El Modelo Mexican Foods
November 10, 2006 by Foodie
1715 Second Street SW
Albuquerque NM, 87102
505-242-1843
8am – 6:45pm
~MENU~
El Modelo Mexican Food has been around since the 30′s making homemade tortillas and tamales. Located on 2nd street right off of Bridge street, El Modelo’s catered to the railroad repair shop workers across the street until the shop closed down in the 70′s. Today El modelo’s is an Albuquerque institution, known for its fresh tamales and tortillas.
El Modelo’s is a take out restaurant offering no place to eat just a bench and a couple of tables in an outside patio. You place an order at the counter and wait to be called. Food is modestly served in butcher paper and food containers. Although El Modelo’s is always busy, the orders usually come out very fast.
El Modelo’s is known for their masa(dough) used for making tamales and white corn tortillas. The menu features dinner plates, specialties such as tamale compuesto (a tamale topped with red chile, meat, lettuce, cheese and tostada chips), special made burritos and side orders. I usually get a dozen of tamales and the stuffed sopaipilla plate. Their food is excellent and very consistent. If you don’t know what to order just get the Mexican plate which comes with a tamale, taco, enchilada, spare rib and rice and beans. If you are ordering for a group El Modelo’s serves their food al la carte in pint and quart containers. El Modelo’s prices are a little expensive compared to other places.
El Modelo’s offers good food, friendly service and a look in to Albuquerque’s history. If you haven’t tried El Modelo’s, the trip is well worth it.
Popularity: 70% [?]
onaclov2000 (5)
Jenny (4)
WestsideWendy (4)
Watercanyon (3)
@iambunnyears (1)
Al Sanchez (1)
Love the Food,however the prices are a little too much .A dozen of Tamales are about 28.00 dollars a dozen,where you can get them at Vargas for 15.00 a dozen.
I’m from the Oakland Bay Area in beautiful California but my family has been from Albuquerque for many generations. Every chance I get I go to El Modelo when I’m in town or my Mom has it waiting for me upon my arrival. I noticed you describe El Modelo as Mexican food but I’ve always known it to be authentic NEW Mexican food! A friend of mine and her husband are taking a motorcycle ride through some of the states and I’m giving them the address to make sure they stop by El Modelo to eat some great New Mexican food! Like the stuffed sopaipillas, they are the best! They will be coming all the way from San Ramon, CA and I know they won’t be dissapointed!
best tamales in the world!
Food is good if it didn’t have roach legs!
This is the best place to eat and the only thing from NM I realllllly miss. There is nothing better than their Carne Ardavada Burritos and Tamales…. YUMMY
i moved from new mexico in 1992 to fairbanks alaska. and one of the only things i miss is the food from el modelo’s i truly wih i could get it up here people from alaska have no tast budes. i miss you ohhhhhh so. thanks for such good food. if you can send me some let me know.
Mr/Mrs MexicanFoodAddict…
I dont no where you come off or what drug you are on but THERE ARE NO ROACH LEGS IN THE FOOD! You need to get a life. I have been going there consistently for the past 10 years and THERE HAS NEVER ONCE BEEN ROACH LEGS!!!!! That is a stick spice you are referring to. In the future, check your facts before DOLLING OUT COMPLETE AND UTTER BS!!!!!!!!!
I have been eating at El Modelo for over 30 years and it is the best food in town. I recommend it to everyone I know. My favorite is the Number 1 combination plate. It has everything on it. I love the chile ribs you add to it.
El Modelo is the BEST AMAZING NEW MEXICAN FOOD IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY!!! This place was built in 1929 and looks like an old warehouse. The best thing to order here is a stuffed sopapilla. If you’ve never had one of those, it will blow your mind. A sopapilla is like a dough that is fried in a triangular shape and puffs up, which is then filled with any type of ingredient you like such as beans, shredded beef briscut, carnitas, cheese, lettace, etc. If you want to keep it simple, get a plain sopapilla and eat with honey or sugar. Makes for a great dessert. If you’re not sure about the sopapillas, try a talmale either green or red…absolutely delicious! This isn’t a indoor seating restaurant, but is great for take out or enjoy the beautiful weather on the bench seating outside. GO THERE IF YOU EVER CAN.
Completely agree with you Alexis, their stuffed sopapilla is excellent and at $2.50, its a steal.
Best Mexican regional food! (Northern Mexico Southwestern USA) I know, I know this is New Mexico and not Mexico any more, but the food is still the same as it was back than
My family and I have eaten take-out food from El Modelo for 40 years. Their food has been consistantly flavorful and fresh ever time we have ordered. We have traveled from our assignments aboard in Europe, South America, and the Middle East to eat the #1 combo Mexican plate, sopapillas, and El Modelo tamales. Their food is unique and “world class”, especially the tamales…muy sabrosos! You can not have New Mexico cuisine without a meal from El Modelo.
Talk about the best tamales ever. We as a family of three can buy the tamale plate and share it, it is huge and amazingly tasty. I lived an hour away and we would always get a stuffed sopa to eat on the way home. OMG! I am now in Hawaii and was hoping they had shipping, I should have known better, but I am desperate for Modelo, especially during Christmas, I had to at least check….wishful thinking. So, if you get a chance go there, it looks like a dive but believe me it is as clean as you can get. They pride themselves on it!
I am a food connoisseur and I know high quality and simple food. El Modelo tamales are of this caliber. Let me tell you how great this restaurant is. If I ate here once or twice a week, every week, I would be dissappointed eating at other Mexican restaurants. I would be spoiled rotten eating here so I would have to eat here every day but I don’t do that because it’s impractable. So I limit myself between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is a nice tradition. Oh, and I don’t have to pay a dime for them. My bankers do that.
We are former residents of Albuquerque now living in southern NM. When we come to Albuq. for visits or doctor appts. we always stop in to get a dozen tamales. Even though they are a little pricey, they are filled with huge chunks of meat and lots of good hot red chile. And they are wrapped in lots of corn husks with the masa interspersed between the leaves as you unwrap them. It is a thrill to take little bites as you try to get to the middle and from there on it is pure heaven! One easily makes a full meal and maybe two for a big guy. Smother them in red chile for a real treat!
for the person who said that it’s not mexico anymore I don’t think it ever was it’s always been NEW MEXICO don’t know where you came from better check your facts. if you want MEXICO go to MEXCIO….
We go right from the airport to El Modelo for the best New Mexican food we can eat. The plates are so big we have eaten on them for two days. We are from Albuquerque by live in Texas boy do we miss eating the tamales, stuffed sopaipillas, flat tacos with green beans, and the number one plate. Eat and enjoy because we recommend this wonderful place to everyone who is coming to Albuquerque!
These used to be the best tamales in New Mexico, but not any more. Recently, something has change in the El Modelo kitchen. I’ve eaten El Modelo tamales since 1979 because their tamales were large and tender and loaded with moist spicy meat. I bought them regularly by the dozen. But not any more! Their tamales have changed. They are hard as bricks. The masa is not edible; it’s heavy and dry and chewy like shoe leather. The meat is almost not visible and the sauce has no flavor. The corn husks are embeded in the dense masa making unwrapping the tamale an exercise in destruction. TWICE in the past weeks I actually returned partial dozen bags for a $28.15 refund. I will not be trying El Modelo tamales again. Two very bad experiences were one too many.
I get a couple dozen Tamales every Christmas for our out of town visitors. They usually don’t last more then a couple days.
People are complaining about the price, but have you ever made Tamales? they are very labor intensive. If cheep is what you want, I think Walmart sells those frozen Bueno bricks.