In her last Facebook post, Dagmar Gertrude Ingeborg Schulze Marshall Mondragon remained optimistic about making a full recovery from the most recent of the many recent health woes that plagued her otherwise rich and wonderful life. Dagmar refused to be defined by those health woes. Instead, we’ll remember her as not only an extraordinary chef and baker, but as one of the kindest, most loving and optimistic souls to ever grace our Earthly plane. Dagmar was devoted to her customers.  She passed away on  25 February 2023.

Michael Almanzar, a long time friend of Dagmar’s who is affectionately known as Dagmar’s “Brother from another Mother” is the new Owner/Operator of Dagmar’s!   Dagmar’s reopened on August 25, 2023.  We’re happy to report that under Michael’s stewardship, this outstanding German bakery hasn’t skipped a beat.  Though we miss the beautiful baker, we’re gladdened that her delicious legacy lives on.

DAGMAR’S INCREDIBLE STORY & LEGACY

Until Dagmar Mondragon launched her first German restaurant in Albuquerque back in 1996, many of us knew very little about German cuisine in general and baking in particular.  The only German baker with which some of us were acquainted was the wicked witch who planned to bake Hansel and Gretel in her oven.  And the only German pastry with which we were familiar was the gingerbread house in which that witch lived.  Most of us believed German chocolate cake originated somewhere in Germany.  Heck, if it wasn’t for Hogan’s Heroes, we wouldn’t know the difference between pumpernickel and weinerschnitzel.

Having frequented every one of the German restaurants Dagmar has launched in the nearly a quarter-century in which she’s served the Duke City metropolitan area, I’ve become besotted by her baked breads, delighted by her desserts, captivated by her cooking and grown very fond of the remarkable, larger-than-life woman named Dagmar.  Her inspirational story is replete with all the elements and themes that make a great movie though if you weren’t already acquainted with Dagmar’s story, you might not believe how anyone could surmount so many challenges and remain the warm, perpetually smiling lady who greets you cheerfully when you step into her bakery.

While most movies center around one theme, you would be hard-pressed to pigeonhole the Dagmar Mondragon story into one central motif.   The most prominent theme would probably have to be “overcoming adversity.”  Dagmar has experienced much more adversity–both in business and in her personal life–than most of us can fathom.  Through it all, she’s remained resolute, determined, unflappable…an embodiment for the axiom “you can’t keep a good woman down” (another movie theme).

Even before launching her first restaurant, adversity tried to bar the door to Dagmar’s dreams. Armed with tremendous talent and self-confidence, but with no start-up capital, Dagmar somehow managed to secure a deposit for her first restaurant.  Alas, the San Mateo location in which she opened her start-up was broken into several times.  Dagmar then moved to a new location where she introduced Albuquerque to the German food with which she grew up.  Not long after she relocated, she suffered the first of two heart attacks she would survive before triple bypass surgery rectified the issues with her heart. Two days after surgery, she returned to her restaurant. Among her first customers were the doctors who had performed the surgery.

Over the next nearly two decades, Dagmar would go on to share the cuisine of her maternal homeland throughout the Duke City and Rio Rancho in four different locations. In that time, she’s overcome a litany of challenges and health issues, any of which would have broken a lesser person. Her restaurants were burgled on multiple occasions, once by a ravenous robber who devoured her pastries. She’s experienced more equipment issues than Wile E. Coyote. Sewer back-up issues at one restaurant obfuscated the enticing aromas that make dining at her restaurants an olfactory-arousing joy.

Sometime after her fourth move, Dagmar was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Despite the removal of 22 pounds of mass, she literally went straight from the hospital to her restaurant. In 2012, she launched a small eatery in Rio Rancho while continuing to operate her Albuquerque establishment. Once again, cruel fate stepped in, this time sapping her of the passion and drive she had always had for cooking and baking. The culprit this time was systemic lupus which rendered her in perpetual pain. She closed her restaurants, put everything in storage and moved in with her ailing mother.

For five years, Dagmar worked on recovering her health. Over time, she regained the passion and vitality that had sustained her through so many challenges. She decided her most recent instantiation of Dagmar’s Delectables would reside in Rio Rancho and would focus on German pastries, particularly strudels. Dagmar’s opened its doors in July, 2019 in the 1,300-square-foot Trinity Plaza space which previously housed Gluten-Free Gourmet. It’s a smaller space than some of her previous restaurants. Though it isn’t set up as a sit-down restaurant, you can pick up daily breakfast and lunch specials as well as those incomparable pastries and breads. A small section of the space is reserved for comestibles such as German mustards and curry ketchup.

According to a study in the journal Emotion, the more adversity in life a person has experienced, the more compassion they tend to feel and show toward others.  The first time we visited Dagmar in her new Rio Rancho location, we were reminded why we had missed her so much–and it wasn’t solely because of her baking and cooking prowess.  In Dagmar, we’re witness to the rare type of hospitality and customer orientation that bespeaks of a beautiful heart.  Dagmar is a very kind person, the type of which makes the best of friends and neighbors.

GIL’S THRILLING REVIEW

But this isn’t a review of Dagmar’s life.  It’s a review of her bakery (though it could be said the two are inextricable).  If you’re not already acquainted with German baked goods or you believe French bakeries are the be-all and end-all, it might surprise you to learn that CNN’s Travel website contends “German bread is the best in the world.”  Having enjoyed freshly baked baguettes, buttery croissants and crusty loaves of French bread (as well as  rich, creamy gateaus; decadent eclairs and other pastries) in my travels across France, I’m more than inclined to agree.  One visit to Dagmar’s will convince you, too.

10 November 2023: While Dagmar’s pumpernickel and rye breads are fabulous, our favorite is the amazing brötchen, an incomparably wunderbar white bread roll.  Living in England, we easily came to love the simplicity of brötchen with butter and thick apricot jam, a welcome departure from the American tradition of piling on a hillside of ingredients ala Dagwood Bumstead.  We also loved the richness of brötchen with creamy French butter and sharp English Cheddar, but our favorite was brötchen with braunschweiger which wasn’t particularly easy to get in England.  Braunschweiger, a soft, creamy and spreadable liver sausage has a distinctive peppery liver-based flavor that just seems tailor-made for brötchen.  It’s only fitting that the brand Dagmar offers is Berliner, named for her birthplace.

The American comedy series Hogan’s Heroes introduced viewers to Sergeant Hans Schultz, a befuddled, obese, always lazy Luftwaffe serviceman who frequently falls asleep at his post and often chooses to look the other way, uttering one of his trademark phrases: “I see nothing,” “I hear nothing,” and “I know nothing!” One thing Schultz could never look away from was strudel, the irresistible pastry consisting of several layers of thin dough filled with a fruity or creamy deliciousness.  The American prisoners-of-war frequently used strudel to bribe Schultz into divulging information.

12 May 2020: Sergeant Schultz’s very favorite strudel was apple strudel.  It’s my favorite, too, but only the way Dagmar’s bakes it.  The defining characteristic of strudel dough is that it should be stretched very thin — literally almost paper-thin and transparent and there should be layer upon layer of it.  Between those layers Dagmar nestles tart, firm baking apples which are chopped and mixed with just a bit of cinnamon.  While some versions of apple strudel are drizzled with a creamy frosting or sprinkled with powdered sugar, Dagmar tops hers with large granule pearl sugar.  You can bribe me with Dagmar’s apple strudel any time.

10 November 2023: The Republic of Texas claims strudel as one of its official state pastries, likely because of the many communities of German immigrants who settled in the hill country west of Austin and San Antonio.  My Kim loves Dagmar’s cherry strudel so much she could qualify to be a Texan.  What she loves most about it is there’s cherry in every bite–not that annoying thick, syrupy fruit filling you find in some pies, but whole, tart cherries.  Few things in life are as satisfying as cherry strudel after a cup (or six) of hot coffee on a lockdown day.

12 May 2020: In an interview with the Albuquerque Journal, Dagmar revealed she plans to offer 65 different strudel types.  In my wildest dreams I had no idea there were 65 types of strudel.  For Sergeant Schultz, that would be like strudel heaven.  Coconut cream strudel is a recent revelation and departure from the fruit-filled strudels we usually prefer.  As an aficionado of coconut cream pie, it doesn’t pain me to declare coconut cream strudel far superior, but it does pain me that it took me so long to discover it.  Another favorite find is the raspberry-lemon strudel, a luscious tart amalgam of pure decadence.  Then there’s Dagmar’s apricot strudel, a mouth-watering gem showcasing the musky tartness of apricot.

12 May 2020: While Dagmar’s doesn’t serve a full dine-in menu as at some of her previous restaurants, she does offer small breakfast and lunch options so good you’ll rue ever having settled for fast food alternatives.  Best of all, she prepares them before your very eyes.  The canvas for some of her delectable lunches is the aforementioned brötchen we love…and few things go as well on brötchen as a good wurst.  In Germany, it’s said that “wurst comes to wurst,” an idiom regarding the popularity of sausages.  Dagmar’s bratwurst brötchen is superb, a thick sausage scored diagonally to allow excess fat to escape.  Spread a little of the medium-spiced mustard on the brötchen and you’ll enjoy a sandwich which should rival the hotdog in your estimation.

12 May 2020:  Another superb lunch option is the schnitzel brötchen, another exemplar of deliciousness crafted on the versatile German bread roll.  The schnitzel is thinly cut, a pounded and lightly seasoned pork tenderloin with a golden-hued breading.  As with the bratwurst brötchen, the schnitzel extends beyond the brötchen.  German mustard lends a little assertiveness to this sandwich.  Both brötchen lunch offerings were accompanied by the very best German potato salad we’ve ever had.  German potato salad is wholly unlike the mayonnaise-based potato salad popular across the fruited plain.  It’s warm and tangy courtesy of vinegar specked with bacon.

21 October 2020: Make sure to follow Dagmar’s Facebook page to find out when the bakery is offering such German delights as Sauerbraten, Roulanden and Hungarian goulash not to mention pretzels, red cabbage and mashed potatoes.  These exceptional entrees will take you back to the days when Dagmar had a full-service restaurant and served entrees the type and quality of which you have to go to Germany to find.  If you’re in a hurry, there’s also no better place for lunch.  Picture a sandwich brimming with such meats as turkey, roast beef, schnitzel and wurst.

The turkey sandwich (pictured below) is served with German potato salad, potato chips and a coconut macaroon.  Just look at how much turkey is packed into that soft, delicious yeasty roll.  A slice of American cheese, lettuce and mustard round it out.  It would help to be able to increase the width of your jaw (or “gape” as it is technically known) like a python would because this is one towering, overstuffed sandwich.  Best of all, you’ll pay less for this sandwich than you would for a fast food burger and you’ll get a much better meal.

17 December 2020:  Perhaps no country on Mother Earth celebrates Christmas as richly as Germany does.  Celebrations begin in mid-November when Christmas markets (such as the magical market in Kaiserslautern) begin appearing with their twinkling lights beckoning and aisles of wooden stalls hawking seasonal wares as market-goers sip mugs brimming with hot beverages.  Culture Trip contends there are some fifteen Christmas traditions only Germans will understand.  Among those sacrosanct traditions is Stollen, a terrific Christmas bread Dagmar has brought to Rio Rancho.

Christmas Stollen, known in Germany as Christstollen, are yeast breads baked with dried fruits, candied citrus peel, nuts and spices coated with white icing sugar.  Don’t dare call it a “German fruitcake!” It is most assuredly not a fruitcake–and not just because it’s a bread, not a cake.  Stollen are dense yet light, buttery, yeasty and not nearly as sweet as fruitcake.  Dagmar’s prepares versions with or without marzipan, essentially a< paste of sugar and almonds.  We enjoy Stollen either way, but lean toward having it with marzipan.  Dagmar’s rendition is moist, flaky, aromatic and oh so delicious.  Give fruitcake to people you dislike.  Give Stollen to people you love.

19 October 2021: Europeans, it seems, like “rolled” meat-based foods.  Sicilians, for example, are fond of braciola, a hearty dish of thinly sliced meats rolled with cheese and bread crumbs and fried.  In Italy the rolled meat dish of choice is Pancetta Arrotolata, rolled and cured bacon.  Then there’s the catch-all “roulade,” which is traditionally found in various European cuisines.  Derived from the French word “rouler,” meaning “to roll,” roulade is a generic term for any filled rolled dish.  My favorite version of a roulade dish is German’s Rouladen.

Dagmar offers a pre-packaged Rouladen dinner you can prepare at home in mere minutes.  A roll of thinly sliced beef sheathing onion, mustard and pickles drizzled in gravy awaits you four minutes after you put it into the microwave.  The beef is tender and moist with a mouth-watering gravy that accentuates its beefiness.  The Rouladen is served with spätzle, a type of small noodle and a wonderful sweet and sour red cabbage.  It is wholly unlike Chinese sweet and sour in that German red cabbage is typically sautéed with butter, sprinkled with sugar and vinegar and simmered until tender.  You can eat it either hot or cold, our preference being hot.

19 October 2021: Everything you ever wanted to know about Hungarian goulash was brought to light in a 2019 article by Saveur which declared goulash “the world’s most famous stew.”  According to Saveur “This formerly humble shepherd’s soup likely dates back to the 9th century, in the earliest days of the nation’s history.”   Over time, the hearty, comforting, soul-warming stew made its way from a peasant dish of the masses onto the tables of lesser nobility.  Beyond being Hungary’s national dish and a favorite of Eastern European nations, goulash is a transcendent dish which a 1969 Gallup poll discovered was “one of the five most popular meat dishes in the United States.”

We don’t often see Hungarian goulash on the menu of restaurants in the Land of Enchantment.  We see plenty of stews, the “cousin” of goulash, but not true Hungarian goulash.  Thank goodness for Dagmar.  Her version doesn’t have the rich broth or profusion of vegetables of many “traditional” goulash plates, but it does have three of the defining elements of a great goulash–Hungarian paprika, braised beef and noodles.  Hungarian paprika traditionally comes in eight different flavor profiles–ranging from mild and bright red to spicy, pungent, and pale orange. Dagmar uses a variety which has a pungent pepper flavor and sweetness.  It brightens and ameliorates the flavor of her goulash so much that it’s easy to see why it’s such a popular and comforting stew.

10 November 2023: When I contemplate just how different my Kim and I are when it comes to our food choices, it’s not culinary science that comes to mind but orinthology, the scientific study of birds.  According to Lyric, “Not only is colorful plumage a way for male birds to compete for mates, it is also a way for males to compete for territory. In the battle for territory amongst birds, males can show off their flashy feathers to signal that they have occupancy over a certain area. Probably one of the most widely accepted reasons for the dull feathers of many female birds is that they need to be camouflaged in order to avoid a predator attack while nesting. If females that nest in the open were brightly colored, both they themselves and their nesting flock would be incredibly vulnerable to predators.”

Our food choices are analogous to the plumage of birds  (and maybe this is a stretch) in that my Kim prefers an unadorned sandwich to one adorned with condiments and sundry ingredients.  My preference is the latter–lots of stuff between bread.  This was in evidence during a November, 2023 visit to Dagmar’s.  While I opted for a Reuben towering with corned beef and adornment, she ordered a ham and cheese sandwich.  Then because there was more than one ingredient on the sandwich, she gave the cheese (American) to The Dude, our debonair dachshund.  As a plain ham sandwich, this is a real winner.  Thin shards of ham nestled between soft brotchen made her very happy.  Her colorfully plumed husband would have added sweet pickles, horseradish, hot peppers and at least three types of cheese.

10 November 2023:  Dagmar’s Reuben, aptly christened the “Famous Reuben Delight” is the answer to a prayer–that this denizen of the City of Vision wouldn’t have to travel twenty-plus miles for a Reuben worthy of that distance.  This Reuben may not currently be famous, but it should be.  Piled generously between two slices of marble rye is a generous amount of corn beef, Swiss cheese sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing.  The Reuben is served with fried potatoes and a single pickle spear.

In January, 2024, Dagmar’s plans an expansion.  A back wall will be knocked down to allow for in-restaurant dining.  Picnic tables are available outdoors.  Since Rio Rancho had just experienced its first “snowfall” of 2023, we didn’t avail ourselves of al fresco dining.  Instead we ferried our bounty home, some 20 minutes away.  It’s hard to extrapolate how good the Reuben would have been had we been able to eat it immediately after orderint it, but the fact that it was still quite good speaks volumes.  It’s one of the best Reubens we’ve had in New Mexico!

Dagmar’s story has all the elements needed for Oscar consideration, but her legacy is far from finished. Her protege and successor Michael Alamanzar has guests to win over and feed, friends to make and strudel to bake.

Dagmar’s Specialties
2704 Southern Blvd, S.E.
Rio Rancho, New Mexico
(505) 891-7995
Facebook Page
LATEST VISIT: 10 November 2023
# OF VISITS: 8
RATING: 24
COST: $$
BEST BET: Apple Strudel, Cherry Strudel, brotchen, Coconut Cream Strudel, Braunschweiger, Wurst brotchen, Schnitzel brotchen, German Potato Salad, Apricot Strudel, Raspberry-Lemon Strudel, Curry Ketchup, Turkey Sandwich, Macaroon, Christmas Stollen With Marzipan, Rouladen, Hungarian Goulash, Reuben, Ham Sandwich
REVIEW #1159