tia betty blue's

breakfast enchiladas. the best redchilesouth of la bajada

this is excellent made-from-scratch new mexican food with a friendly staff and comfortable setting. we had breakfast and loved the carne adovada; the redchilerivals our family recipe, delicious.

their "lunch special" was a smothered burrito and a drink for 9 bucks. seriously? the redchilewas decent, but the burrito overall was subpar. small and bland. disappointing.

the carne hot dog and soda. i was so thrilled to get a faygo rock-n-rye soda...talk about a blast from my childhood. that was great; many other good choices as well. i had the carne-adovado dog. i belive that this is the best choice on the menu. the dogs-more than one; were sliced in such a great way that i had hotdog andchilein every bite from beginning to end. okay, i feel like i am writing for a hot dog stand. my partner got the huevos. this huevos had an egg that was cooked to perfection. this dish was said to come with jicama slaw. perhaps a good thing that it didn't.

my new favorite. on the first visit i had a simple, but very large (24 oz) bowl of beans with the best, most complex, pork-based redchilethat i have had in a very long time, and a grilled-until-crispy tortilla. it was intensely satisfying yet simple. i drank a tart class of hibiscus flower iced tea. the entree was under $5 and the tea about $3.

on the second visit i had to try to nm po'boy. it consisted of home made carne adovada (all shredded, no white clumps of dry meat), fritos, cheese, pickled jalapenos, and redchilein a house made 12" loaf. it was indeed amazing. very spicy, crunchy, and sour, all at once. it came with raw jicama and carrot sticks with a fresh lime wedge and a sprinkle ofchilepowder. i drank an abita root beer from new orleans, one of their 100 or so vintage and odd ball sodas.

i would have to caution that this place, or at least the nm food selection, is probably best appreciated by those accustomed to eating foods in the spicy to very spicy range. i would rate the "heat" of their redchileand carne adovada as being in the upper 10% of new mexican restaurants that i have tried, something like sadie's, maybe slightly hotter, and more complex.

there is only counter service here, no waiters, which makes the whole experience very easy on the wallet and the food appear very quickly.

they open early and function as a coffee house but i've only tried lunch so far.

eh.... had lunch today after reading gil's blog. usually he doesn't steer me wrong, but this time i have to say i've been steered into mediocre. i had the curry chicken sandwich. here's the positive: the fresh baked whole wheat bread was good, the jicama sticks were great and a pleasantly unsual offering for a side. here's the negative besides the chicken bone i bit into: the curry chicken was terribly bland, the curry flavor was overpowering and imbalanced, the "grapes" were few and far between and the whole concoction needed a bit more salt/garlic/something. my friend ordered the tamale boat and she reported the same thing:chileoverpowereing and imbalanced and not enough salt/garlic/something. with each bite we were both hoping the flavor would develop, but ultimately left disappointed. with all the good reviews on the blue corn waffle i'm tempted to give this place one more chance, but the customer service was not attentive eough for me to care to give them anymore business.

tia betty prepares authentic new mexican cuisine in-house including carne adovada prepared daily, atole (a sweet-hot blue corn porridge seasoned with cinnamon) and large (24-ounce) bowls of frijoles or posole for hearty eaters. the frijoles are new mexican pinto beans slow-cooked with salt-cured pork and topped with fiesta greenchileor tia’s housemade red chile.