A flower for my mom’s birthday, crafted with precision out of hot dairy foam by the excellent barista at Ecco Espresso & Gelato in lovely Nob Hill neighborhood in Albuquerque.

I could just have a flower, enjoy it, sip it and be done, of course, though the macchiatto was delicious.  I had to follow it up (short shelf life, ya know…) with some quickly softening and strong like it should be rum raisin gelato.  Sampling about 5 flavors like zabaglione, plum sake, ginger lime from the awesome list of choices, I finally decided on one of my old favorites, though Haagen Dazs does do a really fabulous and strong example of it.  Gelato is just much cleaner in flavor, not heavy or tongue-coating like the cream in ice cream.  I wonder if there’s a rum raisin “light” in the HD line… hmm.

Anyway, I definitely had to drink the espresso first.  Because I have my priorities, of course.  Coffee over gelato?  Actually, yes.  When its done really well, it can blow your mind.  And even if its just good, it is still comforting in a way that cold sweet things just can’t be.

An Albuquerquean by birthright, Francisco is currently a resident of the City Different, and so far I’m not holding it against him.

How can I, when he is taking up the torch to demonstrate to his city-dwellers that the Duke City has food worth eating and is not a cesspool of strip malls and freeways? Of course I can’t. He led a group this weekend to experience the comfort and panache of Gold Street Caffe, on the one day of the week they offer Southwestern Eggs Bennie, piquant with jalapenos and tasting of fine butter.

We talked about the great hole in the wall places around Albuquerque,  from tacos to burgers and everything in between, plotting to draw all Santa Feans down here for gustatory revelry.

He had not, however, been acquainted with Sophia’s Place, and that is what I present here, in photos as well as previous reviews by both myself and other food writers. Enjoy, my friend!

Gil Garduno’s write up

Duke City Fix column from 2006

ABQ Journal review (if the link is broken, I hope to have another copy of it available ASAP!)

Alibi (Jennifer Wohletz)

(OK, that might be an overstatement, but hear me out and you’ll get the idea….)

I love coffee. I adore a good pull of espresso. And yet, when you or I search Google for “best barista” albuquerque, you will get a post that I wrote on my older blog website about DENVER. Denver, fer gawd’s sake. I need to hang my head and beg forgiveness with that nonsense….

Instead of pumping up the abilities (good as they may be) of baristas in other cities, I should be using my knowledge and whatever influence I can muster up to improve the situation here in my favorite city, my adopted hometown of Albuquerque.

This morning I changed my Saturday routine slightly and avoided my usual bout of loitering and absorbing the scene at Flying Star over magazines and just so-so coffee, to spend some time at a much homier shop called Cup O’ Joe. I hadn’t been by in an embarassingly long time, but promptly said hello to George and got on with my espresso swilling, lounging decompression.

George pulls a really good shot – not perfect, but certainly worthy of a visit or two or three. And – get this – he charges a BUCK for a shot. How can you not come by and check this place out now?

Cup O’ Joe is on Eubank, almost at Montgomery, next to a Farmer’s Market store.