Category: American

AmericanBreakfastBrunchDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:15 PM

My friend Schuyler jokes that because the diet of my formative years was mostly beans, chile and tortillas as well as chile, tortillas and beans, I’ve developed an insatiable curiosity and appetite for anything that isn’t beans, chile and tortillas (although I still love those). “No one else,” he claims “is equally enthusiastic about  bacon-infused decadence one day as he is the healthy paleo foods  the next.  Schuyler calls me  “the anti-Mikey” (the little boy in the Life cereal commercials who hated everything, except of course, Life cereal).  He argues that I like everything. In his eyes it doesn’t count that I loath, abhor and detest  cumin when it desecrates the purity of New Mexico’s sacrosanct chile because I love cumin on Indian and Thai food.  I remind him of my profound dislike for tea either as a cold or hot beverage and his retort is a reminder about how much I love the tea leaves smoked duck at Budai Gourmet Chinese.  If you’re getting the impression that arguing with Schuyler is a no-win proposition or exercise in one-upmanship, you’re probably wondering why we’ve been friends for more than three decades. The great philosopher Plutarch probably explains it best: “I…

AlbuquerqueBarbecueClosed in 2019Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

ABQ BBQ – Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:43 PM

“It was Kansas City but it was North Carolina I wanted; whole hog smoked low and slow over fruit woods and doused liberally with a vinegar-based sauce. It was North Carolina but it was Texas I wanted; king beef sliced into juicy brisket prepared over post oak and glistening with a sweet tomato-molasses based sauce. It was Texas but it was Memphis I wanted; unctuous pork slow smoked over hickory and served “wet” in a tomato and vinegar-based sauce. It was Memphis but it was Kansas City I wanted; a medley of magnificent meats smoked over a variety of woods and dusted generously with a dry rub. It was all of America’s four dominant barbecue regions, but it was New Mexico I wanted; applewood-smoked meats of all types imbued with the piquancy of red and green chile sauces. My search is over. ABQ BBQ is here!” NOTE: A sign on the door of ABQ BBQ indicates that due to personal reasons, the restaurant will be open only for private events. For years, the promotional machines behind America’s barbecue have been telling us there are four distinct and dominant barbecue regions across the fruited plain. This assertion has been repeated so…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastBurgersClosed in 2022Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew Mexico

Duke City Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:18 PM

In the 1970s and 1980s,  Reese’s Peanut Butter cups commercials consisted of a series of vignettes.  Each vignette depicted the collision of two daydreamers–one eating peanut butter and the other eating chocolate.  The peanut butter eater would exclaim “you got chocolate on my peanut butter.”  The one eating chocolate would retort “you got peanut butter on my chocolate.”  The two would then sample the mix of chocolate and peanut butter and burst out in wide-eyed surprise with “Delicious!”  A godlike narrator would then proclaim “Two great tastes that taste great together.” Reese’s has nothing on restaurant impresario Doug Weckerly, chef and proprietor of the Duke City Kitchen on Lomas just west of San Mateo.  Peruse his menu and you might get the impression he’s declared “why stop at two great tastes that taste great together when seven great tastes would taste even better.”  Some of the burgers are constructed of ingredient combinations so seemingly disparate, so wildly unconventional, so un-Albuquerque,  it’s as if he channeled renowned tinkerer Rube Goldberg.  When I asked the inventive chef how he comes up with such ingenious burgers, he told me “I guess I just march to the beat of a different drum.” Not only does…

BarbecueDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Mad Jack’s Mountaintop Barbecue – Cloudcroft, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:16 AM

Whether it’s movies, Uber drivers or restaurants, human beings seem to predisposed to take stock in rankings and ratings.  Be it a one- to four-star rating method or any other numerical or graphical rating system, many of us won’t even read what a reviewer has to say.  We go straight to the rating.  Of course, for visitors to Gil’s Thrilling (And Filling) Blog, that means you’re missing out on thrilling vocabulary and verbosity.  Then again, maybe you don’t want to wade through my sesquipedalian rants to find my rating. Most reviewers, me included, would just as soon not issue ratings at all.  We would prefer to have readers discern their own impressions based on our magniloquent prose and more importantly, their own observations.  As The Dude, our debonair dachshund, and I walked around the alpine town of Cloudcroft, New Mexico while my Kim waited in line at Mad Jack’s Mountaintop Barbecue, it dawned on me that maybe ratings should be based on how long a diner is willing to wait in line for a meal.  My own threshold, perhaps indicative of my lack of patience, has always been about fifteen minutes.  Any longer than that and I want to bolt…

BarbecueDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Henry’s Barbecue – Artesia, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:10 PM

“Texas. It’s Like A Whole Other Country.” That slogan, conceived by the Texas Tourism Department, appeared on television commercials, billboards, advertisements and even license plates. It was such a hit that the Texas Department of Transportation obtained seven federal trademark registrations to protect it on everything from stickers to shot glasses. In 2014, USA Today readers declared it the “best of all state slogans,” edging out Virginia Is For Lovers” and “Kentucky Unbridled Spirit.” New Mexico’s sacrosanct “Land of Enchantment” slogan ranked fifth. Visit Artesia, New Mexico and you might just wonder if you didn’t accidentally cross over into that whole other country. As with much of Southeast New Mexico, the scrub-brushed topography closely resembles that of West Texas. It’s a different type of enchanted terrain haughty New Mexicans along the Rio Grande corridor picture as representing the entire state. Then there are the large old west bronze statues depicting cowboys and oil drillers, imagery often associated with the Lone Star State. Any image association exercise involving Texas would also include trucks, barbecue and football. As in Texas, the preferred mode of transportation in Artesia seems to be heavy-duty pickups.  As for barbecue and football, Henry’s will tell you all…

BurgersClosed in 2021Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

Chef Toddzilla’s Gourmet Burgers – Roswell, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno7:41 PM

Roswell, New Mexico is a stodgy conservative town where sidewalks are rolled up early. Change comes to the state’s fifth largest city as slowly as the twangy, lazy cadence of a Texas drawl. So does embracing opportunity. Consider the so-called Roswell Incident of 1947. It took 55 years before Roswell opened its UFO museum and another three years before its first UFO Festival. Because Roswell is such an anachronism, you might think a tatted-up chef with a dystopian haircut would stick out like a sore thumb. Ask anyone who’s experienced that chef’s gourmet burgers and amiable manner and they’ll tell Chef Todd Alexander doesn’t stick out, he stands out. So does his effervescent partner in business and in life Kerry Moore. Chef Todd and Kerry are tattooed, tee-shirt wearing cool in a town defined by button-down plaid western wear. They’re cool enough to be themselves—no pretensions or snobbery, just genuine down-to-earth friendliness. They’d never brag about their pedigrees though they certainly would have reason to do so. Chef Todd has serious culinary creds, having plied his craft in five star, five diamond hotel kitchens. Kerry has a Master’s Degree in Marketing and managed food services at the Roswell Independent School…

BurgersCaliforniaDiners Drive-Ins and DivesDog FriendlyRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Grill A-Burger – Palm Desert, California

Gil Garduno10:58 PM

California may not have invented the hamburger, but a strong case could be made that no state has and continues to evolve what is arguably America’s most sacrosanct food.  With more than 6,000 burger restaurants, California has more eateries dedicated to the sacrosanct burger than any other state.  That’s only fitting considering the Golden State also gave us McDonald’s, Jack In The Box, In-N-Out and the “Impossible Burger,” a burger made with a plant-based meat substitute.  The first half of the 20th century introduced the designation “California Burger” in recognition of burgers topped with lettuce, onion and tomato, the fresh produce grown year-round in the Golden State. In 1924, one of the most significant and lasting innovations to the burger occurred in Pasadena when a 16-year-old invented the cheeseburger.  Nearly a hundred years later, machines began cranking out the world’s first robot-made hamburger in San Francisco.  In 2009, a Los Angeles restaurateur introduced the Umami Burger which incorporates popular Japanese ingredients to a line of savory burgers.  Asian fusion burgers have since exploded across the fruited plain.  In 2014, the Santa Barbara born Habit Burger Grill became the first better-burger chain to file for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and saw its stock price…

AmericanCaliforniaDog FriendlyRating: OutstandingUnited States

LULU CALIFORNIA BISTRO – Palm Springs, California

Gil Garduno2:12 PM

How many times have you heard a transplant to the Land of Enchantment say it just doesn’t feel like Christmas without snow? Some of you expats dream of a white Christmas, just like the ones you used to know back when you lived in Siberia, the North Pole, Greenland and other similarly snowed-in states that aren’t as beautifully balmy in winter as is New Mexico. It’s not enough for you that winter temperatures across the Land of Enchantment occasionally drop into the forties and you sometimes have to wear long pants outdoors. You hardy, masochistic northerners are accustomed to mountains of snow being one of the defining elements of the Christmas season. You want to wash your hands, your face and hair with snow, snow, snow… In the immortal words of Thor, the Norse god of thunder, “I say thee nay!” Any more than the one- or two-inches it takes for the city of Albuquerque to declare a “snow day” is too much snow. Who needs it! My dear friend Becky Mercuri who lives just south of Buffalo in the lake-effect-snow-belt traumatizes me with reports of storms dumping two- to three-feet of snow at a time. The Buffalo area averages…

AmericanBrunchCaliforniaDog FriendlyRating: OutstandingUnited States

JAKE’S – Palm Springs, California

Gil Garduno7:54 PM

“Now i lay me down to sleep And pray the Lord my soul to keep If i die before i wake, feed Jake He’s been a good dog My best friend right through it all If i die before i wake, feed Jake.” ~Pirates of the Mississippi “On one hand,” my Kim tells me, “you’d make a great politician.” “You maintain a perfect deadpan expression while telling the biggest whoppers.” She had just watched me convince a gullible millennial (okay, she was your stereotypical California blonde valley girl) that the Jeff Bridges character in the movie The Big Lebowski was named for our debonair dachshund The Dude. Never mind that our Dude was born sixteen years after the 1998 comedy hit. “On the other hand,” she corrected herself, “you’re much too honest to ever run for office.” Only a few people, my Kim being one of them, can recognize when I’m using my “gift” of mirthful mendacity. It’s a gift I employ only to lighten the mood, not to exploit gullibility. We were standing in line in front of Jake’s, one of the most famous and popular restaurants in Palm Springs, when the opportunity for my duplicitous act presented itself.…

AmericanCaliforniaDog FriendlyMichelin: Selected RestaurantRating: N/R (Not Rated)Restaurants Which Have Earned Michelin HonorsUnited States

Workshop Kitchen + Bar – Palm Springs, California

Gil Garduno9:04 AM

“Good restaurant design is about achieving equilibrium between the food, service and design – in effect telling a complete story.” ~ David Rockwell, American Architect Andy Rooney, the curmudgeonly commentator on television’s 60 Minutes didn’t like food that’s “too carefully arranged;” declaring “it makes me think that the chef is spending too much time arranging and not enough time cooking,” adding “If I wanted a picture I’d buy a painting.”  Those of us who write about food not only notice, we enjoy eye-pleasing artful plating, especially when everything is where it should be for optimum harmony, balance and appearance.  We like plate syzygy. The balance of color, texture and appearance gives us pause to reflect on how great everything looks before our taste buds confirm what our eyes already know.  Admittedly not all of us pay much attention to restaurant design (form, function and space utilization) though we do appreciate “ambiance” which isn’t exactly the same thing.  “What’s the difference?,” you ask.  Design as a whole is a reflection of the owner, the menu and all operational aspects of the restaurant.  Ambiance is a subset of design, encompassing five critical experiential elements: light quality, noise level, space and scale, touch (tactile elements such as…

AmericanDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Sammy C’s Rock ‘n’ Sports Pub & Grille – Gallup, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:30 PM

Gallup, New Mexico is a city of dichotomies, contrasts and contradictions.  As recently as the 1990s, Gallup was known as “Drunk Town, USA” after ranking number one across the fruited plain for the number of alcohol-related deaths.  Despite that ignominious distinction, Gallup also boasts of “more millionaires per capita than any other place in the world,” largely on the strength of Native American art.  In 2013, map and atlas publisher Rand McNally named Gallup “America’s Most Patriotic Small Town.” Four years later, Roadsnacks, an online infotainment media declared Gallup the second most dangerous city in New Mexico, a year after the Federal Bureau of Investigations had ranked it number one. Gallup’s El Rancho Hotel was once called “home of the movie stars” because it served as base camp for more than 100 western movies filmed in the area during the 1930s and 1940s.  Such glitterati as Ronald Reagan, Humphrey Bogart, Mae West, Katherine Hepburn, Kirk Douglas, Lucille Ball and more than 150 others stayed at the Old West style hotel.  Early in his career, Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan falsely claimed he was raised in Gallup.  Celebrities not withstanding, in 2013 New Mexico Magazine published 25 reasons to love Gallup. Among those 25 reasons…