Dining South on Old Route 66

Words and Photos by Ungelbah Dávila

Before Highway 47 was Highway 47, it was the first iteration of the historic Route 66, passing through Los Lunas, Peralta, and Bosque Farms before making its way up Albuquerque’s Fourth Street. All that changed in 1937, when a bypass took the Mother Road straight down what is now I-25, passing these towns by. But as those of us who know, know, the small-town spirit of enterprise still makes this part of the Rio Grande Valley a worthy detour. And I’d stand by that even without the sweet, cheesy, and tart flavors—and the tough, resilient women and makers—that I’ve lately been smitten with along this drive.

Many a legendary eatery sustains the hardworking folks of Valencia County. Benny’s in Bosque Farms has been serving burgers off the same grill since the ’70s and their green chile cheeseburger is hard to compete with. Southwest Grill, also in Bosque Farms, has lines of folks every day waiting to order freshly cooked chicharrones either by the pound or mixed with chile, beans, and potatoes and wrapped in a thick, buttery, New Mexican–style house tortilla. Tucked off the Bosque Loop on Esperanza Drive is Hays Honey & Apple Farm, where you can get a wide selection of local honey and apples, along with all the information you need to start your very own hive from owner Ken Hays. Just down the way is De Smet Dairy, the only grassfed dairy in the state offering both pasteurized and raw milk from cows who are never separated from their babies and live their best lives in grassy pastures along the Rio Grande.

In Los Lunas, Manny’s Fine Pastries has been providing empanadas, cookies, tortillas, donuts, cakes, and more for seemingly every family gathering since 1996. While the Luna Mansion has been closed since 2020, across the road you can still take in the history of the 1900s while you dine: Here at the old home of the Luna family’s doctor, built in 1913, you can taste some of the best of central New Mexican cuisine in the historic, and certainly haunted, Teofilo’s Restaurante. Between bites to eat and snacks to take home are antique and secondhand shops a plenty, including Main Street Antiques & Vintage Market, Leftovers Etc., and Fabulous Finds Past & Present, all in Los Lunas.

In case all that’s not enough to tempt you into a day trip, I’m sharing the tales behind three woman-owned enterprises—a restaurant, a coffee shop, and a candy store—that bring to life how important small businesses are, not only to communities but to those who have poured their hearts and dreams into creating special places for their neighbors.

Say Cheese

Here you’ll find a story of grit, of grief, of a mother’s love, and of a dream that rose—melted cheese and all—from heartbreak and hardship.

Nicolette Quesada, owner and heart behind Say Cheese, never planned to become a restaurateur. In fact, she once dreamed of being a farmer. “I wore overalls all the way through eighth grade,” she recalls with a laugh. “But my mom told me I needed to start thinking about a real career.” Farming may not have panned out, but her desire to create something wholesome and rooted stayed strong.

After growing up in Rio Rancho and attending the University of New Mexico, Quesada moved to Albuquerque with her young son, Sullivan—“Sully” for short—and began her journey toward building a stable life. But life, as it does, threw curveballs.

Following a divorce, a health crisis, a custody battle, and a move back to her marital home in Valencia County, Quesada realized that in order to care for her son, she needed to get creative. As a single mother, commuting to work at an accounting firm in Albuquerque and being a full-time mom to Sully felt impossible. Then the corona-virus pandemic hit and she was laid off.

What came next was unexpected. While making grilled cheese sandwiches one night, she asked Sully, “If we had a grilled cheese shop, what would we call it?” After playfully brainstorming, they landed on Say Cheese. Then the duo began sketching out recipes on a kitchen blackboard. They tested flavor combinations, shopped for bread and cheese, and dreamed out loud. “We just kept going. It became real.”

The turning point was when she called a friend and told her she was going to open a grilled cheese restaurant. In January 2024, that dream opened its doors.

Say Cheese is a tribute to survival—and to Sully. The menu includes the Berry Cheesy Affair, inspired by his taste for cream cheese and jam, and the Oink & Cheese, Quesada’s creation with house-made bacon jam. “It’s like a bougie barbecue sauce, but chunky,” she jokes. There’s the NM Heatwave, loaded with green chile and your choice of turkey or ham, and the Italian-inspired Mama Mia Melt, with a sun-dried tomato pesto that took months to perfect.

Each sandwich is devised in the duo’s home kitchen, and then made to order once it makes it onto the café’s menu. The Creamy Tomato Soup and Broccoli Cheddar Soup, both made from scratch, are so hearty they could be lunch on their own, but just as a grilled cheese meal is not complete without a soup for dunking, both soups call for a sandwich. The Cheese Trinity has lighter flavors that pair perfectly with a cup of Creamy Tomato, while the spice in the NM Heatwave cools down with a dip into a cup of rich Broccoli Cheddar. Meanwhile the Berry Cheesy Affair, made with Havarti cheese, cranberry sauce, cream cheese, and turkey, as well as the Oink & Cheese, piled with Gouda, bacon, crispy onions, and bacon jam, blend sweet and savory to make perfect stand-alone sammys.

One menu star, the Mac Daddy Melt, was inspired by a four-year-old patron who cried when her mac and cheese wasn’t in a sandwich. “We toasted some bread, shoved the mac inside, and she lit up. That’s when I knew it could be a hit,” says Quesada.

Sully, now almost twelve, works the shop with his mom after school. He greets customers, counts change, and knows the menu inside out. “He’s so intuitive—he just gets it. I never even had to teach him some of the things he does,” she says.

For Quesada, Say Cheese isn’t just a business—it’s a lifeline. “I couldn’t go back to a nine-to-five. That would mean giving up time with Sully,” says Quesada.

Despite the long hours, the financial strain, and a healing journey, she’s found purpose in cheese, community, and motherhood. “People always say, ‘You’re so strong.’ But I wasn’t trying to be strong. I was just surviving. I just wanted to be a mom.” And now, amid tomato soup and cheddar melts, she’s doing exactly that—one sandwich at a time.

Say Cheese | 1225 Bosque Farms, 505-456-0755

Branded Coffee & More

Situated in a red barn–styled coffee shop, complete with a drive-through, Branded Coffee & More is more than just a place to grab your morning cup—it’s a family-built tribute to generations of farming and ranching.

On March 24, 2024, Branded opened its doors as the brainchild of Susie Jones and her daughter Brittney Jones, whose family are longtime dairy farmers and Angus beef ranchers from Veguita, just south of Belen. The rustic-inspired coffee shop is located on their original dairy property in Peralta, with the original red barn behind the business serving as a symbol of their roots.

“Susie and her daughter Brittney raise Angus beef and wanted a place where people could come and actually taste the meat they’ve worked so hard to raise,” says Susie’s sister-in-law Liz Jones, who is also the café’s manager. “You don’t often see meat being featured in a coffee shop, but here, it just makes sense.”

They offer fresh-baked goods, provided by School of Dreams Academy and local Future Farmers of America student Josiah Vallejos, as well as breakfast sandwiches. And Branded is the only drive-through I know of where you can buy cuts of meat at the window.

The concept is simple but unique: High-quality coffee sold alongside locally raised and processed beef, offering visitors a truly New Mexican farm-to-table experience. Beyond the coffee and meat, the shop features an array of handmade goods, many crafted or designed by members of the Jones family. From ceramic mugs to screen-printed shirts, the merchandise reflects the close-knit, creative spirit behind the brand.

Branded Coffee & More | 3556 Highway 47, Peralta

Wild West Pickles and Teri’s Sweet Garden

Walk into Wild West Pickles and Teri’s Sweet Garden, and you’re instantly transported to another era—one of penny candy, warm welcomes, and the tang of brine in the air. For owner Teri Leahigh, this isn’t just a store. It’s a love letter to her childhood.

The shop opened its doors in 2010 as a candy store, inspired by Leahigh’s deep-rooted love for sweets and memories of visiting old-fashioned candy shops in Albuquerque. She wanted to create a candy shop with the same kid-oriented energy she remembered experiencing when she was young and her father would take her to candy stores in any town they visited. But it wasn’t just sugar she recalled. “As a kid, I remember giant barrels of pickles in the candy store,” she says. “That’s what I wanted to re-create.”

After a year, Leahigh decided to bring those barrels of pickles back—starting with just classic and spicy varieties. Her husband thought she was a bit crazy at first, but the idea quickly caught on. Then came the game changer: green chile pickles. “My husband said, ‘We live in New Mexico—we need to offer chile,’” she says, laughing. That’s when she thought he was the crazy one. “At first I thought, who puts chile in pickles? But it worked.”

From there, the flavor innovation took off. A visitor from Isleta Pueblo suggested Kool-Aid pickles—a quirky regional snack made by soaking pickles in unsweetened Kool-Aid mix. Though skeptical, Leahigh gave it a try, and now cherry and berry lemonade Kool-Aid pickles are a niche item that combine sour and pickle flavors. “It’s definitely an acquired taste,” she admits, “but people love it once they try it.”

Despite the ever-growing pickle menu, candy remains at the heart of the shop. Caramel-peanut apples, handmade confections, chocolates, sour gummy bears, and old-school suckers line the shelves—many perfected over years of trial and error. “Our caramel took four years to get right,” she says. “Only four ingredients, but it had to be just perfect.”

The shop’s aesthetic and philosophy also harken back to simpler times. When Leahigh’s children helped design the Wild West brand, the store was remodeled to reflect the spirit of Route 66 and the frontier flavor of Los Lunas.

There might be a resident ghost that knocks empty pickle bottles off shelves, according to the store’s assistant, Claire, who embodies an old-fashioned customer service philosophy, greeting every customer with a smile and a story. “Some folks treat us like the neighborhood bartender,” Leahigh says. “They come in to talk, to share—and we love that.”

Now approaching fifteen years in business, the store’s one-dollar suckers have become a rite of passage for local kids and a destination for nostalgic adults. “We have young adults come in and say, ‘These are the same lollipops I had in second grade,’” she says. “They’re still a dollar. Always have been, always will be.”

Despite suggestions to move the store to Albuquerque for more traffic, Leahigh is committed to staying in Los Lunas. “We love it here. We’re not in it for millions. We’re in it for the people.”

Wild West Pickles and Teri’s Sweet Garden | 120 Main St NW, Los Lunas, 505-865-5834