Downtown oasis: Desert Sky Café brightens dining scene at Civic Plaza

I always welcome restaurant tips, but a friend’s recent insistence that there was an excellent café at Civic Plaza Downtown left me skeptical.

Civic Plaza? I thought. Where bureaucratic rabbit warrens look down on acres of concrete? It’s where you go in pursuit of a marriage license or an absentee ballot, not a dining experience.

Color me chastened. I’m happy to report that the restaurant — Desert Sky Café — is indeed worth a visit even if you don’t live or work in the area.

Downtown oasis: Desert Sky Café brightens dining scene at Civic Plaza

The café is located in the former home of Plaza Eatery on the west side of the plaza at the entrance to the Bernalillo County Government Center. Plaza Eatery closed in 2019 after almost 20 years of operation. The dining room then got a remodel and Desert Sky moved in at the beginning of 2021.

Desert Sky’s social media pages describe the concept thusly: “New Mexican dishes by a Romanian chef trained in classical French cuisine.” Ilie Spilca, the Romanian chef in question, maintains an active presence on social media with videos and pictures of the daily specials.

The café occupies a sunroom that runs along the entrance to the government center. There is plenty of street parking in the area and a couple of underground garages nearby.

You can enter from the plaza or from inside the government center. The interior entrance is set across from a free art gallery that offers a rotating slate of exhibits.

The narrow dining room consists mostly of tables for two, with some pushed together for larger parties. The table and seat tops are made of repurposed wood, the walls lined with plants and knickknacks.

The café is open for breakfast and lunch during the workweek. At 11 a.m., breakfast yields to lunch, which runs until the place closes at 3 p.m.

I joined my aforementioned friend for a weekday lunch recently. When we arrived just after noon, there were only a handful of people inside. Within 15 minutes, every seat in the place was occupied and the line stretched from the counter into the dining area. Business seemed evenly divided between takeout and eat-in. The dine-in crowd ranged from people in jackets and ties to construction crews with orange reflective vests.

You order at the counter and pick up the food when the server calls your name.

The breakfast menu consists of burritos, bowls, sandwiches, eggs and hash browns at prices in the $5 to $7 range. The day we went, there was a special of a Chicharron Breakfast Burrito.

Sandwiches and 6-inch subs dominate the lunch menu. There are no orderly stacks of cold cuts, cheese and veggies here. Instead, the meats and veggies are chopped and mixed with cheese into a hot, gooey mass that gets deposited inside a sub roll or between two slices of bread.

A good example is the Albuquerque Turkey ($10), in which melted provolone cheese binds together a mix of turkey, sauteed mushrooms and green chile in a grilled sub roll sliced in half. It’s a terrific sandwich — meaty, savory and spicy — and the not-unpleasant sting of the green chile lingers long after the bite.

Similar results were achieved with the Grilled Chicken Sandwich ($10) on sourdough. Chunks of grilled chicken breast, juicy and a little smoky, were set in melted cheese with tomatoes, lettuce and mayo. The balance between the filling and the buttery grilled bread was ideal. It’s one of the best chicken sandwiches in the city.

Along with the sandwiches and subs is a selection of burritos and wraps. The base model, a Bean and Cheese Burrito ($6), had a filling of pinto beans, melted cheese and chile wrapped in a thin, fresh flour tortilla. A no-frills presentation elevated by the electric green chile.

All the sandwiches, subs, burritos and wraps are served with a bag of chips.

I was surprised to find among all the sandwich choices a small section of the menu devoted to seafood that includes a couple of fried shrimp dishes and fish and chips made with cod. The Shrimp Basket ($11), served on black-and-white checked paper in a cardboard boat, evokes a snack shack on a beach boardwalk. The nine shrimp were butterflied and fried in a rugged, crunchy panko coating. Under the golden-brown shell, the shrimp were moist and picked up some tart and sour notes from the accompanying tartar and cocktail sauces. The shrimp were served with a similarly sized basket of very good battered french fries.

While Desert Sky doesn’t have a dessert menu, there are muffins and pastries available at the counter and an item buried at the end of the breakfast menu that honors chef Spilca’s heritage: Mama’s Romanian Coffee Cake ($2.50). The name is no gimmick — it’s actually made by the chef’s mom. The thick slice was studded with chopped walnuts and topped with powdered sugar. It was moist, with a delicate crumb, the buttery, cinnamon flavor shot through with a vein of bitter chocolate. A cup of coffee is almost a requirement with this.

The counter staff was friendly and knowledgeable, and the kitchen kept things moving briskly. The food came out in five to 10 minutes.

You can’t fight city hall, but you can eat there, and eat well, thanks to Desert Sky. The café has some of the best sandwiches in the city and its chile packs a wallop. There’s enough variety on the menu to entice first-time visitors and keep the regulars coming back.