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.

Mint Tulip

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.

Mint Cookie and Chocolate Shakes

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.

Buffalo Ranch Wrap

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.

Grilled Cheese

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.

Rueben

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.

Veggie Burger

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.

Soft Serve

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

Los Angeles is home to a number of vegan Thai places that have the same crazy menu of thai food and burgers/wraps.  I guess the owner of Thai Vegan in Albuquerque (a native of Thailand) came to the desert via the City of Angels, because the menu here has that same crazy menu.  There are a few items I haven’t seen in LA, but, in general, it’s the same thing.  I love vegan thai food and I might have even thought that Thai Vegan in Albuquerque was slightly better than some of the places in LA.

My mom got the Miso Soup ($2.95).  What can I say? – it was miso soup and very tasty.

Miso Soup

We also got an appetizer of the Chicken Satay ($6.95): charbroiled marinated soy chicken on skewers, served with peanut sauce and fresh cucumber salad.  Peanut sauce is one of my favorite sauces.  This whole plate was delicious!

Chicken Satay

One dish I’m not so sure if I’ve seen very often was the Chu Chee ($9.95):  soy shrimp sauteed in our chef’s special coconut puree, topped with daffir lime leaves and bell pepper.  This had quite a few bell peppers and onions, which I didn’t eat, so I mainly got a lot of soy shrimp.  I really loved the sauce it was in.  It tasted like a coconut curry

Chu Chee

Because we love that peanut sauce so much, we got the Praram’s Plate ($9.95): marinated soy chicken pan-fried with peanut sauce on a bed of steamed spinach.  Peanut sauce and spinach?!  I think this was the favorite item of the evening.  It was so flavorful – and we got your greens, too!

Praram’s Plate

In addition to peanut sauce, I love glass noodles.  Something about that tiny noodles just tastes so good!  This dish isn’t on their online menu, but is on the paper one in the restaurant.  I forget what this is called, but is the only glass noodle dish at the place.  It was packed with flavor.  We didn’t eat all of this dish, so I took it with me to eat for breakfast the next day.  Who knew glass noodles could be so good for breakfast?

Glass Noodles

They also have a few dessert items.  We each decided to wash everything down with some ice cream.  My mom got the Coconut and I got the Green Tea Ice Cream ($3.25 each).  Both were tasty, but the texture was a bit off.  It was kind of grainy – not too appetizing for an ice cream.

Coconut and Green Tea Ice Creams

I know we have a ton of these type places in LA, but if you happen to be passing through Albuquerque, Thai Vegan is worth the stop.

5505 Osuna RD NE
Albuquerque, NM 87109
(505) 884-4610

Monday – Saturday 11am – 9pm
Sunday 5pm – 9pm