Eats, Etc

A quick glance at three local eateries that you may or may not already know about.

Damacios serves up true Spanish tapas, like mushrooms stuffed with spicy cream cheese and proscuitto and topped with walnuts and honey.

When the opportunity to take over the downtown location formerly occupied by Italian restaurant Villa da Capo presented itself in mid-2021, Gerald Zamora didn’t waste any time.

He and his wife, Bianca Johnston, both of whom are lifers in the restaurant business, had long coveted the property thanks to its ample patio space and upper-level terrace. By mid-September, Damacios Bar & Tapas, which is coowned by Zamora and Johnston, was offering outdoor service.

“Those outdoor spaces are just amazing — they’re hidden gems,” Zamora says.

With the new venture, Zamora is hoping to fuse Spanish tapas — and the culture that accompanies it — with New Mexican fare.

“We didn’t necessarily want the traditional eating space or the traditional dinner space. We wanted something that involved a more social aspect to be a little bit more fun and lively,” Zamora says. “We always tell people that they’re American style tapas, not true Spanish style.”

The menu features plenty of tapa-style eating, from bacon-wrapped dates to stuffed mushrooms to spicy fried pickles, along with five salad and six flatbread offerings. Another option is the steak of the week, which adds a high-end dining element to the equation.

“Every week we source in a cut of meat that’s unique to our market that’s in a very limited quantity,” Zamora says. “One week, if you’re that steak connoisseur, you can get that Wagyu ribeye…and then the next week, you could come in and get a really cool filet from a different part of the country.”

The cuisine is only part of the attraction. Zamora wants to provide an atmosphere that will serve to enhance the downtown scene. Damacios often hires DJs and hosts specially-themed parties — recent brunch events paid homage to Britney Spears and The Notorious B.I.G., for example.

“The one thing I always tell people is it’s not your regular Chili’s or Applebees. You’ve got music in the far distance and you’ve got bright lights and stuff everywhere,” he says. “It’s an intimate setting that has energy. Our music is gonna be a little louder. You’re gonna have to speak up a little bit to talk over it. It’s gonna be a little bit (more fun), a little bit faster

paced.” —TRISTEN CRITCHFIELD

DAMACIOS BAR & TAPAS

722 Central Ave. SW (505) 595-7383 damacios.com

Steve Gallegos was a part-owner of O’Hare’s Grille & Pub when the Irish-themed establishment opened in the Rio Rancho area in 1996. But his passion has always remained with New Mexican food.

So, it only made sense that he would follow his heart, which led to the inception of Hot Tamales New Mexican Kitchen in 2003. Gallegos has since sold his stake in O’Hare’s and became sole owner of Hot Tamales approximately six years ago.

“A lot of it has to do with what you love to do,” Gallegos says. “And I really like New Mexican food.”

The chile is a source of pride for Gallegos. The green is a blend of autumn roast and hot diced green chile from two parts of the state, while the red chile production is especially unique because it excludes the skin of the chile.

“Most places will blend it until it’s pulverized and the skin is pulverized. The skin is actually mixed in with everything else because they blend it so long,” Galleogs says. “…I feel like our red chile is superior to other places because we don’t use powders or powdered chile, we use pods. And we have that special method where we leave the skin behind.”

Then, of course, there are the tamales. The restaurant makes 75 dozen each Thursday, but that increases exponentially during the holidays, when up to 1,000 dozen can be sold leading up to Christmas Eve.

Gallegos’ cooking background — he became an executive chef through the American Culinary Federation years ago and also learned on the job at the Marriott hotel chain — helped hone his creativity, which shines through with the Hot Tamale Cakes, which are available as breakfast, appetizers, and in salads.

“Every time we make tamales, we always have leftover masa because it’s hard to match the meat and masa exactly, especially when you make that much,” he says. “I started blending roasted chicken with green chile and corn in the masa and we were cooking these patties like pancakes. They kind of look like crab cakes, but you cook them on a flat top grill.” —

Leftover masa led to the popular Hot Tamale Cakes at Hot Tamales in Rio Rancho.

Craft tacos, like the Braised Oxtail, are the core of the menu at El Cotorro.

TRISTEN CRITCHFIELD

HOT TAMALES

1520 Rio Rancho Blvd SE (505) 962-0123 hottamalesnmrestaurant.com

Prior to the opening of El Cotorro in 2016, Daniel Boardman needed to properly research the taqueria concept he thought might fit well at the space located on the southwest corner of Copper and Carlisle in Albuquerque’s Nob Hill area.

So, he did what any self-respecting restaurant owner would do: He went on a taco-tasting expedition to Mexico. The venture was inspired by nationally-renowned chef Alex Stupak, who made his name as a pastry chef before pivoting to Mexican cuisine.

“His whole take was fine dining tacos … how good can you make them?” says Boardman, who also owns Tia B’s Waffleria and Tia Betty Blue’s. We were going to Mexico and just eating a ton of different tacos and mostly ones from the southern part of the country like the Yucatan.”

The menu features 12 types of craft tacos ranging from the traditional (carne asada) to the exotic (braised oxtail) —“It’s got a certain richness, like a marbled meat, that’s distinctive,” Boardman says of the oxtail — and also includes several vegan and vegetarian offerings such as a chard potato guisado taco and a deepfried nopales (cactus pad) taco. All tacos are cooked-to-order in a sauté pan and come with tortillas made in-house from locally-sourced masa along with several options of homemade salsas. “We got so much pushback from the beginning because people would come in with a sense of what a taco is and say, ‘That should be $1 or that should be $2.’ That’s just not tenable, Boardman says. “We do a lamb leg barbacoa taco and we spend eight hours preparing the meat and smoking it ourselves. Or the oxtail. We braise that and then we roast it and the whole process is six to eight hours.”

After lunch or dinner, customers can enjoy homemade ice cream inspired by the heladerias in Mexico City. The menu features several signature flavors — Azteca, tres leches, Mexican vanilla, horchata, orange — as well as seasonal selections.

“I felt like ice cream or gelato in this case is kind of a blank palate and you could do a regional version of it anywhere,” Board-

man says. —TRISTEN CRITCHFIELD

EL COTORRO

111 Carlisle Blvd NE 505-503-6202 elcotorroabq.com