Category: 2025 James Beard Foundation “Best Chef – Southwest” Semifinalist

2025 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAlbuquerqueCosta RicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Buen Provecho – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt The longest-serving first lady in United States history aptly expressed what could be the official lifestyle motto of Costa Rica.  Economizing on words, it’s a lifestyle Costa Ricans call “Pura Vida.”  This colloquial phrase translates to “pure life,” but means so much more. It’s a lifestyle in which you choose to live to the fullest, while nurturing the mind, body and soul.  You can hear the phrase “Pura Vida” echoing throughout Costa Rica.  It’s used as a greeting or expression of happiness, accurately describing the tranquility, wonder and adventure that await visitors and those fortunate enough to live in this idyllic paradise.  Costa Rica is truly an energizing getaway, where visitors can enjoy the latest practices in relaxation and personal care, participate in exciting activities set in a lush natural environment and delight on healthy and nourishing gastronomy. During my eighteen years at Intel, I was blessed to work with and consider as friends several developers from the rainforested Central American Utopia.  Technically and attitudinally they were a joy to work with. …

2025 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAsianJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersKoreanOklahomaRating: N/R (Not Rated)SteakUnited States

Birdies by Chef Kevin Lee – Edmond, Oklahoma

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

My Kim and I regard ourselves as ambassadors for the great state of New Mexico, especially when we travel.  We’re often asked where we’re from.  Invariably we run into people whose perceptions about the Land of Enchantment are far from kind.  Some actually believe Breaking Bad is a documentary about the condition of life in New Mexico where wild west lawlessness is rampant.  If only perceptions of New Mexico were as gracious and kind as those of Oklahoma.  Throughout our week-long sojourn in the Sooner State, state pride was palpable.   You would expect that from locals, but some of the nicest things we heard about Oklahoma were from visitors like us.  Most visitors were genuinely touched by just how nice veryone was.  Some commented about not being cut off in traffic and not being greeted with a one-finger salute for some unforgiveable traffic transgressions (like not going 20 miles over the speed limit).  Others spoke about the personable service they received at hotels and restaurants. The niceness of Oklahomans didn’t really come as a surprise.  Two of my very favorite people–my Air Force colleague John Holmes Bennett and fellow culinary scribener Steve Coleman–were raised in Oklahoma.  You won’t find two…

2025 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAlbuquerqueDog FriendlyFine DiningJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersNew Mexico

Level 5 Rooftop Restaurant at Hotel Chaco – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

The Hotel For a nearly four-hundred year period, the Anasazi civilization which preceded New Mexico’s Pueblo cultures achieved the pinnacle of its technological and cultural advancement at a magnificent,  deep gorge called Chaco Canyon. Within the walls of Chaco Canyon, construction of multi-level buildings sprung up, some structures accommodating as many as  800 rooms. Not surprisingly, lower walls had to be made massive in order to support heavy stone walls up to five floors high.  It took remarkable planning to locate doors, passageways, kivas and other architectural features.  At five stories high,  Pueblo Bonito was the largest structure and the inspiration for Hotel Chaco’s spectacular venue in Albuquerque’s Sawmill District. In 2017, local developer Heritage Hotels launched Hotel Chaco on Bellamah Avenue in the Sawmill District.  Formerly a 110-acre complex, the District once milled lumber, doors and shingles, at one point serving as the largest manufacturing company in the Southwest. Today there are few, if any, vestiges of the District’s historic past.  Instead, the area has exploded, metamorphosing from a lusterless industrial area to a dynamic hub for hospitality and dining.   Hotel Chaco is at the heart of the changes.  An eighty-million dollar project, the Hotel is unlike any…

2025 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersMariscosMexicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa FeTacos

Escondido – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.” ~Luke 8:17 “Escondido (which translates from Spanish to “hidden”) sure proves that Bible verse wrong,” I lamented as I cursed Google Maps for having led me to a nondescript residential neighborhood in Santa Fe.  Though not as execrable as the time Google Maps insisted I make a left onto a crude and rocky dry wash when trying to get to Kayenta, Arizona, I nonetheless took Google’s name in vain then followed my instincts.  Fortunately, crossing over Agua Fria onto another neighborhood shed light on my quandrary.   There in front of me was Escondido, the restaurant destination I sought.  I still won’t forgive Google Maps for having led me astray.  Unlike in horseshoes, close doesn’t count. True to its name, Escondido is well hidden–or at least off the well-beaten and well-eaten path.   What isn’t hidden is the reputation of Chef Fernando Ruiz, a formidable chef with a colorful past and an efulgent future.  His is a story sadly not oft repeated, a tale of determination when recidivism is the path others in his shoes might have taken.  At…

2025 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAmericanDiners Drive-Ins and DivesDog FriendlyFood Network Eats New MexicoJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

Joseph’s Culinary Pub – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Although ducks don’t have a church sanctioned patron saint, if the Catholic church ever deemed one worthy it would be Saint Cuthbert, a 12th Century Anglo-Saxon monk.  According to legend, Saint Cuthbert tamed a large population of nesting eider ducks so well that they would nest even next to the chapal altar without fear.  Cuthbert placed the ducks under his protective grace so that no one would eat or disturb them.  Monks who mocked (mocking monks) Cutbert’s curse and ate or harassed the eiders were said to have been struck down. It’s a good thing Chef Joseph Wrede didn’t ply his trade in proximity to Saint Cuthbert or he would probably have been struck down by Cuthbert’s curse.  Diners like me who have enjoyed Chef Wrede’s menu would have incurred a similar fate. Even if you’re not familiar with Chef Wrede or his menu, you’ve probably figured out that duck figures prominently on that menu.  We first learned that about the 2008 James Beard “Best Chef Southwest” nominee at Joseph’s Table, his eponymous restaurant on the Taos Plaza.  When we visited Joseph’s Table, the special of the day was a “seven way lucky duck” dinner entree that included duck breast,…

2025 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistClosed in 2025Dog FriendlyFine DiningGone But Not ForgottenItalianNew MexicoSanta Fe

Sassella – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In Cold Tuscan Stone, the first in a series of spellbinding mysteries set in Italy, author David P. Wagner did such a magnificent job in developing relatable characters and creating a sense of place that I felt myself transported to the world of Rick Montoya, the affable protagonist in David’s series.  Through David’s vivid imagery, I could almost taste, smell and experience la dolce vita of the Italian countryside.  I laughed with delightful voyeurism at the bumpkinly naivete of Herb and Shirley, an American couple who came to Italy to find an Italian chef for a restaurant they planned to open in Davenport, Iowa. Not surprisingly their benchmark for Italian cooking was the Olive Garden.   They were puzzled when the menus at the Italian restaurants they visited in the ancient Tuscan hill town of Volterra didn’t offer spaghetti and meatballs or pasta Alfredo.  It baffled them that they had to ask for olive oil to dip their bread into. “It’s almost like they don’t know what Italian food is,” they decried. Can it really be true that the Italian food we know and love across the fruited plain isn’t Italian at all?  That’s what Food Network star Alton Brown…