New Mexico Magazine Presents The Land of Enchantment’s Best Eats for 2010

Having spent nearly two decades away from my beloved Land of Enchantment, what I cherished most were letters from home (in the years before e-mail) and my monthly copy of New Mexico Magazine.  Every issue transcended  time and distance and transported me back home.  Every vivid photograph was like a series of brushstrokes from God, awash in ethereal, other-worldly colors on a breath-taking topographical canvas. Every word stirred a longing to return home and swelled my chest with pride. Every issue was dogeared from my reading it over and over again. Fifteen years later, New Mexico Magazine still moves me.  I marvel at the fact that the venerable elder statesmen among America’s official state magazines still showcases the Land of…

Blue Cactus Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

In the early 80s I tried to impress my very traditional grandmother by taking her to a recently opened restaurant on Academy Boulevard.  What was not to like?  The restaurant shared the mellifluous name she had proudly worn for over fifty years.  It was a locally owned and operated and had earned several awards.  It boasted a multi-page menu.  Surely Garduno’s of Mexico offered something she would like. It turns out the restaurant’s name was the only thing she liked.  One nod of disapproval after the other ensued as she meticulously perused the menu, a compendium of Mexican and New Mexican appetizers, entrees and desserts.  Scanning the descriptions carefully, she dismissed the contemporary interpretations of the foods on which she was raised…