Albuquerque is a surprisingly huge city in the middle of New Mexico.  It is home to a large university, so I would imagine that some of those students are vegan.  Therefore, it would make sense that across the street from the University of New Mexico is Mint Tulip – and all vegan cafe with a focus on diner-type food.  I was seriously in love with their decor.  I think I might paint a room in my future house this minty color.

The minty color also inspired me to order a Mint Cookie Shake ($4).  My mom went with the humble Chocolate Shake ($4).  They make their shakes with their vanilla soft serve and are insanely good!  They had many more flavor combinations that I wished I had room in my belly to try.

The food at Mint Tulip focuses on sandwiches/wraps and salads.  They also come with a side that you get to choose from a whole list of options.  Our first food item was a Buffalo Ranch Wrap with a Pasta Salad side ($9).  I took one bite of the wrap and immediately went into panic mode.  It was so spicy that I couldn’t even eat the rest of it.  If you can handle the heat, go for this item – apparently it is one of the more popular dishes.  The pasta salad I could handle.  It was so light and refreshing. I could eat a whole plate of this as a nice dinner.

The Grilled Cheese with a side of Fruit ($6) was the star of the entrees.  This tasted like childhood.  The bread was so crispy and the cheese was so melty (wouldn’t have guessed it was Tofutti American slices).  A shake and a grilled cheese is a winning combination in my book.

The Reuben with a side of Slaw ($9) was the second favorite.  Made with the perfect proportions of Tofurky slices, sauerkraut, and thousand island dressing.  They certainly know how to grill a sandwich at Mint Tulip.

They also make a Burger ($9) with housemade patty, tomato, onion, pickle, spinach, and Vegenaise.  We ordered this with a side of Potato Salad.  I liked this burger well enough, but if I had to get one thing here, it would be the grilled cheese.

And we couldn’t leave without trying their unadulterated Soft Serve.  My mom and I both agreed that we liked it better in a shake.  On its own, it kind of had a gummy texture to it – something we couldn’t detect blended up.

You can see their full menu here.  This place might have been the favorite meal of the trip and would almost be worth living in Albuquerque… almost.

Mint Tulip
2110 Central Ave SE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
505-242-1320

Monday – Thursday, Saturday 10am – 4pm
Friday 10am – 9pm