Category: Corrales

Closed in 2020CorralesDog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew MexicoSteak

Las Ristras Restaurant – Corrales, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:17 PM

Based on interviews conducted with Hollywood luminaries who’ve starred in movies or television shows shot in New Mexico, you might think our state either doesn’t have a symbol of hospitality or that symbol is something as poorly representative of the Land of Enchantment as crack (Josh Brolin), tire stores (Jonathan Banks), shirtless drivers (Seth McFarlane), Walmart (Jessica Alba) or loudness (Tommy Lee Jones). With all the tax breaks and enticements afforded film production companies, shouldn’t its most visible beneficiaries at least have something nice to say about New Mexico? While New Mexico doesn’t have an official (as in legislatively decreed) symbol of hospitality, most of us recognize a ristra hanging on a doorway as an invitation to visitors, ergo a symbol of hospitality. It’s as much a symbol of hospitality as the pineapple is in Hawaii and the fleur de lis is in Louisiana. Moreover, the ristra has come to represent the state of New Mexico, maybe not quite as much as the Zia sun, but to a large extent. Now, if you want your texts to reflect New Mexico hospitality, download an app called “New Mexico Emojis” for your iPhone or iPad. Among the emojis you can add to…

CorralesNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Apple Tree Cafe – Corrales, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:17 PM

Apple trees have had a bad rap ever since a conniving serpent (probably a lawyer or politician in disguise) in a verdant paradise beguiled Eve into taking a bite of the fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Never mind that Genesis does not specifically mention an apple as having been the forbidden fruit, for some reason (perhaps collusion among grape growers), religious art has always depicted the apple as the one fruit God prohibited Adam and Eve from touching or eating “lest you die.” The apple tree’s nefarious reputation took another nasty hit when an orchard of apple trees hurled fruity missiles at Dorothy and her friends as they made their way to Oz. Dorothy was just trying to follow the edict “an apple a day keeps the doctor (or the wicked witch of the west) away.” Today, temptation is still synonymous with the apple tree, particularly in Corrales where generations of New Mexicans converge every year to get their chile fix at Wagner Farms. Few can resist the alluring siren’s call of chiles being roasted, their tender flesh hissing and spitting as they blacken as their alluring aroma perfumes the air. Like Eve succumbing…

CorralesNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Katrinah’s East Mountain Grill – Edgewood, New Mexico

Gil Garduno10:22 AM

It’s interesting that the New Mexico State Constitution bars “idiots” and “insane persons” from voting, but quips about votes being cast by dead people, family pets and farm animals have been pervasive over the years in some counties and municipalities. In some of the same counties and municipalities, the saying “vote early and vote often” has seemed more a way of life than an aphorism. Not all citizens of the Land of Enchantment exercise their right to vote, but some, it seems, exercise it vigorously…and often. Perhaps realizing the enthusiasm some New Mexicans have for the right to vote, the New Mexico Tourism Department allowed them to cast their vote daily for their favorite breakfast burrito in the statewide Breakfast Burrito Byway contest and tourism initiative. Voters cast some 46,766 votes for their favorites among 400 nominated restaurants. The top fifty vote-getters became “founding members” of the inaugural Byway. Katrinah’s East Mountain Grill in Edgewood garnered the most votes, tallying 2,623 votes (not quite one vote per resident in the community of 3,379 souls). In a “get the vote out” campaign utilizing Facebook, whiteboards and the ever-effective personal touch, Katrinah’s proved that in New Mexico the popular vote still counts…

AmericanClosed in 2015CorralesGone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

The Spot Cafe – Corrales, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:56 AM

Big Bang Theory wunderkind Sheldon Cooper has a spot he describes as the “singular location in space around which revolves my entire universe.” That spot is the left side of his couch, a location he has placed “in a state of eternal dibs.” In scientific terms, Sheldon relates his spot as “a single point of consistency in an ever-changing world.” His attachment to that one spot borders on obsession, but he’s not the only television character that possessive of his spot. In television comedies, characters have always had their favorite spots and show little tolerance for anybody who tries to sit in them. Cheers barflies Norm Peterson and Cliff Claivin had their favorite bar stools. Jerry Seinfeld, George Costanza and Cosmo Kramer always sat at their favorite table at Monk’s Diner. Heaven help anyone who sat on Archie Bunker’s favorite chair, the most famous and only one of the aforementioned spots on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Television personalities are often based on and mimic real life characters. As such, it will be interesting to see what Corrales resident will develop an attachment to a favorite spot at its newest eatery (as of May,…

Closed in 2008CorralesEnglishGone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

The Old House Gastropub – Corrales, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno11:50 PM

There’s a European joke that uses stereotypes to deride British cooking, one of the most maligned cuisines in the world culinary stage. As the joke goes, in the European conception of heaven, the French are the chefs, the British are the police and the Germans are the engineers while in the European conception of hell, the Germans are the police, the French are the engineers and the British are the chefs. When it comes to the culinary arts, England is the Rodney Dangerfield of Europe; its cuisine receives absolutely no respect. English food is regarded as bland and unimaginative, especially when compared with the haute (and haughty) cuisine of France. Having spent three years in England and having partaken of wonderful food throughout the Isles, I rise to the defense of this nation’s maligned food. We found English food to be inventive and delicious. We left England about four years before the term “gastropub” was coined, but the concept had actually already started to be practiced and proliferated. A gastropub is a British term for a public house (pub) which specializes in high-end, high-quality food. The term gastropub, a combination of pub and gastronomy, is intended to define food which…