Category: Gone But Not Forgotten

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2009Mexican

La Norteñita – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:27 AM

The only disappointment (and it was a minor one) we experienced during our inaugural visit to La Norteñita was in not hearing the lively Mexican polka “Mi Nortenita” crackling over the restaurant’s tinny speaker system. That would have made our visit to “Old Mexico” complete. More than most Mexican restaurants in Albuquerque, La Norteñita (the little northern girl) has the look and feel of a restaurant in one of Mexico’s northern states. That means a kitchen and wait staff (and most customers) barely conversant in English, a lustrous color palate on the stark walls, mañana paced service and flavorsome food not adulterated for American tastes. The original La Norteñita has been around for several years, situated on Central Avenue in an edifice most Americans might consider a “dive.” Business was so good that its owner (ironically from Puerto Vallarta which is in central Mexico) launched a second La Norteñita restaurant about three miles from the original. A second La Norteñita was launched at the site which once housed Cha Cha’s, DeLillo’s All American Cafe and Christina’s restaurant, all very good restaurants in a heavily trafficked yet seemingly doomed to failure location. If you had wagered that La Norteñita would succeed…

AmericanBakeryClosed in 2008Food Network Eats New MexicoGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoSanta Fe

Cloud Cliff Bakery & Cafe – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno9:56 AM

In the 1880s, Northern New Mexico was a prolific wheat growing region. More than 250 varieties of wheat grew in its rocky but fecund soil. Thanks to a rural revitalization program called the Northern New Mexico Organic Wheat Project, the region’s wheat production is becoming genetic diverse once again. Today under the program’s auspices, more than 20 families are growing several heirloom wheat varieties which are marketed under the very popular Nativo label. The driving force behind the program is Willem Maltem, a former Zen monk who arrived in Santa Fe in the mid 1980s. To earn bread, Maltem sold bread, in 1984 founding the Cloud Cliff Bakery, Cafe and Artspace. The artisan Bakery now produces 35,000 loaves of bread a month, but the staff of life is but one of the many things that makes Cloud Cliff truly unique and special. Grace, beauty and harmony–hallmarks of Zen–are immediately obvious when you stride into the sprawling 8,000 square-foot complex whose distressed oak floor was recycled from a high school gymnasium. The walls are adorned by intricate paintings and weavings, the work of the Shipibo-Konibo people of the Peruvian Amazon. The patterns are said to have spiritual healing properties, and indeed…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2007Fine DiningGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoTapas

Graze – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:57 PM

When uncredentialed food critics (like me) sing the praises of a restaurant, their fulsome rants might not garner much notice, but when professional chefs and critics are unabashedly effusive about that same restaurant, you’d be well advised to listen. Graze, launched in December, 2002 by chef luminary Jennifer James, has had all the cognoscenti waxing poetic. La Cocinita magazine’s best chef award winner for 2002, James has been all but beatified, so prolific is her reputation. Renown for melding seemingly disparate ingredients into concordant meals, she is as much an artist as a chef. Note: In September, 2006, Jennifer James ended her affiliation with Graze, leaving it in the hands of her business partner Michael Chesley. On January 27, 2007, Graze closed for good. Appropriately named, Graze specializes in tapas, Spanish appetizers that can also form an entire meal when several are ordered together. Tapas dishes are generally quite small and can be both simple or elaborate. Even though I understood that dining concept, I didn’t quite “get it” during our inaugural visit accustomed as I am to the huge portions served at most restaurants. We lamented the short-lived pate grand-mere with cornichons (sour crisp pickles made from tiny gherkin…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2014Gone But Not ForgottenNew Mexican

La Esquina Restaurante – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:11 AM

It’s pretty common knowledge that several years ago, a state legislator submitted a resolution to declare “red or green chile” the official “state question“. On April 8, 1999, Governor Gary Johnson signed the bill making the resolution law. Less known is the fact that the New Mexico state legislature also passed a resolution approving an official state answer.  It’s no surprise that “red and green” or “Christmas” has been adopted as the official answer of the great state of New Mexico? Why red or green? In the hundreds of restaurants throughout the Land of Enchantment in which chile is served, you’ll invariably be asked to state your preference–red or green.  The fact that the state legislature approved resolutions for both a state question and answer signifies just how important the chile industry is to the economy of the Land of Enchantment. In 2004 New Mexico produced 106,850 tons of chile (25% above 2003) valued at 50.33 million dollars, making it the number one (legal) cash crop in terms of sales in the state.   One of the Duke City’s best practitioners of the art of preparing and serving excellent red or green chile is La Esquina Restaurante on the Galeria Mall in…

BarbecueClosed in 2010Gone But Not ForgottenNevadaUnited States

Buckingham Smokehouse Bar-B-Q – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno11:53 PM

Las Vegas has established itself as one of America’s, if not the world’s, preeminent dining destinations. Many of the world’s most famous and successful chefs have launched flamboyant restaurants that celebrate their self-aggrandizing greatness in magnificent pantheons of gustatory grandeur. Fortunately for true gastronomes who don’t worship exclusively at the tables of gastronomic glitterati, Las Vegas has also attracted its share of chefs with whom those of us of the common clay can identify–chefs who didn’t refine their skills at a snooty culinary institute but in the backyard on the family grill. With a recent influx of pit masters migrating to Las Vegas from America’s heartlands, Sin City may someday compete with Memphis, Kansas City, Texas and South Carolina as a bastion of barbecue. Witness: Mike “The Legend” Mills, a four-time world champion at “Memphis in May,” the most prestigious barbecue competition in the world chose Las Vegas as the site of his four Memphis Championship Barbecue restaurants. In recent years his restaurant has been a mainstay on the annual “Best of Las Vegas” awards. It’s been said that when it comes to Texas barbecue, all roads lead to the award-winning Salt Lick Barbecue restaurant in the tiny backwater town…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2009Gone But Not ForgottenNew Mexican

505 Southwestern – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:32 PM

Area code 505 was one of the original area codes established in 1947 and for nearly 60 years, that sole area code sufficed to serve all of New Mexico.  With the state’s surging population, however, numbers available with the 505 prefix were eventually exhausted.  The Federal Communication Commission provided area code relief in the form of a second area code (575).     A new area code for the Albuquerque area wasn’t in the makings, but it would not have had implications for 505 Southwestern which would not have changed its name even had the area code changed.  575 Southwestern Chile Factory & Cool Stuff To Eat just wouldn’t have the same poetic lilt. In the mid 1990s, 505 Southwestern was one of our favorite dining destinations in the Albuquerque uptown area where the festive atmosphere and imaginative menu shouted “fun” while the frequently changing menu seemed to get better with each iteration.  One of the first things your eyes trained on when you entered the restaurant was an ominous looking iguana in a large tank.  Since iguanas are renown salmonella carriers, we were relived iguana wasn’t featured fare on the menu.  The 505 featured an excellent Sunday brunch and one of the best desserts in town–the…

Closed in 2008Gone But Not ForgottenNevadaSandwichUnited States

Windy City Pizza & Subs – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:22 PM

Ask any Chicago transplant to list the five things they miss most about the Windy City and it’s a good bet the list will include Italian beef sandwiches, a staple in Chicago. Chicagoans grow up worshipping at the tables of Italian beef sandwich shops and are almost as passionate about this sloppy sandwich as they are Da Bears. After my several first two experiences with Italian beef, my reaction was “okay, so what’s so great about these” then we visited Johnnie’s Italian Beef and I had an epiphany. Now my nights are (Italian) spiced with dreams of gravy running down my arms and the sounds of giardinaire crunching in my mouth. Italian beef sandwiches are an absolute “must have” during our visits to the Windy City. Several years ago during one of our frequent sojourns to Las Vegas, we discovered Mastro’s Italian Beef a scant three miles from our Vegas residence and struck up a friendship with Mike Mastro, the affable proprietor. Mastro evinced the adage that “you can’t trust a skinny chef.” A formidable man, he shared our passion for Italian beef authenticity and crafted the very best example of that sandwich we’ve ever had outside of Chicago. Trepidation…

Closed in 2022Gone But Not ForgottenNevadaThaiUnited States

Satay Thai Bistro & Bar – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:21 AM

While Albuquerque has come a long way toward becoming a cultural melting pot, a dramatic dearth still exists when it comes to a pot of another sort–the pot in which enculturated diners might find simmering some of the world’s most flavorful cuisine: Ethiopian, Basque, Russian, Hawaiian and Malaysian, for example.  Fortunately, more cosmopolitan dining destinations such as Las Vegas are only a short flight away. Las Vegas diners have embraced the Satay Malaysian Grille, the first Chinatown area restaurant to feature the fragrant spices, pungent curries and distinctive flavor combinations that have long made Malaysian cuisine a favorite of savvy diners.  Talk about a melting pot.  The population of Malaysia is comprised heavily of ethnic Chinese and Indians so it stands to reason that their cuisines would play a major culinary influence in the development of their cuisine.  Proximity to Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam certainly wielded some influence as well. The Satay Grille is named for the popular grilled skewers with which aficionados of Thai cuisine are familiar.  Regarded as “street food” throughout the Far East, satay has become a popular American favorite, perhaps because of its similarity to the skewers prepared on many a barbecue grill.  A satay…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2008Gone But Not ForgottenJapaneseSushi

Taka Sushi – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:14 AM

Just as you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, you shouldn’t judge a restaurant by its exterior facade…or even its interior for that matter A good example of this is Taka Sushi, a venerable Japanese restaurant on the city’s southeast quadrant. From the outside, Taka Sushi lacks the polish and veneer of its competitors, appearing more like a remnant of the 1960s with dated paint and austere signage. It isn’t much better when you step inside. Clutter (or “casual and homey” as Scott Sharot called it in his terrific tome New Mexico Chow), not feng shui, seems to define the restaurant’s decorating style. Leave the spit and polish to trend followers who are impressed with over-the-top flamboyance (can you say Azuma and Samurai). For terrific Japanese food, you can’t do much better than Taka Sushi, never mind that it isn’t stylish or cool. Taka Sushi is a long-time Duke City favorite that we didn’t discover until 2006 thanks to my multiple-time re-read of the aforementioned New Mexico Chow guide which continues to introduce us to off-the-beaten path treasures we might otherwise neglect. It’s a must-have resource for all New Mexico diners. Stepping into Taka Sushi has one similarity to…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2009Gone But Not ForgottenMariscosMexican

Ay Caramba – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:00 AM

Ay Caramba!  That tired old Spanish expression was part of American pop culture long before Bart Simpson popularized its usage on episodes of The Simpsons animated television series.  The expression translates to “confound it!” or maybe “Holy Cow” and is generally used to register surprise.  You can almost imagine the Mexican equivalent of Robin, the Boy Wonder of Batman fame exclaiming “Ay Caramba” as he and his crime-fighting partner stumble onto yet another perilous plight.   My hopes were that I’d be exclaiming “Ay Caramba” at how great the food is at this mom-and-pop restaurant which launched in 2005.  After all, my friend and colleague Steve Coleman has a relatively high opinion of the restaurant’s “sister” restaurant in Canutillo, Texas, a restaurant owned by the brother of Albuquerque’s Ay Caramba.  It appears good cooking runs in the family. Ay Caramba’s menu is replete with many traditional favorites of northern Mexico as well as the wonderful mariscos found along Mexico’s coastal seaways…but Ay Caramba!…the menu doesn’t include Ceviche, one of the items that defines Mexican seafood. Complementary salsa arrives at your table shortly after you do.  The jalapeno and roasted tomato salsa makes sparse use of cilantro and cumin, two overused spices which…

Closed in 2007Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoRio RanchoThai

Hong Thai – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno2:04 PM

Cloistered in the tiny, nondescript Lujan Plaza shopping center and away from the maddening traffic cavalcade that has become Rio Rancho Boulevard, Hong Thai operated for nearly a year (since April, 2005) before we knew it existed (our first visit was in March, 2006). We thought the shopping center’s southwest corner was still occupied by a mediocre Chinese restaurant. Boy, were we ever in for a treat. Hong Thai is superior in every way to its predecessor whose claim to fame seemed to be cramming throngs of non-discerning diners into a small space for a mediocre buffet of Americanized Chinese favorites (lots of fried, candied stuff that all tastes the same). Family-owned and operated, Hong Thai features cuisine from both Thailand and China. Like the previous occupant, it offers a lunch-hour buffet that is heavily patronized and does a booming take-out business. Having eschewed Chinese buffets (the essence and definition of mediocrity), we may never find out whether or not Hong Thai does a better job appeasing hungry diners than other Chinese buffets in the Albuquerque area, but we do know that its standard menu offerings will assuage the appetites of adventurous diners with a passion for Thai cuisine. Thai…