Category: Bar & Grill

AlbuquerqueBar & Grill

Two Fools Tavern – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Read the table tent placards at the Two Fools Tavern and you’ll learn that this is where the craic is mighty. An old Gaelic term pronounced “crack”, craic refers to the lively essence of the pub experience, a unique and sometimes loud combination of good friends, good times and of course, good pints. Craic is a word for which there is no exact English translation even though there are some 9,000 pubs in the Emerald Isle. In Ireland, pubs, or public houses, are a focal point of the community–as much as the local church. It’s where friends gather for camaraderie and commiseration. The sale and consumption of alcoholic libations is perhaps the pub function with which most Americans are familiar.…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBar & GrillClosed in 2017Dog FriendlyGone But Not Forgotten

Chama River Brewing Co. – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

We were mellowing out to the haunting three-part harmony of the Bee Gees as they crooned “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” when we drove into the Chama River Brewing Company’s parking lot during one unseasonably warm January day. How appropriate. At that moment my answer to the Bee Gee’s poignant question would have been “with an order of mango chutney chicken egg rolls served with a pickled ginger and an orange-chile dipping sauce followed by seared Ahi tuna and seaweed Timbale.” These were two of the wonderful appetizers masterfully crafted by Robert Griego, erstwhile chef and proprietor of the tragically now defunct Nouveau Noodles. While Nouveau Noodles no longer exists (a March 31, 2005 casualty of unadventurous diners…

AlbuquerqueBar & GrillClosed in 2017Gone But Not Forgotten

Fox and Hound Pub & Grille – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

English Parliamentarian and writer Samuel Pepys described the pub as “the heart of England and the church as its soul.” As England has become a more sectarian nation, the pub has essentially supplanted the church as the focal point of the community. Today there are nearly 58,000 pubs in the United Kingdom with almost every village and city in England having at least one.  Unlike American bars, saloons, taverns and inns which tend to have very pedestrian and forgettable names, English pubs tend to be unique and memorable. The reason, according to one urban myth, is so pub patrons can know where to direct the taxi cab after throwing down too many a pint. Whatever the reason, no sojourn across…