Food and drink "trails" can be found in many states. For example, there is a cheese trail in Wisconsin, a wine trail in California, an ice cream trail in New Hampshire, a bourbon trail in Kentucky, and a BBQ trail in Texas. New Mexico happens to have a breakfast burrito trail. The state lays claim to the invention of the breakfast burrito in 1975 at Tia Sophia's restaurant in Santa Fe (still operating). The official name of the trail is New Mexico's Breakfast Burrito Byway and it has 50 stops. I decided that breakfast had to be at one of these stops and I picked a place about a mile from the Texas border. This breakfast visit would mark the halfway point of the breakfast tour; 24 states down, 24 to go.
Avila's Nipa Hut
Hobbs, New Mexico
Avila's Nipa Hut was not an easy place to find. It lies off the beaten byway. I did have an address and put it into Google Maps for directions. When the irritating voice on my I-phone said "you have arrived at your destination" we didn't see it. All we could see was a large Conoco gas station with an attached 7-11 type market called Stripes. As we kept driving up the road the irritating voice kept recalculating and telling us to make a U-turn and go back. (Maybe if I changed her voice to a Jamaican accent, it would be more pleasing.) We finally gave in, did the U-turn and went back to the gas station. And there it was right where irritating voice said it was located. I half expected her to say "I told you so!"
The Nipa Hut was attached to one end of the gas station looking like an afterthought. That's it in the picture below, in front of the white pick-up truck.
You can hardly see "Avila's Nipa Hut" on the window!
Let me flash forward in the narrative to after our breakfast when we were setting off across West Texas. About an hour into the drive I started to wonder about why the restaurant had the name "Nipa Hut" so I did what any sane person with an I-Phone does and googled it. A Nipa hut is the national house of the Philippines. It is usually built on stilts and has a thatched roof made from the nipa palm. I should have know this. We had spent two weeks during February in the Philippines; a beautiful country with beautiful people. The Nipa Hut in Hobbs, sitting on a cement slab and having a corrugated metal roof, was anything but what Wikipedia described. I also found on the internet a couple of Nipa Hut restaurants in Florida and one in California and they all served Filipino food. So was the Hobbs Nipa Hut a case of "Filipinos selling burritos"? I liked the lyrical sound of that.
Driving across flat, desolate, vast West Texas is a soul sucking, brain draining experience. You need to occupy your mind with some mental activity or else you could go insane. I decided the phrase "Filipinos selling burritos" might serve as a great launching pad to a best selling country western song so I started writing.
I'd grown sick of those big city snobs,
Got in my pick-up and headed to Hobbs,
Driving forever, shrub after shrub,
I was worked up a hankering for some good grub,
So many miles, pains in my butt,
Lucky to find Avila's Nipa Hut.
It had Filipinos selling burritos ohh yeahhh,
It had Filipinos selling burritos ohh yeahh.
As I started the second verse, I fell asleep so the song was to be continued. When I awoke, I wondered, was it an actual case of Filipinos selling burritos? I had assumed that the staff we saw were of Hispanic ethnicity. It was stereotyping I know, but come on, we're talking burritos not lumpia.
I called Avila's Nipa Hut to find out the story. The very nice owner told me that no, they were not Filipinos selling burritos. The restaurant was bought 30 years ago from a couple who had named it the Nipa Hut. He was American and she was Filipino. They sold pizza and burgers. The current owner decided to keep the name. So much for my song.
AMBIENCE: The Nipa Hut was a snug little place. Greeting you on the front door was a sign stating "CASH ONLY". This was to be a theme on the inside of the restaurant as well with a number of reminders that it was cash only. You ordered food at the cash (only) register and then find yourself a table and wait for them to deliver your meal. While we were there a steady stream of customers came in, with about half carrying their food away and half eating at a table.
Avila's Nipa Hut was not an easy place to find. It lies off the beaten byway. I did have an address and put it into Google Maps for directions. When the irritating voice on my I-phone said "you have arrived at your destination" we didn't see it. All we could see was a large Conoco gas station with an attached 7-11 type market called Stripes. As we kept driving up the road the irritating voice kept recalculating and telling us to make a U-turn and go back. (Maybe if I changed her voice to a Jamaican accent, it would be more pleasing.) We finally gave in, did the U-turn and went back to the gas station. And there it was right where irritating voice said it was located. I half expected her to say "I told you so!"
The Nipa Hut was attached to one end of the gas station looking like an afterthought. That's it in the picture below, in front of the white pick-up truck.
You can hardly see "Avila's Nipa Hut" on the window!
Let me flash forward in the narrative to after our breakfast when we were setting off across West Texas. About an hour into the drive I started to wonder about why the restaurant had the name "Nipa Hut" so I did what any sane person with an I-Phone does and googled it. A Nipa hut is the national house of the Philippines. It is usually built on stilts and has a thatched roof made from the nipa palm. I should have know this. We had spent two weeks during February in the Philippines; a beautiful country with beautiful people. The Nipa Hut in Hobbs, sitting on a cement slab and having a corrugated metal roof, was anything but what Wikipedia described. I also found on the internet a couple of Nipa Hut restaurants in Florida and one in California and they all served Filipino food. So was the Hobbs Nipa Hut a case of "Filipinos selling burritos"? I liked the lyrical sound of that.
Driving across flat, desolate, vast West Texas is a soul sucking, brain draining experience. You need to occupy your mind with some mental activity or else you could go insane. I decided the phrase "Filipinos selling burritos" might serve as a great launching pad to a best selling country western song so I started writing.
I'd grown sick of those big city snobs,
Got in my pick-up and headed to Hobbs,
Driving forever, shrub after shrub,
I was worked up a hankering for some good grub,
So many miles, pains in my butt,
Lucky to find Avila's Nipa Hut.
It had Filipinos selling burritos ohh yeahhh,
It had Filipinos selling burritos ohh yeahh.
As I started the second verse, I fell asleep so the song was to be continued. When I awoke, I wondered, was it an actual case of Filipinos selling burritos? I had assumed that the staff we saw were of Hispanic ethnicity. It was stereotyping I know, but come on, we're talking burritos not lumpia.
I called Avila's Nipa Hut to find out the story. The very nice owner told me that no, they were not Filipinos selling burritos. The restaurant was bought 30 years ago from a couple who had named it the Nipa Hut. He was American and she was Filipino. They sold pizza and burgers. The current owner decided to keep the name. So much for my song.
AMBIENCE: The Nipa Hut was a snug little place. Greeting you on the front door was a sign stating "CASH ONLY". This was to be a theme on the inside of the restaurant as well with a number of reminders that it was cash only. You ordered food at the cash (only) register and then find yourself a table and wait for them to deliver your meal. While we were there a steady stream of customers came in, with about half carrying their food away and half eating at a table.
It was hard not to notice that the walls were completely covered by 18 x 24 inch glossy pictures of high school athletes. We asked about this and were told that the kids sold them to businesses, relatives, and friends at $50 a pop to raise money for the sports teams. The Nipa Hut certainly did its part in supporting the local teams as most of the wall space in the restaurant was covered by these smiling young athletes.
Our table is shown in the above picture and from where we sat it was hard not to notice Cory Dean of the Hobbs Eagle Swimming and Diving team looking down on us.
I had two thoughts about Cory: 1) This kid had no trouble getting a date to the prom and 2) What is he doing with his hands?
4 1/2 out of 5 stars
FOOD: Are you kidding me? The menu had 23 different breakfast burritos! You could come in here every day of the month (it is closed on weekends) and have a different breakfast burrito. Also on the menu was one non-burrito item called The Big Breakfast. Usually I would jump at something called The Big Breakfast but I was here to eat a breakfast burrito. You don't order a hamburger in a seafood restaurant. I did however, order the breakfast burrito with the most ingredients. It was called "The Grumpy". Stuffed into The Grumpy was sausage, bacon, ham, egg, potato, and cheese.
Behold this gem of a breakfast burrito:
Behold this gem of a breakfast burrito:
A peek inside:
It was incredibly delicious. What a filling and fortifying way to start your day. The tortilla was about as fresh as could be with just the right amount of char. The filling was bursting with flavor and the red chile sauce gave it just the right amount of kick. I could easily see myself coming in every weekday of the month and trying each of the 23 burritos. I asked why something that made me so happy was called The Grumpy. The story I got was they had a regular customer who always ordered this particular breakfast burrito. He was known as Grumpy because he looked like one of the Care Bear characters. I missed the whole Care Bears thing (I believe this was good fortune) so I had to look it up on the internet. This is Grumpy:
When Grumpy (the customer, not the bear) passed away, in his memory, the Nipa Hut gave him the high honor of naming the burrito he always ordered, "The Grumpy". Hmmm. I wondered if the cause of death was too many Grumpies?
The Healthy One, because they did not have a granola burrito on the menu, ordered an egg and bacon burrito which she had no problem polishing off. She did not touch her chile sauce even though I told her it was a vegetable and it was healthy.
5 out of 5 stars
COFFEE: Ehh. The industrial cup of coffee I had in the Best Western lobby before coming over was better.
2 1/2 out of 5 stars
SERVICE: The young lady who took our order, brought us our food, and cashed us out was very friendly and accommodating. She seemed to be in charge of the place and kept things moving smoothly. At one point she yelled back at the cook to "hurry up with that order Mom". Daughters of a certain age bossing their mothers around seems to be a universal phenomenon.
5 out of 5 stars
COST: $10.90 + $2.00 tip - CASH ONLY
A FEW WORDS ABOUT HOBBS: Hobbs is flat; very flat. The weather isn't great; really hot in the summer, dry throughout the year, and a cold wind in the winter. So why does this city of about 45,000 people exist?
In 1928 oil was discovered. Hobbs sits atop the Permian Basin which is said to contain more recoverable oil than any one field in the world except for Saudi Arabia's Ghawar. Oil production is estimated to be 2.49 million barrels a day, accounting for more than a quarter of U.S. total production. Because of its dependence upon oil, Hobbs is in many respects a "boom or bust" town. Three years ago when crude oil prices topped $100 per barrel, workers were flocking to Hobbs. The demand for housing far exceeded the supply. A room at the Best Western cost about $250 a night. We paid $64 for the same room. Oil prices are down more than 60% from 2014. A huge number of hotel rooms sit empty every night.
Oil and gas severance taxes still make up about half of local tax revenue. One in five jobs is in the mining sector. Hobbs is hanging on. It hopes oil prices bounce back but in the meantime has taken steps to diversify its energy dependent economy. The city has managed to attract other energy producers including a uranium enrichment company and four solar power plants. Hobbs also has those two favorite economic quick fixes: a casino and a prison.
In 1928 oil was discovered. Hobbs sits atop the Permian Basin which is said to contain more recoverable oil than any one field in the world except for Saudi Arabia's Ghawar. Oil production is estimated to be 2.49 million barrels a day, accounting for more than a quarter of U.S. total production. Because of its dependence upon oil, Hobbs is in many respects a "boom or bust" town. Three years ago when crude oil prices topped $100 per barrel, workers were flocking to Hobbs. The demand for housing far exceeded the supply. A room at the Best Western cost about $250 a night. We paid $64 for the same room. Oil prices are down more than 60% from 2014. A huge number of hotel rooms sit empty every night.
Oil and gas severance taxes still make up about half of local tax revenue. One in five jobs is in the mining sector. Hobbs is hanging on. It hopes oil prices bounce back but in the meantime has taken steps to diversify its energy dependent economy. The city has managed to attract other energy producers including a uranium enrichment company and four solar power plants. Hobbs also has those two favorite economic quick fixes: a casino and a prison.
BURN THOSE BREAKFAST CALORIES OFF:
- - On our drive to Hobbs we walked around the campus of New Mexico State in Las Cruces NM.
- - We hiked in the Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument. Established in May, 2014, it is America's newest national monument. The Organ Mountains are so-named because the granite peaks look a bit like a pipe organ.
- We hiked the Smith Spring Loop in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Beautiful vistas were available, but my eyes were locked on the ground so as not to step on a rattlesnake.
- At Carlsbad Caverns National Park we took the 1.5 mile Natural Entrance trail 750 feet down to the 1.5 mile Big Room trail. This place is a amazing wonderland.
- - We hiked in the Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument. Established in May, 2014, it is America's newest national monument. The Organ Mountains are so-named because the granite peaks look a bit like a pipe organ.
- We hiked the Smith Spring Loop in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Beautiful vistas were available, but my eyes were locked on the ground so as not to step on a rattlesnake.
- At Carlsbad Caverns National Park we took the 1.5 mile Natural Entrance trail 750 feet down to the 1.5 mile Big Room trail. This place is a amazing wonderland.
-
May 10, 2017
NEXT UP: Texas
No comments:
Post a Comment