Knowing their stuff

Sometime long ago, an enterprising person sitting before a sopaipilla and a plate of food — carnitas, perhaps, or maybe carne adovada — had an inspiration. Instead of eating them separately, why not stuff the food into the empty space inside the sopaipilla? With that stroke of inspiration, the stuffed sopaipilla was born.

The identity of that visionary is lost to history, but it likely was someone from these parts. After all, it was in New Mexico where the sopaipilla achieved its ultimate form.

The word is the diminutive of sopaipa, a flatbread of Moorish Spain whose name means “bread soaked in oil.” The Spanish brought it to New Mexico, where it was adapted to Indigenous dough preparation and frying techniques to became not only a bread course, but the basis for an all-purpose, anytime dish with fillings both savory and sweet.

Stuffed sopaipillas appear on the menus of numerous Mexican and New Mexican restaurants around town, but no spot is so devoted to them as Stufy’s, the longtime operation with locations in the North Valley and Northeast Heights.

Ray Madrid and Lawrence Villanueva launched Stufy’s way back in 1968. Today, the North Valley location on Candelaria Boulevard near the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is apparently a drive-thru operation only. Last time I visited, the place was open, but the entrance to the small dining room was locked.

The Northeast Heights location in a freestanding building at the edge of a strip mall parking lot on Juan Tabo Boulevard, south of Indian School Road, has both drive-thru and dine-in options.

While the yellow sign by the road of the beanie-wearing cartoon kid and his dog is peeling, the dining room looks spruced up. The drop ceiling has been painted black and decorated with strings of lights that shine on black and white floor tiles below. The black ceiling has the effect of casting a shroud over the dining room, even in the midday sun. Seating options include booths along one wall and a few two- and four-top tables.

When I visited recently during lunch hour, a couple of orange-glowing space heaters were strategically placed to warm the dining room. The room carried an overpowering smell of cleaning fluid that took a while to get used to.

Stufy’s menu offers no less than 14 sopaipilla options that are numbered for convenience and priced from $6.57 to $8.49. Among the fillings are beef, chicken, carne adovada and hamburger patties. There’s even a sweet one with an apple pie filling and cheese.

I kept it simple and ordered the Stufy #1 ($6.57) with refried beans, red chile, cheese and lettuce. It was served in a paper pouch on a cardboard boat. The sopaipilla was not cut in half; rather, one end was opened with an L-shaped cut to accommodate the ingredients and make it easy to eat without spilling anything. The sopaipilla, thin on top and thicker and spongier on the bottom, was warm with crisp edges and the filling was tasty, even if the balance of ingredients tilted heavily toward the refried beans. The red chile added smoke but no heat.

Huevos Rancheros ($10.42) highlights Stufy’s small all-day breakfast menu. I opted for the #14 sopaipilla ($8.24) with bacon, home fries and a hard-fried egg. The ingredients were fine, but the distribution of them was off. A couple of curled-up slabs of bacon sat at the opening in front of a pile of eggs over thin-sliced potato medallions. The green chile and cheese got shunted to the back, so it was difficult to get everything into one bite.

Stufy’s selection of burgers starts at $7.67 and runs to $12.07 for the Gorilla Burger with two quarter-pound patties and fries. The Fiesta Burger ($7.67) was the big surprise of the meal. An impressive rendition, the terrific brioche bun holding down a thin patty topped with a mix of red and green chile on a crunchy pile of chopped lettuce. Only one note: the green chile wasn’t very spicy.

Beyond sopaipillas and burgers, Stufy’s menu encompasses almost everything and anything you can think of in the genre. There are burritos, tamales, tacos, taquitos and posole. The Carne Adovada Burrito ($8.49) with cheese and refried beans arrived thick and clumsily wrapped. The adovada, colored flaming orange from the melted cheese, was tender if a little soupy.

Stufy’s has a decent selection of inexpensive desserts, topping out at $7.67 for an Apple Chimichanga with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I asked for the Natillas ($1.98), but they were out of it, so I settled for the Sugar Sopas ($1.75). The four hollow, fat fingers of fried dough were served in a cardboard boat. I liked these. Warm, not greasy, and coated with cinnamon sugar, they were simple but well-executed. A little cup of chocolate, raspberry or strawberry sauce would have elevated them to an A-plus.

Not surprisingly for a place built around a wheat flour confection, Stufy’s is mostly inhospitable for gluten-free diners. Gluten-friendly tacos are one option.

Ordering is done at the counter, after which customers are given a number. The man at the counter was friendly and welcoming, and the food came out quickly.

Stufy’s is a worthy showcase for one of New Mexico’s classic dishes. What it lacks in finesse, it makes up for in selection and value.