Arrival Handbook

We know how hard it can be mov­ing to a new spot. You can eat at Sub­way, shop at Wal-Mart and bank with BoA any­where. But, if you’re read­ing this, you prob­a­bly see value in sup­port­ing your new neigh­bors. Click links for reviews. As you patron­ize, kindly tell them we sent you; it helps them and us both. And when you’ve gone some­where three times or more, come back and see if you agree with the review – you can sub­mit or revise one any time.

ALL PHONE NUMBERS IN 505, UNLESS NOTED.

Bold busi­nesses have adver­tised with us in print. We rec­om­mend them especially.

Getting Around

Moun­tains are in the east. The quad­rants refer to north/south of Cen­tral and east/west of the train tracks–and when giv­ing an address they are very impor­tant. That said, Burqueños tend to locate by cross-streets. Though the city is designed on a grid, many streets stop suddenly–and pick up 100’ down the road. Study the Google maps we pro­vide you on the reviews. They’re nec­es­sary more often than you think.

Regions

There’s an end­less num­ber of neigh­bor­hoods, but the big ones to be aware of include these. We’ll fig­ure out some­thing more to do with this list soon. If you have ideas, you know we want ‘em.

West Side | West Cen­tral | South Val­ley | Down­town | North Val­ley
Uni­ver­sity Area/Student Ghetto | Nob Hill | The War Zone (east of Nob Hill) | NE Heights | SE Heights

Groceries

The Fruit Bas­ket | La Mon­tañita Co-op | Pro’s Ranch Mar­ket
Talin World Mar­ket | Tully’s

Banks

Credit Unions: US New Mex­ico | Fed­eral Edu­ca­tors | San­dia | Rio Grande
Local Banks: NM Bank & Trust
Cor­po­rate Banks: Com­pass | Bank of the West

Local Rags

Alibi | Albu­querque: The Mag­a­zine | Local IQ

Local Radio

KZRR (Rock) | KTEG (Rock) | KUNM (Community/college, NPR, Every­thing)
KRKE (Oldies) | KKOB (Talk/News) | KBNM (Oldies)
KANW (New/Mexican Jams) | KABG (Oldies) | KABQ (Country)

Names of Foods

If you want your world in Eng­lish, we sug­gest a region of the coun­try that doesn’t actively remem­ber being con­quered by both the Spaniards and the Brits.

The prin­ci­ples of New Mex­i­can cook­ing are tor­tillas, pinto beans, cheese, pork/beef/chicken, eggs and chile. Chile’s spelled with an “e,” not an “i” (that’s a Tex-Mex stew). It’s not salsa verde or rojo; those are Mex­i­can sal­sas, and you’re in New Mex­ico now. Your food will be spicy, so if you’re only begin­ning to train your colon ask for your chile on the side. Veg­e­tar­i­ans, there’s always some­thing on the menu for you. A few items you may not be famil­iar with:

  • Atole: a thick, hot blue corn gruel drink; perfect for hangovers.
  • Biscochitos: anise-flavored, heavily sugared cookies.
  • Chile Relleno: roasted, peeled, batter-fried and cheese-stuffed green chile.
  • “Christmas:” red and green chile. Enchiladas: tortillas filled with meat, beans or cheese, stacked, and smothered in chile and cheese.
  • Carne adovada: shredded pork simmered in red chile. Chicharrones: fried pork skin.
  • Chorizo: pork sausage simmered in red chile.
  • Huevos Rancheros: tortilla with eggs and cheese, smothered in chile.
  • Menudo: tripe and green chile stew.
  • Posole: hominy, pork and red chile stew.
  • Sopapilla: puffed, fried yeast bread; split and fill it with honey. Often abbreviated as sopa.
  • Tamale: meat or vegetables rolled in cornmeal dough, wrapped in corn husks and steamed.