Relocation is traumatic, necessary, impactful. Having spent most of my 51 year lifespan in various areas of Texas, wholesale relocation to New Mexico is a huge move for me and my partner. We’re selling a house, consolidating living space, inheriting a dog, moving 4000 feet up in elevation (where’s the oxygen?), and generally changing everything we do on a day-to-day basis. One through-line – a bartender / restauranteur / musician around the corner to keep us sane.

To make things even more interesting, due to time constraints, distance, and other complicating factors, we ended up selecting a house to rent in metro Albquerque, New Mexico, by throwing a pin at the Zillow app and hoping. Criteria were at least two bedrooms, ideally two bathrooms, a garage, pets (a well-behaved 30-lb short hair that we’ll cover later), and preferably walking distance to things like groceries, coffee, biking / running trails, and other entertainment. We did a Zoom video tour of the property, nattered back and forth with the property manager for a week or so, and voila!  We’re the proud new tenants of a townhome in a neighborhood that may or may not be a property crime haven in a city with a wildy variable reputation. Nothing to see here …

We’d driven through the area multiple times during our house search, usually on the way to or from property viewings, but had no idea we’d end up in a cul-de-sac neighborhood off one of the busiest freeways in America. After a week or so of settling in, we figured we should visit the interesting Mexican restaurant 500 feet from our front door – Ben Michael’s – which promised “World Famous Margaritas” and had a welcoming Christmas sign hanging on the front calling out “PAZ”.

We’ve discovered that Albuquerque (much like the rest of New Mexico) operates at its own pace and schedule, which may or may not align with what the mighty Google or other sources of information look for. We’d noted that the restaurant’s hours were a bit non-standard – 12P-2P for lunch, 5:45P-9P for dinner – so we walked over for the evening opening.

5:45P, building dark as a tomb, no one in the parking lot, doors locked.  Hmm. We peeked in, checked the side door, no dice. Figuring Google might well be confused, we decided to check for other options in the neighborhood and started to walk away. A slightly beat-up Pontiac slowed as we walked away, and a grizzled head poked out the driver’s window – “Are you trying to get into the restaurant?”

That was our introduction to Ben Michael Barreros.

We replied “Yes” and he replied with “We’ll be open in a few minutes” – not quite sure what the situation was, we wandered a bit down the block, figured out the other neighborhood options were less appealing, and trekked back to the restaurant. Lights on, grizzled head (now adorned with a slightly askew sock hat) turning on music and TVs, we waited for a minute until he finally came to the door and let us in.

A four-seat bar, cozy dining area, and “We’ve got jazz tonight” as an introduction. Looks pretty perfect. We grabbed a seat, and after a few minutes, we got the photocopied menu, compact, slightly blurry, and looking pretty tasty. Turns out Ben Michael is the owner, cook, head waiter, music coordinator, and entertainment. Drink orders submitted, a vodka tonic and a slightly surprised response to:

“White Russian?”

“Black Russian, please.”

“No cream? Huh …”

Chips and house hot sauce (no salsa here – just rich chile infused red sauce to dip your chips in), and an order for sauteed shrimp and vegetables, and the Mantanza Enchiladas, and we were set.

While we waited for food and watched Ben Michael and his girlfriend herd more patrons in, the local jazz combo was filtering in and setting up. Around their tune up, trying out the amazing cuisine, and working our way through a few more drinks, we had a few moments to chat about where the restaurant came from, how long they’d been around, and our incipient relocation to the neighborhood. The jazz combo turned out to be a set of awesome musicians, with the older drummer supporting the middle-aged upright bassist and a keyboardist who dismissed his affect with fluid and sharp chording and solo passages. Talk about randomly stepping into awesome.

As we wrapped up dinner, Ben Michael got a short break, and wandered out to check on drinks. We decided to test drive the house margaritas, and after a short “walking or driving?” query (walking), we were able to close out the night with the famous house drinks. We unfortunately had to turn down the Key Lime pie, but promised to visit again. Cash only pay-out (screw Visa and MasterCard, thank you very much), and we happily walked home with plans to return.

Moving on a few days, we got more of the unpacking and settling in done, explored a few more restaurants, and after a wonderful dinner (with another new bartender friend – more later) we needed a nightcap. Ben Michael’s? Of course.

Short walk, worked our way to the bar past the other well-fed patrons, and we went to our previous orders – house margarita, no salt, Black Russian. We picked up our conversation from the previous night about relocation from Texas and our experience thus far in Albuquerque, getting a bit more of the history of the restaurant in trade. Ben shortly returned with a house margarita, salt rim, and a White Russian – his placard “I’m not bossy, I’m the boss” brooked no resistance from us. Enjoying our slightly misconfigured drinks, we (and a couple of other tables) were treated to Ben sitting down at his well-worn upright piano and hammering out an improvised barrelhouse blues about his customers from Texas and California – free music right along with the great food and beverage. A very nice end to a long day of moving.

We had been advised (and read) that the Key Lime pie at Ben’s was not to be missed, but hadn’t had time to sample it … until tonight. Walking in past the one other table, we got our bar stools and waited while Ben worked on food and drinks. Checking in with us, we ordered the top shelf margarita and a Black Russian, and after catching up about the move, our drinks and a slice of Key Lime pie showed up, drizzled with whipped cream and some fruit preserves. Having seen Ben retrieve a ladder and a jar of something from the high shelves in the dining area, we asked about the toppings – turns out they are plum preserves from his orchard across the street, a perfect accent to the tart lime pie.

Not sure we could have planned a better introduction and orientation in our new home city – looking forward to a few more margaritas, excellent Mexican dishes, Key Lime pie, and interesting conversation with our latest bartender associate. Muy bien!