Category: New Mexico

AmericanClosed in 2025CorralesDog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

Belle’s Urban Deli – Corrales, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Father Mark Schultz, the charismatic former priest at the Holy Ghost Parish in Albuquerque used to joke that the reason Catholics are required to abstain from eating meat on Fridays is not because there’s a shortage of cows. That’s certainly true. There is more beef on the hoof grazing on the Land of Enchantment’s green (and mostly brown) grass than there are tax-paying citizens.  That’s why it’s always puzzled me that sandwich restaurants in New Mexico are so chintzy with their meat portions. You’d think there really was a beef shortage (and a surfeit of bread and lettuce) considering many…

2023 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistBreakfast BurritosDog FriendlyFood TruckJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersMexicanNew MexicoRating: ExcellentSanta FeTacos

El Chile Toreado – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Until 2008, the notion of gourmet culinary offerings being proffered by a mobile conveyance was unheard of.  Prior to then, food trucks were (often rightfully so) known as “roach coaches” or even worse “barf buggies.”  Roach coaches were an eyesore, a medium of last resort usually parked at construction sites, manufacturing plants, public parks or basic military training bases where captive trainees had no alternative.  Roach coaches were a pure convenience with no pretense to gourmet (or even good) cuisine.  Most of them hawked simple fare such as hot dogs and tacos as well as potato chips, cigarettes, candy and…

2024 James Beard Foundation (JBF) Outstanding Restaurant FinalistFine DiningNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

The Compound – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:37 AM

“It’s good…New Mexico good.”  As a proud New Mexican, it galls me to hear apologists demean, denigrate and otherwise concede (quite erroneously) that restaurants  in the Land of Enchantment are good, but not as good as restaurants elsewhere.  It’s as if New Mexico’s restaurants can’t possibly be as good because…well, we’re New Mexico and we’re just not supposed to be very good.  Look at where we rank in so many quality of life categories.  It’s akin to University of New Mexico (UNM) Lobo basketball fans being content to make it to the “Sweet 16,” a goal no Lobos team has…

2024 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAlbuquerqueFine DiningNew MexicanNew Mexico

Level 5 Rooftop Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

For a nearly four-hundred year period, the Anasazi civilization which preceded New Mexico’s Pueblo cultures achieved the pinnacle of its technological and cultural advancement at a magnificent,  deep gorge called Chaco Canyon. Within the walls of Chaco Canyon, construction of multi-level buildings sprung up, some structures accommodating as many as  800 rooms. Not surprisingly, lower walls had to be made massive in order to support heavy stone walls up to five floors high.  It took remarkable planning to locate doors, passageways, kivas and other architectural features.  At five stories high,  Pueblo Bonito was the largest structure and the inspiration for…

2022 James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAlbuquerqueJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersMexicanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

La Guelaguetza – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno10:39 PM

“I am tenacious. And I love to eat.  I go into the field and see some delectable things they’re cooking, wild plants perhaps, and think, ‘Oh my God, I have to write about this.’ I just think it’s insatiable curiosity. To me, life is a continuous process of learning.” ~Diana Kennedy As an essayer of the Land of Enchantment’s culinary condition–primarily as it’s expressed by its restaurants–I’ve always marveled at the passion and appetite of Diana Kennedy who built a lifelong career by compiling, publishing and teaching indigenous Mexican recipes.   Just as Julia Child reduced the nuances and inflections of…

AlbuquerqueAsianFusionNew MexicoRating: Very GoodSanta Fe

Jinja Bar & Bistro – Santa Fe & Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:56 AM

Fusion cuisine.  The term often makes the most stodgy of purists cringe.  Even those among us with the most liberal of palates have been known to cower at its mention.  All too often, fusion cuisine is a loosely defined excuse for restaurateurs to unleash any number of unnatural flavor combinations upon the chaste, unsuspecting taste buds of diners seeking a memorable meal.  Like a shotgun culinary marriage, felonious acts have been perpetrated in the name of fusion, with disparate exotic ingredients forced together by the imagination of sadistic chefs. It would be impossible, however, to dismiss fusion cuisine entirely.  In…

AlbuquerqueAmericanDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Dave’s High Desert Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

It’s easier, by far, to define and describe Japanese and Chinese cuisines than the melting pot (literally and figuratively) that is American cuisine.  It’s the same with French cuisine and Italian cuisine.  Virtually every cultural culinary tradition had been influenced by the traditions of neighboring countries while managing to retain elements that are unique to that particular cuisine.  American cuisine, on-the-other-hand is pretty much a mishmash of every other cuisine, near or far.  To say American cuisine consists of the cooking style and traditional dishes prepared in the United States is to sell that cuisine short.  Immigrants, in particular, have…

BreakfastBreakfast BurritosBrunchLas CrucesNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Waffles

A Bite of Belgium – Las Cruces, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Jerry: “Don’t you know what it means to become an orgy guy? It changes everything. I’d have to dress different. I’d have to act different. I’d have to grow a mustache and get all kinds of robes and lotions and I’d need a new bedspread and new curtains I’d have to get thick carpeting and weirdo lighting. I’d have to get new friends. I’d have to get orgy friends. … Naw, I’m not ready for it.” ~Seinfeld In the sixth season of Seinfeld, Jerry is dating Sandy, a “non-laugher” who seems unamused by his jokes. When Jerry goes to Sandy’s…

BurgersDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Steak

Adobe Deli – Deming, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:03 AM

In 2009  I had the great privilege of helping compile the inaugural New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail along with the scintillating, four-time James Beard award-winning author Cheryl Alters Jamison; the brilliant Kate Manchester, founding publisher of Edible Santa Fe; and one of New Mexico’s finest ambassadors, Martin Leger, then advertising manager for the New Mexico Department of Tourism.  We discussed dozens of potential candidates for inclusion into the inaugural Trail.    Narrowing down those “most worthy” was like selecting the best and brightest stars on a clear, cold New Mexico winter night. Between the four of us, we had (over…

CoffeeNew MexicoSpecialty

Tranquil Buzz Coffee Shop – Silver City, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Where have all the hippies gone?  Long time passing.  Where have all the hippies gone?  Long time ago.  Where have all the hippies gone?  Would you believe they’ve all gone to Tranquil Buzz, a coffee shop with perhaps the best coffee shop vibe in the country.  Boasting of the “best coffee in the cosmos,” Tranquil Buzz lives the motto “Love lives here.”  We practically lived there, too.  Well, at least for the first two hours of our day during the three days we spent in Silver City.  Fortunately the AirBnB at which we stayed was directly across the street from…

BakeryNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Sandwich

Diane’s Bakery & Deli – Silver City, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In 2011, New Mexico Magazine recruited several local food writers and asked us to introduce readers to ten of “New Mexico’s Best Eats” in several categories:  Best Green Chile Cheeseburger, Best New Mexican Soul Food, Best Fine Dining, Best Enchiladas, Bet Vegetarian New Mexican Food, Best Road Food, Beste Local Seasonal Ingredients, Best Contemporary Native American Food, Best Chocolate and Best Carne Adovada.   For the most part, writers waxed eloquent about “the usual suspects” in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. The most noteable exception was Lesley S. King, a distinguished writer who graced New Mexico Magazine’s as the “King of…