It doesn’t look all that promising from outside. On the east side of the parking lot for the strip mall housing Clark’s pet store, hidden from Lomas Blvd by an auto shop and across a side street from Sprouts, there is a small stand-alone building: Some may remember it as the former home of the little Los Cuates that, oddly, used to sit across the street from the big Los Cuates. Above the angular red metal porch roof is a sign: Duke City Kitchen.
Honestly, I’ve driven by Duke City Kitchen many times – I shop at both Sprouts and Clark’s – without stopping in. I’d imagined it as a little country-cute greasy spoon with, I don’t know, “homestyle” soups and casseroles. But the other day it was lunchtime, and I’d just bought some cat food at Clark’s and was heading to Sprouts. I was hungry and Duke City Kitchen was right there. It would have been silly to go somewhere else. Bolstered by very good Yelp reviews, I parked in front (plenty of parking!) and stepped inside.
And was quite surprised. A small wooden table at the front held menus and a sign requesting that I wait to be seated – one of only a few “rustic” elements to the decor. The room was almost Spartan, yet still quite homey. Both sides of the dining room were lined with comfy black-vinyl booths, in pleasing contrast to the white walls. On the back wall by the pass-through to the kitchen was black lettering declaring “Big Thick Bacon” and “Better with Butter.” Okay, well, that was a good start as far as I was concerned.
A cheerful hostess greeted me with genuine warmth, led me to a booth near the kitchen, and gave me a menu: one big sheet with breakfast (served all day, natch) on one side and lunch (from 11:00) on the other. The lunch menu consisted mostly of burgers, with a few other sandwiches and, I noted, no vegetarian options – though the more diverse, always available breakfast menu had a couple of tempting veggie omelettes, and I’m sure they’d be willing to work with substitutions. I was immediately intrigued by the first burger on the lunch menu, the Betty; it did not feature the aforementioned (and highly tempting) Big Thick Bacon, but instead boasted cheddar cheese, green chile, blackberry jam, and peanut butter. Whaaa?
When the waitress asked me what I wanted, I said I was toying with getting the Betty. She grinned and said if it sounded at all interesting to me, I had to try it. So I did. I chose Kennebec fries (Kennebec, I learned, being the variety of potato and not the style of fry) instead of slaw, with “Awesome Ranch” for dipping. Thousand Island – a close cousin to the currently popular “fry sauce” – was also available. I didn’t see any ketchup, though I imagine they’d provide it if asked.
The burger came out pretty quickly, with a striking presentation: an unusual oval-shaped bun and patty with a big steak knife stuck through the middle. I cut my sandwich in half to eat it more neatly and found the burger patty to be rosy pink, maybe a hair less cooked than my order of medium (but I actually prefer medium-rare anyway, so I wasn’t complaining).
It was scrumptious – I think it’s a contender for the best burger in town. Hot and juicy, with a simple bun (not brioche for a change) that was soft but strong enough to stand up to the burger and toppings. The unconventional combination worked beautifully; the jam provided sweetness and tang, the peanut butter a surprisingly understated hit of umami richness. The fries were hot and delicious, and the ranch was thick, heavy with dill, and clearly homemade – in keeping with the menu’s declaration that “Duke City Kitchen is a scratch house…. We believe the best things are scratch made.”
I enjoyed my lunch so much that I took Arne with me for breakfast the next day. We each started with coffee, constantly topped up during our meal. And we were both immediately drawn to the “Hashes” section of the menu, despite tempting options under “Scramblers,” “Omelettes,” and “Burritos,” and a few free-floating choices like huevos and biscuits & gravy. Arne opted for the Viejo (with corned beef), and I went with the somewhat embarrassing-to-order Hog, with four meats (including that thick-cut bacon!) and both green chile and sausage gravy.
Again, our order came out pretty quickly, piled into bowls in the stuff-on-potatoes style of breakfast that, to me, is as iconic in New Mexico as the breakfast burrito. The over-easy eggs on each bowl were perfectly cooked. The bacon was as good as I’d hoped – smoky, chewy, and flavorful. And oh, the “butter browns,” as Duke City Kitchen’s hash browns are called… possibly the best hash browns I’ve had in a restaurant, crispy and golden-brown, rich and luxurious. The hash browns dreams are made of.
Duke City Kitchen, in short, is emphatically worth trying, for either breakfast or lunch. (They are not open for dinner.) The menu has a lot of innovative combinations – the Betty, an omelette with spinach and guacamole, a turkey sandwich with honey – alongside plenty of favorite combinations. I can’t wait for my next visit.
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