Gone But Not Forgotten Archives - Page 44 of 58 - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog

Closed in 2022 Gone But Not Forgotten New Mexican New Mexico Rating: Excellent Santa Fe

Roque’s Carnitas – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMay 18, 2009March 31, 202611:04 PM

In more cosmopolitan metropolises it isn’t uncommon to see sidewalk vendors plying their trade over chuck wagon stands and proffering high quality fast food such as hot dogs, tacos, gyros and sundry quick meal items. Some of the best food in cities such as Portland, Oregon can be found near city parks where enterprising street vendors concoct culinary magic on portable kitchens and what we typically deride as “roach coaches.” Roque Garcia has made such a business an art form–a very successful one. In fact, Roque claims carnitas paid for his home outside Puerto Vallarta in Mexico and for the Mercedes Benz automobiles he likes to drive. Roque’s cart is stationed on the southeast corner of the Santa Fe plaza…

Arizona Burgers Closed in 2020 Gone But Not Forgotten United States

Delux Burger – Phoenix, Arizona (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMay 17, 2009April 26, 20225:07 PM

“I ordered a cheeseburger at lunch the other day. I had never eaten at this particular restaurant before, and whenever I am unsure about the quality of the food at a place, I always order a cheeseburger. How many ways can you foul up something as simple as a cheeseburger? The bread can be too hard, or the meat might not be cooked to your liking, but that can be fixed quite easily. After I ordered my cheeseburger – medium well with a soft bun – the waiter asked me, “Do you want a plain cheeseburger or one of our specialties?” There is such a thing as a specialty cheeseburger? A cheeseburger is a piece of hamburger meat with some cheese on top of…

American Arizona Closed in 2014 Gone But Not Forgotten Rating: Outstanding United States

Orange Table – Scottsdale, Arizona (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMay 16, 2009March 31, 20262:22 AM

There are several scenes in the delightfully heartwarming animated Disney movie Ratatouille that resonate with all gastronomes who delight in the sensual pleasures of the dining experience–those for whom food is an enchanting adventure in the discernment and love of its subtle nuances and overt fragrances, tastes, textures and colors. France’s preeminent chef Anton Gasteau, a pivotal character in the movie, describes this sensual adventure best: “Good food is like music you can taste, color you can smell. There is excellence all around you. You need only be aware to stop and savor it.” The scene which may resonate best with this gastronome is when Remy (a provincial rat with a heightened sense of smell and with aspirations of becoming…

Albuquerque Chinese Closed in 2018 Gone But Not Forgotten

Best Lee’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoApril 13, 2009March 9, 20198:01 AM

When John Lucas, Elizabeth Eisner Reding and Mike Reding, three trusted gastronomes who frequent this blog, heartily recommended I try Best Lee’s, my initial reaction was, “they’ve got to be kidding.” Our sole visit to Best Lee’s in Rio Rancho exemplified the mediocrity and boring “sameness” that plagues many of New Mexico’s Chinese restaurants–a homogeneity my discerning friend Bill Resnik refers to as “copycat menus full of candied, fried and breaded mystery meats that all taste the same.” It’s a good thing Chinese Restaurant News (CRN) doesn’t read my blog. CRN, a highly respected monthly trade publication serving the more than 43,100 Chinese restaurants across America, selected Best Lee’s as one of America’s best Chinese restaurants for 2008. In fact, during the “year…

Albuquerque Closed in 2009 New Mexican

Sabroso’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoApril 5, 2009July 22, 20189:37 AM

From the moment they first set foot in the Land of Enchantment, some people just “get it” or perhaps more precisely, New Mexico gets to them. It weaves its preternatural spell and stirs something deeply in those open enough to its calling. D. H. Lawrence said it best, “In the magnificent fierce morning of New Mexico one sprang awake, a new part of the soul woke up suddenly, and the old world gave way to a new.” Other people don’t get it–and maybe they never will. In the early 1980s while attending the University of New Mexico, I encountered several “dormitory rats” who whined incessantly that “there’s nothing to do or see in New Mexico.” I befriended some of them,…

Albuquerque American Closed in 2013 Gone But Not Forgotten

Coyote Diner – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoApril 4, 2009July 25, 20183:04 PM

Restaurant critics, whether we write online reviews or are published in print somewhere, must think we’re so smart. We use polysyllabic (there’s one) words when a more prosaic (another one) word will do. We endeavor (yet another one, but you get the picture) to wax eloquent every time we describe something we obviously like or disdain. Here’s one critic who’s eating humble pie courtesy of Erica Ruth, an erudite (I can’t stop myself) Duke City diner who, in recommending a favorite restaurant, gave me one of the best reviews I’ve read in a long time. When Erica wrote to me and told me of an “amazing hidden treasure in the Heights” serving the “best burgers I have had in Albuquerque,”…

Albuquerque Closed in 2009 Gone But Not Forgotten New Mexican

The Chili Stop Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMarch 12, 2009July 22, 20187:12 PM

Over the years it’s been my experience that almost invariably, New Mexican restaurants which violate traditional New Mexican grammar don’t prepare the object of their grammatical faux pas very well. The grammatical transgression of which I speak is forgetting the “i” before “e” rule and committing the piquant peccadillo of spelling New Mexico’s official state vegetable with two “i’s” and no “e’s.” It’s entirely forgivable that chile is technically a fruit, albeit one which packs an incendiary capsaicin punch, but like many New Mexicans, I feel personally insulted when presented with a menu offering “chili.” That grammatical malapropism wasn’t lost on Calvin Trillin, a legendary American journalist and novelist known for his humorous writings about food and eating. In…

Albuquerque Buffet Closed in 2020 Gone But Not Forgotten Salad

Sweet Tomatoes – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoFebruary 22, 2009May 19, 20203:26 AM

In the early 1980s, Albuquerque native and Tokyo Olympian Buster Quist (whose brother Terry I worked for at the time) launched within the Coronado mall, one of the Duke City’s very first salad bars. The salad bar concept was a few years ahead of its time and the restaurant venture went belly up—a condition portly Americans have, not coincidentally, experienced en masse (no pun intended) over the years. Salad has been a popular dietary staple for a long time, but only in recent years have creative cuisine crafters added imagination, flair and flavor to what used to be bland and unimaginative greenery. The lack of imagination in crafting salads has always reminded dieters that the word “diet” is simply “die”…

Bernalillo Burgers Closed in 2009 Gone But Not Forgotten Mexican

Charlie’s Burgers & Mexican Food – Bernalillo, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoFebruary 17, 2009July 22, 20189:48 PM

Ashley’s Convenience Store on the ill-fated corner of Camino del Pueblo and Avenida Bernalillo achieved the type of notoriety which will be forever associated with a tragedy visited all too often upon New Mexico’s streets. In November, 2006, a driver already inebriated during a U.S. Airways flight, purchased alcohol at the convenience store before resuming his journey home and causing a tragic head-on collision that killed five members of a Las Vegas, New Mexico family. The state of New Mexico banned the airline from serving alcohol while flying to and from the state. The state also took the convenience store’s liquor license, forcing it to close. At the time the convenience store was leased by Albuquerque gasoline distributor Ever-Ready Oil which, in turn,…

Closed in 2010 Mariscos Mexican New Mexico Rio Rancho

Dahlia’s Central Mexican Cuisine – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoFebruary 14, 2009July 22, 20188:34 PM

Because Mexico spans several climatic zones and a diverse topography, its cuisine varies from region to region. As such, it’s grossly unfair to stereotype Mexican food. It’s true that until recent years, most of the Mexican restaurants in the Albuquerque’s area featured the cuisine of the border state of Chihuahua, Mexico, typified by menus offering refried beans, enchiladas, chiles rellenos and the like. The past decade or so, however, has seen the influx of Mexican restaurants serving mariscos, the surprisingly fresh cuisine of the Mexican states bordering its coastal waters. The 2008 introduction of Dahlia’s Central Mexican Cuisine in Rio Rancho was therefore intriguing. My hopes were that Central Mexican cuisine might mean the cuisine of Oaxaca and Puebla, two…

Albuquerque Closed in 2010 Gone But Not Forgotten Italian

Nana’s Trattoria & Pizzeria – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoFebruary 8, 2009July 22, 20185:17 AM

What’sa matta you, hey! Gotta no respect, whatta you think you do, Why you looka so sad? It’s-a pretty bad, it’s-a not-a nice-a place, Ah, shaddap you face! Joe Dolce will just have to forgive me for the liberties I took with the lyrics to his worldwide 1980 number one song Shaddap You Face. Slightly altered, those lyrics express my sentiments when the airwaves are polluted with saccharinely mushy, accordion accented commercials for Italian chain restaurants–commercials like the one in which a small lad escorts his elderly uncle from Italy to Olive Garden for a birthday dinner. You can almost imagine the dumbfounded, aged paisano muttering “stunad” under his breath as he chokes down pasta and longs for the return…