Category: Closed in 2025

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Taco Santo – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

NOTE:  In July, 2025, Taco Santo ceased operating as a taqueria, reverting back to Holy Burger, long one of the city’s most popular burger joints. Jay Rayner, one of my very favorite restaurant critics and authors, has an inimitable gift for luring readers with reviews that go far beyond describing food.  His review of Santo Remedio, a Mexican restaurant in London, is one such example, starting with his astute   observation about the debate between authenticity and verisimilitude in culinary culture: “All too often in the food world, the war of expertise becomes a lumbering battle between the Real Thing and the Good Stuff. The Real Thingers have knowledge and experience on their side. They’ve eaten dishes in their place of origin, when you have not. By contrast, all the Good Stuffers have is enthusiasm. They don’t care whether these Korean chicken wings are as they would be in downtown Seoul. All that matters is that they taste good.” Raynor’s “the real thing” is represented by purists and traditionalists who have not only eaten dishes in their place of origin, but in the manner in which those dishes were originally created.  The “good stuff” is represented by chefs seeking not to emulate…

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Upscale Rio – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

NOTE:  Upscale Rio shuttered its doors for good on 4 December 2025. My friend Schuyler used to joke that every meal we enjoyed together was “upscale” because “up” was the direction his scale climbed when we finished our marathon meals.  We were quite the trenchermen in our youth, bona fide threats to any all-you-can-eat buffet in town.  Back then–as impoverished junior noncommissioned officers in the Air Force–ten dollar meals were near the upper end of we could afford with an occasional fifteen dollar splurge.  Back then, some thirty years ago, you could get quite a bit of food for ten dollars.  Fast forward a few decades and the term “upscale” has a different meaning for both of us.  We have both been able to reap the harvest of our hard work and are able to (on occasion) afford upscale restaurants that features fine-dining. Back when a dollar would buy four burgers at Griff’s, we couldn’t have conceived of any burger being considered “upscale.”  Not even the most sage of soothsayers could possibly have had the prescience to predict the price of burgers exceeding ten dollars.  Today, it’s not uncommon to find burgers flirting with the twenty dollar mark (maybe that’s…

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BUDAI GOURMET CHINESE – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno11:07 AM

“The true gourmet, like the true artist, is one of the unhappiest creatures existent. His trouble comes from so seldom finding what he constantly seeks: perfection.” –Ludwig Bemelmans By definition, gourmets are connoisseurs, taking food more seriously than most and embodying the axiom “live to eat rather than eat to live.” True gourmets, as Ludwig Bemelmans would define them, appreciate food of the highest quality, exalting only in the rarefied experiences–those which require the most discerning palates and noses to cognize subtle nuances in complex and sophisticated flavors and aromas. Bemelmans, himself an internationally known gourmet, posited that the true gourmet will find joy only in tasting, smelling and appreciating perfection, not in its pursuit. I’ve known several true gourmets fitting Bemelmans definition. Most of them are insufferable and condescending. Though endowed with refined palates cultivated by years of indulgence in the finest foods and blessed with olfactory senses which would put a German shepherd to shame, they derive no sensuous enjoyment from most culinary experiences. Nothing is quite good enough. Nothing meets their demanding and exacting standards. Dining (they don’t eat) with them is a test in patience as they deride and diminish everything put before them. Perhaps the…

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Sobremesa Restaurant & Brewery – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In June, 2021, Eater.com published a list of “the 21 Essential Restaurants in Albuquerque.” Unlike so many “clickbait” articles from national publications purporting to tell New Mexicans which restaurants across the Land of Enchantment serve the “best this” and the “best that,” the Eater feature was penned by Justin De La Rosa who actually knows this state very well.  In fact, in 2015 Justin earned a “Local Hero Award” from Edible New Mexico as “best food writer.” If you’re wondering what constitutes an “Essential Restaurant,” Eater’s erstwhile national critic Bill Addison defined the term to mean “indispensable to their neighborhoods, and eventually to their towns and whole regions,” to “ultimately become vital to how we understand ourselves, and others, at the table.”   In other words, restaurants accorded the “essential” designation by Eater are more than among the best restaurants in their town.  They are transcendent presences that feed the soul as well as the stomach. It’s a virtual certainty that Mary & Tito’swould make the list after having been named one of America’s 38 Essential Restaurants in 2018<.  It’s also no surprise that restaurants (Campo at Los Poblanos and Frenchish) helmed by multiple-time James Beard Foundation Chef of the Year…

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Revel Burger – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

NOTE: In 2025, the Golf Course location of Revel Burger shuttered its doors.  The original Revel Burger on 4720 Alexander Blvd., N.E. remains open. At my advanced age (39), I would rather shop like it’s 1999 than party like the 1999 of Prince’s hit tune.  For those of you less seasoned than I am, there’s a venue in Albuquerque where you can party hearty then enjoy burgers to replenish the calories you burn while partying.  It’s a 55,000 square-foot entertaining concept called Revel that includes a food hall, bar and entertainment venue–nine concepts under one roof.   Located at 4720 Alexander, N.E., next to Top Golf, Revel offers an entertainment schedule the likes of which Albuquerque’s party crowd loves.  A state-of-the-art 3000 person concert venue plays host to entertainers of all stripes. Eats at Revel include two familiar favorites: Perico’s Tacos and Pizza 9 as well as a newcomer which shares the concept’s name.  Revel Burger.  Founded by local restaurateur Hass Aslami and Rod Etermadi, Revel opened its doors in February, 2020 during the advent of the Cabrona Virus.  With the world on lockdown, sales were scarce.  It wasn’t until pandemic restrictions lifted that Revel Burger was able to prove…

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Belle’s Urban Deli – Corrales, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Father Mark Schultz, the charismatic former priest at the Holy Ghost Parish in Albuquerque used to joke that the reason Catholics are required to abstain from eating meat on Fridays is not because there’s a shortage of cows. That’s certainly true. There is more beef on the hoof grazing on the Land of Enchantment’s green (and mostly brown) grass than there are tax-paying citizens.  That’s why it’s always puzzled me that sandwich restaurants in New Mexico are so chintzy with their meat portions. You’d think there really was a beef shortage (and a surfeit of bread and lettuce) considering many an Albuquerque restaurant sandwich is comprised of thin shards of meat buried under half a head of lettuce and enough bread to choke a mule. Americans are obsessed with size, er…sandwich size.  We’ve come to believe that small sandwiches are un-American!  That it’s practically a mortal sin to construct, serve or eat a small sandwich.  Perhaps that train of  thinking might be attributable to a comic strip called Blondie which has entertaining Americans since 1930.  Blondie’s husband Dagwood was renowned for raiding the leftovers in the refrigerator to construct titanic, multilayered, cartoonishly exaggerated sandwiches. Those sandwiches were replete with sausage,…

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Whiptail – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

We all know New Mexico has an official state aroma (green chiles roasting),  an official state cookie (biscochito),  official state vegetables (chile and pinto beans), but did you know the Land of Enchantment has an official state reptile?  Chastity Bustos does.  In fact, in she named her new eatery  in honor of that reptile, the New Mexico whiptail (Aspidoscelis neomexicanus).  When I asked Chastity if she knew the New Mexico whiptail is a female-only species that doesn’t need male lizards to reproduce, she jokingly replied “it’s all about girl power.” Don’t get the impression that Chastity subscribes to the slogan popularized by feminist icon Gloria Steinem: “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.”  Chastity and her husband Brian have an egalitarian business relationship.  She manages day-to-day operations for Whiptail and he does the same for their other restaurant, Philly Steaks on Albuquerque’s east side. As soon as work began on the Highway 528 restaurant that for years had housed Banana Leaf, City of Vision residents became giddy with excitement.  It’s not everyday a new restaurant opens up in Rio Rancho.  Social media postings, particularly on Nextdoor swelled excitement and divulged revelations. “Visionaries” not only learned the new…

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Knead Dough Bar & Eatery – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“I don’t talk about politics, religion or sports, because all three will divide people. That’s why I talk about food, because food brings people together. That’s right! Unless you’re vegan!” ~Gabriel Iglesias Not even glass half full optimists can disagree that America has accelerated into a warp speed devolution from George H. W. Bush’s vision of a “kinder, gentler nation.”    Replace kinder and gentler with snarky and sniping and you’ve got a more accurate picture.  Not only are there widening schisms between political ideologies, there are deep fissures between values of all types (as comedian Gabriel Iglesias astutely pointed out).  It’s not enough to disagree any more.  In modern America, we don’t tolerate differences of opinion.   We take them personally and go on the offensive.  Take Chef Gordon Ramsay’s proclamation: “If the kids ever came up to me and said, ‘Dad, I’m a vegetarian,’ then I would sit them on the fence and electrocute them.”    There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. Or so I pondered when my Kim and I made our way to Knead Dough Bar & Eatery, a plant-forward cafe on Gold Avenue.   From among my friends and my acquaintances, only my…

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Scalo – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Contrary to popular belief, Scalo was not already a Nob Hill fixture in 1706 when Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdés, governor and captain general of New Mexico, named a new settlement for the Duke of Alburquerque, then viceroy of New Spain.  Scalo didn’t actually open until December, 1986, but during its lengthy tenure it has such a degree of permanence in our memories and taste buds that it’s hard to believe it wasn’t one of the fabled paradors (an establishment where travelers could seek lodging, and usually, food and drink) along the Camino Real.  It would make sense because the word “Scalo” itself translates from Italian to “stopover.”  Then there’s Scalo’s revered spot on the now defunct Albuquerque Monthly.  On its tenth anniversary, the magazine created a “Best Of” Hall of Fame, listing the ten establishments–restaurants, bars, card stores, clothing stores, computer stores, galleries and more–which had received more “best of” votes during the decade of the 90s than anyone else. The first establishment listed was Scalo Northern Italian Grill, which was also perennial selection on the magazine’s annual listing of the city’s top ten fine-dining restaurants (other mainstays still serving the city include the Artichoke Cafe, Prairie Star and…

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Viet Cốm – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

The name on the signage is Viet Cốm, not Viet dot com.  The difference is more than semantic.  In Vietnamese the term “Cốm” (with an accent denoting a high rising pitch when vocalized) translates from Vietnamese to a green sticky rice or green rice flakes. Cốm is a delicacy made only in autumn and cherished by all Vietnamese.  You learn a lot when you visit a Vietnamese restaurant and are interested enough to ask a lot of questions.  If Misty Do is your server, ask her about the family restaurant and you’ll learn quite a bit. We learned, for example, that the family owned and operated eatery opened in June, 2020, just a couple of months after the Cabrona Virus shut down the world.  Viet Cốm is indeed a family operation.  Misty’s dad is the cook.  Her stepmother, older sister and younger brother all help out, but it’s Misty who appears to be the face of the restaurant as you’ll learn should you peruse the restaurant’s Yelp review.  We learned also that we shouldn’t have assumed that because Misty’s last name is “Do,” the family name must also be Do.  Misty clarified that in accordance with Vietnamese traditions, women don’t…

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The Farmacy – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In this age of “fake news,” biased media slants and unabashed tell-alls, the one recent headline which has pleased me most comes from Bloomberg. Splashed in bold typeface was the eye-catching lead “Mom-and-Pop Joints Are Trouncing America’s Big Restaurant Chains.” Elaborating on this contention, the first paragraph reads: “Americans are rejecting the consistency of national restaurant chains after decades of dominance in favor of the authenticity of locally owned eateries, with their daily specials and Mom’s watercolors decorating the walls.” The numbers bear this out–“annual revenue for independents will grow about 5 percent through 2020, while the growth for chains will be about 3 percent.” Fittingly, I read this article during my inaugural visit to The Farmacy, a Lilliputian lair of luscious food then located on the southeast corner of the Mountain Road-Eighth Street intersection. If big restaurant chains and their well-heeled operations are the proverbial muscle-bound beach bullies who kick sand in the face of scrawny kids, The Farmacy embodies the small underdog who fights back with the only weapons at its disposal: great food and friendly service at an affordable price. The Farmacy is David to the Philistine’s Goliath, the plodding tortoise to the overly confident hare, unknown…