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Blake’s Lotaburger http://www.lotaburger.com/
The open road. It still calls my name as I sit behind my desk, reminiscing of the sights, sounds, and burgers I encountered. Now finished at Lincoln National Forest, my wife, my sweet dog Pearl, and I headed to our next destination… THE GRAND CANYON!!! On the historic Route 66 we drove and admired the kitschy attractions along the way. There were many places to pull off and stay at old motels, purchase some Native American souvenirs, as well as see some beautiful (even though dry) mountainous terrain. So while on our way I noticed a place called Blake’s Lotaburger. There were a lot of them in New Mexico and it turns out that it is an original New Mexico Chain that started in Albuquerque in 1952. It was reminiscent of California’s In-n-Out or Texas’ Whataburger. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to try a burger unique to New Mexico, we stopped in Gallup, NM to try it for ourselves. We made our way up a hill in what appeared to be downtown Gallup to the 2nd street location. It was a “burger stand” style with only a couple of picnic tables outside for dining. There was a very distinctive sign of a long legged man (Blake?) guiding us in to the parking lot. We parked and I walked in. There menu was pretty straight forward for a fast food restaurant. They had burgers, hot dogs, and chicken fingers. They also had the New Mexico twist by offering green chile on everything. Being that this place isn’t called Lotahotdog or Lotafingers I wasn’t tempted by any option other than the Lotsa Combo, which includes the Lota Burger, large fries and a large drink. There was a pretty good line of about five people in front of me, so I took that as good sign. I patiently waited my turn and made my Lotsa Order to the lady behind the plate glass window!
Once my order was placed I took a step back and watched all of the action behind the glass. There were about five people bustling around, some taking orders, some preparing food. With all of the bustle the wait was still about ten minutes. I’m OK with waiting as long as the payoff is a good burger. So, after my ten or so minute wait I received my Blake’s Lunch bag and drink cup both featuring the long legged fellow with who I was now very acquainted. I went outside and took a seat at the picnic table in the shadow of the fifteen foot tall Blake sitting out front. As I began unpacking my bag ‘O food the first thing I noticed is that the fries looked fresh-cut! That’s always a plus. Unfortunately the rest of the meal was not so inspiring. The burger was rather unimpressive. While it was “large” it was dominated by the bun… and not even a very fresh one. I bit into it and the bun was a day or two beyond fresh. The patty was relatively thin and as such was not very juicy. I was able to save my meal by putting additional ketchup on the burger but that is more of a burger band-aid than a burger cure. The veggies were chopped onions, shredded lettuce and a slice of tomato. They did little to improve the burger. The cheese was cooked on to the patty well enough but really didn’t manage to stand out from the rest of the items on this burger. The fries were pretty good but could stand to have been a little crisper. Again, I did like that they were fresh cut.
Thank goodness I had a large drink. The best way I can describe this Lotsa Combo is ‘DRY’. The bun, the patty, the veggies were all lacking in moisture, not to mention any real flavor. Sadly this was a disappointing Burger Tyme on the road to THE GRAND CANYON. This place had so much potential with the iconic look of the burger stands, and the fact that this is a chain unique to New Mexico. Unfortunately I was only passing through and would not have time to give this place a second change. If it is any consolation, the fact that this place was busy the entire time I was there indicates that I may have had an anomaly of an experience and that typically, it is actually quite good. Perhaps some loyal Burger Tymers from New Mexico can fill us in.
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Munchies Pizza and Subs http://www.munchiespizzaandsubs.com/
Well Burger Tymers, our second stop on our great American Road trip was an interesting one. My wife and I made an agreement, that per the rules of road tripping, if there was a detour that we thought would be interesting, we would take it. Planned or not. So we were on our way to Lincoln National Forest we noticed that our route was going to take us close to Roswell, NM. You may have heard of it. It is famous for an alien spaceship crash landing there and giving us all of the technologies we enjoy today (Avatar fans, you’re welcome). Anyway, I’ve always sort of wanted to go there just to check it out. So we re-set our course and headed roughly 30 miles past the road we originally planned to turn on and made our way to Roswell. When we arrived we quickly found the main strip which contained all kinds of Alien themed souvenir shops, cafes, and even a furniture store. There were even lamp posts that looked like aliens. The most notable landmark was the UFO museum. While inside a souvenir shop purchasing an alien sticker, I asked the lady behind the counter is there was a good place nearby to get an “Out of this world burger”… She wasn’t amused either. She asked a younger girl that worked there and they both indicated that a place a few blocks away, called Munchies, had the best burger. I quickly thanked them and My wife, Pearl (our sweet dog), and I headed over to get our galactic Burger Tyme on!!!
Munchies was really close. It was a block from the UFO museum. This wasn’t a burgers only place. They had pizza, sandwiches, and burgers. After seeing the whole set-up I wasn’t really expecting too much. They seemed more geared for making pizzas. They even had a delivery driver. So I placed my order for a cheeseburger with fries and a drink. My wife went ahead and ordered the pizza. The weather was nice and they had some seating outside that we took. The wait wasn’t too long. About 10 minutes or so. When they brought our food out, I have to admit, I was surprised by how nice the presentation was. I was expecting a small basket with the food kind of piled in but it appeared as if they laid everything out so that it looked appealing. I had to give them kudos for that. The burger itself was a thin quarter pound patty on an overlarge, but nicely buttered and toasted bun. The veggies were abundant and while the lettuce was average, the tomatoes were quite nice. When I bit into the burger it was rather dry, begging me for ketchup. I obliged. The fries were adequately crispy but were nothing great. The same could be had at any place that uses frozen french fries. I liked that it came with a deli pickle. That might not be a plus for some people but I really like them.
So Roswell, NM. It was a nice detour on our way out west. Munchies was better than I expected but still not that great. I didn’t hate the meal. There were some really good aspects about the burger however, overall I cannot say that I enjoyed the burger. It was relatively bland and generic. Obviously they have a very broad menu, so the fact that they do burgers does not mean that they do them well. If I were ever looking for a burger in Roswell again, I would probably continue my search much like the Aliens who supposedly visited here. That’s right. My time in Roswell has led me to believe that Aliens are in fact Burger Tymers from outer space!!! Why else would they keep stealing our cows?
