Category: New Mexico

AmericanClosed in 2015CorralesGone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

The Spot Cafe – Corrales, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:56 AM

Big Bang Theory wunderkind Sheldon Cooper has a spot he describes as the “singular location in space around which revolves my entire universe.” That spot is the left side of his couch, a location he has placed “in a state of eternal dibs.” In scientific terms, Sheldon relates his spot as “a single point of consistency in an ever-changing world.” His attachment to that one spot borders on obsession, but he’s not the only television character that possessive of his spot. In television comedies, characters have always had their favorite spots and show little tolerance for anybody who tries to sit in them. Cheers barflies Norm Peterson and Cliff Claivin had their favorite bar stools. Jerry Seinfeld, George Costanza and Cosmo Kramer always sat at their favorite table at Monk’s Diner. Heaven help anyone who sat on Archie Bunker’s favorite chair, the most famous and only one of the aforementioned spots on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Television personalities are often based on and mimic real life characters. As such, it will be interesting to see what Corrales resident will develop an attachment to a favorite spot at its newest eatery (as of May,…

BurgersClosed in 2021Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoNew Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011

Magdalena Cafe – Magdalena, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno10:50 AM

In 1863 during the height of the Civil War, soldiers on leave from Fort Craig staked claims to silver strikes in the Magdalena Mountains. Within a few years, the boom towns of Kelly and Magdalena had sprung up, eventually achieving a population surpassing even Socorro, the county seat. The first veins of metal ore given up by the rocky promontories were lead and zinc, but ultimately silver became the principal source of wealth. With the arrival of the railroad in 1884, Magdalena became a rowdy frontier mining town and one of the Southwest’s largest cattle shipping centers with its stockyards processing thousands of cattle and sheep. Magdalena became known as the “Trails End” because the spur line which originated in Socorro had its terminus in the town named for the likeness of Mary Magdalene on a nearby slope. The railroad transported cattle, sheep, wool, timber and wool. It also transported carloads of ore to a smelter outside of Socorro. No vestiges of the railroad remain, but it’s easy to imagine how spectacular the 20 meandering miles from Socorro to Magdalena must have been by train. That’s because Highway 60 approximates the route of the railroad line nicknamed “the elevator” because…

AlbuquerqueNew MexicanRating: Very Good

Leroy’s New Mexican Food – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:23 AM

As with any city of comparable size, many of Albuquerque’s most popular dining destinations are clustered in neighborhoods bustling with commerce and activity. You could say there’s a well-beaten–and well-eaten–path to these neighborhoods. Chain addicted diners know they can find their favorite Madison Avenue sanctified corporate megaliths on the frontage roads flanking I25 as well as in the Coors Bypass area. For a more vibrant and roguishly in-vogue dining experience, Duke City residents head for Nob Hill where swanky upscale restaurants and venerable cafes co-exist harmoniously on America’s Mother Road. Downtown Albuquerque purports to be the “economic, social and cultural center of New Mexico.” With more than 70 restaurants and cafes and a night life as hot as Hatch green chile, it has become a popular destination for more than dining. For culinary diversity, it’s hard to beat the University of New Mexico area in which restaurants with a broad socioeconomic appeal are congregated. Aside from academic enrichment, this area is nurturing a refreshing open-mindedness toward the cuisines of the world. Strewn throughout the Duke City’s vast expanses are also pockets of edible excellence–restaurants of all types which don’t necessarily fit the neighborhood template of “x” number of restaurants clustered…

AlbuquerqueBarbecueNew MexicoRating: Very GoodSanta Fe

Whole Hog Cafe – Santa Fe & Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:03 PM

While the etymology of the expression “whole hog” appears to be American, its progenitor is actually an English slang word. Americans in the new world employed the slang use of hog as a word for dime, intending the term to mean “spend the entire coin at once.” The word hog had been previously used in the Mother Country as slang for a shilling and came from the depiction of a hog on one side of the English coin. To barbecue fanatics, however, the term “whole hog” can only mean one thing–the whole hog category in Memphis in May, the annual world barbecue championships in Memphis, Tennessee, an event which has been called the “Superbowl of Swine.” If you win the whole hog category in Memphis, you have every right to call yourself the very best in the world. It means you’ve mastered ribs, pulled pork and sausage–virtually snout to tail. When we saw a restaurant on Cerrillos Road billing itself as the “Whole Hog Cafe,” we wondered if it was an audacious pretender to the pinnacle of pork or the real deal. The restaurant’s trademark image of a portly porker subtitled “World Championship BBQ” cued us in to the fact…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2024Gone But Not ForgottenJapaneseNew MexicoSushi

Gen Kai Japanese Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:50 PM

In Japan, ramen is so revered that diners line up, sometimes for hours, at ramen houses for homemade noodles tangled with such ingredients as dried fish, pork and chicken. Connoisseurs make pilgrimages to a popular ramen museum in Yokohama, not the only museum dedicated to ramen, by the way. If you’re wondering how the ramen noodle product you purchased as a collegiate at the rate of ten bricks for ten dollars warrants such reverence and respect, you’re in the right ballpark, but not in the right seat. Although extremely popular throughout Japan where you can find it even in vending machines, it’s not the ubiquitous low-brow instant ramen found in Styrofoam packages which warrants such adulation and enthusiasm. That adulation is reserved for ramen which is fresh and handmade with rich, creamy, opaque broths lovingly tended for hours, if not days. It is the consummate comfort food in the Land of the Rising Sun. In fact, comparing instant ramen to the ramen found in restaurants is akin to comparing the burger on a McDonald’s Happy Meal to a wagyu steak at a posh steakhouse. While the packaged ramen is ready in an instant, it’s teeming with sodium and suspect-sounding ingredients.…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2016Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoSandwich

Adieux Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno10:56 AM

For restaurants located in downtown Albuquerque’s Arts and Entertainment district, centered along Central Avenue and Gold Avenue west of First Street, downtown revitalization, a ten million dollar infusion of energy and creativity, has been both a dichotomy and a dilemma. Daylight hours bring a diverse swathe of white- and blue-collar diners to those restaurants, but after dusk, the downtown demographic is more of a “20-something” crowd, many of whom are more interested in the area’s bustling nightlife and youth-oriented clubs than they are in dining. While many downtown restaurants shutter their doors at dusk, others have embraced the youthful energy of the nocturnal crowd and their pursuit of bar-hopping, live music and social discourse. Among them is Adieux Cafe, a gastropub which opened its doors in June, 2013. Adjacent to the Effex nightclub, Adieux’s hours of operation–11AM to 2AM Monday through Friday and 5PM to 3AM on Saturdays–are convenient to the most energetic of party-goers and day workers as well. A shared door between Effex and Adieux allows revelers to access the gastropub when the munchies strike at unholy hours (at my age, that’s anything past 10:30). From street level, Adieux isn’t much to look at. In fact, you might…

JapaneseRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

Izanami – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno6:01 PM

“Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words.” ~Marcel Marceau When the Spaniards first gazed upon the setting sun as it hit the towering snow-capped mountains and appeared to bathe the slopes in a burst of red, they were so moved that the pious Conquistadors exclaimed “Sangre de Cristo,” blood of Christ. Whether bathed in the spectacular red alpenglow of sunset or in the “like yellow hair of a tigress brindled with pines” gold of autumn aspens as described by D.H. Lawrence, the Sangre de Cristos still move people deeply, stirring their very souls. The Sangre de Cristos are also spectacular when wispy amorphous clouds dance around the blanket of sky in all its magnificent gradations of blue. That’s the palette from which skies were painted on the day my friends and culinary kindred spirits Franzi Ortega and Nikko Harada joined me for an incredible dining experience at Izanami, the celebrated izakaya-style restaurant at the Ten Thousand Waves resort scant minutes from downtown Santa Fe. You don’t have to spend time at Ten Thousand Waves to fully appreciate Izanami, but if you don’t, you might feel you missed out on a very special place. The…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2021Gone But Not ForgottenMediterraneanRating: Excellent

Yanni’s Mediterranean Bar & Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno5:35 AM

The now defunct Albuquerque Monthly magazine titled a May, 1995 article “Yanni Come Lately,” heralding the arrival of a new Greek restaurant on Nob Hill. More than a decade has elapsed since that article and Yanni’s Mediterranean continues to more than live up to the lofty accolades it has earned over the years. Yanni’s has been recognized by other national, regional and local publications for its outstanding cuisine. It has also earned the unwavering devotion of teeming masses who patronize the city’s best Mediterranean restaurant. In 1998, Gourmet magazine named Yanni’s a restaurant of distinction in the Southwest. Southwest Airline’s Spirit magazine has also proclaimed it a great restaurant for Greek food. More recently, readers of the Alibi voted Yanni’s as the best Greek restaurant in Albuquerque as well as the city’s very best restaurant overall in 2009. Considering the vast improvements in the city’s restaurant landscape since Yanni’s launch a decade and a half ago as well as Albuquerque’s propensity for embracing the newest kids in the block, that’s a tremendous accomplishment for what is becoming one of the city’s venerable institutions. In that time, more than Yanni’s reputation has grown. The restaurant now occupies much of a city…

AlbuquerqueMexicanNew Mexico

El Sabor De Juarez – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:59 PM

Before it was embroiled in the grip of violence born of warring drug cartels vying for control of the drug traffic destined for the United States…before its shameful history of violence against women was uncovered…before it was accorded the dubious honor of being named the world’s most dangerous city, Cuidad Juarez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua was long known as a rite of passage destination for hormonal adolescent males. It was heralded for its shopping districts where everything from kitschy trinkets to high-quality jewelry and leather goods could be purchased after engaging in the sport of spirited haggling with enthusiastic merchants. Perhaps not as well known is that Juarez was, and perhaps still is, a great dining destination–and not just for authentic Mexican food (though several high-end and inexpensive Mexican restaurants were very highly regarded). A number of luxurious, steakhouses pampered guests with exceptional service and slabs of succulent beef. The very best Chinese restaurant (Shangri-La) in the El Paso-Cuidad Juarez metropolitan area warranted many a visit. As great as the culinary fare was, the familiar disclaimer “whatever you do, don’t drink the water” was always heeded. For those of us who fondly remember Cuidad Juarez when it was…

BarbecueBernalilloClosed in 2014Gone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

Back-Sass BBQ – Bernalillo, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:25 PM

Every few years, the eyes of the world fixate on a tiny chimney perched on the roof of the Sistine Chapel as millions await the telltale plumes of white smoke which signify that a new pope has been elected. Since November, 2012, savvy Duke City area barbecue aficionados have been following plumes of smoke emanating from a mobile eighteen-foot grilling machine, a sign that great barbecue is imminent. Fittingly “Follow the Smoke” is the motto of the Back-Sass BBQ team which has been hauling its mother ship of barbecue all over the city. On January 29, 2014, Back-Sass BBQ put down roots in Bernalillo, launching its bodacious barbecue operation in a restaurant storefront. Located on North Camino del Pueblo less than half a mile north of heavily trafficked Highway 550, Back-Sass is easy to find if you follow the smoke which wafts into your motorized conveyance like a sweet Texas smoke signal beckoning you to try some baby backs. Back-Sass BBQ is situated in a fairly nondescript edifice which formerly housed La Bamba Grill among other businesses. Its signage is bold, sassy and inviting. Attempts to define any new barbecue restaurant’s “style” as either Kansas City, Texas, Memphis, or the…

AlbuquerqueAmericanClosed in 2019Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew Mexico

Weekdays Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:55 PM

“Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.” That weight loss axiom subtitles the signage at Weekdays Restaurant. As its name implies, Weekdays is open Monday through Friday, but only for breakfast and lunch, making it easy to live up to the aforementioned axiom. Located on Fifth Street just north of Lead Avenue, Weekdays occupies the site which previously housed Cafe Green, a 2012 casualty. Weekdays has been in business for more than two decades, but isn’t widely known outside the downtown area south of Central Avenue. Because it’s not open on weekends, it’s not as much a “destination” restaurant as it is a “neighborhood” restaurant, the type of which has a home-away-from-home feel. Or at least that’s the case if playful banter is part and parcel of your homelife. To say the wait staff has personality is an understatement. From servers to cook, these folks make having a good time an inclusive process. Another likely reason Weekdays isn’t the destination restaurant it should be–especially considering its quality and ambiance–is that its former home was within PNM’s Alvarado Square office complex on Silver Avenue just south of Central. Lifelong Duke City residents can’t tell…