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Albuquerque Closed in 2023 Food Truck Gone But Not Forgotten Middle Eastern New Mexico

Mama Zahira Foodies – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMarch 3, 2021February 17, 20241:00 AM

FROM THE BITE: “In Albuquerque alone, there are too many places doing falafel for us to dine at them in quick succession. That’s despite the Wacky Iraqi’s temporary relocation to Michigan (he tells us he hopes to return in a few years). It’s so easy to be judgmental, to take things at face value…to assume. As my friend Bruce “Sr. Plata” Silver and I approached Mama Zahira Foodies’ order window, we espied the self-deprecating term “The Wacky Iraqi in Albuquerque” scrawled by the vehicle’s rear wheel well. The term “wacky” made us wary. It’s just not a term we associate…

Albuquerque Closed in 2022 Dog Friendly Gone But Not Forgotten New Mexico Vietnamese

Bamboo Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoFebruary 27, 2021March 23, 202312:01 AM

In his 30s, curmudgeonly London food critic Jay Rayner who’s been called the “enfant terrible (literally “terrifying child) of the gastronomic scene,” came to the realization that he hated hangovers more than he hated being drunk. During a visit to a Vietnamese restaurant in London, he achieved an epiphany: “huge steaming bowls of a deeply aromatic beef broth called pho, bobbing with slivers of meat and wide rice noodles – would prove a perfect cure. The head pain would ease. The pitch and roll of the stomach would steady. A gentle, soft comfy cloud of well being would descend. And…

Albuquerque Barbecue New Mexico Rating: N/R (Not Rated)

S-A Barbecue – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoFebruary 22, 2021April 6, 20269:21 AM

London-based restaurant critic Jay Rayner makes barbecue sound a bit like a scientific process: “the long, virtuous interplay of fire, smoke and time on cow and pig muscle fibre; who sees only joyous caramelisation and the deep flavours gifted by the Maillard reaction, when heat says hello to amino acids and natural sugars and they all get along famously.” He’s actually quite right, but most of us got enough chemistry formulas in high school. We recognize that at its most basic, the formula for barbecue is expressed much more simply: meat plus smoke plus time plus (or minus) sauce…

Rating: Very Good Rio Rancho Sandwich

Alicea’s NY Bagels & Subs – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil GardunoFebruary 19, 2021May 12, 20262:43 PM

Imagine a world without sandwiches! That daunting premise would make a pretty fatalistic post-apocalyptic movie in which Dystopian societies exist in a nightmare of deprivation, hopelessness, terror and processed food rations (Soylent Green anyone?). No sandwiches–it’s just too incomprehensible to imagine, especially considering everywhere you turn there’s another Subway. Frankly, my own post-apocalyptic nightmare would be a world in which Subway and other restaurants of that ilk are the only option for sandwiches. Like the indestructible roach, chain restaurants would survive even a nuclear cataclysm. Alas, my personal post-apocalyptic hell is closer to reality than you might suspect. CHD Expert,…

Albuquerque Mediterranean New Mexico Rating: N/R (Not Rated)

Kabab House – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoFebruary 9, 2021April 6, 202612:01 AM

Unlike New York City, Albuquerque might not ever truly be mistaken for “a cultural melting pot.” Though numerous ethnicities are scattered throughout the city’s 189.5 square miles, some of their culinary cultures are vastly underrepresented (if at all represented) among the city’s restaurants. Not even in the International District–where you might feel as if you’re jumping from continent to continent as you take in mutually incomprehensible languages–will you find restaurants representing some of the world’s great culinary cultures. As we’ve espied people draped in the traditional attire of their homelands assiduously scouring Talin Market’s shelves, we’ve often contemplated the dearth…

Albuquerque Closed in 2023 Gone But Not Forgotten New Mexico Rating: N/R (Not Rated)Seafood

Salty Catch – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoFebruary 5, 2021July 10, 20263:24 PM

As children growing up in landlocked and agrarian Peñasco, my siblings and I led a very sheltered life. Our extremely provincial experience with “seafood” was limited to Mrs. Paul’s fish sticks which we dipped in Kraft’s sandwich spread (we didn’t know about tartar sauce) and (gasp, the horror) Mrs. Paul’s fried shrimp. Sure, we snared the legal limit (yeah, right) of German brown trout, cutthroat trout and rainbow trout in the cold, rocky waters of the mountain streams in our backyard, but that wasn’t “seafood.” That was fish! One commonality among the “seafood” and even the “fish” we experienced was…

Albuquerque Closed in 2023 Ghost Kitchen Gone But Not Forgotten Italian New Mexico Rio Rancho

Urbano Pasta Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoJanuary 18, 2021May 1, 202411:14 AM

“To break bread together,” a phrase as old as the Bible, captures the power of a meal to forge relationships, bury anger, provoke laughter.” ~The Joy of Food From National Geographic Sharing a meal creates a unique sense of intimacy felt by all who sit together at the table. It’s an act that can spark new friendships, solidify lifetime bonds and serve as the backdrop for new memories. Dining together is the most communal and binding action humans can take–an act The Atlantic describes as “a quintessential human experience.” It’s a universal act that transcends cultures, borders and geopolitical…

Albuquerque Asian Chinese New Mexico Rating: Good

Dragon House – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJanuary 9, 2021April 5, 20267:20 PM

Admit it–every time you dine at a Chinese restaurant, you peruse the Chinese Zodiac paper placemats at your table describing the characteristics of people based on their birth year. Every new year of the lunar calendar is represented in Chinese mythology by one of twelve animals, only one of which is mythological. That would be the dragon. People born on the year of the dragon are considered very fortunate as presumably a long, happy life awaits those with a dragon birth year. So that you don’t have to look it up, the last six years of the dragon were 2012,…

Burgers New Mexico New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009 New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011 Rating: Very Good

Bibo Bar & Grille – Bibo, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJanuary 5, 2021April 5, 20268:52 AM

There’s an old Lebanese proverb that says, “some men build a wine cellar after only finding one grape.” That proverb aptly describes the many rags to riches success stories among Lebanese immigrants to the Land of Enchantment, primarily to our state’s northern villages. Some of New Mexico’s most prominent names in business–Maloof, Bellamah, Hanosh, Ghattas, Sahd and others–embody the spirit of that proverb. The progenitors of many of New Mexico’s Lebanese immigrants left Lebanon during the repressive Ottoman Empire, the main exodus occurring in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Escaping persecution and poverty, some arrived with nothing but…

Albuquerque Closed in 2022 Gone But Not Forgotten Mariscos Mexican New Mexico Tacos

Nena’s Food – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED*)

Gil GardunoJanuary 2, 2021April 28, 202411:39 AM

“The restaurant business, as I well know, ain’t no picnic. And in Mexico City, it’s particularly rough.” ~Anthony Bourdain NOTE: Although its brick-and-mortar shuttered its doors in 2022, Nena’s Food now exists as a food truck. You can find it parked “Somewhere in New Mexico.” With an urban area population of almost 22-million over a broad expanse of 573 square miles, Mexico City is the fifth most populous city in the world and the most heavily populated city in North America. Known as Distrito Federal, or the federal district, it is the country’s economic and cultural hub, as well as…

Albuquerque Asian Fusion Hawaiian Latin American New Mexico Rating: Excellent

Poki Poki Cevicheria – Albuquerque, New. Mexico

Gil GardunoDecember 12, 2020March 31, 202612:41 AM

Having settled comfortably into middle age (perpetually 39-years old), my favorite participatory sports of basketball and tennis have been replaced by more sedentary, safe and slothful pursuits. Instead of getting my shot rejected (almost as often as the cheerleaders in Peñasco spurned my offers of a burger at Victor’s Drive-in), I now delight in catching every grammatical faux pas, malapropism and inaccuracy uttered by the media–not a difficult challenge since the legendary and near infallible anchor Dick Knipfing retired. Instead of double-faulting on my serve eighteen times in a row, it’s answering questions which stump Jeopardy contestants that now gets…