Japanese brunch spot Shoku House set for Albuquerque’s West Side

Shoku House is set to open by August at 10660 Unser NW, taking over the former Dose Amigos space at McMahon Marketplace on Albuquerque’s West Side. The new Japanese brunch and lunch spot will add a different kind of breakfast option to a corridor that has been filling in with more restaurants, breweries and entertainment uses.

The roughly 2,000-square-foot restaurant is being remodeled with a $150,000 renovation budget. When it opens, Shoku House is expected to seat about 95 customers indoors and outdoors and employ 15 full- and part-time workers. Menu prices are expected to run from $14 to $25, with dishes built around Japanese breakfast staples such as rice omelets and soufflé pancakes, along with lunch plates served in bento-box format with rice, steak and chicken.

Dipo Alam is developing the concept after spending nine months on the plan. He found the space in April while driving on Unser, and he signed a six-year lease for the site. Alam is already involved in a long list of Albuquerque food businesses, including Potato Corner, Paleta Bar, Spring Rollin’, Pho Kup, La Vida Conchas, Sa Thai, Juice Ritual, Rice Box & Boba and Nuevo Atrisco Food Park.

That footprint matters on the West Side because McMahon Marketplace sits in the Unser/McMahon commerce area, a section city materials describe as a Westside business district built around breweries, restaurants and entertainment venues. Peterson Properties says the center draws more than 40,000 cars a day, while older project materials list 26,800 daily vehicles on Unser Boulevard NW and 18,600 on McMahon Boulevard NW. The corner has become one of the city’s most active development nodes as new retail and restaurant projects continue to stack up around it.

Shoku House also reflects Alam’s broader expansion strategy. Paleta Bar, one of the best-known brands tied to his business network, started in Albuquerque in 2017 and has grown to nearly 40 locations across eight states. On the West Side, that kind of build-out is changing where residents can eat and shop without crossing town, while also testing whether the area is adding genuinely new dining choices or mostly more of the same familiar chain-style growth.

University of New Mexico research has found that West Side population growth has outpaced Bernalillo County overall in recent years. That growth, combined with heavy traffic and a steady stream of commercial construction, has turned the Unser and McMahon area into a place where new restaurants can move quickly from idea to lease to opening.