Sushi Archives - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog

Albuquerque Asian Japanese New Mexico Ramen Sushi

Aji Ramen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoDecember 17, 2025December 16, 202512:01 AM

If a television show was to be created about ramen (some pronounce it ray-men), it would probably be called “Everybody loves ramen.” According to the World Noodles Association (yes, there is such an entity), Americans consume 5.15 billion servings of instant ramen every year. If you think that’s a lot, the United States ranks as only the sixth-largest consumer globally, significantly far behind such Asian nations as China and Indonesia. Still, the land of spacious skies and fruited plains ranks as the top ramen consumer outside of Asia. The per person consumption rate among Americans is 15 servings of ramen per year. Would you believe South Korea is ranked the world’s number one per capita in instant noodle consumption (72.8…

Albuquerque Asian Chinese Japanese Korean New Mexico Sushi

East Asian Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoDecember 5, 2025December 16, 202512:01 AM

Perhaps more than anyone I’ve ever met, my Singaporean friend Ming Lee (God rest his beautiful soul) regarded people by the content of their character, not by physical characteristics. So, it surprised me to hear him joke “we all look alike.” It was an unsolicited admission that even he couldn’t always discern the cultural genesis of Asian people he met. He also joked “at least I can always tell where an Asian restaurant’s food comes from.” Ming was a bona fide gastronome who introduced me to the cuisine of Singapore and Malaysia. Like me, he disliked restaurants in which overt homogenization of Asian food was apparent. Sure, different culinary cultures across Southeast Asia have borrowed from one another over the…

Asian Lao New Mexico Rio Rancho Sushi Thai

Vong Sushi Thai & Laos Cuisine – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil GardunoAugust 7, 2025August 12, 202512:01 AM

Grammatically any of the following is correct: Laotian cuisine, Lao cuisine or the cuisine of Laos. Just don’t ever call it “Laosy cuisine.” That would not only be a malapropism, it would be wholly inaccurate. The cuisine of Laos is among the most dynamic and delicious in Southeast Asia, if not the world. One of the reasons Laotian cuisine doesn’t receive the accolades it deserves is because of its neighbors. The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia bordered by Myanmar (formerly Burma), China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. To some extent, these neighbors (at least China, Vietnam and Thailand) have surpassed Laos on the world’s culinary stage–not necessarily because their cuisine is superior, but because it’s…

Albuquerque Japanese New Mexico Sushi

Sushi Gen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMay 17, 2024May 20, 202412:56 AM

Years ago while at Intel I co-managed an enterprise project with Nora, a diminutive Vietnamese lady who later left the company and moved to San Diego. I expected her to say she her move was prompted by a desire to be closer to family or to her childhod home. Instead what she most looked forward to about relocating to San Diego was the availability of all-you-can-eat (AYCE) sushi bars. Her answer validated why she and I worked so well. We had a very symbiotic relationship and were able to land our project not only successfully, but better than any other Intel site had done. We both loved Asian food of all types. Nora left Albuquerque a couple of years before…

Albuquerque Dog Friendly Japanese New Mexico Sushi

Sushi Freak – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoNovember 20, 2021December 12, 202112:01 AM

Somewhere in Japan generations of traditional sushi chefs are rolling in their graves…and they’re not rolling sushi. What set them off? No one knows for sure, but it could have been a 2014 article in the San Diego Reader in which Jennifer Duarte, the co-owner of a San Diego based sushi restaurant named Sushi Freak boasted “I can teach any kid to become a sushi roller. I could train you in five minutes.” Sushi masters (itamaes) trained in Japan would argue that it takes years to learn and master the delicate art of making great sushi, that it’s significantly more complex and subtle a specialty than could possibly be mastered in five minutes by a kid. The painstaking process of…

Albuquerque Asian New Mexico Sushi Thai

Tokyo Bangkok – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMay 7, 2021May 21, 202112:01 AM

In 2019, Mastercard published its Global Destination Cities Index which ranked 200 cities around the world with the most international visitors. Topping the list for the fourth consecutive year was Bangkok, Thailand which boasted of 22-million overnight visitors. Next on the list with around 19-million international overnight visitors were Paris and London respectively. With 13.6-million visitors, New York City was the only United States destination to make the top ten, ranking seventh. Tokyo (12.93-visitors) was ninth on the list. Many years ago when I was a fledgling airman in the world’s greatest Air Force I had the privilege of serving with grizzled veterans who had been stationed in Southeast Asia during the long and drawn-out Vietnam War. Almost invariably they…

Albuquerque Closed in 2021 Dog Friendly Gone But Not Forgotten Japanese New Mexico Sushi

Ikigai ABQ – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMarch 26, 2021December 9, 202412:01 AM

While ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy) may sound like what grade school girls called me many years ago, in Japanese the term ikigai is a Japanese concept combining the terms “iki,” meaning “alive” or “life,” and “gai,” meaning “benefit” or “worth.” Though there is no direct English translation, when combined these terms embody “that which gives your life worth, meaning, or purpose.” Essentially, ikigai is the reason why you get up in the morning. It makes a lot of sense therefore that the signage for Ikigai, a sushi restaurant ensconced in a Lilliputian pod within the El Vado Motel complex, would be subtitled “a sushi shop with purpose.” For some of us, sushi gives life worth, meaning and purpose. Sushi was the…

Albuquerque Asian Sushi

Pacific Paradise Tropical Grill & Sushi Bar – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoFebruary 14, 2020April 25, 20204:53 AM

Shangri-La. Eden. Paradise. Heaven on Earth. The concept of a remote and exotic utopia, a faraway haven or hideaway of idyllic beauty and tranquility, has long intrigued mankind. Paul Gauguin, the famous French post-impressionist artist thought his persistent pilgrimage for Paradise was over when he moved to Tahiti in the tropical South Pacific. Alas, his picturesque paradise, as with anything that seems too good to be true, was also discovered by French colonists who quickly transformed Tahiti into the antithesis of the “sensual loafer’s paradise” he had envisioned. For aficionados of Asian cuisine, paradise might be defined as a restaurant from whose kitchen emanates the culinary diversity of the Pacific: time-honored and traditional delicacies, contrasting yet complementary flavors, exotic and…

Albuquerque Japanese Korean Sushi

Sushi & Sake – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoOctober 23, 2019October 25, 201912:44 AM

“If white wine goes with fish, do white grapes go with sushi?“ – George Carlin A reader once asked Washington Post humorist Gene Weingarten what he was a snob about. His reply, “I am also a snob about food. The other day, in Baltimore, I passed a sign outside a restaurant that said “Sushi Buffet!‘ and laughed out loud because it occurred to me that “sushi” and “buffet” are two words that should never appear together.” His sentiment resonates strongly with sushi aficionados who adhere to the strict rules of etiquette which governs the way in which true sushi snobs enjoy sushi. It’s a given that a true sushi snob would never eat at an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant nor would…

Albuquerque Hawaiian Japanese New Mexico Sushi

Ohana Hut – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoAugust 3, 2019July 22, 202012:01 AM

In horse racing, the Triple Crown signifies winning all three of the sport’s most challenging thoroughbred horse races—The Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. This is considered the greatest achieved in thoroughbred racing, a feat accomplished only twelve times. The thespian community considers as its Triple Crown, winning a competitive Academy Award, an Emmy Award and a Tony Award in acting categories. Only twenty-two actors or actresses have earned this rare distinction. What makes winning a Triple Crown in any competitive event so exciting for fans is its rarity. It happens so infrequently that fans clamor for it to happen. At the 2015 Taste of Rio Rancho event, Street Food Blvd pulled off a Triple Crown of sorts, earning…

Asian Chinese Closed in 2018 Gone But Not Forgotten Sushi

528 Sushi & Asian Cuisine – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoApril 20, 2018July 14, 20187:03 PM

“No lady likes to snuggle and dine accompanied by a porcupine.” “He lit a match to check gas tank. They call him skinless Frank.” “A man, a miss, a car, a curve. He kissed the miss and missed the curve.” “Within this vale of toil and sin, your head goes bald but not your chin.” “Henry the Eighth sure had trouble. Short-term wives, long-term stubble.” Some of the more seasoned among us might remember that one of the best ways to break up the drudgery of traveling long distances on monotonous two-lane highways was to look for Burma Shave billboards. Humorous five-line poems adorned red signs one line at a time, each line in white capitalized blocked letters about 100-feet…