Gallup Gems

Words and Photos by Briana Olson

Going to Gallup? You might come for the jewelry, turquoise and silver inlay spread across tables at the flea market and filling the cases of downtown traders. You might come for the ceremonies and rodeos. Maybe you know Gallup for its art. Know this: There are gems in the dining scene too. Some lie in plain sight, neon signs and generations of fans showing you the way; others are newer, maybe less polished, but well worth a stop off I-40 or Route 66. From classic to modern, these three restaurants conjure the town’s crossroads charm.

JERRY’S CAFE

A yellow neon arrow points to the entrance of Jerry’s Cafe, but you’re just as likely to locate the diner by the cluster of locals standing out front, waiting for a table. Jerry’s is a block off Route 66 and though it opened in 1976, just as I-40 construction came to town, the diner is exactly what every Route 66 enthusiast is looking for: the chance to slip into a tufted vinyl booth in a bustling café and order exemplary dishes of the region. Like many old-school places, the sign proclaims that the food is Mexican American, but don’t be fooled: Jerry’s is pure New Mexican. Whether you order chile rellenos, a beef enchilada con huevos, or a sopapilla stuffed with carnitas, you’ll be offered a silky, orange-hued, fiery but not smoking hot red chile or a saucy, generous green. That red is made from pods sourced from a Hatch farmer, a year’s supply at a time; the fresh, fluffy-but-crisp sopapillas, made by one of two dedicated cooks, are as good as you’ll find anywhere.

If you get the feeling, sitting at Jerry’s, that you’re fully enmeshed in the Gallup community, that’s because you are. Every artwork and photograph on the walls holds a story—one that Archie Baca Jr., owner of forty years, will gladly tell. He’s tighter with the details of his recipes, in which he rightly takes pride, but he’ll tell you that Jerry’s was among the first to offer a smothered baked potato and how the Te Gusta got its name. And if there is a wait: Don’t worry, the staff have got this dialed in, and you won’t regret a minute.

NATIVE GRILL AND MEATS

“We almost sold out,” says the server at Native Grill and Meats, rattling off the tribal ceremonies that Zuni and Diné customers had lately purchased meat for. Signs on the reach-in freezer point to different cuts of lamb, but the shelves are packed with Young Guns green chile; just a few packages of sliced lamb remain. Lamb is still on the menu, of course—you could say that lamb is the menu.

Owned by Verilynn McCray for about four years now, Native Grill and Meats (formerly Diné Grill) still bears the mark of the late former senator John Pinto, who ran a custom butcher shop, John’s Meat Market, on old Route 66. The no-frills lunch destination specializes in Navajo classics: rib and roast sandwiches on fry bread, Navajo tacos and burgers, and stews featuring steamed corn, dumplings, and posole. This is solid, traditional food; the bone broth in the posole is clear and light, seasoned primarily by the lamb itself, and the chopped green chile could charm a stranger with New Mexico’s favorite flavor. If you’re looking for ingredients to make your own stew, they’ve got fresh veggies too. “All the bread is made in-house,” McCray says, including the tortillas, but, in keeping with the late senator’s efforts to reduce diabetes, there are no sweets. Be forewarned: The fry bread is made at a scale suitable for at least two hungry diners.

305 FIRE PIZZA

The buzz of 305 Fire Pizza might come as a surprise, tucked as it is in a hundred-year-old adobe home two blocks off downtown Gallup’s main drag. In mid-November, the heaters flaring brightly on the patio, tables filled, a sweet vitality mingled with the scents wafting from the pizza oven through the intimate dining rooms. Opened in December 2024, the restaurant owes its beautiful (and dog friendly) courtyard to the building’s prior owner, an architect and friend of current owners Chuck and Jenny Van Drunen. The menu is simple: a selection of wood-fired sourdough pizzas, a fine couple of salads, a few desserts. There’s a margherita, a most lovely mushroom, and sausage and pepperoni, along with daring specials and seasonal rotations like the butternut squash pizza that Chef Collier Kempton served to the Van Drunens back when they were just neighbors coming over to his place for dinner.

“He makes me drive to Phoenix every eight weeks,” says Chuck, to buy flour from Hayden Flour Mills—a Rouge de Bordeaux that Kempton settled on for its robust, nutty flavor and its strength. For cheesecake crust and other pastries, they use another heritage grain: White Sonora. Lettuce greens, midnight tomatoes, and unique varieties of squash are sourced seasonally from the San Isidro & Three Sisters Farm, run by the Southwest Indian Foundation in the nearby Zuni Mountains. Soon, beer and wine will be added to the menu of mocktails and kombucha. The chef denies being a perfectionist, but his care for ingredients—and community—is evident. “We make everything we can from scratch,” he says. “We try to honor the people who come in.”

This series is brought to you by the New Mexico Tourism Department.