Gone But Not Forgotten Archives - Page 31 of 59 - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog

Barbecue Breakfast Closed in 2013 Gone But Not Forgotten New Mexico Rio Rancho

The Smokehouse Barbecue Restaurant (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoJune 21, 2013July 19, 20263:38 AM

The very best restaurants–those we’re proud to call our favorites–aren’t ncessarily the swankiest and most elegant venues. They’re not even usually the restaurants you visit on special occasions. They’re our favorites because for the duration of our meal, all our cares dissipate and our faith that everything will be okay is restored as we’re fed comforting, delicious food by servers we know and trust. The Smokehouse has been such a refuge to hundreds of Rio Rancho area residents for nearly two and a half decades. The Smokehouse’s last full day of operation was Saturday, June 22nd, 2013. Then on Sunday…

African Albuquerque Closed in 2014 Gone But Not Forgotten

Rafiki Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoJune 15, 2013July 17, 201812:00 PM

“Let us break bread and celebrate our diversity.” ~Desmond Tutu Peruvian cuisine…been there, done that! Moroccan meals…that’s so yesterday. Persian food…it’s had its day. Pan Asian dining…erstwhile eating. Never mind Italian regional cuisine and Spanish tapas. Once fresh and nouveau, they’re now practically prehistoric. Who would have thought ten years ago that the Duke City would become so cosmopolitan, so open to multicultural culinary elements from all over the world? Who would have guessed that cuisine once considered exotic and alien would become just another welcome part of the culinary climate? In contemporary times fashioned by an interconnected world, a…

Albuquerque Burgers Closed in 2014 Gone But Not Forgotten New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011

Lumpy’s Burgers – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoJune 5, 2013July 17, 20181:44 AM

Of all the adjectives that can be used to describe something or someone, lumpy is certainly not one of the most complimentary. Think of all the Archie Bunker-like tantrums thrown during holiday meals when lumpy mashed potatoes are served or the breakfast battles that ensue when the oatmeal is lumpy. In fits of pique, seven-time Academy Award nominated actor Richard Burton often called his voluptuous wife Elizabeth Taylor “lumpy,” perhaps one of the reasons Hollywood’s most volatile couple was twice divorced and their relationship generally tumultuous. Perhaps worse than describing something as “lumpy” is giving someone that nickname. Consider the…

Albuquerque Closed in 2015 Food Truck Gone But Not Forgotten New Mexico

El Chicken 100% Carbon – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMay 24, 2013August 23, 20208:13 AM

My environmentally conscious friend Bruce “Sr. Plata” Silver doesn’t have a large carbon footprint. No environmental activist would ever condemn him for fouling the air and water with a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, Sr. Plata leaves large “carbon fingerprints,” the finger-licking kind you get from frequenting restaurants which specialize in pollo al carbon, chicken prepared over charcoal. Pollo al carbon has spoiled Sr. Plata. He craves those juicy, golden-skinned birds speckled with black char, chicken so meaty and delicious it makes store-bought rotisserie chickens look positively anorexic in comparison. Who can blame Sr. Plata? Pollo al carbon…

Albuquerque Closed in 2014 Gone But Not Forgotten New Mexico Vietnamese

Pho Hoa – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMay 3, 2013July 17, 201811:18 AM

Though it ended in 1975, the Vietnam war was still very fresh in the minds of Americans when I enlisted in the Air Force two years later. Many of my senior colleagues had served in Vietnam and regaled me with tales of their adventures. It wasn’t man’s inhumanity to man they took away from the experience, but the goodness of people brought together by exigent circumstances. It is very telling of the high character of my colleagues that despite the ravages of war, they had fallen in love with Vietnam: its people, culture and its food. Several of my friends…

Albuquerque Closed in 2023 Gone But Not Forgotten Italian

Caruso’s Italian Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoApril 13, 2013December 8, 20253:39 AM

The 1924 publication of Edgar Rice Burrough’s fantasy novel The Land That Time Forgot regaled readers with the notion of what might happen when contemporary humans stumble upon a lost world in which evolution has progressed much more slowly. Step into Caruso’s Italian Restaurant on Menaul and you just might be entering Albuquerque’s version of the Italian restaurant that time forgot. Ask friends or family to name ten or even fifteen Italian restaurants in Albuquerque and it’s likely Caruso’s won’t be on that list. Remind them Caruso’s isn’t on their list and their likely response will be “oh yeah, I…

Albuquerque Closed in 2014 Gone But Not Forgotten Peruvian

Taste of Peru – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoApril 12, 2013July 17, 201810:17 AM

Early in 2013, the National Restaurant Association took the pulse of more than 1,800 professional chefs and nearly 200 professional bartenders with its annual “What’s Hot” culinary survey designed to predict restaurant menu trends for the coming year. Considered the definitive forecast of culinary inclinations, the survey’s “Ethnic Cuisines and Flavors” category was topped by Peruvian cuisine which is not only hot, it’s cool. It’s hip, swanky and trendy. It’s so “happening” that even New Mexico, which is sometimes years behind culinary trends, has embraced it. Since 2011, three Peruvian restaurants have launched in the Duke City. Peruvian cuisine is…

Albuquerque Closed in 2020 Gone But Not Forgotten Sandwich Vietnamese

Sai Gon Sandwich – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMarch 16, 2013March 21, 20239:51 PM

If ever there was a culinary Kobayashi Maru (for the non-Trekkies among you, that’s a no-win scenario), it might well be naming the best sandwich (or best food of any kind) in the world. Imagine the challenge. There are potentially hundreds of thousands of delicious candidates, many worthy of acclaim as the very best in their block, city, state or province…but the world’s an awfully big place. A lifetime might not be enough to sample but a few thousand sandwiches. Any sandwich you select would undoubtedly be disputed vehemently. Surely, you say, no authoritative source exists which would possibly have the…

Albuquerque Closed in 2016 Donuts Gone But Not Forgotten Specialty

Duke City Donuts – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMarch 16, 2013July 17, 20181:37 PM

If you love donuts (and who doesn’t), you might want to consider being just a bit more generous when you see the ubiquitous Salvation Army bell-ringers and their familiar kettles standing in the chilly winter air to solicit donations. The Salvation Army didn’t invent the first donut, but you can certainly credit much of their popularity to this philanthropic group. During World War I, the “lassies” in the Salvation Army prepared donuts for thousands of soldiers, an act which along with their compassion endeared the group to the American public. It also stimulated a taste for donuts which hadn’t existed…

Albuquerque Closed in 2014 Gone But Not Forgotten Vegetarian/Vegan

Mint Tulip Vegan Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMarch 8, 2013July 17, 20188:00 PM

“Once a year during a certain holiday in November, meat-eaters use the hollowed-out rectum of a dead bird as a pressure cooker for stuffing. And people think vegans are weird because we eat tofu?” ~Gary Yourofsky In the spirit of the much debated question of “nature or nurture,” my inaugural visit to The Mint Tulip Vegan Restaurant prompted my own philosophical contemplation, “are veggie haters born or made?” The answer is probably a little of both. Many of us were–as children–traumatized by well-intentioned parental chiding or threats regarding vegetables: “Eat Your Vegetables!” “You’re not leaving this table until you eat…

Albuquerque Closed in 2023 Gone But Not Forgotten Mariscos Mexican

Tacos Mex Y Mariscos – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoFebruary 23, 2013November 21, 202410:26 PM

The taco landscape across the Duke City may well be a tale of two tacos. At one extreme we have Zacatecas Tacos & Tequila, the upscale, gourmet taco eatery situated in fashionable Nob Hill. In February, 2013, Zacatecas Tacos was named a semi-finalist for the James Beard Foundation‘s “best new restaurant” in America honor. Zacatecas Tacos represents the “self-actualization” of tacos…tacos which are all they can be…tacos which have been elevated to the nth degree of creativity and deliciousness…tacos at a price point heretofore not achieved in Albuquerque by what is essentially a street food favorite. The antithesis of Zacatecas…

Category: Gone But Not Forgotten