Breakfast burritos worth getting up for
9 places
A good one is heavy in your hand: egg, potato, maybe bacon or carne adovada, and green chile hot enough to make your nose run. Eat it handheld on the way, or smothered in red, green or Christmas with a fork. Most of these close by early afternoon.
Smothered burritos at a sit-down restaurant
Duran's Central Pharmacy
The tortillas are rolled by hand behind the counter and come out bigger than the plate. Get the breakfast burrito Christmas with bacon inside, and a buttered tortilla on the side to drag through the red.
The red runs hot, and it’s made with flour (gluten-free chile on request). There’s often a wait, so browse the pharmacy’s gift shop.
Loyola's
A Route 66 diner named for Loyola Baca, who opened it. Get Tom’s Special Burrito, or chorizo smothered Christmas, with green chile that has real heat and fried potatoes instead of hash browns.
Closed Sunday and Monday.
Barelas Coffee House
Mike Gonzales and his brother opened it in 1978, and presidents have eaten here since. The red and green are both cooked with a little pork, and the tortillas taste like your grandma rolled them out.
Get The egg burrito deluxe, smothered Christmas.
Closed Sunday. Street parking on 4th can be tight.
Santiago's
Family-run on Eubank for almost 40 years, with the chile and the dough made from scratch. Get the combo with bacon “Santy style,” with their house taco sauce, or the carne adovada burrito, which is huge.
Closed Monday and Tuesday. Phone orders can take a while on busy mornings.
Ramona's Mexican Cafe
Thin-sliced potatoes are fried crisp before they go in, so the burrito has a crunch to it. Get the burrito grande Christmas, at a little café on Rio Grande near Old Town.
A chicken-fried steak burrito
Handheld burritos to go
Frontier Restaurant
Across Central from UNM since the 70s. The line looks long and moves fast; get a Frontier burrito and a warm sweet roll.
Order ahead on their website to skip the line.
El Modelo Mexican Foods
A walk-up counter on 2nd Street since 1929. The stuffed sopaipillas come out huge and pillowy, and the tamales are worth taking home by the bag.
Get A breakfast burrito or a stuffed sopaipilla, plus tamales to go.
No indoor seating, just picnic tables outside.
Roma Bakery and Deli
A downtown bakery where the “lite” burrito is a regular size anywhere else, and the regular gets you two meals. Get the carne adovada in red, then an apple empanada.
Weekdays only, 7 to 2.