Category: New Mexican

Dog FriendlyFusionNew MexicanNew MexicoTacos

The Skillet – Las Vegas, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

A man comes home after a long day.  His wife then hits him in the back of the head with a frying pan.  He clutches his head in pain asking her, “Honey why? Why did you do that?” She answers, “When I was doing your laundry I found a receipt in your pocket with a woman’s name on it.” He responds, “That’s why you hit me? Honey, Mary-Ann is a horse I bet on.  That’s the receipt for my bet.” She accepts that and apologizes and they make up.  Next week the same thing happens. He comes home and is struck in the back of his head with a frying pan. The husband asks, “AGAIN? You hit me in the…

AmericanDog FriendlyNew MexicanNew Mexico

Bar Castañeda – Las Vegas, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Northern New Mexico’s highways and byways are incomparable for their scenic beauty.  From the historical High Road to Taos with its remnants of Spanish occupation to the spectacular Enchanted Circle which circles New Mexico’s highest mountain peak, this region is replete with awe and wonder.  Desiree Aguilar, my friend and former colleague at the University of New Mexico shares my opinion that even these two world-famous byways are eclipsed by a lesser known stretch of road.  We both believe the drive between Las Vegas, New Mexico and Taos is the state’s most enchanting.  Taking this route, you’ll traverse past ramshackle adobe homesteads, small villages and a pine-studded mountain pass through the Carson National Forest.  This nameless route (State Highway 518)…

AlbuquerqueNew MexicanNew Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011

El Bruno’s Restaurante Y Cantina – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

At about 75 miles each way, Cuba, New Mexico is almost equidistant between Albuquerque and Farmington. Regardless of starting point, the drive to and from Cuba is one of the Land of Enchantment’s most spectacular. A preponderance of scenic vistas and an otherworldly, multi-hued topography make the drive a sightseer’s delight. The stratification of multi-hued earthen layers, will remind you of colorful Navajo sand paintings while hulking hoodoos (columns or pillars of bizarre shape caused by differential erosion on rocks of different hardness) will inspire awe, none more so than the nipple shaped Cabezon Peak, a dramatic 7,785 foot volcanic formation that commands the skies. I must admit that most of my enjoyment of those incomparable vistas has been on…

AlbuquerqueJames Beard Award (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersJames Beard Foundation Americas Classic Award WinnerNew MexicanNew Mexico Culinary Treasures TrailRated 27Travel Channel Eats New Mexico

MARY & TITO’S CAFE – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Old-timers whose opinions I respect consistently rate Mary & Tito’s as Albuquerque’s best restaurant for New Mexican food, a restaurant that has been pleasing the most savvy and indoctrinated palates alike since 1963. It takes a lot to impress some of those old-timers, none of whom see much substance in the flash and panache of the nouveau restaurants and their pristine veneer and effusive, over-the-top flamboyance. These guys and gals are impressed only by New Mexican food the way their abuelitas prepared it–unadorned, authentic and absolutely wonderful. If you want to evoke their ire, take them to one of the chains. Worse, try sneaking some cumin into their chile. Just how good is Mary & Tito’s? In a span of…

Diners Drive-Ins and DivesFood Network Eats New MexicoNew MexicanNew MexicoTaos County

Ranchos Plaza Grill – Ranchos De Taos, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

If you’ve read or studied the history of New Mexico, you’re probably aware that life wasn’t easy for Spanish colonists. As with other efforts to colonize North America, Spanish settlers quickly found themselves insufficiently provisioned for the agrarian lifestyle they sought to establish and maintain. Wholly dependent on water to produce and maintain crops and farmland, they quickly found out rainfall in the desert Southwest was fickle and unpredictable. When winter came, the harsh realities of a poor crop yield set in. Settlers often had to resort to taking the food of their Indian neighbors, often by duplicitous means. Throughout the seventeenth century the Spanish population in New Mexico never exceeded more than 3,000, about one-sixth the number of Pueblo…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastNew MexicanNew Mexico

Milly’s Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Until rather recently, if there was a wide diversity of opinion about Albuquerque’s restaurant scene, it wasn’t widely shared. Albuquerque’s two daily periodicals, the Albuquerque Journal and the Albuquerque Tribune as well as a number of alternative publications published weekly restaurant reviews, but opinions and observations expressed therein were rather one-sided. It wasn’t until about 2008 that crowd-sourced restaurant reviews really took off in the Duke City. Published in such online mediums as TripAdvisor (founded in 2000), Yelp (launched in 2004) and Urbanspoon (debuted in 2006), crowd-sourced review venues gave everyone an opportunity to become a “critic.” More than ever before “Joe and Jane Diner” had license to express rather colorful (sometimes bordering on libel) versions of their truth. One…

Las CrucesNew MexicanNew MexicoNew Mexico Culinary Treasures Trail

NOPALITO RESTAURANT – Las Cruces, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Growing up in rural Northern New Mexico, my siblings and I thought all Mexican food was the same–the way my mom, grandmothers and aunts prepared it (which is to say it was outstanding).  At the time New Mexicans hadn’t universally acknowledged that the genesis of our cuisine wasn’t solely Mexico.  Back then, only the most savvy culinary historians were crediting Spanish and Native ingredients and preparation techniques as differentiating factors that made New Mexican cuisine unique.  It also wasn’t that long ago New Mexicans were spelling our official state vegetable as “chili.”   No, that’s not an episode of the Twilight Zone.  It’s the way it was just a few decades ago when all three of  my sisters matriculated at…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastClosed in 2023Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew Mexico

Tortilla Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

A sure sign Spring has arrived In rural New Mexico is the annual ritual of cleaning the acequias, the community operated ditches used to irrigate fields, gardens and lawns. Early in the morning, property owners or their designated paid representatives would convene at appointed spots to begin the effort. Work crews typically consisted of grizzled veterans, most of whom acted as “mayordomos” (bosses) and young bucks like me with strong backs. Not surprisingly, distribution of work was…shall we say, quite inequitable. The old-timers would order us around, shouting out instructions like elderly drill sergeants. Most of us youngsters didn’t mind. During frequent breaks we got to hear some of the most ribald and raunchy stories from highly respected elders. One…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastNew MexicanNew Mexico

My Moms – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

“God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” —Rudyard Kipling Should you have the pleasure of getting to know Chef Marie Yniguez, even a little, you’ll come away with three absolute certainties.  First, Albuquerque’s arguably most famous celebrity chef is unabashedly herself.  The happy, loving, gregarious person you’ve seen on numerous Food Network culinary competitions doesn’t have a pretentious bone in her body.  She is as genuine and sincere as they come.  Though she left the hardscrabble mining town of Hurley, New Mexico a lifetime ago, she remains a country girl at heart. And even though she was as a semi-finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef – Southwest” honor in 2022, she remains as humble as…

AlbuquerqueBernalilloNew MexicanNew Mexico

Abuelita’s New Mexican Kitchen – Bernalillo and Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Abuelita–perhaps no word in the vernacular of Spanish Northern New Mexico evokes such veneration, reverence and, for those of us who have lost these heaven-sent treasures, a melancholy ache not even time can erase. The abuelita is the family matriarch, the heart of the extended family and the sagacious matron to whom you go for counsel, consolation and cooking. For generations, New Mexico’s abuelitas have been nurturing their families with the simple foods passed down by their own abuelitas. Before the proliferation of New Mexican restaurants, abuelita’s was where the family congregated–no special occasion was necessary because any time with your abuelita was a special occasion. Dining at Abuelita’s New Mexican Kitchen in Bernalillo or Albuquerque won’t replace dining at…

AmericanBetter Call SaulBreakfastLos Ranchos de AlbuquerqueNew MexicanNew MexicoNew Mexico Culinary Treasures Trail

El Camino Dining Room – Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Many of us who predate, however slightly, the explosion of institutionalized fast food retain a fondness for the remaining independent family restaurants whose arsenal in the competition for hungry diners consists of reasonable portions of great meals at budget-conscious prices all served by a friendly and accommodating waitsfaff. An Albuquerque restaurant which epitomizes those ideals is the El Camino Dining Room, captured brilliantly above by the fabulous photographer Deanna Nichols. The El Camino was built by Clyde H. Tyler in 1950, five years after the latest “war to end all wars” and 13 years after Route 66 was “straightened” so that it would bypass Santa Fe completely.  Albuquerque was much more innocent back then.  Some might even describe it as…