My friend invited me for lunch with friends since I know my New Mexican food and
amazingly, I haven't been here yet after a decade in the valley.
I judge every New Mexican restaurant by their carne adovada, the signature dish of northern New Mexico besides the green chile cheeseburger and sopapilla.
Sitting outsude is a choice to be weighted heavily given the weather.
Nice for evenings but not for lunch in the summer unless you're under the misters.
You might THINK you'll be OK in the shade...
We ate outside on the patio for Sunday lunch.
Anyway service was nice but somewhat inefficient.
The beertaps were 10 feet away but our server went inside, I guess to add the order as well as have it filled. It took a while to bring back the incorrect beer.
Anchor Steam and Lagunitas IPA are the saving graces for beer. Anchor Steam was served at first in a Hoegaarten 330ml glass.
This is UNDER 12 ounces for $5.75.
UNACCEPTABLE.
Don't accept the "premium beer" line, get a big boy glass.
My next one I asked for a big boy glass.
I tried my friend's bloody mary and it tasted totally righteous - this isn't a mellow V-8 tomato soup pillow! Garnishes vary, you might get a mushroom, you might get a celery stick...
Our appetizer was served without silverware or napkins.
Asked for silverware from manager.
My main was carne adovada with eggs.
The plate had an excellent eye appeal and was served extremely hot. You'll need to be prepared for this as all hot plates are served ON A HOT METAL PLATE. BEWARE. You're warned by me as well as the server.
So how was the carne adovada?
Not technically accurate or traditional.
The meat was smoked (they have a smoker and a woodpile out back), and this is not usually done in New Mexico - the pork is usually marinated overnight before being slow cooked for several hours and the fat rendered out.
Here at Richardson's not all the fat was rendered out and this made for some sort of funk in one bite, and the smoke flavor was to the point of ashtray on another few bites.
Mean and in between though was a nice smoky style to the carne adovada but it seemed overpowering. Good CA has a depth of flavor in the red chile sauce with the other ingredients.
It also came with beans and the flavor was great and out of the ordinary.
The potatoes were plain and so were the scrambled eggs (eggs are made to order, you don't HAVE to get scrambled.)
I guess we have to sit inside for decent and accurate service, but I'll give another dish a chance.