Rio Grande Social – Albuquerque, New Mexico

When Lisa Wong, my friend and former colleague at Intel,  first cast her eyes on the Rio Grande, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.  For years, she has captained dragon boat racing teams as they paddle the mighty Willamette River which is 40 feet deep and varies in width from 600 to 1,900 feet.  Though some 1,700 miles shorter than the Rio Grande, the 187-mile long Willamette dwarfs the Rio Grande.  There’s no way a dragon boat (forty feet long with seating for twenty paddlers) race could take place on the murky Rio Grande.  Never mind that in the 1990s one of Albuquerque’s most highly regarded restaurant was called the Rio Grande Yacht Club.  Our pathetically water-poor Rio Grande isn’t deep enough to accommodate much more than a canoe.

The Rio Grande, which trickles…er, meanders some 1,890 miles from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico, is the Rodney Dangerfield among the world’s great rivers. Will Rogers once described it as “the only river I know of that is in need of irrigating,” a prescient observation considering how over-allocated and over-appropriated this fabled river has become.  Though it is considered the 5th longest river in North America and the 20th longest river in the world, the Rio Grande ranks as one of the 10 most endangered rivers in the world, by the World Wildlife Fund.

Though other rivers may overshadow our Rio Grande in terms of size and depth, it is one of the world’s most biodiverse fresh water sources. From its headwaters in Colorado to its terminus in the Gulf of Mexico, communities rely on the Rio and its tributaries for drinking water, agriculture, abundant recreation and habitat for birds.  It is quite literally the backbone of local economies, including New Mexico’s sacrosanct green chile crop.  The Rio Grande supports 120 different species of fish (and not solely the much-maligned silvery minnow). In fact, almost 70 of those species are found nowhere else in the world. Likewise there are three specific areas that support bird species and even some mollusk.

So, we may joke about our murky, misnamed Rio Grande, but most New Mexicans know how critical it is to our lifestyle.  It may not be blessed with abundant water, but we’re very proud of it.  So proud, in fact, that the sacred name “Rio Grande” is festooned on banners, buildings, mastheads and company names.  Among the latter is the Rio Grande Social, a yawning restaurant on Coors Blvd.   That the eatery would sport the name “Rio Grande” was a given.  Initially, it was to be called the “Rio Grande Tavern,” but a New Mexico state statute precluded using the name because the state defines “bar” (and tavern, nightclub, cocktail lounge and cabaret) as an establishment devoted to the selling or serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by patrons on the premises and in which the serving of food is only incidental to the consumption of those beverages.

Because food as incidental was never intended for the restaurant, a new name had to be found…or at least a name that didn’t include Tavern, Bar, Cabaret, etc..  Obviously a great deal of research was done before settling on “Rio Grande Social.”  You might ask why it isn’t “Rio Grande Social Club.”  In the Old West, miners’ towns invited the business (or recreation) of prostitution.  Instead of “Whore House,” “Bawdy House,” “Brothel,” “Bordello” or “House of Ill Repute,” the politically correct term “Social Club” was used.  Today, business named “Social Club” might invite the “wrong” kind of customers.

Rio Grande Social is going to attract a lot of patrons, especially during football season.  A bank of flatscreen televisions is the cynosure of the otherwise antiseptic (scrupulously clean or pure, especially so as to be bland or characterless.) restaurant.  High ceilings and industrial duct work keep the restaurant cool, but they don’t muffle sound well.  Seating is a plus.  It’s not in personal space proximity (though The Dude always attracts a crowd wherever we go).

The Rio Grande Social (Social hereafter) menu offers seemingly everything but Chinese food.  Seriously, that menu is replete with multicultural offerings: pizza, tacos, Akaushi beef burgers, pasta and salads.  Appetizers are all over the map, too.  Some diners might see this approach as unfocused.  We see it as an attempt to offer something for everyone and actually enjoyed our meal very much.  If everything on the menu is executed as well as what we ordered, you’ll be in for a solid and enjoyable meal.  By the way, the Social has a unique “open kitchen.”  While most open kitchens offer half-wall views of the kitchen, you can actually see the entirety of the kitchen underneath the aphorism “It’s 505 somewhere.”

Deciding what to order is always a challenge from a menu with so many options.  Because I like virtually everything, I leave it to my Kim to order whatever appetizer we’ll be sharing.  For our inaugural visit to Social, she wanted the pretzel fondue with a housemade queso.  Our server (the wonderful Beth) shared that the pretzel comes from Pretzel Zilla, America’s number one source for soft pretzel breads and buns.  Far from a conventional knot-shaped pretzel, its shape is more akin to a baked bread orb which in appearance resembles an overgrown hazelnut.   Unlike many pretzels, each orb is low in salt which makes it more essential that the queso be good.  It is.  Only at Scottsdale’s Culinary Dropout have we experienced pretzels like these.

According to the SliceLife blog, the average American eats 40 pizzas per year.  That’s a whoppig 6,000 slices of pizza or eight slices per month every month of your life.  Every day, thirteen-percent of the population eats some form of pizza.   At least in terms of pizza consumption, I’m well below average.  In 2024, I’ve shared five pizzas with my Kim.  Make it six.  Social offers six different twelve-inch pizzas baked in a brick oven.  Inasmuch as the menu didn’t offer anything unique or uniquely weird, my choice was the “Five O Five,” a pepperoni and green chile pizza.  The crust is of medium thickness and has a nicely charred cornicione (outer rim of the pizza crust), what most people just call “the crust.”  The cornicione isn’t covered in sauce or toppings…or even cheese.  You can taste the cornicione unencumbered.  Social’s cornicione tastes like bread right out of the oven.  That’s a great thing.  The middle section of the pizza–where the ingredients, sauce and cheese are–is also quite good.  The sauce is generously applied (my preference) and quite tasty.

My Kim also went for Italian, albeit something pasta-based.  Her choice was cacio y pepe (spaghetti, pepper, butter, Pecorino Romano).  Though cacio y pepe (which translates simply to pasta and pepper) is an iconic dish of The Eternal City, it’s really only caught on across the fruited plain in the past few years.  As with most trendy dishes, cacio y pepe was virtually everywhere.  Though it’s a relatively simple dish, it’s not always prepared well.  My preference is lots of cheese and lots of pepper (the way it’s made at M’Tucci’s.  Like the stereotypical Italian, my Kim prefers an emphasis on pasta, not so much any accompanying sauces or cheeses.  She enjoyed Social’s cacio y pepe very much.

There are five desserts on the menu.  In that summer has unleashed its fiery heat (usually accompanied by fierce winds), it made sense to have the most cooling dessert available.  That would be the pineapple whip, a pineapple soft-serve.  My Kim let me have the three cherries impaled on a plastic sword, but the pineapple whip was hers alone.  She called it refreshing and delicious, a perfect balm for a sweltering summer day.

Rio Grande Social is located on Coors Blvd. just northeast of the Cottonwood Mall.  It’s a welcome addition to the burgeoning west side dining scene.

Rio Grande Social
10127 Coors Blvd., N.W.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
(505) 823-4400
Website |
LATEST VISIT: 30 May 2024
# OF VISITS: 1
RATING: N/R
COST:  $$$
BEST BET:  The 505 (Green Chile & Pepperoni) Pizza, Cacio E Pepe, Pineapple Whip, Pretzel Fondue
REVIEW #1399