Blue Corn Café has two locations. One is downtown, the other close to the intersection of Rodeo and Cerrillos Roads. I know they both have the same menu; I don't know if they share a chef, but I somehow doubt it. My experience was solely at the Rodeo Road location.

Blue Corn is another one of those places you've always known about. If you're thinking New Mexican but don't want to drive downtown, Blue Corn often seems to be the smartest choice.

New Mexican food isn't all the restaurant serves. You can also find steaks and burgers on the regular menu (it even has fish and chips).

But this time, I decided to go straight New Mexican — things like enchiladas and stuffed sopaipillas — things the Blue Corn Café is known for.

Another perk Blue Corn offers is its house-brewed selection of beers. Not only that, but it probably has the best brewed root beer in town.

I made my way to Blue Corn with a few friends for dinner on a Friday night. We were told the wait would be about 10 minutes. After 20, we began to wonder if they'd forgotten about us.

Shortly after, we were seated in a corner booth. Not quite sure what to get, I ended up going with a chicken chimichanga.

Our food took a fair amount of time to arrive (something I'd come to expect of Blue Corn: A tedious wait). Luckily, we were kept busy by one of those friendly nearby tables, whose diners felt the need to participate in our conversation.

With my plate placed in front of me, I began to take in what I saw: a steaming fried burrito-like thing covered in green chile, surrounded by yummy-looking rice and beans, some lettuce and tomato.

As I was listening to one of my friends, I picked up a tomato chunk. When my hand was about halfway to my mouth, our server returned. Before I knew what was happening, the waiter had reached across the table with his hand closing on my plate. Only after this did the waiter ask (as if to make sure) that I had ordered the chicken chimichanga.

I nodded, having only enough time to drop the tomato chunk back onto the now rapidly leaving plate.

Having nothing to eat, I asked how everyone else's food was.

After about 20 seconds, a second waiter came around to our table. Dropping off something that looked almost too much like my last dish, I was left with an odd feeling inside.

Had they mixed up plates? Where had this plate been? If I had had enough time to pick up and drop a tomato, what could the other person had time for?

I felt a bit less hungry.

So, I went back a couple days later for lunch. This time I went all out, ordering chips, salsa and guacamole (which was about the price of some main dishes). The chips I liked; they were thin and crispy. The guacamole was also good. Tomatoes, cilantro, although I thought it could use some more lime and salt. The salsa wasn't spicy enough for my taste, but it was fresh.

For an entrée I went with the stuffed sopaipilla, smothered in green chile and filled with chicken and cheese. I was pleasantly surprised with this.

For the longest time, I haven't been able to figure out why people like this stuff. It's like a tortilla, except fried, and thicker, and ... fried!

I gotta say though, Blue Corn's was pretty darn good. I think I'll always prefer burritos, but it worked. I had a hard time telling whether I was eating the chicken or the dough, because it somehow all became the same consistency. It all tasted good, though. The chicken was tender, and looked like it had cooked for a while. I was given a side of chile, something I found useless. Again, the root beer is worth getting.

By far, my lunch was the better experience. Even with mixed-up service and longer waits, Blue Corn Café is worth a meal with friends.

Zerach Wieder, 17, has an associates degree in culinary arts from Santa Fe Community College. You can reach him at zerock123@hotmail.com.