Badlands Burgers reopens in Uranium Cafe

Badlands Burgers, a longtime favorite in Grants, N.M., until it closed a few years ago, has reopened inside that city’s historic Uranium Cafe on Route 66, reported the Cibola County Beacon.

Daniel Chavez, owner of Badlands and honored in 2009 for having the state’s best green chile cheeseburger, joined with Alfredo Garza to reopen the restaurant in the Uranium Cafe, which has seen a spate of reopenings and closings in recent years.

The newspaper reported:

Badlands Burgers is famously known in the Grants’ community and statewide for their award winning New Mexico’s Best Green Chili Cheeseburger, which beat out 19 other restaurants in the state for this prestigious title.

Not long after claiming the title, the restaurant closed after a New Mexico Environment Department inspector found the grease hood to be in violation of state requirements. Since the requirements were never met, the restaurant was forced to shut down.

“We’re not gonna make the same mistakes this year,” said Chavez, “We’re ready and happy to be back. I’ve been dreaming of this day since we closed.” […]

They’ve repainted the inside of the restaurant as well as adding their own little touches to the place. Both owners have big plans for someday adding an outside patio to the front and side of the building. “I think that will probably attract a lot of business because we will be the only one with a patio setting,” said Chavez.

The restaurant reopened July 4. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Here’s a 2009 story from KQRE in Albuquerque about Badlands’ green chile cheeseburger title.

The Uranium Cafe is known for its distinctive neon sign. The story doesn’t indicate whether the sign is down with the restaurant’s new owners, but it was still up when we drove through Grants a few weeks ago.