Category: Gone But Not Forgotten

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2017Gone But Not ForgottenSteak

Marcello’s Chophouse – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:18 AM

Steak–even the word conjures stereotypes of power brokers in suits and ties. There’s just something about sizzling, flame-kissed beef that seems to appeal to the wheelers and dealers and movers and shakers among us. Steak may just be the ultimate power food!  That power is also wielded in the ultimate thumbing of the nose at vegetarians when carnivores emphasize that they didn’t claw their way to the top of the food ladder only to eat vegetables. Vegetarians may retort that steak is antithetical to a healthful lifestyle. To carnivores, however, it’s not as important that steak may not be good for you as it is that steak is oh so good. Meat lovers emphasize that there is nothing like a…

AmericanBrunchClosed in 2013Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoRio Rancho

Timbuctu Bistro – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:12 PM

Growing up in bucolic Peñasco back when fires were still started by rubbing two sticks together and mastodons roamed the Earth, I distinctly remember hearing playmates uttering the term “going all the way to Timbuktu.”  Considering we all thought Albuquerque was a million miles away, we couldn’t imagine just how far away Timbuktu must be.  Some of us reasoned it  existed only as a figment of the imagination similar to Oz, Neverland and Atlantis (Hogwarts, Narnia and Jurassic Park for you Generation Yers).  Even adult teachers whom we asked dismissed it as a distant land in deepest, darkest Africa though it was obvious they weren’t quite sure where it actually was…or if it existed at all. Though seemingly synonymous with…

AmericanClosed in 2015Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoTruth or Consequences

Happy Belly Deli – Truth or Consequences, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:35 PM

One of the inevitable truths about life is that the sins of our youth will revisit us in our middle age and beyond. We feel it especially in the morning when every bone in our bodies aches as we struggle to get out of bed. That’s also when we’re most reminded that what doesn’t hurt no longer works, that the spring in our step has been replaced by a creak in our knees and that our backs go out more often than we do. It’s then that we regret our youthful impetuousness and perceived immortality. My friend Larry McGoldrick, the professor with the perspicacious palate and the most energetic septuagenarian I know, gave me this advice: “go south, young man.”…

AlbuquerqueAmericanClosed in 2015Gone But Not Forgotten

Cafe Bleu – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno7:32 PM

Today Huyen Wylie might smile a little when she describes herself as having been one of the Vietnamese “boat people,” but it’s not because she finds anything evenly mildly amusing about the term.  She was but ten years old when her family braved the choppy waters of the South China Sea in their quest for freedom.  It was their third attempt.  As with many families, fleeing their homeland was an act of desperation undertaken by people persecuted by an oppressive communist government.  It was a perilous journey fraught with uncertainty and danger.  Still, risking death on the open seas was preferable to the certain imprisonment or execution many citizens  faced at the hands of a retaliatory government.  Many of the…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2012Gone But Not ForgottenMexican

Mamba’s Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno9:18 AM

When my friend Ryan “Break the Chain” Scott and I first visited Mamba’s Kitchen, we deliberated the genesis of the restaurant’s name. The possibilities were intriguing. The restaurant must be named for the black mamba, one of the world’s most venomous snakes, I thought. Ryan surmised then quickly dismissed the notion that the restaurant’s name honors Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers star who calls himself the “Mamba” because he wants to have the type of basketball precision the snake has (it can strike with 99 percent accuracy at maximum speed, in rapid succession). Could it share the Mamba sobriquet with Beatrix Kiddo, the protagonist of the brilliant Quentin Tarantino movie Kill Bill, we wondered. Perhaps it’s named for Mambo…

AlbuquerqueBrazilianClosed in 2014Gone But Not Forgotten

Jamon’s Frybread Cabana – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:04 AM

Several years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth, multi-player gaming meant sitting at a table and playing board and card games with friends actually sitting across the table from you as opposed to the disembodied online kind of ‘friends.” My compadre Brad and I had been trounced several times by our pop culture savvy spouses at Trivial Pursuit, a primitive game contemporaneous with throwing rocks at mastodons.  After four games, we finally had a chance to win one, but it came down to the toughest question Kim and Vicki could muster in a pop culture category which had been our downfall all night.  The question was “Who is called the Marilyn Monroe of South America?”   You could hear a…

ArizonaClosed in 2019Gone But Not ForgottenRating: ExcellentThaiUnited States

Mint Thai – Gilbert, Arizona (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:41 AM

You might assume that because of my unabashed online promotion of culinary adventures, I would be the classic prostheletizer seeking to convert to the joys of more adventurous dining all lost and wayward souls who frequent chain restaurants. Alas, when traveling with colleagues who are either pedestrian about their dining preferences (they eat to live) or are wholly resistant to trying anything new or different, I tend to defer to their lifestyle choices. It beats listening to comments such as “yech, how can you possibly eat that?” and “that’s not in any of the food groups I know.” The offshoot is that I eat in more chain restaurants than you’ll ever hear me admit to (I don’t write about them for…

AlbuquerqueBakeryClosed in 2012Gone But Not Forgotten

Just A Bite! – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno7:25 PM

An April, 2009 article in the Taos News reveals just how much cultural attitudes have changed in the county in which I grew up toward men in the kitchen.  The article profiled a Taos High School culinary arts team–comprised of three boys and one young lady–which triumphed over 16 other New Mexico schools in a state-wide cooking competition to earn a berth on the national stage. In the dark ages when I attended high school, any male student deigning to admit to enjoy cooking would have been dismissed as a (select your own pejorative) and might even have incurred physical harm.  When I enrolled in Home Economics as a senior, I spared myself merciless taunting and possibly painful beatings by telling my friends it…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2020Gone But Not ForgottenMariscosMexican

El Sarape – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno7:12 AM

Before the advent of political correctness, the unchecked use of controversial stereotypes was rampant throughout America.  Starting in the 1930s, for example,  ethnic caricatures in the guise of tchotchkes (salt shakers, cookie jars, plant pots and the like) could be seen in households throughout the fruited plain. Neon-spangled roadside five-and-tens  dotting the motorways and byways were primary culprits in the sale of kitschy, tacky knickknacks propagating such stereotypes as mammies, cigar-store Indians and the Mexican peasant taking a siesta while reclining against a saguaro.  The sleeping Mexican, often called Pancho, was particularly prominent throughout the Southwest.  Generally attired in huaraches, pantaloons, a sash which doubled as a belt, a massive sombrero that hid his face and a colorful sarape, that…

AlbuquerqueBakeryBreakfastClosed in 2014GermanGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Dagmar’s Restaurant & Strudel Haus – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:18 AM

According to the 2000 United States Census, there are 47 million Americans of German ancestry, making them the largest self-reporting ethnic group in the country. German Americans represent 16 percent of the total U.S. population.  With such a large ancestry group, you might wonder why German cuisine isn’t as popular as the cuisine of its European neighbors Italy and France.  It’s a question which also seems to baffle the National Restaurant Association which posits that Americans characterize German food as “rich, indulgent foods; good, hearty portions; and irresistible desserts.”  With reasons like those, you might expect that there would be more German restaurants across the fruited plain (and more than one German restaurant in the Land of Enchantment).  Bon Appetit‘s…

AmericanClosed in 2016Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew Mexico

La Risa Cafe – Ribera, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno10:01 PM

“La Risa es el mejor remedio.” (Laughter is the best medicine.) Laughter is a mystery.  Scientists don’t know why among all creatures throughout the Earth, only humans are hard-wired to be able to laugh.  Not even the hyena has this capability.   What scientists do know is that laughter has a variety of benefits to the human mind and body. Laughter: boosts the immune system, oxygenates blood and reduces stress.  Laughter may also reduce pain and it certainly elevates mood. When Ashley Wegele, a regular reader of this blog, told me about the La Risa Cafe in rural Ribera, New Mexico, I was intrigued…to say the least. Why would a restaurant call itself the Laughter (the English translation of “risa”)…