What Happened to Shade Tree Customs and Cafe? (Albuquerque, NM)

Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) visited Shade Tree Customs & Cafe in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the episode "Revved Up," which aired January 14, 2015, as part of the show's tenth season. The business combined a motorcycle- and custom-vehicle repair shop with an attached cafe, a hybrid concept that Robert Irvine's team identified as a source of customer confusion about what kind of business they were walking into. The show's usual format applied: a review of the kitchen and menu, a roughly two-day renovation of the cafe space, and a relaunch meal introducing the owners to an updated menu and dining area intended to better separate the cafe from the garage operation.

The named New Mexico food blog Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog reported that Shade Tree Customs & Cafe closed around November 2015, roughly ten months after the episode aired, citing dwindling customer traffic as the reason the business could not continue. The fan site Food Network Gossip described a similar timeline, consistent with the food blog's account but not independently sourced beyond it. Yelp's current listing for the address, 3407 Central Avenue in Albuquerque, updated in May 2026, shows the business as closed, consistent with the restaurant no longer operating there roughly eleven years after the television makeover aired.

No source indicates that the space reopened under a new restaurant or motorcycle-shop concept, though current tenant listings for the address were not directly checked. Shade Tree Customs & Cafe is one of several restaurants from the show's tenth season that appear to have closed within roughly a year of their episodes airing, a pattern also noted by fan-site commentary covering the series.