Daniel Zuniga
One of my biggest ice breakers is asking people I interview: “What is the best food to get around?”
More than a few mentioned an ‘Egg Roll-Burrito thing’ in Albuquerque that I had to try.
So, I did.
Kamikaze Kitchen is an Asian-Southwest fusion eatery in Albuquerque. It’s home to the Eggroll-arito.
“It’s called Eggroll-arito, and it is a fusion between an egg roll and a burrito,” said owner Nic Riccardi. “I wanted an egg roll, but something that eats like a meal, so that’s what me and my wife came up with — something a little different.”
However, the popularity of this dish did not solely come from word of mouth. In fact, the dish went viral on TikTok (check out the video here)
“It was crazy!” Riccardi said. “For about a month, after that video went viral, we had lines out the door.”
The Eggroll-arito has green chile fried rice, fortune cookie fried chicken, your choice of hot sauce, wasabi mayo drizzle, sesame seeds and green onions.
“It’s literally just my version of something that I grew up with versus something that I have now moved to,” Riccardi said.
Riccardi is originally from St. Louis, Mo., and started rolling egg rolls when he was around six.
“My stepfather, for cash on the weekends, worked at a Chinese restaurant, and one of the big ingredients he would always bring home were egg roll papers,” Riccardi said. “Whatever we had at home, roll it up in an egg roll and call it dinner.”
However, their biggest seller is not the Eggroll-arito, but another dish, the Mother Klucker.
“That, by far, is our biggest seller. It’s going to be an orange chicken sandwich, house-made slaw that has got a little spicy, little sweet to it, and that’s my number-one seller.”
You heard him, people of Rio Rancho. Time to check out Kamikaze Kitchen, eat local, and try some legendary food. Click here for their website.
