Slate Street Cafe

Slate Street Cafe Restaurant Review:

Slate Street Café is the quintessential twenty-first-century neighborhood eatery: charming, artsy and eclectic. Situated in a renovated house downtown, it’s colorfully cheerful downstairs and dark and cozy in the upstairs wine loft, which hosts regular tastings. Breakfast and brunch are classically simple, dominated by local, organic egg dishes like the omelet with honey ham, green chile and white cheddar hash browns. But the creative kitchen really shows its stuff at lunch and dinner. Starters such as fried olives stuffed with roasted garlic and Boursin cheese and spot-on tater tots are impossible to resist. Don’t overdo it, though, or you’ll miss out on funky entrées like pancetta-laced mac ‘n’ cheese with Parmesan brittle, fish ‘n’ chips updated with salmon but traditionally served in a paper bag, or chicken-fried steak smothered in red or green chile, of course. For dessert, Slate Street specializes in cupcakes; blueberry-lemon is a favorite, but the bakers whip up specialty flavors daily. Finally, oenophiles should check out the aforementioned “wine loft,” featuring a sizeable selection of pours by the glass and twice-monthly tastings. A daytime-only branch is located at The Albuquerque Museum, called Slate at the Museum, 2000 Mountain Rd. NW, 505-243-2220.