Cultural Vibrancy on the Menu: What’s the State of Cuisine in the International District?

Samantha Carrillo

11 Oct 2025 • 2 min read

Hussein “Jay” Nimer, proprietor of 505 Supermarket / Photo credit: Samantha Anne Carrillo

By Kristin Satterlee

There are a lot of good eats in Albuquerque, and the UpLift Chronicles has been bringing you the 311 on them since 2022. Our community newspaper started our food coverage with Rude Boy Cookies. Since then we have covered a dozen local restaurants and food trucks, all of them Black-owned and/or located in or near the International District.

Our city’s food scene is a cornerstone of cultural vibrancy, one of New Mexico Black Leadership Council’s (NMBLC) five areas of impact. Food, music, art, and all kinds of good times connect us, celebrating our communities and fostering resilience.

Keep On Truckin’

It’s a notoriously tough business, this tickling of our taste buds—so we’re delighted to report that almost all the shops we’ve featured are still in business and hoping for a chance to feed you.

Rude Boy Cookies has been working for a year on finding a new space, but you can still get a delicious meal at Frank’s Famous, Nexus Blue, Pollito con Papas, Biscuit Boy, Coda Bakery, Kap’s Diner, Clay Pot Ethiopian Cuisine, The Chancla, and Island Vibes.

Seble Yemenu poses inside her Clay Pot Ethiopian Cuisine food truck. / Photo courtesy of Clay Pot Ethiopian Cuisine

All This Bounty, But …

And yet, while we’ve been reporting on these delicious, varied food options, we have also watched the International District become a food desert. The Wal-Mart Supercenter on San Mateo closed in March of 2023, after almost 30 years.

Across the street, John Brooks grocery store had already gone out of business in 2013, with Fair ‘n’ Square following in 2016. The closure of Wal-Mart left the International District with no traditional options for buying fresh food, though Talin Market, 99 Bahn, and El Mezquite offered some relief for those willing and able to try the unfamiliar.

There are signs of recovery, most notably 505 Supermarket on San Mateo near Trumbull. This locally owned grocery stocks staples like eggs, milk, bread, and green chile, and continues to increase its supply of fresh, local food.

Oxtails from Island Vibes / Photo by Kristin Satterlee

Varied in Background, United by Flavor

It’s ironic and shameful that the most diverse neighborhood in Albuquerque has had its grocery options so restricted. But folks keep on building restaurants in this vibrant area, overcoming its challenges to bring us flavors rooted in cuisines around the world.

It’s really no surprise. Good food carries us through hard times. Some of Albuquerque’s most iconic restaurants feature soul food: cuisine created by enslaved peoples, rooted in African foodways. In times of incredible hardship, they made the paltry foodstuffs available to them into music, into togetherness—into amazingly delicious delicacies we enjoy to this day and will be eating well into the future.

www.upliftnewmexico.org/tag/cultural-vibrancy

Correction: The print version of this article incorrectly identified the location of 505 Supermarket as Carlisle Boulevard. UpLift Chronicles regrets the error, which has been corrected.