Owl Cafe serves up green chili cheeseburger on Old Route 66

As it turns out, a genuine New Mexico-style green chili cheeseburger is best eaten while sitting in a Naugahyde-upholstered booth in an owl-shaped diner on Old Route 66.

I know this because that’s where I landed recently, while in pursuit of such a burger. I consulted the New Mexico Tourism Department’s Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail map, which lists about 100 restaurants known for burgers slathered in green chilies and cheese. (The organization recently unveiled a Breakfast Burrito Byway, too, but I’m not buying into that. Texas has tacos and burritos nailed.)

The Owl Cafe caught my eye right away. It’s located a 15-minute drive from the Albuquerque airport, where its owly head peers over the horizon just off Interstate 40. I stepped inside, immediately time-traveled back 60 years and admired what’s got to be the state’s longest horseshoe-shaped counter.

Green chili cheeseburgers are a whole thing in New Mexico. Most folks trace the dish’s popularity to old-school burger joints like the Owl Cafe in San Antonio (New Mexico, not Texas), Bert’s Burger Bowl in Santa Fe and Blake’s Lotaburger’s original location in Albuquerque. Now they’re on menus across the state, but not every one gets a spot on the state’s official trail map.

The Owl Cafe in Albuquerque does, with good reason.

The burger I ordered arrived slightly disheveled, in a good way, with a scoop of sauteed chilies astride a glistening patty enrobed in gooey American cheese. Not too small, not too big, with a slice of tomato, pickle, onions, lettuce and mayo, alongside a pile of thick-cut french fries for $5.25.

But it’s about more than the burger here. The atmosphere adds bonus points. The diner even hosts classic car shows twice a month, complete with a DJ spinning oldies music.

Owl-some!

IF YOU GO

The Owl Cafe, 800 Eubank Boulevard NE in Albuquerque, is open daily; https://www.owlcafealbuquerque.com; 505-291-4900. To see the entire Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail list, go to https://www.newmexico.org”www.newmexico.org.

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