Category: 2022 James Beard Foundation – “Best Chef – Southwest” Semifinalist

2022 James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAlbuquerqueBreakfastBreakfast BurritosJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Outstanding

My Moms – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:01 PM

“God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” —Rudyard Kipling Should you have the pleasure of getting to know Chef Marie Yniguez, even a little, you’ll come away with three absolute certainties.  First, Albuquerque’s arguably most famous celebrity chef is unabashedly herself.  The happy, loving, gregarious person you’ve seen on numerous Food Network culinary competitions doesn’t have a pretentious bone in her body.  She is as genuine and sincere as they come.  Though she left the hardscrabble mining town of Hurley, New Mexico a lifetime ago, she remains a country girl at heart. And even though she was as a semi-finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef – Southwest” honor in 2022, she remains as humble as if she was starting out again at the very bottom of the competitive chef pyramid. Second, it’s an absolute certainty that you’re going to like the effusive chef.  She makes it a point to greet guests to her restaurant and traffic permitting, will visit with them to ensure they’re enjoying their experience (not just their meals).  Marie is a warm soul with a disarming sense of humor and ability to make everyone feel like a good friend.  She has a…

2022 James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistChineseJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersNevadaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Kwok’s Bistro – Reno, Nevada

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

While some foodies chase restaurants featured on Diner’s, Drive-Ins and Dives, I’m not a Fieri Fanatic (or Guy Groupie, if you prefer).  Not every restaurant featured on his Food Network program ranks very high on my list.  I am, however, an unabashed follower of restaurants which earn James Beard Foundation (JBF) honors.  Over the years the JBF judges have selected truly worthy restaurants and chefs for accolades.   Strict criteria and a diligent vetting process ensures awards are granted only to those exemplifying the JBF mission:  “to recognize exceptional talent and achievement in the culinary arts, hospitality, media, and broader food system, as well as a demonstrated commitment to racial and gender equity, community, sustainability, and a culture where all can thrive.” Reno, Nevada happens to fall in JBF’s Southwest region, the same as New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma.  It’s a very tough region in which to compete for regional and national honors.   Within its own state, Reno has to compete with Las Vegas, a  bastion of formidable restaurants and world-class chefs.  Other populous metropolitan areas consistently in contention for regional and national honors are Phoenix, Tucson, Oklahoma City and Tulsa…not to mention New Mexico’s own Albuquerque and Santa…

2022 James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAlbuquerqueJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersMexicanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

La Guelaguetza – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno10:39 PM

“I am tenacious. And I love to eat.  I go into the field and see some delectable things they’re cooking, wild plants perhaps, and think, ‘Oh my God, I have to write about this.’ I just think it’s insatiable curiosity. To me, life is a continuous process of learning.” ~Diana Kennedy As an essayer of the Land of Enchantment’s culinary condition–primarily as it’s expressed by its restaurants–I’ve always marveled at the passion and appetite of Diana Kennedy who built a lifelong career by compiling, publishing and teaching indigenous Mexican recipes.   Just as Julia Child reduced the nuances and inflections of French cuisine and culinary techniques for home cooks, Diana introduced home cooks to highly developed, often centuries-old culinary traditions they didn’t even know existed.  Emanating largely from indigenous Mesoamerican cultures that predated Columbus, those culinary traditions might have been lost to time were it not for Diana Kennedy who wrote several classic books on authentic Mexican cooking. A case could easily be made that before Diana Kennedy, much of the fruited plain perceived Mexican food as some homogeneous combo plate brimming with rolled enchiladas topped with a brownish “sauce” just a shade darker than the refried beans on the plate;…

2022 James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAfricanDiners Drive-Ins and DivesFood Network Eats New MexicoJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersRating: OutstandingSanta Fe

JAMBO CAFE – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Growing up in the 60s–the dark ages before the Internet was even a glimmer in Al Gore’s eyes and google–then spelled “googol”– represented an very large number (currently being approached by build back better spending)–even precocious children like me derived most of our knowledge of Africa from National Geographic magazines and Tarzan movies. We thought Africa was one large monolithic country comprised solely of stark, expansive deserts or lush, mysterious jungles. Africa’s indigenous people, we believed, had to compete for food with lions, tigers and hyenas, oh my. Though Africa was called “the Dark Continent,” it was truly our knowledge which was in the dark, obfuscated by stereotypes and misconceptions. The 1966 debut of Star Trek helped eliminate some of those stereotypes with the introduction of communications officer Lieutenant Uhura, a stunning black woman from the United States of Africa who spoke Swahili. By the time Disney’s The Jungle Book premiered in 1967, I had learned enough about Africa to know that save for in zoos, you couldn’t find a tiger in the entire continent. In the intervening years since the naivete of my youth, I’ve also learned that Africa is comprised of 53 very distinct and autonomous nations and…

2022 James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAlbuquerqueAmericanClosed in 2022Diners Drive-Ins and DivesFood Network Eats New MexicoGone But Not ForgottenJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersRating: ExcellentSandwich

Bocadillos Slow Roasted: A Sandwich Shop – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:19 AM

The Food Network’s television cameras just love Chef Marie Yniguez who’s been showcased on not one, not two, not even three, but four of its prime-time programs. Aficionados of her cooking will tell you that in three of those programs she even upstaged Guy Fieri, the spiky-coiffed chef-glitterati.  Marie is a larger-than-life personality whose irreverent sense of humor, Burque pride and charisma can’t be contained within the small screen.  It’s inevitable that some network executive will someday make a movie of her life.  The question is who would play her.  Lady Gaga?  Nah, not enough personality.  Meryl Streep?  Ditto and then some.  Jennifer Lopez?  Getting closer.  The truth is, only Marie Yniguez can play Marie Yniguez. There’s no question Marie has led a very (to put it mildly) interesting life.   Her childhood in Hurley, New Mexico, a hardscrabble mining town where hard-working people owed their souls to the company store, imbued her with a work ethic which has served her well.  At age ten, her family moved to Albuquerque where five years later, a formative experience at a part-time job gave her the drive to persevere and surmount criticism.  A short-sighted supervisor who told her she’d never be more than…