Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog

The Turtle Mountain in Rio Rancho

The Tewa name “Oku Pin”  which translates in English to “Turtle Mountain” has two meanings of significance to the people of Okay Owingeh, one of New Mexico’s great Tewa speaking Northern New Mexico Pueblos. “Oku Pin” was the the Indian name given to Dr. Alfonso Ortiz who obtained worldwide prominence as an anthropologist and ethnologist until his death in 1998.  Ortiz was born and raised in San Juan Pueblo which in 2006 officially changed its name to Okay Owingeh.

“Oku Pin” is also the Tewa name for Sandia Peak, the 10,678-feet high mountain which provides a spectacular backdrop for Albuquerque, Bernalillo and Rio Rancho.

When Nico Ortiz, son of the famous anthropologist launched his inaugural restaurant and microbrewery in 1997, it just made sense that it should be called Turtle Mountain, a name which pays homage to his father and to the magnificent peaks under whose shadow his enterprise would reside.

Hummus with Pita at Turtle Montain

Today, Turtle Mountain has also become synonymous with good food and (ostensibly) very good beer.  Nico Ortiz has dedicated his life to the pursuit and production of good beer and has garnered tremendous recognition for his efforts, including a multi-page spread on the November, 2005 edition of New Mexico magazine.  His brainchild has also been discovered by Brewpub magazine, All About Beer magazine and other national and local publications, all of which have come away singing the praises of Rio Rancho’s first and only brewpub.

In 1999, Ortiz launched a second location, this time in Sandia Park (12480 North Highway 14) where East Mountain residents can partake of several kinds of beer made in Rio Rancho but tapped on the premises.  The Sandia Park menu features panini-style sandwiches and hamburgers as well as various pub snacks.

The inaugural Turtle Mountain microbrewery and restaurant was situated in a strip mall on Southern Boulevard, across from what was then the City of Vision’s City Hall.  In addition to quality libations, it quickly earned a reputation as a friendly neighborhood tavern in which you could actually get a very good pizza, calzone or grinder (the term used in the Northeast United States for a large sandwich), all named for New Mexico’s incomparable natural landmarks and several being crafted with an inventive flair you don’t find in many brewpubs.

Camel Rock Calamari with a pesto aioli and marinara

There was no pretense as to what the original Turtle Mountain was–a microbrewery which just happened to serve high quality food.  You couldn’t blame parents who wanted their children to experience some of the very best pizza in the metropolitan area, even though the choking haze of cigarette smoke and the cacophonous din of drunken revelry may have made it a less than family friendly environment.

This wasn’t lost on Ortiz who, in November, 2006, opened a larger, family-friendly Turtle Mountain location about half a mile away from its Rio Rancho birthplace.  Smoking isn’t permitted at the new location and the menu has expanded to include the panini-style sandwiches and burgers heretofore available only to East Mountain residents.

Turtle Mountain’s previous location (3755 Southern) is now home to the Fat Squirrel Bar & Grill, also owned by Nico Ortiz and his wife.  None of the inventiveness that has made Turtle Mountain a local favorite has been lost on the new restaurant and pub which launched in the summer of 2008.

The Adam Bomb

The Turtle Mountain’s appetizers include the Cochiti Combo, house-made tortilla chips with the terrific triumvirate of salsa, con queso and guacamole.  While the salsa recipe has changed over time (it used to have a sweet bite that had its genesis in sunflower seeds, a crunchy treat we’ve never seen before in salsa), it’s still quite good.  Its current rendition is much more piquant, a bit tangy and more akin to a pico de gallo.  The chile con queso is no longer the most piquant of the three saucy appetizers despite the prominent presence of jalapeno.  It’s still the velvety smooth, creamy guacamole that steals the show.

While several Albuquerque area restaurants offer calamari, it’s not Camel Rock Calamari with a pesto aioli and marinara.  The difference is that most restaurants feature the batter-coated, deep-fried squid in the shape of ringlets.  At Turtle Mountain, the calamari is Spanish rabas de calamar–deep-fried squid tentacles.  They’re of the thickness of human fingers and about twice the length.  They’re also tender and delicious with a light batter coating.  The pesto aioli and marinara are flavorful accompaniment, but not absolutely necessary as these calamari are quite tasty on their own.

The appetizer we’ve enjoyed least is Turtle Mountain’s hummus with triangles of pita bread.  That doesn’t mean it’s a bad hummus.  It is, in fact, a good hummus.  It’s just the type of hummus you might expect a brew pub to serve.  Where we found it lacking is in some of the subtle touches that the more practiced hands of a Mediterranean restaurant’s hummus chef would impart: the sheen of olive oil and lemon juice to provide moistness, a tad more garlic to provide fragrance and flavor.

Thai peanut soup

The Turtle Mountain’s specials of the day sometimes surprise even frequent visitors.  One special imparting a dramatic effect is the Thai peanut soup, a thick, rich, comforting soup the flavor of which you normally don’t find in American restaurants, much less a brew pub.  This soup is comparable to the sweet peanut sauce often served with satay at Thai restaurants.  It is replete with vegetables such as onion, okra and tomato, all sliced small.  A bowl of this isn’t quite the swimming pool largesse of a Vietnamese pho, but one bowl is more than filling.

Another special of the day we hope will someday make it to the daily menu is a pizza called the Spicy Blue, a 12-inch canvass of pepper encrusted dough topped with a base of cream cheese blanketed by salty prosciutto and smoked jalapenos draped by melted mozzarella cheese.  It is a thing of beauty, more oblong than round with its sole hint of red coming from the prosciutto.  Its most prominent flavors are saltiness and heat, a palate-pleasing combination.

Incomparable might be a good adjective for the pronounced roasted green chile taste you’ll find in all the Turtle Mountain’s pizzas, particularly the Adam Bomb pizza (Mozzarella, pepperoni, green chile, sausage, spinach, pine nuts, sauce).  Not only does the green chile have the roasted taste New Mexico’s citizens demand, it’s got a bite to it.  It is truly the bomb!

Spicy Blue Pizza - Pepper encrusted dough, smoked jalapenos, prosciutto and mozzarella on a cream cheese base.

The pizzas are about twelve inches of thin-crusted deliciousness.  Though thin crust, they’re definitely not New York style with the type of pliability that allows you to fold them vertically.  The crust is painfully thin, stiff and crunchy in places, but it’s not overdone and has only hints of char.  It’s a great canvass for the creative ingredients offered at the Turtle Mountain.  Each pizza leaves its own unique imprint on your taste buds, quite unlike at some pizzerias where every pizza seems to be a cheese pizza whose sole taste differentiation comes from the different ingredients piled atop.  There is serious inventiveness going on at the Turtle Mountain.

Some of those pizzas showcase the brew pub’s award winning brews.  One is the Ojo Caliente, a pizza crafted with Habanero stout barbecue sauce, mozzarella, chicken and Cheddar.  Some might consider barbecue sauce on a pizza a heretical concept, especially when topped with chicken.  The Ojo Caliente will make converts out of the nay-sayers.  First of all, the sauce is tangy, piquant and absolutely tongue-tingling delicious.  The chicken is shredded instead of cubed as served in some pizzas.  The two cheeses are complementary.

Another great pizza alternative is the Chimayo, a thin crust 10″ pizza with mozzarella, pepperoni, green chile, oregano and sauce.  Also quite wonderful is the Cabezon pizza which features prosciutto, shallots, roasted garlic, fontina cheese and fresh tomatoes.  The pizza crust is waifishly thin but is just crispy enough to bear a load of generously applied, high quality, fresh ingredients.

Macaroni and cheese with five cheeses

The calzones are roughly the size of a flattened football and prepared in the same wood burning oven as are the pizzas. Also available are five different “grinders,” the name given to sub sandwiches in New England.  For perspective, a grinder is essentially the same as a hero, hoagie, po boy, submarine, torpedo, wedge or zep.  It’s a large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (as well as sundry condiments such as tomato and onion).

The Sun Mountain grinder is constructed of turkey, ham, green chile, provolone, Cheddar, tomato, onion and garlic mayo on a hoagie roll.  It is served warm so that the melted cheese covers all the other ingredients.  Fortunately, the cheeses ameliorate, not cover-up the other ingredients.  This is an excellent sandwich, as filling as a Turtle Mountain pizza and as good as any sandwich you’ll find in the City of Vision.  The green chile and garlic mayo combination is especially flavorful.  There is a lot going on in this sandwich as in a lot of ingredients, a lot of flavor and a lot of sandwich!

The menu has several tempting burgers.  For a wonderful breath-wrecking and absolutely delicious burger, you can’t beat the El Rito.  This beauteous, bountiful burger is engorged with crisp bacon, fetid feta cheese and that rich, creamy guacamole the Turtle Mountain does so well.  It takes two hands to hold his burger and five or six napkins to wipe off your mouth; that’s how juicy this carnivore’s dream is.

Turtle Mountain Root Beer (left) and Cream Soda

Macaroni and cheese is yet another entree the Turtle Mountain does surprisingly well–so well that you’ll often see children eschewing pizza to partake of their favorite cheesy treat.  This is an adult mac and cheese made with a blend of five cheeses, the most prevalent being Cheddar.  It’s not an especially creamy mac and cheese, but that also means it’s not as oleaginous as some macaroni and cheese tends to be.

As much as I dislike American beer, if I consumed adult beverages it would probably be at Turtle Mountain, a fun, friendly milieu.  If the root beer is any indication, the adult beverage variety must be quite good.  Luke’s Root Beer Web page indicated the root beer is one kids would love (translation: it’s pretty sweet) and rated it 15th among 71 root beer brewed throughout America.  Well, this overgrown kid certainly does love that root beer–it washes down some excellent food.  Perhaps even better than the root beer is Turtle Mountain’s heady cream soda which has a sarsaparilla goodness rare in soda.

Turtle Mountain Brewing
3755 Southern Blvd.
Rio Rancho, NM
994-9497
LATEST VISIT: 10 August  2009
# OF VISITS: 16
RATING: 20
COST: $$
BEST BET: The Adam Bomb Pizza, The Chimayo Pizza, Root Beer, Calzone, The Ojo Caliente, Thai Peanut Soup, Cream Soda, The Sun Mountain Grinder

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