Category: Fine Dining

Closed in 2012Fine DiningGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoRating: Outstanding

Three Forks at Rancho De San Juan – Ojo Caliente, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno2:37 AM

Expansive views of the Jemez Mountains and of Georgia O’Keeffe country–whether bathed in pink, coral and gold sunset hues or under New Mexico’s incomparable cerulean skies–combine with the surreal topography of unnaturally contorted rock formations and juniper laden foothills to form the unique vistas which await guests at Rancho de San Juan, New Mexico’s premier country inn and restaurant.  At night those views are obfuscated by a canopy of stars spilling from  an ebony sky so clear and unencumbered that you might swear you can see forever. Secluded in an idyllic setting just off US Highway 285 between Española and…

ArizonaClosed in 2020Fine DiningGone But Not ForgottenMexicanUnited States

Cafe Poca Cosa – Tucson, Arizona (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:48 PM

Stereotypes would have you believe English food and Mexican food are at the opposite end of the spectrum from one another…as different as day and night.  Those stereotypes paint English food as bland and unimaginative while Mexican food is depicted as spirited and exciting.  That makes it deliciously ironic that perhaps the foremost authority on Mexican food is an adventurous English woman named Diana Kennedy.  In 1957, she moved to Mexico and has spent most of her life since researching and documenting the culinary history of Mexican cuisine. For her inestimable contributions to the documentation of regional Mexican cuisine, the…

BrunchFine DiningFood Network Eats New MexicoRating: ExcellentSanta Fe

La Casa Sena – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:55 AM

He was an academic prodigy, one of the first two persons admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the Territory of New Mexico. He had a distinguished military career in the Union Army before being mustered out with the rank of Major. He served as sheriff of Santa Fe county for more than ten years and was a political power broker for both the Republican and Independent parties. Despite such an impressive pedigree, Civil War-hero Major Jose Sena might have been forgotten by the annals of history had it not been for his fabulous Territorial-style adobe house a…

Closed in 2016Fine DiningGone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

High Finance – Sandia Crest, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:36 PM

“Getting high” on cannabis is known for increasing appetite.  According to High Times, a New York based magazine which advocates the legalization of marijuana, scientists now know why.  Those scientists have uncovered the part of the brain which makes cannabis users get the munchies for chocolate, pizza, peanuts and more.  It’s hoped that this discovery will help in developing pharmaceuticals to prevent anorexia and obesity. In New Mexico, the term “getting high” sometimes has different connotations–without the psychoactive effects but with the unfailing effect of getting the munchies.  That’s because getting high often means high altitude dining–at least that’s what…

Closed in 2012Fine DiningFood Network Eats New MexicoGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoRating: OutstandingSanta Fe

Aqua Santa – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno9:49 AM

“But the moment I saw the brilliant, proud morning shine high up over the deserts of Santa Fe, something stood still in my soul, and I started to attend. There was a certain magnificence in the high-up day, a certain eagle-like royalty, so different from the equally pure, equally pristine and lovely morning of Australia, which is so soft, so utterly pure in its softness, and betrayed by green parrot flying. But in the lovely morning of Australia one went into a dream. In the magnificent fierce morning of New Mexico one sprang awake, a new part of the soul…

Fine DiningNevadaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Bouchon – Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Garduno10:14 PM

Thomas Keller is the owner and chef of one of the world’s most highly acclaimed and famous restaurants, but despite all the accolades and honors the French Laundry has garnered over the years, he isn’t nearly as famous or popular as his celebrity protégés. One protégé is a provincial rat named Remy whose aspirations to become a great chef despite a lack of formal culinary training mirror Keller’s own path.  Remy’s focus and fastidious attention to detail are known to be patterned after Keller.  To make the restaurant scenes as realistic as possible, the film’s producer interned in the French…

Closed in 2024Fine DiningGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoNew Mexico Culinary Treasures TrailTaos County

Sabroso – Arroyo Seco, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno3:01 AM

We’ve all heard the expressions from a jack to a king, from a moth to a butterfly, from a lump of coal to a diamond, but who’s ever heard…from a chicken coup to an elegant gourmet restaurant?  That sounds like more than a bit of a stretch, yet that’s the metamorphosis that transpired decades ago at what is currently the site of Sabroso, one of Taos county’s swankiest dining establishments. Local lore posits that in 1960, entrepreneurs started a restaurant not just on the site in which a chicken coup stood, but from its very walls.  That restaurant was christened…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2007Fine DiningGone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

Ambrozia – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno11:56 AM

theophany: an encounter with a visible manifestation of a deity. Greek mythology chronicles the adventures of the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus whose primary sustenance was ambrosia, a magical repast which bestowed immortality upon those who consumed it, including humans. The word ambrosia literally means “sweet smelling or delicious,” an appropriate description of the wonderful meals proffered at Ambrozia, an Old Town fine-dining establishment launched in 2003. While dining at Ambrozia probably won’t confer immortality, diners might feel they’ve partaken of divine gastronomy. The gods certainly conferred many culinary talents on Ambrozia’s proprietor and chef savant Sam Ethridge, one…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2007Fine DiningGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoTapas

Graze – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:57 PM

When uncredentialed food critics (like me) sing the praises of a restaurant, their fulsome rants might not garner much notice, but when professional chefs and critics are unabashedly effusive about that same restaurant, you’d be well advised to listen. Graze, launched in December, 2002 by chef luminary Jennifer James, has had all the cognoscenti waxing poetic. La Cocinita magazine’s best chef award winner for 2002, James has been all but beatified, so prolific is her reputation. Renown for melding seemingly disparate ingredients into concordant meals, she is as much an artist as a chef. Note: In September, 2006, Jennifer James…