Above: Roasted Curried Cauliflower Flatbread and the Margarita Flatbread from Sixty-Six Acres in Albuquerque. Photographs courtesy of Sixty-Six Acres.
With a menu of shareable comfort food and a bar stocked with local beer and spirits, Albuquerque’s new Sixty-Six Acres is a much appreciated addition to the food scene growing near the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. The restaurant, created by the owner of downtown favorite Slate Street Café, is the latest addition to a spreading development across the road from the cultural center, which boasts its own divine eatery, Pueblo Harvest. The new kid on the block is named for a 66-acre plot of land here that was once the site of the Albuquerque Indian School, and sits next to the westernmost outpost of green chile cheeseburger favorite Laguna Burger.
Above: The Salmon & Himalayan Rice entree.
Sixty-Six Acres’ broad menu offers plenty of small items, like salty-sweet Korean fried chicken bites and a mountain of crispy brussels sprouts. Many options are gluten-free, including salads combining chickpeas and quinoa. But the flatbreads, especially the one with apple, bacon, dates, and blue cheese, are hard to resist. Be sure to order the aptly named Really Good Fries as a starter or as a side to the patty melt, a juicy, authentic rendition of the diner classic. And don’t miss one of the cocktails showcasing New Mexico’s top-shelf spirits. I like the hint of walnut bitters in the Los Ranchos Old Fashioned and the citrusy zing of the 12th Street Main Squeeze.