Back in my halcyon youth as a multi-sport athlete at Peñasco High School (when I could consume half a million calories a meal at no detriment to my then svelte physique), Dandy Burger in beautiful downtown Española was a frequent dining destination–particularly after the then “not so mighty” Peñasco Panthers suffered a loss (and there were many of them). On the rare occasion in which we actually won a game (usually over Escalante), our coaches would “treat us” to chicken fried steak at some “fancy” restaurant. We didn’t have the heart to tell them we preferred Dandy Burger. Frankly, I still do. It’s hard to resist stopping for a green chile cheeseburger and a bit of nostalgia every time we drive through Española.
The food at Dandy Burger was never quite good enough to lessen the pain of a loss then and is even less capable of doing so today when the losses I experience are more costly (as in a poor performing 401K…or is that now 4.1K). Still, I always have a contented sense of nostalgia when I see the familiar anthropomorphic burger that symbolizes this popular neighborhood hangout. Dandy Burger’s “mascot” is a cartoonish, mustachioed and chapeau-wearing, burger-headed anthropomorph resembling Jeeves the butler on the restaurant’s signage. The burger’s entire countenance (resembling the ubiquitous smiley face) occupies the top half of the bun. It’ll put a smile on your face, especially if it portends a meal.
“You’ve got a buddy in the business” has become a familiar catchphrase for those of us who don’t fast-forward through commercials. Those now immortal words are uttered by Buddy Espinoza, general manager of Toyota of Santa Fe and Enchanted Mazda, also in Santa Fe. Should you visit Dandy Burger in Española, you might just hear those words from behind the counter. That’s because Buddy Espinoza purchased the fifty year old restaurant in June, 2022. Espinoza, a La Mesilla resident, has upgraded signage and the dining room. Picnic tables and take-out service were also improved. The menu, which includes burgers, tacos and burritos, is largely unchanged; sadly that means the attrocious spelling “chili” is all over the menu. Dandy also added ice cream by the scoop, including hot fudge sundaes and banana splits.
Rio Arriba county, and in particular Española, is home to some of the best green chile cheeseburgers in New Mexico. Dandy Burger’s offerings compete with both the Stop and Eat burgers less than a quarter mile away and the LotaBurger about a mile north. All three can quell hunger far better than the Peñasco Panthers defense of days gone by could stymie their opponents. Dandy is no one-trick-pony. It’s got a surprisingly versatile menu that includes ten vegetarian items, including a bowl of beans, an old-fashioned New Mexico favorite. The menu lists several “Mexican” items that include a Tewa taco and homemade “chili.” (I don’t know which bothers me more–the horrific mispelling “chili” or labeling items as “Mexican” when they’re New Mexican.
True to its name, Dandy serves burgers, maybe the most popular item on the menu after all these decades. Burgers are listed as “char-broiled” though the charbroiled taste isn’t as prevalent as charbroiled burgers in Oklahoma. There are essentially only four burgers on the menu–Dandy Burger, Jim Dandy, Jungle Jim (and its female counterpart The Jungle Jane), but all are available with double-meat patties as well as in combination with fries (or onion rings) and a large beverage. Dandy also offers a number of specialty sandwiches: fish sandwich, tuna on toast, hot dog and others.
26 May 2025: Most of my memories as a Peñasco Panther visiting Dandy Burger are of the standard “Dandy Burger” or the more prodigious “Big Jim Dandy” with double meat. Both are very good burgers, particularly if ameliorated with green chile. These burgers are dressed with unfailingly crisp onion, lettuce, pickle and mustard but you can pretty much have them any way you want. The meat patties are obviously not hand-formed and fresh ground, but they’re charbroiled to perfection–especially if you like your burger well done (no pink whatsoever). The green chile is neon green and only of medium piquancy. All other ingredients are fresh and delicious though at times I’ve wished for salad dressing, so profuse is the lettuce on each burger. If you want piquancy on your burger, ask for a couple of plastic tubs of salsa. Dandy Burger’s salsa is the most piquant item offered by the restaurant. It’ll enliven your burger.
26 May 2025: Even better than Dandy Burger’s burgers are the standard hard-shelled tacos, sloppy (cheese, lettuce, chopped tomato) concoctions which include a beans and meat mixture with a piquant bite. You don’t necessarily need the plastic tubs of hot sauce to heat up these beauties; they’ve got some bite on their own. My Kim loves the tacos sans piquancy. They’re crispy yet don’t fall to pieces when you bite into them. The ground beef is well-done.
Chicharrones are one of the favorite “condiments” in Northern New Mexico where these pork crackling cubes are used on almost everything but dessert. They’re especially good on burritos. Perhaps nowhere in the Land of Enchantment will you find a burrito quite as engorged with chicharrones as at Dandy Burger where each tortilla encased treasure is packed with them. Alas, some of the chicharrones are more fatty than they are meaty, but that’s pretty much par for the course.
3 November 2019: Several sources credit Texas for having “invented” the taco salad, one source calling it “a fusion of the Mexican taco with the American salad.” Although creators of the first taco salads probably omitted the ubiquitous taco shell, eventually someone figured out the taco salad could be made even better by fashioning a “bowl” from a tortilla shell. That’s the way Dandy Burger serves its taco salad. As a serving vessel, the tortilla bowl does its job well, holding in a plethora of ingredients (pinto beans, shredded cheese, lettuce, chopped tomatoes, hamburger meat). Though you can break off and eat portions of the bowl, my preference would be for separate tortilla chips. Still, this is a filling and fulfilling taco salad.
Dandy Burger’s shakes are always cold, a wonderful blessing on a sweltering summer day when Española’s pavement is baking everything on the road.
Dandy Burger
215 San Pedro Plaza
Espanola, New Mexico
(575) 753-4234
LATEST VISIT: 26 May 2025
# OF VISITS: 12
RATING: 18
COST: $
BEST BET: Green Chile Cheeseburger, Taquitos, Tacos, Milk Shakes, Frito Pie, Chicharron Burrito, Taco Salad
