Category: Albuquerque

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyFrenchNew Mexico

La Madeleine – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:30 PM

“Show me another pleasure like dinner which comes every day and lasts an hour.” ~Charles Maurice de Talleyrand–Périgord On Wednesday, November 3, 1948, at Auberge La Couronne in Roule, France,  Julia Child ate what she later declared to be the “most exciting meal of her life,” a veritable feast she shared with her husband Paul: six Brittany oysters, Dover sole meuniere, green salad, fromage blanc with berries, and coffee. Since the airing of “Julie & Julia’’ diners (mostly American and British) have made pilgrimages to Roule in attempt to replicate the French Chef’s gastronomic epiphany. Replicating what Julia ordered is easy. The menu at La Couronne offers the very same meal, calling it “Menu Julia Child.” Replicating the experience itself is not always so easy for American diners who don’t always esteem the experiential aspects of dining as highly as the French do. American writer Alice B. Toklas relished the dining experience, too, noting: “The French approach to food is characteristic; they bring to their consideration of the table the same appreciation, respect, intelligence and lively interest that they have for the other arts, for painting, for literature, and for the theater.” Other expats—Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Pablo Picasso—were…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBar & GrillRating: Good

Stone Face Tavern – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:30 AM

Boris Vallejo, one of the premier fantasy and science fiction artists in the world, might find the ambiance at the Stone Face Tavern inspirational.  He might even join the throngs of regulars who enjoy the ambiance, hospitality, libations and food at a tavern he could have designed.  The Stone Face Tavern is like an adult Disneyland for aficionados of the fantasy and erotica genres masterfully created by Vallejo.  The south-facing facade resembles a multi-turret stone castle complete with threatening gargoyles perched on the parapet.  The ominous countenance, flowing beard and piercing eyes of a Viking warrior or Norse god (maybe even Odin himself) looks down upon you from a vantage point high above the entrance. Step inside and it may take you a few minutes to adjust to the capacious dimly-lit dining room (heaven help you if you wear transition glasses) where there’s something to see wherever you turn.  Once adjusted, your eyes will scan the room and maybe take in the banners suspended from the ceiling in much the way knights’ banners adorned the great halls of medieval castles. Perhaps they’ll fixate on the large flat screen televisions (which provide much of the venue’s illumination), all tuned to sporting…

AlbuquerqueBurgersClosed in 2021Gone But Not ForgottenNew Mexican

Red Ball Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno10:18 PM

From Red Ball Cafe’s Facebook Page (28 December 2021): It is with extreme sadness and difficulty to announce the Red Ball Cafe has officially closed its doors for good😢. With the building being as old as it is (impossible maintenance upkeep), plus trying to survive the pandemic has caused us to make the decision to close. 1922 was a year of firsts for Albuquerque an;d New Mexico.  At 15,462 citizens, Albuquerque’s population constituted for the first time ever, more than half the population of Bernalillo county.  The state’s first skyscraper, the nine-story First National Bank on Central Avenue was built.  Taking to the air waves for the very first time was New Mexico’s very first radio station, KOB which then broadcast at 833.3 on the AM dial.  Dr. William Lovelace co-founded the Lovelace Clinic, based on the Mayo clinic’s physician group practice model.  Albuquerque then was a mecca for people suffering from respiratory diseases and allergies seeking relief in the city’s warm, dry climate. 1922 also saw the launch of the Red Ball Cafe in the historic Barelas neighborhood.  It was primarily a neighborhood cafe back then, but four years later in 1926 the original Route 66 passed by its…

AlbuquerqueAmericanClosed in 2025Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew MexicoSteak

Cafe 6855 – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

The cover page of the May 20, 2013 edition of Time Magazine depicts a twenty-something woman sprawled on the floor taking a selfie. In large type above the photo is the caption “The Me Me Me Generation” subtitled with “Millennials are lazy, entitled narcissists who still live with their parents.” If you believe the monolithic label “millennial” (typically assigned to a person born between 1981 and 2001) defines all young people and that popular characterizations and stereotypes about millennials are accurate, perhaps you’ll be interested in an oceanfront piece of real estate I’m selling in Arizona. If your perceptions of young people skew toward the negative, let me introduce you to Victoria and Julian Gonzales. Victoria and Julian are among the 80-million millennials across the fruited plain. As with many millennials, they’re technologically savvy, very civic-minded and conscious of health, environmental and socioeconomic issues. They’re confident and driven. They’ve got exceptional work ethics and value social connectedness very much…and not just online Both are very outgoing and friendly. They’ve had to be. We’ve known Victoria and Julian since they tagged along with their charismatic dad Michael as he launched Café Bella, his then-fledgling coffee empire in Rio Rancho. We’ve watched…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyFood TruckNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Rollin’ On In Food Truck – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:44 PM

While their brick-and-mortar counterparts can afford to have multi-page menus to please a wide variety of palates, mobile food kitchens (that’s food trucks to you, Bob) are somewhat at a disadvantage. By sheer necessity, food trucks must be limited, well-defined, maybe even singularly focused.  The advantage the successful ones have is that they can concentrate on creating memorable dishes around their concept using a few common ingredients.  Rollin’ On In, for example, lists only four entrees on its menu: three tacos, a quesadilla, three enchiladas and a burrito. With those four entrees, however, there are an infinite number of “build-your-own” possibilities.  Your construction options include four fillings (shredded chicken, shredded pork, ground beef and potato and veggie mix), eleven fresh faves (cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, fresh jalapeño, grilled corn, green onion, red cabbage, cucumber, cilantro and lime) and four sauces (lime and cilantro ranch, salsa, red chile and green chile).  Okay, mathematically the number of options isn’t infinite, but with over 300 million possible combinations for each entree, (don’t ask me to show my math) that’s still an impressive number. Food Network celebrity chef Bobby Flay once lamented, “when people pile seven things onto one burger, it drives me nuts!.” …

AlbuquerqueBrewery-PubDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Steel Bender Brewyard – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:58 AM

“Sometimes you want to go Where everybody knows your name And they’re always glad you came You want to be where you can see The troubles are all the same You want to be where everybody knows your name.” ~Theme Song From Cheers Just another banal, meaningless television show jingle?  Think again.  Urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg might even argue that the Cheers theme song exemplifies his concept of “third place.”    In 1989, Oldenburg published That Good Place in which he introduced the concept of third place into the lexicon.  Third place refers to places where people spend time between home (‘first’ place) and work (‘second’ place).  Third places are, according to Oldenburg, locations where we, as social beings, exchange ideas, have a good time, and build relationships.  Moreover, third places are face-to-face, not virtual (online).  They’re the hangout spot or “home away from home” that provides an essential and welcoming zone that’s not home and not work.  Third places cultivate essential social experiences in the company of like-minded people…ostensibly who know your name and are glad you came. In terms of design as well as functionality, a third place must be set up as an inviting hangout spot for…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastClosed in 2019Dog FriendlyFrenchGone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

Crepe Crepe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:17 PM

Richard Olney, a cookbook author best known for his books on French country cooking described crepes thusly: “their greatest pitfalls derive, no doubt, from their versatility — not in itself a fault, but a quality that teases many a cook into overstepping the boundaries of sense and taste. One should never lose sight of the fragile and delicate, thin, tender thing that is the crepe itself.”  In his magnificent tome The French Menu Cookbook, he prefaced a recipe for Gratin of Stuffed Crepes with: “crepes may contain practically anything and they represent one of the prettiest and most satisfactory means of disposing of leftovers.”  Then as to demonstrate their versatility, he listed among the ingredients for the stuffed crepe, one calf’s brain. If you’ve ever partaken of crepes at a French restaurants in the metropolitan area, versatility is probably not how you’d describe those crepes.  Delicious, mouth-watering, delightful…yes, but they won’t surprise you with ingenuity.  They all pretty much uphold French crepe traditions (though surprisingly only one Duke City French restaurant offers Crepe Suzette, the most famous crepe dish in the world).   The versatility described by Richard Olney began with mobile food kitchens (that’s food truck for you, Bob) which began experimenting…

AlbuquerqueBurgersNew Mexico

Rustic On The Green & Rustic Star – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:13 PM

Pop culture’s most famous exemplar of teenage angst may have been Napoleon Dynamite, a socially awkward daydreamer constantly tormented by bullies. Napoleon frequently lamented his ineptitude: “I don’t even have any good skills. You know, like nunchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.” Napoleon’s best friend Pedro, on the other hand, possessed skills Napoleon coveted: “Well, you have a sweet ride. And you’re really good at hooking up with chicks. Plus you’re the only guy at school who has a mustache.” In a previous review I bemoaned my lack of skills in the manly art of grilling (though not nearly as much as my dear Kim bemoaned my having ruined thousands of dollars of meat, fish, poultry and vegetables). Despite voracious absorption of the collected works of Bill and Cheryl Jamison, America’s foremost grilling and smoking gurus, my grilling skills are probably not even at the equivalent of Napoleon’s nunchuck skills. It got so bad, my saintly Kim confiscated my treasured “kiss the chef” apron (which admittedly I set afire numerous times). Unlike Napoleon who doggedly persisted in his indefatigable efforts to develop skills, I’ve finally come to the conclusion that…

2020 James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef - Southwest" Semifinalist2025 James Beard Foundation Finalist: Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages ProgramAlbuquerqueBreakfastFine DiningJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersNew MexicoRating: Outstanding

Campo at Los Poblanos – Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:59 PM

A simple day laborer at a wealthy estate, Ysidro began his days by rising early and attending Mass. His fellow laborers complained that they had to do some of his share of the work because he lingered in church. After hearing the complaints of his farmhands, the land owner visited his fields while Ysidro was at Mass. To his astonishment, he saw two angels guiding Ysidro’s plow in his absence. Later when Ysidro returned to work, the angels stood next to him and plowed alongside. Ysidro was essentially doing twice as much work as he would have on his own and while at Mass, his work was getting done, too. One snowy day when taking wheat to the mill to be ground, Ysidro passed a flock of pigeons scratching fruitlessly for food on the hard surface of the frozen ground. Taking pity on the birds, he poured half his sack of wheat upon the ground, giving the pigeons the sustenance they needed to survive. Passers-by witnessing his kindness mocked him. When he reached the mill, however, Ysidro’s bag of wheat was full and when it was ground, it yielded twice the expected amount of flour. During his simple life, several…

AlbuquerqueAmericanRating: Very Good

Christy Mae’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:38 PM

If you want to know the best places to eat in any part of any town, don’t buy a tourist guide. Don’t even consult Yelp or the local restaurant critic (even if it is a blogger gastronome). Your best bet is to ask a policeman because “everybody knows that cops always know the best places to eat.” That’s the advice of Chris Cognac, a police detective for a South Bay police department in Los Angeles. Walking his beat gave him the opportunity to investigate off-the-beaten path and hole-in-the-wall restaurants that usually only locals know about–the real local gems. Aside from being a police detective, Cognac was an “informant” for the Daily Breeze newspaper in Los Angeles. He was the Daily Breeze restaurant critic, authoring a column entitled The Culinary Detective. In 2006, Cognac began parlaying his culinary detective skills in a Food Network program appropriately entitled “The Hungry Detective.” In half-hour episodes, he expanded his jurisdiction to cities across America in his mission to uncover the best hidden gems in each city.  The Hungry Detective was short-lived, but very much appreciated by adventurous diners. About a decade ago, I came to believe Cognac that cops always know the best places…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBar & GrillDog FriendlyNew Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009Rating: Very Good

Alien Brew Pub – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:09 AM

“If the government is covering up knowledge of aliens, they are doing a better job of it than they do at anything else.” ~Stephen Hawking An alien walked into the Alien Brew Pub and says, “take me to your liter.” Okay, that joke is admittedly a groaner. It probably wouldn’t even work in one of those countries which use the metric system, but it might work in some other planet where advanced lifeforms are ostensibly more civilized.  I say ostensibly because frankly, we don’t really know what to expect from alien lifeforms.  While the politically correct stereotype is of a benevolent and benign race singing Kumbaya with us awestruck and primitive terrans,  Stephen Hawking took a contrarian view about extraterrestrial beings.  He suggested that “such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they could reach.”  The notion of hostile aliens is hardly novel.  A Twilight Zone episode titled “To Serve Man” (a paraprosdokian title if ever there was one), is an exemplar of alien hostility veiled by benevolence.  An alien race known as Kanamit lands on Earth, promising peace and prosperity.  As promised, their technology ends hunger and solves the world’s energy crisis and other…