Fiesta Azul Tequila House Mexican Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

TIM WALZ: “I have white guy tacos.”
VP KAMALA HARRIS: “What does that mean? Like, mayonnaise and tuna? What are you doing?”
TIM WALZ: “Pretty much-ground meat and cheese.”
VP KAMALA HARRIS:  “Do you put any flavor in it?”
TIM WALZ:  “Uh, no.  Black pepper is the top of the spice level in Minnesota, ya know”

A promotional  video featuring the Democratic Presidential nominee sharing a funny exchange with her Vice Presidential pick revealed the latter’s “Midwestern tastes” which include a “white guy taco.”   Analysis of America’s voting preferences has been done for virtually every demographic category save perhaps the “taco vote.”   Sadly, in the world of politics even a video elicits rancor and outrage when it depicts candidates behaving like normal people a having  normal conversation.  I hope you don’t take umbrage at this introduction to my post.

If there’s one thing American idealogues–conservatives and liberals–should not be divided about, it’s our mutual love of tacos.  As a Hispanic white guy pretty much incapable of being offended, I myself used the term “white guy Mexican food” for years.   In fact, I used terms that were much more disparaging.  Imagine having been weaned on New Mexican food and being sent by the Air Force to Biloxi, Mississippi for technical training.  Biloxi was a culinary wasteland when it came to Mexican food with Taco Bell offering the only facsimile.   Abstinence was preferable.

I often wondered what I did wrong for the Air Force to punish me with a personal purgatory of assignments as far away as possible from New Mexican or Mexican food.  It seemed like a life sentence to serve two tours in England, two years in Massachusetts and eight years in Biloxi without the incomparably preternatural deliciousness of potent chile.  Pangs of withdrawal certainly hastened my decision to retire despite the inevitability of being promoted.  Today–even when we travel–we’re elated to find that Mexican food is widely available and it’s not the faux white guy Mexican food.  It’s the real thing!

We still had some misgivings upon learning that a Florida-based Mexican restaurant was launching a satellite in Albuquerque.  Memories of white guy Mexican food throughout the South flooded back.  We needn’t have worried.  That Florida-based Mexican restaurant, Fiesta Azul Tequila Kitchen is the real deal.  Its website self glosses as “our family-owned Mexican restaurant, where the authentic flavors of North and Central Mexico come alive!  Fiesta Azul has three locations in Florida and now one in the Land of Enchantment.  Our hostess explained that the owner’s family has roots in Chihuahua and Colima while his partner and wife is from Albuquerque.

True to its name, Fiesta Azul is “a distinguished tequila house and Mexican restaurant boasting one of the region’s most extensive tequila collections. Our carefully curated bar features over 130 premium tequilas, including rare artesanal selections that showcase Mexico’s finest agave spirits.”   We wouldn’t go five feet for any premium tequila, but we will travel far and wide for Mexican food.  Fortunately, we had to go no further than Montgomery, just west of Louisiana.  Fiesta Azul occupies the space that previously housed such stalwarts as Liquid Assets, Poki Poblano  and the Independence Grill.

Despite its many incarnations, the edifice which houses Fiesta Azul can’t be mistaken for anything but familiar to veterans of the Duke City’s dining scene.  Sure, the signage has changed, but the restaurant’s three-level seating configuration remains unaltered.  On the upper level (two steps up), you’ll find the bar area where tequila aficionados tend to sit.  Diners tend to sit in one of the two lower areas or on the south-facing patio (weather permitting).  The restaurant is adorned in Monochromatic Minimalism (a limited color palette which creates an uncluttered and calming atmosphere).

We knew right off we’d like Fiesta Azul when our server ferried over a bowl of salsa and basket of chips to our table.  Fiesta Azul is a rarity in that salsa and chips are complimentary.  The salsa is served in a ramekin.  You’ll quickly dispense of the salsa (which has very little bite), but your server (ask for Xavier) will replenish it.  Chips are rather on the thin and brittle side and tend to break with Gil-sized scoops.  Those chips are low in salt and don’t have a pronounced corn flavor, but they’re quite good for the price.

Fiesta Azul’s menu is extensive and a pleasure to peruse.  You’ll likely narrow down to about six to ten items what you’d love to try.  That’s what future visits are for.  The appetizer menu alone lists some lucky thirteen items.  Not all of them are the de rigueur offerings you’ll find at other Mexican restaurants.  You don’t, for example, often see melotes (three plantains filled with queso fresco and chorizo, Topped with sour cream, and Mole negro) on an appetizer menu. Testament to the menu’s authenticity is that you’ll find both elotes (grilled corn on the cob with mayonnaise, fresh lime, cotija cheese and Tijan chili powder) and esquites (grilled corn off the cob, chipotle mayonnaise, fresh lime juice and cotija cheese) on the menu.  Even better, you can opt to exclude an ingredient from your corn.  For my Kim that meant no Tijan chili powder.  The elotes are sweet and nicely roasted though rather on the puny side.

Even though my Kim dislikes pinto beans (even after living in New Mexico for 26 years), she loves bean dip made from refried dip usually with shredded cheese on top.  Fiesta Azul offers a bean and queso dip, essentially reddish refried beans foming an island in a lagoon of melted queso.   The redishness of the beans comes from paprika which also lends just a hint of piquancy.  Just a hint, mind you, but too much for my Kim.  I’ve long ago stopped feeling sorry for her inability to tolerate piquant foods because it means I can eat them all.

The most difficult decision for me what in deciding what entree to order from so many varied categories: Rice Bowls, Tacos, Enchiladas; Burritos, Chimichangas and Quesadillas; Seafood, Platos Fuertes, Fajitas and Crudos.  Several items and even greater variety are available within each category.  Honestly, you’ll have a heckuva time deciding what to order.  Ultimately, I made an eenie meenie miney mo decision and opted for the torre de mariscos, a seafood tower described on the menu as “tower of delicious ceviche style seafood including shrimp, scallops, mahi-mahi layered with avocado, mango, cucumber and red onions and a very flavorful sauce.”  This is a fun tower to descend as you polish off one layer after another.   The seafood is very fresh and so tasty from its citrus marinade.

While many Mexican restaurants don’t offer fajitas at all,  Fiesta Azul offers nine different fajita platers.  Each comes with lettuce, pico, guacamole, sour cream, rice and beans, tortillas.  For an additional ten spot, you can have it made for two.   After sampling the tender, delicious steak on my Kim’s steak fajitas plate,  our landlubber friends John and Lynn ordered steak fajitas, too.  It’s a very good choice, especially if you don’t recognize items on the menu.  Red and green peppers and onions are grilled just right, but it’s the steak that meat-eaters will appreciate most, especially when nestled on a warm tortilla.  Portion size is generous and each fajita plate arrives at your table with the requisite steam wafting upward.

We honestly expected not to like Fiesta Azul, recalling too many white guy Mexican meals in the Deep South.  Not only are we now besotted of this terrific Mexican kitchen, we can’t wait to return to try such a varied and exciting menu.

Fiesta Azul Tequila Mexican Kitchen
6910 Montgomery, N.E., Suite 1
Albuquerque, New Mexico
(505) 525-8291
Website | Facebook Page
LATEST VISIT: 11 November 2024
# OF VISITS: 1
RATING: N/R
COST: $$$
BEST BET:  Salsa and Chips, Queso Dip, Steak Fajitas, Street Corn, Torre De Mariscos
REVIEW #1431