Sunnyside Up Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side Keep on the sunny side of life It will help us ev’ry day, it will brighten all the way If we’ll keep on the sunny …
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Vintage 423 – Albuquerque, New Mexico
My friend Bill Resnik, a professional stand-up comedian for more than two decades, performs a bit in which he “translates” Spanish terms for linguistically challenged audiences. “Paseo del Norte,” for example, translates to “Paseo of …
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Big Boss Hot Links at Brew Lab 101 – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
The Oxford Dictionary defines an adage as “a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth.” The adage “the apple does not fall far from the tree,” for example, means a child usually behaves in a …
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D. H. Lescombes Winery & Bistro – Albuquerque, New Mexico
There are varying accounts as to the genesis of wine-making in the United States. While it is widely acknowledged that as early as the 1500s Spanish and French Huguenot settlers in Florida began making wine …
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Red or Green–New Mexico’s Food Scene is on Fire: August, 2021
I used to call him “the professor with the perspicacious palate” and while he did have a very refined palate, what set my friend Larry McGoldrick apart as a food blogger is the sheer pleasure …
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Blu Pig BBQ & Blues – Moab, Utah
For many of us barbecue is a noun as in “a social gathering at which barbecued food is eaten.” For others it’s a verb (to roast or smoke food over wood using smoke at low …
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Banbury Cross Donuts – Salt Lake City, Utah
“Ride a cockhorse to Banbury Cross, To see a fine lady upon a white horse; Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, She shall have music wherever she goes.” ~The Dorling Kindersley Book …
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Nomad East – Salt Lake City, Utah
A-Team leader “Hannibal” Smith (George Peppard) used to say, “I love it when a plan comes together.” We learned during our trip to Salt Lake City that sometimes baking in a little flexibility into a …
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Freshie’s Lobster Co. – Salt Lake City, Utah
The best lobster in the world? In Salt Lake City? That’s as improbable as the Detroit Lions winning a Super Bowl, as unlikely as drivers in New Mexico developing the motor skills to use turn …
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Harvest – Park City, Utah
Park City consistently ranks as Utah’s most expensive place to live with a $1.4 million median home price (as of July, 2021). Not bad for an old mining settlement which was in danger of …
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Proper Burger – Salt Lake City, Utah
Television would have you believe Mars and Venus have different ideas as to what constitutes the proper way to eat a burger. Representing Venus (women), as depicted in a Wendy’s commercial from the 1980s, is …
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Les Madeleine’s Patisserie Cafe – Salt Lake City, Utah
About fifteen years ago, Becky Mercuri, a highly-regarded food writer from upstate New York contacted me about a book she was working on to recognize the best breakfasts in every state. I was already a …
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Sweet Lake Biscuits & Limeaid
In 2008, Natchez, Mississippi, was officially named the Biscuit Capital of the World, a process which took three years of research by Chef Regina Charboneau. Just our luck, the Natchez native and French-trained chef began serving …
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Desert Bistro – Moab, Utah
My Kim didn’t buy my explanation that Moab is an acronym standing for “Mother Of All Buffets.” She did find my legitimate explanation viable. I explained that Moab means “a land just short of the …
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Sticky Rice – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Because of the mulicultural melting pot that is America, it’s impossible to name the one food that defines us as Americans, the one food universally loved by us all. Hot dogs and apple pie? Contrary …
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Saigon City – Albuquerque, New Mexico
My brother in blogging Ryan Cook describes his first day in Vietnam: “So, my first stop in Vietnam was the capital, Hanoi. My honest first impressions… what the hell have I let myself in for. …
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Curious Toast Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Toasting makes me uncomfortable, but toast I love. Never start the day without a good piece of toast. In fact, let’s toast to toast.” ~George Costanza You might think that only a short, stocky, slow …
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Tikka Hut – Albuquerque, New Mexico
The cynosure of Tikka Hut, an Indian Fusion restaurant on First Street, is a colorful mural that pays tribute to the extraordinary and constantly evolving history of Mexican cuisine. The mural depicts the mesmerizing …
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Sazon Con Amor – Bernalillo, New Mexico
The Broadway musical Rent taught us that a year is comprised of “five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes.” Instead of measuring the length of a year “in daylights, sunsets, midnights, cups of coffee, …
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Thicc Pizza Co. – Albuquerque, New Mexico
As you’ve read on the tagline for Gil’s Thrilling (And Filling) Blog, your humble blogger fancies himself somewhat of a sesquipedalian (a person who tends to use big words). My logophilia (the love of vocabulary) …
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Siam Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico
It’s oft been said that “you taste first with your eyes.” Certainly sight figures in to the enjoyment of food and sets expectations, but the first sensory receptors to engage in taste is the sense …
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Dogos VIP – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Thanks largely to a 1974 Chevrolet commercial and its catchy tune, the phrase “As American as baseball, hot dogs and apple pie” has purportedly defined what Americans hold most sacrosanct. Never mind that hot dogs …
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Urban 360 Pizza, Grill and Tap House – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Babu: Our specials are tacos, moussaka and franks and beans. Jerry: Well, what do you recommend my good fellow? Babu:Oh, the turkey. ~”The Cafe, Seinfeld, Season 3, Episode 7 While perusing the menu at Urban …
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Hollow Spirits Distillery – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“The winner is the chef who takes the same ingredients as everyone else and produces the best results.” ~Edward De Bono The Land of Enchantment boasts of some 3,500 restaurants, more than 1,000 of which …
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Storming Crab – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Archaeologists believe there’s a scientific explanation for contemporary humankind’s predilection for seaside vacations and trips to the beach. Evidence–stone tools used to cut through animal flesh–seems to support the theory that the first humans migrated …
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Taco Bus – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Perhaps no mobile conveyance in the Land of Enchantment has ferried as many interesting people on as many colorful journeys as the “Road Hog,” the psychedelic bus which shuttled its passengers from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock …
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Waffology – Corrales, New Mexico
In an article for New Mexico Magazine, scintillating four-time James Beard award-winning author Cheryl Alters Jamison proclaimed “Pity the folks who think breakfast is a bowl of cornflakes or some granola and yogurt—talk about starting …
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Twisters Burgers & Burritos – Albuquerque, New Mexico
One of the sure signs of spring and summer in New Mexico is the presence of dust devils, those haphazardly whirling, dirty, dusty dervishes which seem to whip up out of nowhere to vacuum up …
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The Local Brewhouse – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
“Service is horrible” “The management has to train there employees.” “Worst service ever! I can’t stress on how bad the service was.” “Nice views. Lousy service and rude staff.” “Service sucks. Waited 20mins between beers.” …
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Busy Bee Frozen Custard – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw has been credited with the aphorism “England and America are two countries separated by the same language.” My Kim and I had no idea just how different the Queen’s English …
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Corrales Bistro Brewery – Corrales, New Mexico
What is it about French words that make them sound haughty and pompous to some people and elegant and refined to others? Think I’m kidding? In Massachusetts, I knew a guy who for two years …
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Sobremesa Restaurant & Brewery – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In June, 2021, Eater.com published a list of “the 21 Essential Restaurants in Albuquerque.” Unlike so many “clickbait” articles from national publications purporting to tell New Mexicans which restaurants across the Land of Enchantment serve …
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The Grove Cafe & Market – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Voracious readers*, avid aficionados of art and those aflame with a musical ardor know that great books, art and music are imbued with the power to transport them to another time and place. A recent …
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Nomad’s BBQ – Los Ranchos De Albuquerque, New Mexico
As a spindly teenager who hadn’t yet metamorphosed into my (then) scrawny 6’1″ stature, I had grand delusions of someday playing basketball for the University of New Mexico (UNM) Lobos. There could be no greater …
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Albuquerque / New Mexican / New Mexico Culinary Treasures Trail / Rated 27 / Travel Channel Eats New Mexico
MARY & TITO’S CAFE – Albuquerque, New Mexico
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 …
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Indian Pueblo Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Pedro de Castaneda, a Spanish explorer who chronicled Coronado’s expeditions through the southwest from 1540 to 1542 observed that corn, beans, and squash were the main staples of the pueblo diet. Of the three, which …
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