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Blake\u2019s Lotaburger is a premier New Mexico institution founded in 1952 by long-time proprietor Blake Chanslor who owned it for half a century before selling it in 2003. While the marquee may still carry Blake\u2019s name, the 76 store franchise with a presence in most of New Mexico\u2019s larger cities and towns (23 in all) is now owned by Brian Rule, an Albuquerque resident. \u00a0On April 10, 2009, Chanslor passed away, having left a legacy based not only on having founded a New Mexico institution, but for his philanthropic endeavors.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, Lotaburger has, for the most part, retained the high quality that has allowed it to thrive despite the onslaught from deep-pocketed, worldwide corporate megaliths. \u00a0At least that\u2019s the case for many of the state\u2019s Lotaburger restaurants. As is often the case with multi-store chain restaurants, not all links in the chain are equally strong. \u00a0All too frequently, we have visited Lotaburger restaurants throughout the state in which service is spotty and the burgers don\u2019t quite meet the high preparation standards for which Lotaburger has been known.<\/p>\n Though I have not tried nearly all of New Mexico\u2019s LotaBurger restaurants, those I frequent most often (one in Rio Rancho and one in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque) exemplify the high standards that make Lotaburger a state institution.\u00a0 The wonderfully performing Lotaburger restaurants form the basis for the positive things written on this review, but I\u2019ll also explain my rancor for lesser performing franchises.<\/p>\n The restaurant\u2019s motto, \u201cIf you are what you eat, you are awesome<\/em>\u201d may describe in part why New Mexicans are fiercely loyal to Lotaburger. It\u2019s a restaurant we proudly call our own (although you can now find Lotaburger in the El Paso, Texas and Tucson, Arizona areas). LotaBurger was grandfathered into the inaugural New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail<\/a><\/strong> in 2009, an indication of just how beloved this institution is throughout the Land of Enchantment.\u00a0 In 2011 the affection New Mexicans have for Lotaburger was not assumed with voters being asked to select their favorites for the second New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 The leading vote-getter from among more than 100 nominees was Lotaburger.\u00a0 No other restaurant was close.<\/p>\n In a 2006 edition of\u00a0National Geographic\u2019s Passport to the Best: The 10 Best of Everything\u00a0book, Lotaburger was acclaimed as\u00a0the \u201cBest Green Chile Cheeseburger in the World<\/em>\u201c. \u00a0You won\u2019t find many locals who\u2019ll dispute that it\u2019s definitely one of the very best. \u00a0On the\u00a0Alibi\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> 2003, 2004 and 2005 Readers Choice restaurant polls (as well as subsequent other polls), Duke City residents proclaimed loudly that Lotaburger serves the very best hamburger in town. While generations of New Mexicans have grown up appreciating Lotaburger, this local gem is also appreciated by many (though certainly not all) newcomers, some who have been known to become devoted loyalists after only one visit.<\/p>\n In 2010, Gustavo Arellano, the brilliant and hilarious author of Ask a Mexican<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, a widely syndicated newspaper column published mostly in weekly alternative papers, asked the question \u201cForget Five Guys Burgers: Why Can\u2019t We Get a Blake\u2019s Lotaburger<\/em>.\u201d It was his response to the influx of Five Guys Burgers in Southern California.\u00a0 Arellano reasoned, \u201cIf we\u2019re going to have a regional burger chain invade our county and go up against our In-n-Out\u2019s and TK\u2019s, why couldn\u2019t it have been Blake\u2019s Lotaburger, the country\u2019s most-ardent proponent of what\u2019s perhaps burgerdom\u2019s greatest manifestation: the green chile hamburger<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n In recent years, Lotaburger has modernized many of its buildings, all of which are built by the company\u2019s construction division.\u00a0 Until the modernization, one constant was the presence on the marquee of a jolly-faced ringmaster attired in top hat and red striped coat and bow tie. It\u2019s been a familiar sight for all New Mexicans.\u00a0 With the exception of buns and drinks, everything that goes to a Lotaburger Stand comes from or through the company\u2019s main commissary, just off Candelaria in Albuquerque. That might account for the unfailingly fresh ingredients that make it onto a Lotaburger.<\/p>\n One concession Lotaburger has made over the years is adding drive-up service. While this may be a wonderful convenience, trying to devour a Lotaburger while you drive can be a messy proposition because each burger (prepared to order) can be crammed with lettuce, tomato, green chile (optional), onions and mustard.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve got the time, it\u2019s still best to eat in and observe the cooks in action, listen to the sizzle of the grill and especially imbibe of the aroma of your burger being prepared to order.\u00a0 That grill is so well seasoned that my buddy Bill Resnik has thought seriously about taking a weekend job at Lotaburger just to figure out how Lotaburger seasons its grill so perfectly.<\/p>\n The green chile cheeseburger (rechristened )<\/strong><\/em> is Lotaburger\u2019s signature menu item and one of the things we missed most about the Land of Enchantment all the years we were away. Delicious Angus beef orbs are ameliorated by toasted buns and unfailingly fresh ingredients. The green chile has never been piquant, but it is unfailingly fresh and delicious. There are only three burgers on the menu, the \u201c,\u201d \u201cLotaburger\u201d and the \u201cItsaburger,\u201d the latter being the smaller of the three.\u00a0 All are constructed with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and mustard.\u00a0 You can also ask for mayonnaise, cheese, bacon and any burger can be made with double meat, double cheese and (or) double green chile for a pittance. \u00a0If you like grilled onions on your burger, Lotaburger will accommodate you here, too.<\/p>\n 12 February 2023<\/strong>: Native New Mexicans who were practically weaned on Lotaburger lament \u201cit\u2019s not the same<\/em>\u201d about the size of the burgers.\u00a0 Indeed, Lotaburger was famous for its six-inch (at least) buns and thin meat patties.\u00a0 Burgers were of the \u201cit takes two hands to handle\u201d variety.\u00a0 Today, the Burger New Mexico Style\u2122\ufe0f is much taller than Lota\u2019s burgers of my youth.\u00a0 It\u2019s stacked high with ingredients\u2013lettuce, tomato, onion.\u00a0 Two patties are placed atop the vegetables, each blanketed by melting cheese.\u00a0 The top patty is covered with green chile.\u00a0 It\u2019s not the most piquant green chile you can find, but it\u2019s got a nice roasted flavor.<\/p>\n A Lotaburger is wholly unlike any of the ubiquitous institutionalized fast-food burgers on every street USA.\u00a0 You\u2019ll never find a Lotaburger sitting under a heating lamp for ten minutes before your order.\u00a0 In fact, the beef doesn\u2019t hit the grill until you place your order\u2013and the grill is cleaned after each burger is done, one of the reasons the restaurant earns recognition for its cleanliness.\u00a0 It\u2019s taste, however, that makes Lotaburger aficionados crave these incomparable burgers.\u00a0 If freshness has a flavor, it might taste like a Lotaburger just off the grill.\u00a0 The coalescence of fresh ingredients with perfectly seasoned beef sandwiched by lightly toasted buns is positively addictive.<\/p>\n 28 January 2024<\/strong>:\u00a0 Zero! None! Zilch!\u00a0 Zip! That\u2019s precisely how many <\/p>\n To this point, I\u2019ve praised LotaBurger ad-infinitum, so why the reason for my relatively low rating. It\u2019s forgivable that the green chile lacks in the piquant bite many New Mexicans crave, but it\u2019s sacrilege for some of the restaurant\u2019s chefs to absolutely mash the beef to the grill with the spatula. My skin crawls at seeing the meat mashing cooks take away whatever moistness any slab of beef may have with their spatula pressing. So there\u2013discard the spatulas; they don\u2019t accelerate the preparation process by that much.<\/p>\n 28 May 2020<\/strong>: In May, 2020, Lotaburger entered the chicken sandwich war with two options: Blake\u2019s Chicken Sandwich (two chicken tenderloin strips, pickles and Blake\u2019s sauce, our signature creamy green chile sauce) and the Buffalo<\/em><\/strong> Chicken Sandwich<\/strong> <\/em>(two chicken tenderloin strips tossed in spicy Buffalo sauce, Ranch and pickles) that was filling, but not exactly brimming with deliciousness.\u00a0 In fact, the biggest impression it made was for its rather diminutive size.\u00a0 It\u2019s not much bigger than a slider with perhaps a four-inch bun.\u00a0 The pickled onions left absolutely no impression and the Ranch sauce could have used more personality (green chile, anyone?).<\/p>\n 28 January 2024<\/strong>: In the mid-1990s, Lotaburger began serving breakfast burritos at select locations. The burritos are more like burrotes; they\u2019re enormous and require two hands to hold. Offered with Hatch grown green and red chile, most of them come standard with hashed browns, scrambled eggs and your choice of other ingredients such as beans, sausage and bacon. As much as I revere Lotaburger\u2019s green chile on its famous burgers, there just isn\u2019t enough of New Mexico\u2019s favorite condiment on the burritos for my liking. Ditto for the red chile.\u00a0 The classic burrito (pictured above) with beans is filled with eggs, hash browns, cheese and\u2026far too little green chile.<\/p>\n The parsimony with which the chile is applied and its lack of piquancy was certainly no deterrent to the staff of Albuquerque the Magazine<\/a><\/strong> who, in the September, 2011 undertook the ambitious challenge of naming Albuquerque\u2019s very best breakfast burrito.\u00a0 Lotaburger\u2019s breakfast burrito was the second rated from among dozens of choices evaluated.\u00a0 It\u2019s the most popular breakfast item proffered at the restaurant.<\/p>\n 10 February 2025<\/strong>:\u00a0 Better than the breakfast burritos is a simple breakfast sandwich<\/strong><\/em> in which fluffy eggs, cheese, bacon and green chile are sandwiched in between two buns. It\u2019s a morning picker-upper that tastes great.\u00a0 Breakfast is served only until 11AM which may be a shame because a burrito or breakfast sandwich for lunch might be another draw.<\/p>\n The chocolate and strawberry shakes are cloying and both have the \u201cartificial flavoring\u201d taste. \u00a0Better, but still pinging-off-the-walls sweet is the cherry Coke (which Blake\u2019s served well before it was a commercial product).<\/p>\n Blake\u2019s Lotaburger <\/strong> LotaBurger in Bernalillo Has a New Look and Feel Blake\u2019s Lotaburger is a premier New Mexico institution founded in 1952 by long-time proprietor Blake Chanslor who owned it for half a century before selling it in 2003. While the marquee may still carry Blake\u2019s name, the 76 store franchise with a presence in most of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":307340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[79083,137999,138000,138009,138001,138002,138003,138004,138005,138006,138007,138010,138008,15504,84122,137998],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-307339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-burger","tag-albuquerque","tag-ask-a-mexican","tag-blake-chanslor","tag-blakes","tag-breakfast-burrito","tag-breakfast-sandwich","tag-brian-rule","tag-chicken-sandwich","tag-chili-fries","tag-founded-in-1952","tag-itsa-burger","tag-lotaburger","tag-lota-burger-new-mexico-style","tag-mexico","tag-readers-choice","tag-you-are-awesome"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nmgastronome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/LotaSarah02.gif?resize=360%2C360\" "\\"LotaSarah02\\"")
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6210 Fourth Street, N.W.
Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico <\/strong>
505 345-0402
Web Site<\/strong><\/a> | Facebook Page<\/strong><\/a>
LATEST VISIT<\/strong>: 10 February 2025
# OF VISITS<\/strong>: 28
RATING<\/strong>: 18
COST<\/strong>: $$
BEST BET<\/strong>: LOTA\u2122\ufe0f Burger New Mexico Style\u2122\ufe0f, Frito Pie, Breakfast Sandwich, Seasoned French Fries, Double Meat Itsa Burger, Classic Burrito<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"