Category: American

AmericanClosed in 2015Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoNew Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011

Landmark Grill – Las Vegas, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:11 AM

Historian Ralph Emerson Twitchell once wrote, “Without exception there was no town which harbored a more disreputable gang of desperadoes and outlaws than did Las Vegas.” At one time, Las Vegas was considered virtually lawless, a shameless denizen of murderers, thieves, swindlers, prostitutes and others of ill repute. If you’re thinking I’m describing the formative days in which Las Vegas, Nevada was run by the Mafia, you would be understandably mistaken. The Las Vegas which earned an unparalleled reputation for lawlessness and corruption is Las Vegas, New Mexico, which is today a peaceful little city on the eastern fringes of…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastClosed in 2009

Sunshine Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:36 AM

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry Sunshine on the waters looks so lovely Sunshine almost always makes me high -John Denver A gloomy, gray winter day in Minnesota was the inspiration for John Denver’s number one song “Sunshine on My Shoulders.” During a visit to the Gopher State in 1974, he experienced the type of “cabin fever” with which many New Mexicans are familiar after one gloomy winter day after another (ask anyone from Chama).  Minnesota, as we know, is a far cry from New Mexico when it comes to winter…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastClosed in 2012Gone But Not ForgottenRating: Excellent

Milton’s Family Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno3:03 AM

In a 2002 column Jason Sheehan, one of the best in a succession of outstanding Alibi restaurant critics assembled a dream menu of the best foods he had ever eaten, a “desert-island top ten” from which he’d choose if ever asked the question, “If you could eat only one thing every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?”  His top ten list included the phenomenal red chile breakfast burritos from Milton’s Family Restaurant in Albuquerque. As a restaurant critic I’d flatter myself disingenuously if I compared myself to Sheehan, but at least in terms of our…

AmericanBreakfastBuffetNevadaRating: ExcellentUnited States

Bellagio Buffet – Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Garduno10:51 PM

Comparing the Bellagio Buffet to the buffets proffered at other casino hotels isn’t quite akin to comparing a Bacchanalian festival to a swinish feeding troth, but it might be close.  That’s because the difference in quality between the Bellagio Buffet and its nearest competitor is several degrees of magnitude. It’s the one buffet in Vegas in which you might actually see the gentrified and the affluent condescend to mingle with the rabble.  It’s also the one buffet in which some of the patrons don’t look like they parked their hay wagons in front of the casino and walked in. Being…

AmericanClosed in 2011Gone But Not ForgottenNevadaRating: OutstandingUnited States

Rosemary’s Restaurant – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno3:58 AM

You might think that a chef and proprietor whose restaurant has garnered almost every conceivable accolade might be almost unapproachable, perhaps even haughty and aloof…that being among the gastronomic glitterati, he wouldn’t make time for admirers of his culinary craft. We learned during a June, 2006 visit that THE Michael Jordan (the other one was a pretty fair basketball player) is one of the nicest, most unassuming and genuinely endearing celebrity chefs we’ve ever met. We had the great fortune of running into Jordan at his restaurant and he wasn’t solely concerned with what we thought of our meal (we…

AmericanBrunchClosed in 2013Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoSanta Fe

Eldorado Court – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:21 PM

In Spanish, the word Eldorado translates to “the gilded one” or the “golden one” and refers to an imaginary place of great wealth and opportunity sought in South America by 16th-century explorers. In Santa Fe, Eldorado means a stately landmark hotel just off the historic Plaza in which guests are graced by the art of hospitality in lavish accommodations. The heart of the hotel is the Eldorado Court, located just off the main lobby. During our first visit in 2005, the Eldorado Court was “guarded” by two multi-hued, bigger than life coyotes (the type that helped define Santa Fe style…

ArizonaBurgersClosed in 2018Gone But Not ForgottenUnited States

The Original Wineburger – Phoenix, Arizona (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno2:37 AM

Every year, children of all ages fall in love all over again with the heart-warming 1947 Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street. We’re aghast when the district attorney demands that defense lawyer Fred Gailey provide “authoritative proof” that Kris Kringle is “the one and only Santa Claus.” We share Gailey’s seeming desperation when he offers as evidence, a solitary letter addressed to Santa Claus at the NYC Courthouse. We’re enraged when the D.A. retorts that one letter is hardly enough proof, and are proudly vindicated when Gailey has guards march in with huge bags overflowing with letters. We revel in…

AmericanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

Blue Heron Restaurant at Sunrise Springs – La Cienega, New Mexico

Gil Garduno6:39 AM

Fewer than ten miles separate the historic Spanish village of La Ciénega from Santa Fe, and though both have largely retained vestiges of their storied and proud histories, the differences that set them apart are as vast as El Camino Real, the Royal Road that has connected them for centuries. While Santa Fe has entered the 21st century as a burgeoning cosmopolitan city, La >Ciénega remains a rural enclave, parts of which have remained unchanged for generations–that despite becoming somewhat of a bedroom community for Santa Feans. Once a rural Indian pueblo outpost, La Ciénega  was abandoned in the seventeenth…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastClosed in 2010Gone But Not Forgotten

Chef Jim White’s Cafe & Catering – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:43 AM

Long before the Food Network made chefs legitimate on-air celebrity icons, Albuquerque had its own larger-than-life, media-savvy celebrity chef who, it seemed, spent almost as much time on the airwaves as behind the stove. Chef Jim White was a peripatetic presence on television where he hosted short cooking segments on two Duke City television news programs in addition to having a three-minute format airing in a San Diego station. He also wrote a highly-regarded food column for the Albuquerque Journal. So well known was (and is) Chef Jim White that in Albuquerque his name is always prefaced with his title,…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBakeryClosed in 2008Gone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

Have Your Cake Bakery & Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno11:20 AM

Leave it to the wonderfully irascible and irreverent comedian George Carlin to put things in perspective in his retort to a popular English idiom. “When people say, ‘Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too.’ What good is a cake you can’t eat? What should I eat, someone else’s cake instead?“. The idiom “to have one’s cake and eat it, too or simply have one’s cake and eat it” actually means wanting more than one can handle or deserves, or to trying to have two incompatible things. Still, Carlin makes a sage point. In Albuquerque’s Far…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBakeryBreakfastClosed in 2009Gone But Not Forgotten

Painted Horse Coffeehouse – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:10 PM

In the summer of 2000, prominent artists throughout the Southwest resoundingly answered the call to submit their design ideas for painting on an unconventional medium–a horse cast in a durable resin blend. This particular canvas was chosen to commemorate the introduction to North America of the horse. More than five centuries ago, Spanish Conquistadores explored New Mexico astride the noble beast. The painted ponies were intended to promote artistic excellence and for about a year, the “trail of painted ponies” led art aficionados to various galleries throughout the state where the equine masterpieces were on display. In the fall of…