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The Duke City has long been a place for hearty home-style cooking in big portions, and to this day it's easy to find great steak-and-chops houses, retro diners, and authentic New Mexican restaurants. The trick is finding them amid Albuquerque's miles of chain options and legions of dives, but if you look, you'll be rewarded with innovative food, and generally at prices much lower than in Santa Fe or other major Southwestern cities.
In Nob Hill, Downtown, and Old Town many notable new restaurants have opened, offering swank decor and complex and artful variations on modern Southwest, Mediterranean, Asian, and other globally inspired cuisine. A significant Vietnamese population has made that cuisine a star, but Indian, Japanese, Thai, and South American traditions all have a presence, making this New Mexico's best destination for ethnic fare.
Excellent, authentic Vietnamese food is served up in this compact, modern, bamboo-accented restaurant (once inside, it's easy to ignore the fact that it's within one of Albuquerque's ubiquitous strip malls). Consider the popular pho variations, order the tofu (or chicken or shrimp) spring rolls with tangy peanut sauce, dig into the spicy lemongrass with chicken, and all will be well.
