Posted by Michael Stern on December 14, 2007
Opened in 1929 and originally known as the Coney Island Café (for the chili-topped “Coney Island” hot dogs on the menu), Lindy’s Coffee Shop is a culinary relic of old Route 66 through the heart of Albuquerque. Although it is no longer open round-the-clock as it once was, it is still a slice-of-life diner where many regulars come to chat at the counter all morning long.
Lindy’s is an especially good place to know about if you are breezing through town in a hurry and are hungry for breakfast. In a crockpot near the gorgeous antique cash register is an assortment of hand-holdable breakfast burritos, which are tortillas wrapped around bacon, egg, and cheese with red or green chili. Excellent on-the-go eats!
It is said that Muhammad Ali once came to Lindy’s to eat a bowl of red chili which, while not of the sophisticated and high-priced Santa Fe style, is a hearty bowl of good, rib-sticking diner fare with a genuine New Mexico zest. The menu is a big and familiar, including all sorts of hamburgers, Greek salad, and blue plate specials. We are especially fond of Lindy’s five-dollar meat loaf dinner: big, chunky slabs of moist loaf accompanied by smooth whipped potatoes and blanketed with brown gravy.
Although we don’t smoke, we prefer seats in the front room, either at the counter or in an upholstered booth (reserved for smokers). This is a fine place to sit and watch life on Central Avenue come and go as it has now for more than seventy years.
Overall: Worth planning a day around
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Reviewers "Must Eats" List
breakfast burrito
($2.00)
chili
($5.00)
"Buried somewhere underneath all the red and green chile on the huevos rancheros are two fried eggs."
buffetbuster
"These delicious orange mini-muffins came out hot and fresh from the oven. "
buffetbuster
"Lindy's Coffee Shop has been renovated inside and out and is now known as Lindy's Diner. Still the same owners and good food, though."
buffetbuster
"A Route 66 landmark in the heart of Albuquerque"
Michael Stern
