.
A sunken patch of land in a neighborhood thick with shopping centers and restaurants, it had only one apparent duty: to serve as a drainage pond for the large shopping center nearby.
And then, in 2018, construction equipment turned up. Over the next couple of years, the sunken land was filled in except for a big concrete trough constructed for the drainage. Rumors abounded as the outlines of a building took shape. Was it going to be a car wash? A bank?
The speculation ended in March, when locals Yogesh Patel and Art Gardenswartz pulled the curtain back on Rio Grande Social, a gathering place to watch sports, drink and sample from a menu that encompasses pub grub and entrees like steak frites and seared salmon.
My friend on the West Side, who had been tracking developments at the lot, suggested recently that we check it out for a weekday lunch.
The blockish building, dressed in dark brown stucco, features an impressive corner entrance framed with white-painted steel girders. The dining room is a high-ceilinged space with different seating areas. The tables and chairs in the center of the space are bracketed by a banquette along one side and a small army of couches on the other. TV screens showing sports are visible from almost every vantage. It was pretty drowsy in there when we first arrived, but the dining room was almost full within an hour.
Menus are presented on jumbo-sized laminated sheets. There are sections devoted to burgers, pizza, pasta and tacos. The food doesn’t hew to any particular region of the world, although there are a notable number of Italian dishes.
Things lead off with a section of Social Bites, appetizers that cost mostly between $10 and $15.
An order of Steak Carpaccio ($14) arrived on a big circular plate. The dish’s namesake, an artist of the Italian Renaissance, likely would have appreciated the painterly composition of the plate. Thinly-sliced circles of beef and a couple pieces of crostini were arrayed around a pile of greens. I loved the addition of fried capers, little crunchy spheres of brine that augmented the buttery meat. I would have liked a few more of them, but still, it was an excellent starter.
The pizza menu offers six varieties, starting with a cheese pie for $13. The restaurant’s version of Salsiccia Pizza ($19) offered the typical presentation of melted mozzarella strewn with fennel sausage, sliced onions and crisped pieces of spinach. But the first bites offered a surprise twist, as the sausage had a delayed fuse that left the mouth afire. It was so hot that my friend tapped out after only one slice. I lasted a little bit longer after I discovered that the rich, sweet dollops of ricotta cheese on board helped cool the heat.
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Prices for the six entrees on the menu range from $17 to $24, while the five pasta dishes cost $14 to $19. Of those, we tried the Chicken Parmesan ($18). The breaded chicken breast under a cloak of melted mozzarella took up one side of the circular plate; the rest was occupied by a pile of spaghetti with marinara and a piece of Italian bread. The chicken was moist, the coating stuck to it, and the sauce was bright and tangy. A satisfying version of a classic dish in a serving size ample enough for two meals.
The selection of smashed burgers that round out the menu are made from Japanese akaushi beef, a breed of wagyu known for its marbling and buttery richness. Though neither of us had been drinking, we decided that the Hangover Burger ($17) was the most intriguing option. Lots of restaurants make a version of this, usually by plopping a fried egg and maybe some hash browns over the patty, but Rio Grande Social’s variation is different. The patty is made from a 50/50 blend of akaushi beef and chorizo sausage, leaving it rusty red, spicy and peppery. It was assertive enough to stand up against the three slices of bread, fried egg, melted Gruyere cheese and bacon that surrounded it. While I doubt that it’s actually good for a hangover, it is a tasty, decadent twist on a breakfast sandwich.
There are six desserts on the menu. Among the usual suspects (cheesecake, chocolate layer cake) is one unusual item: Pineapple Whip ($7), a treat originally created in 1983 by a food scientist at the Dole Food Company for Walt Disney World’s Enchanted Tiki Room. In Rio Grande Social’s version, the spiral-shaped soft-serve ice cream was delivered in a Lavazza coffee mug and topped with a cherry. It was refreshingly tart, with a texture somewhere between sorbet and ice cream. An ideal finish for a spicy meal.
The menu also offers three salads ($12-$16) and a small section for items for kids.
Drinks are a focus, taking up almost an entire side of the menu. There are numerous local beers on tap, a selection of wines that run from $8 to $12 and all-day $5 cocktails like Jack and Coke. The Cocktails ($12 to $15) menu offers some interesting mixes, including the aforementioned pineapple whip with rum. It looked tempting, but my day-drinking era is firmly in the rearview mirror.
Rio Grande Social has some gluten-friendly choices, though they are not marked on the menu. The pizzas can be made with cauliflower crust, the tacos with corn tortillas.
Service was prompt and courteous. One of the servers gave us a brief history of the place and showed us the weekend brunch menu that includes a Bloody Mary Bar, Mimosa flights and a selection of sweet and savory items running from $9 to $17.
After a long gestation, Rio Grande Social is up and running smoothly. In an area choked with chain operations, it’s encouraging to see a locally-owned and operated spot with a fun menu built for return visits. Future prospects are bright.
