<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Lots of responses, thank you, all.

There are lots of mom and pop Mexican, BBQ, and Chinese restaurants
> > in the small towns, but is up to you to talk with the manager/chef to
> > see if they can accommodate your needs.  Carlsbad also has a health
> > food store, Healthy Choices, on Church street, which has gluten free
> > bread, pizza crust, pasta, etc.  Albertson's. across the street, has
> > a very small gluten free section, cookies, breakfast bars, etc.

There is an amazing Gluten Free Restaurant called Paisano's 1935 Eubank NE,
Albuquerque, NM, 505-298-7541

http://www.paisanosabq.com/

For shopping there is a whole Foods on Academy that offers a lot of Gluten
free products. (and one on Indian School with a coffee shop area with a
panoramic view of the Sandia Mts.)

Some good info at this web site:
http://www.celiachandbook.com/newmexico.html


Both Santa Fe and Albuquerque have Trader Joe's
and Whole Foods for groceries.  In Albuquerque we have Paisano's
Italian restaurant which is open for lunch on weekdays and dinner.
The owner has celiac, and they offer gluten free pasta and pizza.  For
lunch there are sandwiches made with gf bread.  As anywhere, nicer
restaurants will make something gf for you.  Be careful at Mexican
restaurants.  Many chili dishes are thickened with flour, and chips
are often fried in the same oil that flour products are fried in.

I also ate out there at Chili's.

Just south of the intersection of Pan American on San Mateo in NE
Albuquerque, is a family-style restaurant, The Village Inn (Pancakes).
Non-celiacs enjoyed the butter-milk pancakes and I had an entrée with
green\chiles (made with corn starch or corn flour). Non-celiacs liked it
enough to return and I found I could substitute corn tortillas for flour.
Waitresses very friendly. Lots of local business. A little wait line on
Sunday after church.

(Our hometown shuttle driver recommended a health food store on Melian, but
I did not have opportunity to try it. Also, that you can shuttle from the
airport to Sante Fe very reasonably.) The new SanteFe/Alb commuter train was
in the news as becoming a favorite of many. We drove and found great
directions at an Albertson's, with a Starbucks inside, off of St. Francis in
Sante Fe. (Some listers requested information on accommodations.)
<http://www.albertsons.com>  You will need the zipcode of the area you will
be traveling to. Email to Albertsons gave this return information -
customer service center at 1-877-932-7948.

Albertson's grocery store has a GF food listing they will probably mail to
you.

Albertsons Store Support Center
250 Park Center Blvd
PO Box 20
Boise, Idaho 83726

As some recommended, it is fun to find the unexpected. In Old Town, on an
outside corner, High Noon Saloon, we found a waiter that understood the term
gluten-free, was knowledgeable and helpful. Prices reasonable. They make a
caramel flan - the waiter checked with the kitchen. The caramel sauce was
clear, so it was house made with butter and browned sugar. If you are very
sensitive, you might ask if bread was used in the brown sugar container.
I had no reaction. It was beautifully presented. This was my first stop,
and I did not inquire here about the chilies or the tortillas, but enjoyed
a mango salad with walnuts. Non-celiacs in the party enjoyed large portions
of traditional fare. 17-1800's décor/architecture with apparently a choice
of room in décor, sensitive to the cultural mix of the area, one native, one
Mexican American and one gringo. One could expect Clint Eastwood to step
from the shadows.

If I had booked car rental weeks in advance on a booking website I could
have saved considerably. Since I waited, I got the best price thru AAA.

As far as requests for information on accommodations, contacting the inn
directly gave better pricing. However, the season is starting and it will
be harder to book. Availability in Albuquerque were mostly in chain hotels
and motels. Reading the comments of places near the airports, I chose the
unique Nativo Lodge, NE off of #25 instead. Accommodations were great, as
they are a smaller version of the Heritage Hotel group. See their website,
do a google; their staff is excellent; they do a lot of local conferences.
They don't offer refrigerators or microwaves in the rooms; I talked to the
manager about having special diet needs. He offered to bring a small sized
fridge to the room. (If you plan to hike they advise to bring jugs of water
and pack a lunch.) Ask for east side mountain view top floor for sunrises/
west view top floor albeit traffic views for wonderful sunsets.

Their restaurant menu does include blue corn tortilla shells, so their
caring and attentive staff would probably substitute. Rooms include a 20%
off a menu entrée. During a busy conference day, a breakfast buffet is
offered, including fresh fruit, eggs, sausage and bacon, drinks.

Pack one gallon of water per person is recommended for cross state driving
travel, hiking trips, or rock hound expeditions. Whole Foods had liters of
lemonade.

Enjoy your trip. Don't have a care about finding gf food. Food is such a
part of the culture and experience. This wonderful list-serve and related
celiac community groups have done a wonderful thing making travel and
gluten-free awareness nation-wide. Also, there was an Outback's a few blocks
from the Nativo on Jefferson, I believe.

And, if you will be traveling with a pet, the Nativo is pet friendly, as
is all of Albuquerque. See High Desert Dog Magazine. Really. There is a list
of patio dining you can dine out (with your pet) with phone numbers you
could call ahead and check their gf knowledge. There is a lot of higher-end
dining I was told, so the term gluten-free is familiar. You can pick up a
copy just inside Whole Foods or <highdesertdog.com> for a new online
version. Couldn't resist including this. They had a whole weekend event
of Fido Fiesta, Puppypolusa, giving over 1000 adoptions. Pets are good for
your health. So is smiling:)

One other pleasant surprise was Mountain Man and Udi's, both caterers for
Frontier Airlines for flights out of Denver. I risked a snack-sized bag of
corn chips and salsa Grizwald's/Hector's Fiesta/ by Mountain Man Nuts and
Fruit Co., tho it was not on the list of gf items Mountain Man mgr sent me.
Ingredients list was fine, if you are ok with blue and red dyes. They sent
attachments to me that will not post on the list. If you would like to see
their gf lists, I could probably send them via one email.

Udi's Foods will ship gf items to your hotel, 2 days shipping. My flights
were short, so their salads were not offered. I believe they recommended
their avocado salad - (choose no flour tortilla croutons) and their fruit
salad as items that are offered in-flight.

Choose your wait staff carefully and give good tips with special service.

Thanks to all the listers who responded and to the Albertsons, Udi's,
Mountain Man, Whole Foods, Nativo Lodge, Village Inn, High Noon Saloon
personnel who helped make our trip to the Land of Enchantment such a
wonderful, healthful and multi-cultural experience success.

lfj 

p.s. thanks to those that gave info for Sante Fe. I saw another summary on
Sante Fe, so did not re-post those here.

p p s please no negativity in responses. I did my best, probably included
too much. Have to get back to daily business here. Thanks in advance for
your consideration to this request. My first all-list post here. Thanks to
the list for all you do. lfj













 

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