Category: Albuquerque

2023 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAlbuquerqueBurgersNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

Patty Man – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“Hotter than a sizzling flat-top, More powerful than a wood-fired grill, Able to stack towering flavors in a single bite… Look, up at the Sawmill! It’s a James Beard semifinalist It’s the king of the grill… It’s The Patty Man!“ Chef Sean “The Patty Man” Sinclair is a self-effacing guy, more like mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent than his “man of steel” alter ego.  You won’t see Chef Sinclair run into a phone booth to don his apron and toque nor will gawking crowds point toward him and utter “Look!  In the kitchen, it’s a cook.  It’s a chef.  It’s Sean…

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Tony’s Pizzeria – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Why is it so hard to convince others to change their minds and hearts? That’s a question philosophers, psychologists and even curious hoi polloi like me have pondered over for millennia. Perhaps never has that question been brought to the fore as during recent political events. Sadly, the question takes on even more of a personal bent when you believe someone else’s views betray something inherently rotten about their character—or when someone else believes the same about yours. Rightly or wrongly, we’re wired to believe people’s views are barometers of their moral conscience. Psychologists have long posited the existence of…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfast BurritosNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Albuquerque City Limits – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:32 PM

“It’s when I reach the city limits that my sense of security ends and my sense of adventure begins.” ~Anthony T. Hincks Author: Verbs in Storyland Why is it the term “city limits” conjures the same type of trepidation today that very early (before the Third Century BC) explorers must have felt when they thought the Earth was flat and if they navigated too far west, they’d fall off the edge of the map?   Why is it Hollywood has consistently portrayed the area just beyond city limits as either a dystopian wasteland or a bastion of lawless libertinage?  For that matter,…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastBreakfast BurritosMexicanNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Outstanding

La Sierra New Mexican Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“I eat uno, dos, tres, quatro burritos Pretty soon I can’t fit in my Speedos Well, I hope they feed us lots of chicken fajitas And a pitcher of margaritas” ~Taco Grande by Weird Al Yankovic While perusing the slogans–One Bite And You’re Hooked; Cooked Slow, Served Hot, Loved Fast; Hot Chile makes Everything Better” on the windows of La Sierra, I half expected to see lyrics from the “Weird “Al Yankovic song “Taco Grande”  (a parody of the song “Rico Suave”).  What I didn’t expect was for La Sierra to live up to its self-aggrandizing hype.  Of course, diners…

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Spicy Junction – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

While perusing the menu at Spicy Junction, you might hearken back to The Dream, the very eclectic restaurant owned and operated by Pakistan emigrant Babu Bhatt in an uproariously funny episode of Seinfeld. As Jerry Seinfeld observed about The Dream’s menu, “he’s serving Mexican, Italian, Chinese. He’s all over the place.” Spicy Junction’s menu is similarly diverse, a melange of Indian, Venezuelan, Middle Eastern, Indo-Chinese and even pizza and burgers splayed temptingly onto three individual menus. That the menu is so “all over the place” makes great sense in that the chef worked as a chef at the location’s previous…

AlbuquerqueDiners Drive-Ins and DivesFood Network Eats New MexicoNew MexicoPolishRating: Outstanding

Red Rock Deli – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:32 PM

America may be a multicultural melting pot, but thriving within its most populous metropolises are ethnic neighborhoods–pockets of diversity residing in two worlds, retaining many of the cultural and culinary traditions of their motherland while integrating into and pursuing the American dream. Cities such as Chicago have long realized that these ethnic enclaves offer a treasure trove of cultural and culinary experiences. Most of these neighborhoods welcome culinary tourism–the opportunity to showcase the cuisine of their homelands. One such example is the city of Chicago which boasts of the largest Polish population outside of Warsaw (as many as 183,000 by…

2025 James Beard Foundation "Outstanding Bakery" SemifinalistAlbuquerqueBakeryDiners Drive-Ins and DivesFood Network Eats New MexicoRating: OutstandingSandwichVietnamese

Coda Bakery – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

JP, my former boss at Intel used to pride himself on consistently working “half days.” If you’re thinking you’d like a job where you work only four hours a day, you’ve misinterpreted his definition of “half days.” To him, half days is a literal term meaning twelve hours a day. When most of us are done for after only nine or ten hours, he was just starting what he called his “second shift.” Very few of us have the stamina, initiative and especially the passion for what we do to work “half days.” I know restaurateurs for whom half days…

AlbuquerqueKoreanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

K Style Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

If you’re susceptible to the power of suggestion–especially as it pertains to ear worms (recurring tunes that involuntarily pop up and stick in your mind)–you’re probably going to hate me (or you can skip this paragraph and continue to love me).  That’s because if you do read this paragraph you’re going to be humming to yourself one of the most annoying songs of all time–Gangnam Style.  Arguably, Gangnam Style is not as annoying as La Macarena or My Humps (which Rolling Stone declared “the most annoying song ever”). The more you try to suppress Gangnam Style, the more your impetus…

AlbuquerqueGelatoItalianNew MexicoPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Johnny’s Pizza – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“He’s been helping make pizza since he was three.”  Johnathan Khalil’s mom beamed as she confirmed she’s not the “Johnny” for which Albuquerque’s newest New York style pizzeria is named.  Johnny is her soon-to-turn-18-year-old son.  Can you imagine how cool it would be to be a teenager with a pizza parlor named for him?  Johnny must very popular.  The pizzeria named for him certainly is.  On the day of our inaugural visit–two weeks and one day–after its 29 May 2026 launch, the line was literally out the door.  Johnny’s is scantly 1,200 square-feet so accommodating throngs of diners will be…

AlbuquerqueNew MexicanRating: Good

Los Cuates – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:18 AM

Of the five variations of twins that occur commonly throughout the world, the most common fraternal (non-identical) occurrence is male-female twins which transpire in about 40% of all twins born. Fraternal twins may share up to 50% of their genes and generally are no more similar or dissimilar than any other two siblings.  Although technically not twins because they were “born” four years apart, the Duke City’s most famous twins are the Los Cuates restaurants (cuates being the Spanish word for twins), named for Antoinette and Marcus, the fraternal male-female twins of founder Frank R. Barela, an inspiration for all…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyNew MexicoPizzaRating: OutstandingRio Rancho

Thicc Pizza Co. – Albuquerque & Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

As you’ve read on the tagline for Gil’s Thrilling (And Filling) Blog, your humble blogger fancies himself somewhat of a sesquipedalian (a person who tends to use big words).  My logophilia (the love of vocabulary) is a lifelong affliction, both in English and in Spanish.  Despite my “affair” with words, one word-related term which just doesn’t always describe me is neologist (someone who uses new words). This is especially true about slang terms in fashion among the pop-culture-oriented youth.  When it comes to such terms, I’m not far removed from groovy, bread and copacetic.  It’s certainly not that I’m not…