Theobroma Chocolatier – Albuquerque, New Mexico
For many men, February 14th is the most dreaded day of the year. It’s a day in which our boundless capacity for bad taste comes to the fore. Though well-intentioned, when it comes to women …
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Happy Chickenzz – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“And believe me, a good piece of chicken can make anybody believe in the existence of God.” ~Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Two things came to mind when my friend …
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Pollito Con Papas and Pollito Con Papas II – Albuquerque, New Mexico
I think a rotisserie is like a really morbid ferris wheel for chickens. It’s a strange piece of machinery. We will take the chicken, kill it, impale it and then rotate it. And I’ll be …
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FireBird Nashville Hot Chicken – Albuquerque, New Mexico
My brother Mario–seven years younger, much better looking and quite a bit smarter–and I have shared many memorable firsts. There was the time I taught him how to drive on our dad’s 1965 standard transmission …
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GUS’S WORLD-FAMOUS FRIED CHICKEN – Austin, Texas
When I told my friend Carlos my Kim and I would be enjoying Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken during our trip to Austin, he quipped “when did Los Pollos Hermanos open a restaurant in Texas?”. …
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Gourdough’s Public House – Austin, Texas
Donuts could have gone their entire existences fat, dumb and happy with a following–mostly cops, adult men my age (39) and households with annual incomes of less than $10,000–who expected nothing more out of them …
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Lucy’s Fried Chicken – Austin, Texas
“I‘m only eating the skins, so the chicken’s up for grabs.” ~Joey Tribbiani Several of my earliest memories of growing up in agrarian Peñasco, New Mexico involve chickens. Some of those memories–such as getting viciously …
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Walker’s Popcorn Company – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Who doesn’t love popcorn? Along with hot dogs, apple pie, hamburgers and barbecue, it’s been an American favorite–or should I say tradition–for generations. A humble treat, popcorn can grow in other parts of the world …
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Rebel Donut – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Many years ago if someone proposed a wager of “dollars to donuts,” you might have been well advised to take it. The phrase “dollars to donuts” essentially meant the person proposing the wager thought he …
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Bristol Doughnut Co. – Albuquerque, New Mexico
While most people speak with fond nostalgia about their first ride on a double-decker bus, the memories of our inaugural trip are tinged with horror that traumatizes us to this day. As with most visitors …
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La Lecheria New Mexico Craft Ice Cream – Santa Fe, New Mexico
Joey: What are you talking about? “One woman. That’s like saying there’s only one flavor of ice cream for you. Let me tell you something, Ross. There’s lots of flavors out there. There’s Rocky Road, …
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San Antonio General Store – San Antonio, New Mexico
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, latte in the …
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ChocGlitz & Cream – Albuquerque, New Mexico
To whom should you turn when you want a recommendation you can trust for great ice cream? Your natural inclination is probably to ask a kid. Kids, particularly those in the age group two through …
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Pop Fizz – Albuquerque, New Mexico
The geriatrically advanced among us who grew up during the golden age (1950s through the 1970s) of the “jingle” were constantly bombarded with earworm-inducing singing commercials, those catchy and memorable short tunes used to convey …
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Golden Pride Chicken – Albuquerque, New Mexico
For years Albuquerque’s cruiser culture has made Central Avenue a favorite destination for showing off souped-up cars and causing windows to rattle and eardrums to hurt from the pounding bass in audio systems that reverberate …
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Ice Cream Palace and Hot Dog World – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)
Nay-sayers, those nattering nabobs of negativism, have always had it in for hot dogs. First they plied us with horror stories and urban myths about what hot dogs are made of. Essentially, they decried, hot …
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Chillz Frozen Custard – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
“Custard: A detestable substance produced by a malevolent conspiracy of the hen, the cow, and the cook.” Ambrose Bierce, American writer (1842-1914) The Devil’s Dictionary (1906) Ambrose Bierce’s scathing definition of custard is not necessarily …
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Duke City Donuts – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
If you love donuts (and who doesn’t), you might want to consider being just a bit more generous when you see the ubiquitous Salvation Army bell-ringers and their familiar kettles standing in the chilly winter …
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Stroud’s Restaurant & Bar – Fairway, Kansas
Kansas City is often referred to as the “world’s barbecue capital.” With more than 100 barbecue restaurants, its reputation for outstanding barbecue is known far and wide. It’s not as commonly known that Kansas City …
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Garrett Popcorn Shop – Chicago, Illinois
The favorite weather conditions for many Chicago natives correlates directly to their personal climatic ideals for standing in long lines. Chicagoans are a patient lot. They’re used to standing in long lines, sometimes for as …
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El Pollo Picante – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
Pollo asado, marinated grilled chicken, has been a staple in Mexico for years, but save for those pockets within metropolitan areas heavily populated by scions of Mexico, it hasn’t made significant inroads throughout the fruited …
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Whoo’s Donuts – Santa Fe, New Mexico
When my corporate group had its employees, a high-performing contingent of information technology professionals, take a strengths assessment, the results were contrary to the stereotypes often painted about techno-geeks. None of us, for example, were …
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Chocolate Cartel – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands — and then eat just one of the pieces.” Judith Viorst, American Author & Journalist “Betcha can’t eat just …
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GoNuts Donuts – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
Their Points of View. ‘Twixt optimist and pessimist The difference is droll; The optimist the doughnut sees – The pessimist the hole. – New York Sun, 1904 It’s almost deliciously ironic that the “Optimist’s Creed” …
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Apple Haus – Long Grove, Illinois (CLOSED)
In grade school back in the 1960s, such characters as Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed filled my mind with wonder and awe as I learned to determine fact from fiction (a process I still employ …
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Wings ‘N Things – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
The “language of love.” It can reduce the most eloquent of women to twaddling teeny boppers and the most macho of men to cooing grade schoolers. It is most active–some would say most infantile–when the …
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Kakawa Chocolate House – Santa Fe, New Mexico
In a 1995 episode of Seinfeld, Kramer attempted to deduce George’s ATM code: “You’re a portly fellow, a bit long in the waistband. So what’s your pleasure? Is it the salty snacks you crave? No, …
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Paradise Donuts – Bosque Farms, New Mexico (CLOSED)
Though often boorish and crude, America’s favorite everyman philosopher Homer Simpson is prone to occasional bouts of insight. Who can argue with such Homeric sagacity as, “donuts, is there anything they can’t do.” At first …
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Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop & Soda Fountain – Las Vegas, Nevada
While Ghirardelli chocolate is available worldwide, there are only a few shop locations–mostly in California with outliers in Las Vegas, Chicago and in two Florida cities. Named after Italian chocolatier Domingo Ghirardelli who brought his …
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Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Shortly after Louisiana and Mississippi were ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, one of the local television stations in South Louisiana actually aired an interview with a woman from New Orleans. The interviewer was a woman from …
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Señor Murphy Candymaker – Santa Fe, New Mexico
In the Land of Enchantment, piñon is as valuable as gold if not more, particularly in recent years when drought conditions have ravaged acres of piñon forests. Piñon trees produce good harvests every seven years …
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Marco Pollo Charbroiled Chicken – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
While eating a store-bought rotisserie chicken is somewhat more appealing than than consuming the very last one of Quickie Mart’s perpetually rotating, alutaceous (seared to a leathery sheen under a heat lamp inferno) hot dogs, …
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The Hole Thing Donut Shop – Red River, New Mexico (CLOSED)
A less optimistic man than I once lamented that the healthiest part of the donut is the hole, but you’ve got to eat the entire donut to get to it. To me, that’s a “glass …
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Boba Tea Company – Albuquerque, New Mexico
On June 7, 2005, the launch of Albuquerque’s first Boba Tea Company made “you suck” acceptable in polite vernacular. Long a pop culture term of mock derision, “suck” refers, in this case, to the drawing …
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Ben & Jerry’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
Ben & Jerry’s is a different kind of restaurant–one with a social conscience–serving premium ice cream. Founded on and dedicated to a sustainable corporate concept of linked prosperity, its mission consists of three interrelated parts–a …
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Wingstop – Albuquerque, New Mexico
During his illustrious NFL career Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman passed for 32,942 yards and 165 touchdowns. What it seems he can’t pass is the opportunity to add to his wealth by endorsing mediocre products. …
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