Category: Asian

AlbuquerqueAsianJapaneseNew MexicoRamenRating: N/R (Not Rated)Sushi

Aji Ramen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

If a television show was to be created about ramen (some pronounce it ray-men), it would probably be called “Everybody loves ramen.”  According to the World Noodles Association (yes, there is such an entity), Americans consume 5.15 billion servings of instant ramen every year.  If you think that’s a lot, the United States ranks as only the sixth-largest consumer globally, significantly far behind such Asian nations as China and Indonesia.  Still, the land of spacious skies and fruited plains ranks as the top ramen consumer outside of Asia.   The per person consumption rate among Americans is 15 servings of ramen per year.  Would you believe South Korea is ranked the world’s number one per capita in instant noodle consumption (72.8 servings of instant noodles per annum)? Perhaps because of my non-traditional route (night school and testing out of courses) to higher education, I’ve never had instant ramen.  That’s right.  In my 39 years on planet Earth, my lips have never partaken of the food most commonly associated with college students.  Maybe it’s a good thing.  The high-calorie content and the high concentration of refined carbohydrates, fats, and sodium  in instant noodles, contribute to an increased risk of metabolic disease.  Though…

AlbuquerqueAsianNew MexicoRating: ExcellentVietnamese

Pho Nho – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Foodies are a passionate–some would say even snobbish–lot. The most passionate among them are sticklers for authenticity and provenance of ingredients and preparation methods.  The plebeian among us who don’t know quite as much had better not represent inaccuracies as truths (much as politicians do) or even use culinary terms incorrectly lest we be excoriated.  Tieghan Gerard, a well-intentioned blogger, learned just how passionate savvy foodies can be. Tieghan, the creator of the popular food blog Half Baked Harvest found herself in hot water when she had the audacity to misrepresent a quick noodle soup recipe. More specifically, she dubbed her recipe “chicken pho,” a faux pas on may levels and for many reasons.  Readers were quick to point out the recipe was NOT pho, a dish that should never be prepared quickly.  Strictly speaking, they pointed out, pho is a soup made with beef (although increasingly chicken and vegetarian versions are being made).  Several steps in the recipe (such as caramelizing the chicken) would never be done in a traditional pho recipe.  For the most woke among her  readers, Tieghan’s most grievous mortal sin was in calling her soup “pho,” an unforgivable misappropriation of Vietnam’s most popular and famous…

AlbuquerqueChineseNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Chopstix – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:02 AM

And I find chopsticks frankly distressing. Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back 3,000 years haven’t yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food? ~Bill Bryson The precise date in which chopsticks were first used has been lost in time. Archaeological evidence found in burial plots indicates they are at least 3,200 years old though some scholars believe they’ve been around even longer than that. Even the evolution of chopsticks is in debate. Some surmise that chopsticks evolved from the practice of using wooden sticks to stir food as it cooked on large pots over an open fire. Others believe that hasty eaters broke twigs from trees to retrieve food as it cooked. Whenever their origin and whatever its genesis, chopsticks have, for thousands of years, been the main tableware of the Chinese. By the Fifth Century A.D., the use of chopsticks had even spread from China to present day Japan, Korea and Vietnam. The dualistic philosophies of Yin Yang that seek universal balance and harmony even posit…

2010 James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef" - SouthwestNevadaRating: ExceptionalThaiUnited States

LOTUS OF SIAM – Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Garduno1:36 AM

In the August, 2000 issue of Gourmet Magazine, Jonathan Gold,  the only food critic to ever earn a Pulitzer Prize, called the Lotus of Siam restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada “the single best Thai restaurant in North America.”  Not a disparaging word was heard or a dissenting opinion offered among the cognoscenti save for those who argued that the word “Thai” should be removed from from Gold’s audacious proclamation.  Lotus of Siam is THAT good! In the decade plus since Gold’s assertion, every reputable critic from every credible publication has jumped on the bandwagon, essentially echoing or adding to to the validation of the greatness that is the Lotus of Siam.  The superlatives are similar on every review you’ll read of this vaunted restaurant; only the names of the scribes change.  In a media culture which delights in the “time to tear down” portion of Ecclesiastes 3:3, the absence of true criticism for Lotus of Siam speaks volumes.   Lotus of Siam is THAT good! First-time visitors approach Lotus of Siam with high expectations, return visitors with the type of reverence usually accorded only to shrines or holy places.  A visit to the original site of this anointed shrine to Thai…

AmericanAsianFusionNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

Anthony’s Grill – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Some restaurants–especially those with extremely diverse menus–defy categorization.   Food writers usually lump them into the category of “American” restaurants in that American cuisine is a veritable hodgepodge of cuisines from throughout the world.  We weren’t sure what to expect during our first visit to Anthony’s Grill in Santa Fe.  We read that Anthony’s specializes in “Asian fusion” with stir-fry dishes that could be Japanese or Chinese depending on the sauce.  We also learned that Anthony’s offers some of the very best fried chicken and fried catfish in the Land of Enchantment.  So, is Anthony’s an Asian fusion restaurant or is it a Southern restaurant?  Is it both?  Does it reallly matter? What does matter about Anthony’s is that this relatively small restaurant serves some of the most delicious food we’ve enjoyed in the City Different.  Specifically (and for me, this is significant) I delighted in the very best catfish and hush puppies I’ve had since leaving Mississippi in 1995.  Yes, catfish, that bottom-feeding, mud-dwelling fish that very few (if any) restaurants in New Mexico seem incapable of preparing well.  I’ve often analogized that the catfish at New Mexico’s restaurants as “coated in sawdust” and as “desiccated as a mummy’s dandruff.” …

AlbuquerqueAsianFilipinoNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Barkada’s ABQ – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

As a self-confessed mama’s boy away from home for the first time, my transition to being on my own could have been much tougher.  Thankfully I was “adopted” by Air Force veterans and the spouses they had married during tours of Vietnam, Korea and The Philippines.  Those spouses were largely responsible for my introduction to Asian cuisine, none of which I had ever had as a sheltered bumpkin  growing up in secluded Peñasco.  I wanted to try it all.  In some cases, I would try foods (such as rancid kimchi and stomach-turning balut) my friends (some of whom had seen combat) were afraid to try.  My willingness to try virtually everything endeared me to my friends’ spouses though my friends complained I was making them look wimpy. Although all Asian food seemed exotic in comparison with the beans, tortillas, and chile diet of my youth, I did experience one cuisine which was more relatable because it had the qualities of home cooking, the type of which my mom’s prepared for her family. That cuisine was Filipino.  Norma would greet me to the family home with a traditional Filipino greeting of “Kain tayo!”.  That greeting doesn’t translate to “welcome to our…

AlbuquerqueAsianKoreanNew Mexico

I Grill Korean BBQ & Hotpot

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

You hear it very time a seismic event or devastating conflagration strikes California.  Doomsayers seem to come out from under the rocks to proclaim it “divine castigation.”  That’s also their argument when the Golden State’s elections don’t go as they would like.  These very same people don’t seem to like much about California.  Such negativity makes me wonder if these fatalists have ever spent much time in this fabled  land of opportunity and adventure.  There’s got to be a reason California is the most populous state in the union.  Surely the forty-million residents would be leaving in droves if it was that bad. Although the Air Force took me to most of the contiguous states in the country, it was Intel which first sent me to California.  Back when Intel was flush with cash, I was dispatched to Santa Clara for weeks at a time.  These business trips were not only highly productive, they  introduced me to the uniquely wonderful “California cuisine” and its emphasis on fresh, local and seasonal ingredients.  As a movement, California cuisine’s embrace of diverse culinary cultures and innovative approaches reflected the state’s own diversity and commitment to high-quality, sustainable and healthy foods. Asian restaurants are…

AlbuquerqueAsianNew MexicoRating: ExcellentThai

Eat My Thai – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In his inimitable style Anthony Bourdain described the first time he tasted Thai food: “It was like discovering a color I never knew existed before. A whole new crayon box full of colors.”  His words resonate true for those of us who don’t live in a monochromatic world of homogeneous meals lacking diversity, personality and flavor.  Similarly resonant is his characterization of Thailand’s spicy food: “That perfect balance of pain, and pleasure, and more pain. Brain flooding with endorphins and all is well with the world. Until tomorrow morning.”  Would that my words would flow with the profundity, veracity and ease with which Bourdain laced his every utterance. When my Kim and I find a Thai restaurant with a menu so diverse and complete that it practically begs for a poetic waxing is when I curse the lack of fluency, grace, and rhetorical eloquence in my speech.  Such was the case when we visited the almost sardonically named Eat My Thai restaurant on Gibson.  Perusing the menu filled me with joy and with hope.  Far too many Thai restaurants across the Duke City have a boring “sameness” as if they subscribe to a templated format.  Eat My Thai’s menu offers…

AlbuquerqueAsianChineseNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Fan Tang – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

For “city dwellers” Chinese restaurants are ubiquitous.  There’s one in every corner   Most urbanites were weaned on Chinese food.  It’s as much a part of their diet as “American” food.  Those of us who grew up in the “sticks” during the stone age had to travel great distances to find Chinese food…and when we did find a Chinese restaurant, we really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.  Everything we knew about that mysterious, exotic cuisine came from television programs in the days long preceding the Food Network.  Every once in a while, mention was made on one of those  television shows about egg foo young.  I’m thinking maybe Maxwell Smart may have mentioned egg foo young during in an episode in which he battled his nemesis “The Craw“, er…The Claw. As chronicled on Gil’s Thrilling…my very first experience with Chinese food transpired in Lexington, Massachusetts within easy walking distance of the famous Lexington Minuteman Statue.  My friend (and boss at the time) Paul Venne enjoyed my bumpkinly naivete.  I literally had no idea about Chinese food other than the little bit learned from television.  He recommended starting out at the Chinese Food 101 level.  That meant egg…

AlbuquerqueBakeryNew MexicoRating: ExcellentVietnamese

Le Bakery – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“What colonialism does is cause an identity crisis about one’s own culture.” ~Lupita Nyong’o Academy Award Winning Actress Much as we might believe geopolitics has no place in a food blog, food and geopolitics are undeniably intertwined.  Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in the history of Vietnam.  In the 17th Century, France began a trade relationship with Vietnam.  Two centuries later, France began the colonization of Vietnam.  For six decades, France ruled over the Southeast Asian country, essentially relegating the indiginous population to second-class status, if not servitude. During this time, French influence spread across Vietnamese cuisine, architecture, culture, art and cuisine – an influence which continues to live on across the country today. The French influence on Vietnam’s culinary culture included the introduction of  new ingredients and cooking techniques that blended with local flavors. Perhaps the most famous fusion sprang from the iconic baguette. While mostly similar,  the Vietnamese style of baguette is made with rice flour instead of wheat flour, giving it a wholly distinct flavor and texture. Baguettes are the canvas on which one of one of the most famous Vietnamese dishes worldwide are constructed: banh mi. These magnificent sandwiches contain a combination of grilled…

2025 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAsianJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersKoreanOklahomaRating: N/R (Not Rated)SteakUnited States

Birdies by Chef Kevin Lee – Edmond, Oklahoma

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

My Kim and I regard ourselves as ambassadors for the great state of New Mexico, especially when we travel.  We’re often asked where we’re from.  Invariably we run into people whose perceptions about the Land of Enchantment are far from kind.  Some actually believe Breaking Bad is a documentary about the condition of life in New Mexico where wild west lawlessness is rampant.  If only perceptions of New Mexico were as gracious and kind as those of Oklahoma.  Throughout our week-long sojourn in the Sooner State, state pride was palpable.   You would expect that from locals, but some of the nicest things we heard about Oklahoma were from visitors like us.  Most visitors were genuinely touched by just how nice veryone was.  Some commented about not being cut off in traffic and not being greeted with a one-finger salute for some unforgiveable traffic transgressions (like not going 20 miles over the speed limit).  Others spoke about the personable service they received at hotels and restaurants. The niceness of Oklahomans didn’t really come as a surprise.  Two of my very favorite people–my Air Force colleague John Holmes Bennett and fellow culinary scribener Steve Coleman–were raised in Oklahoma.  You won’t find two…