Curry Leaf – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Leonard: Is it racist that I took you to an Indian restaurant? Priya: It’s okay, I like Indian food. Leonard: Or as you probably call it back home, food. ~Big Bang Theory (Season Four, Episode …
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Bristol Doughnut Co. – Albuquerque, New Mexico
While most people speak with fond nostalgia about their first ride on a double-decker bus, the memories of our inaugural trip are tinged with horror that traumatizes us to this day. As with most visitors …
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Stufys – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In a 2015 episode of Food Network Star competition, Lenny “The Cowboy Chef” McNab committed a serious culinary faux pas that brought about a serious rebuke from one of the celebrity judges. During the “Cutthroat …
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Flamez Bistro – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Hold the pickles Hold the lettuce Special orders don’t upset us All we ask is that you let us serve it your way In 1974, Burger King introduced its most successful and long-standing advertising campaign, …
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Red or Green: New Mexico’s Food Scene Is On Fire–June, 2020
My friend David Wagner, author of the spellbinding Rick Montoya Italian Mysteries, is a great conversationalist with a wry sense of humor. It stands to reason that his addictive books would be replete with witty …
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Elotes Del Rancho – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
“Now you’re just being uppity.” That’s my Kim putting me in my place the second I begin to crow haughtily about some highbrow or nouveau way to prepare something ordinary. Tandoori salmon pizza…that’s so me. …
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The Cowgirl BBQ – Santa Fe, New Mexico
Cowgirl” is an attitude really. A pioneer spirit, a special American brand of courage. The cowgirl faces life head-on, lives by her own lights, and makes no excuses. Cowgirls take stands; they speak up. They …
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Pig + Fig Cafe – White Rock, New Mexico
In its eighth season, the brilliant sitcom Seinfeld helped introduce casual comic book fans to the concept of Bizarro world, a setting which is weirdly inverted or opposite of expectations. In other words, a Bizarro …
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Mamacita’s Pizza – Abiquiu, New Mexico
If you’re up north in the Abiquiu area perusing Yelp because you’re jonesing for New Mexican food, would you heed the recommendations–good or bad–of someone from Mississippi or Delaware or Texas? No way! You’d look …
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Cafe Abiquiu – Abiquiu, New Mexico
In her correspondence with her best friend, Georgia O’Keeffe lamented that she “always has a hard time finding words for anything.” When it came to relaying her awe at the sensory wonder surrounding her in …
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La Choza Restaurant – Santa Fe, New Mexico
“I have tried to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh Using bold and furious brushstrokes and striking colors (mostly red and green), Van Gogh once …
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Bacon Jam – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“I think we love bacon because it has all the qualities of an amazing sensory experience. When we cook it, the sizzling sound is so appetizing, the aroma is maddening, the crunch of the texture …
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Abq Grill n Que – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Low and slow.” That’s not usually a term ascribed to the picturesque village of Corrales, New Mexico. Well, at least not the “Low” part of the term. “Slow,” however, is a way of life in …
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Umami Moto – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In the vernacular of the cannabis culture–as I learned growing up in Northern New Mexico–the term “moto” translates from Spanish to “someone who enjoys “mota,” a slang term for marijuana.” Visitors to the Duke City …
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Pho Kup – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Virtually from infancy, my brother George was a prodigy with Lincoln logs, Erector sets and even Tinkertoys. He could literally build anything. That’s when he played indoors. He preferred being out in the elements where …
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Cornerstone Bakery & Cafe – Ruidoso, New Mexico
Texas, the Lone Star State slogan tells us, is “like a whole other country.” Everywhere we turned during our weekend in Ruidoso, we espied oversized pickup trucks sporting Texas license plates. It almost made us …
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Cafe Rio Pizza – Ruidoso, New Mexico
You might think that a beautiful town whose very name translates from Spanish to “noisy” would be boisterous and braggadocious abut all there is to see and do in that town. Not so according to …
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Oso Grill – Capitan, New Mexico
When we pulled up to the order window at the Oso Grill’s drive-through lane, Misty, our sweet server handed us a menu and contritely explained that the restaurant had run out of shrimp. “Why,” I …
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Don Choche Tacos Y Cerveza – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Well, there’s not a taco big enough for a man like me That’s why I order two or three Let me give you a tip, just try a nacho chip It’s really good with bean …
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AK Pizza – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“I hate it. I think it’s an abomination. There are so many awesome things here, I don’t know why that should be featured. It’s leading with your weakness. So much other great stuff.” ~Anthony Bourdain …
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The Cornivore Popcorn Company – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Popcorn for breakfast! Why not? It’s a grain. It’s like grits, but with high self-esteem.” ~James Patterson The planet’s very first known popcorn aficionados may have expressed the sentiment “to the batcave” long before Batman, …
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Village Pizza – Corrales, New Mexico
Research has proven that taste buds are dulled by high altitude and cabin pressure, so as an aircraft climbs, our sense of taste diminishes by as much as 30 percent. That explains why many passengers …
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Dagmar’s Delectables Bakery & German Specialties
Until Dagmar Mondragon launched her first German restaurant in Albuquerque back in 1996, many of us knew very little about German cuisine in general and baking in particular. The only German baker with which some …
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Tia Betty Blue’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Tia Betty. If the name conjures images of a dowdy old woman, a face etched with wrinkles and thinning grey hair pulled back neatly into a bun, you’re probably not alone. Not even the youthfully …
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High Point Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Ask a physicist and you’ll get an earful about quantum theory, wave function, subatomic particles …
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The Paleta Bar – Bernalillo, New Mexico
A few decades ago, Mad Magazine (or was it Cracked) published a two-panel cartoon depicting a couple of gringo turistas visiting Mexico on a stifling summer day. On the first panel, one turista tells the …
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Guava Tree Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico
A few years ago, my friend Bill Hanson, a gastronome of the first order, was hosting several of his Costa Rican employees at Intel’s Ocotillo (Arizona) plant. Like me, Bill delights in introducing his friends …
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Steam Q – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“I don’t know why men like to barbecue so much. Maybe its the only thing they can cook. Or maybe they’re just closet pyromaniacs.” ~Cecelia Ahern, P.S. I Love You Whether or not the dubious …
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Rudy’s Country Store & Barbecue – Albuquerque, New Mexico
I first sampled Rudy’s Country Store & Bar-B-Q’s products in 1993 in Leon Springs, Texas, a San Antonio suburb on the fringes of the magnificent Texas Hill Country. At the time Rudy’s was just beginning …
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Chile Chicken Nashville Hot Chicken – Albuquerque, New Mexico
My brother Mario–seven years younger, much better looking and quite a bit smarter–and I have shared many memorable firsts. There was the time I taught him how to drive on our dad’s 1965 standard transmission …
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Urban Hotdog Company – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Fat kids, skinny kids, kids who climb on rocks Tough kids, sissy kids, even kids with chicken pox love hot dogs. Armour Hot Dog Commercial, 1960s Advertising standards in the 1960s were quite a bit …
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Burrito Express – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
In an article entitled “Ode to the Handheld” in the April, 2020 edition of New Mexico Magazine, writer Alicia Inez Guzman noted that when her dad was growing up in the sixties, “the idea of …
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Thai Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“There is no good meat that their stupid cooks do not spoil with the sauce they make. They mix with all their stews a certain paste made of rotten prawns…which has such a pungent smell …
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New Mexico Eateries Dishing Out Great Grub During Lockdown
Several years ago after waging a lengthy and courageous battle, my friend Larry’s beloved bride of nearly four decades succumbed to the ravages of cancer. It was a devastating loss for her family, friends and …
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Federico’s Mexican Food – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
in February, 2020, Chef’s Pencil crunched the numbers of Google searches for ethnic cuisines to determine the most popular ethnic cuisines in America. The two most popular ethnic cuisines were deemed to be Mexican and …
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Lily & Liam Bistro – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
Family owned restaurants have been called the heartbeat of a community, its pulse and its roots. Beyond the tintinnabulation of silver spoons on ceramic coffee mugs and over the hum of conversation, restaurants become living …
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