Category: Bar & Grill

1933 Brewing Co. – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil GardunoAlbuquerque, American, Bar & Grill, Brewery-Pub, Dog Friendly, New Mexico

“Why don’t they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth.” ~Will Rogers “I’ll drink to that.”  Such was the rampant sentiment with which Americans welcomed the repeal of the notorious 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which had prohibited “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors…”  For more than a decade Prohibition had not only wrought…

Alien Brew Pub – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoAlbuquerque, American, Bar & Grill, Dog Friendly, New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009

“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…

Nexus Brewery – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoAlbuquerque, Bar & Grill, Cajun, Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, Dog Friendly, Food Network Eats New Mexico, Southern

Set in Albuquerque, Breaking Bad, AMC’s critically acclaimed television series may have left viewers with the impression that the Duke City is a haven for meth cookery and fried chicken joints.  Had the fair city been more accurately typecast, it would have have been portrayed as a mecca for microbreweries.  The Albuquerque Beer Scene blog says it best: “It’s like Portland, but with sun,”  a comparison which shows just how much the city’s microbrewery and brewpub scene has grown–and not…

The Point Grill – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil GardunoAmerican, Bar & Grill, Brunch, New Mexico, Rio Rancho

“Get to the point!” Archie Bunker, the irascible curmudgeon on the 70’s sitcom All in the Family frequently chided his doting wife Edith with the epithet “Get to the Point, Edith!” One of the series occasional and most memorable bits depicted Archie’s pantomime suicides, carried out while Edith rambled on and on in her nasal high-pitched voice, wholly oblivious to his dramatic gestures. In one episode Archie did himself in by tying a noose and hanging himself as Edith prattled…

Turtle Mountain Brewing Company – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil GardunoBar & Grill, Dog Friendly, New Mexico, New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009, Pizza, Rio Rancho

The Tewa name “Oku Pin” which translates in English to “Turtle Mountain” has three meanings of significance to the people of Okay Owingeh, one of New Mexico’s great Tewa speaking Northern New Mexico Pueblos. “Oku Pin” was the the Indian name given to Dr. Alfonso Ortiz who obtained worldwide prominence as an anthropologist and ethnologist until his death in 1998. Ortiz was born and raised in San Juan Pueblo which in 2006 officially changed its name to Okay Owingeh. “Oku…

Nob Hill Bar & Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoAlbuquerque, American, Bar & Grill, Brunch, Dog Friendly

There’s talk on the street, it’s there to remind you, it doesn’t really matter which side you’re on You’re walking away and they’re talking behind you They will never forget you ’til somebody new comes along – New Kid In Town: The Eagles As an independent observer of the New Mexico culinary experience, it’s always intrigued me just how fleeting and short-lived the popularity of new restaurants can be. Perhaps indicative of our human need for constant new sources of…

Gecko’s Bar & Tapas – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoAlbuquerque, American, Bar & Grill, Dog Friendly, Tapas

One of the best examples of the dichotomy of human nature can be illustrated in the way we react to lizards. The mere sight of a lizard scurrying around can send shivers down the spine of otherwise reasonable and intrepid people. Many of us are repulsed or frightened in the presence of any slithering reptile. In Tripoli the sight of a lizard is held to cause women to bear speckled children. To others, however, lizards are a portend of good…

Bosque Brewing Company – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoAlbuquerque, American, Bar & Grill, New Mexico

In 1978, the number of breweries across the fruited plain had fallen to an all-time, post-Prohibition low of 89. That year President Jimmy Carter signed into law, a bill that legalized home brewing on a national level. Since the craft brewing market began to pick up steam in the mid- to late-1980s there has been no surcease in sight. Today, there are more than 2,500 breweries operating across the United States with another 1,500 breweries in the planning stage. According…

Fat Squirrel Pub & Grill – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoBar & Grill, Closed in 2018, Gone But Not Forgotten, Rio Rancho

The quaint names given to English pubs are sometimes nearly as interesting as the reasons for which those names were bestowed. Take for example what is arguably England’s oldest pub, the Trip to Jerusalem. Built into the rock face under Nottingham Castle, the brewhouse has been offering sustenance and sanctuary to weary sojourners since before 1189. The genesis of its name comes from the fact that the inn served as a travel lodge in which crusaders relaxed–no doubt with a…

The Library – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoAlbuquerque, American, Bar & Grill, Closed in 2017, Gone But Not Forgotten, New Mexico

Although my Kim has now lived in New Mexico for more than twenty years, her functional Spanish hasn’t improved much (sadly this places her in the company of many native New Mexicans). She sings Spanish hymns like a songbird in church, perfectly enunciating each nuanced word, even when she has to roll her “R’s.” On rare but well-deserved occasions she can direct a slew of choice Spanish expletives at moronic motorists. She can also order all her favorite dishes at…

Nick & Jimmy’s Bar & Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoAlbuquerque, Bar & Grill, Fine Dining

Legendary American chef, author and television personality Julia Child was often exasperated with what she perceived as American’s propensity for culinary laziness, once commenting that “the trend in the U.S.A. was toward speed and the elimination of work.” “Americans,” she noted, equated as “gourmet” such “horrible glop” as “TV dinners, frozen vegetables, canned mushrooms, fish sticks, Jell-O salads, marshmallows and spray-can whipped cream.“ Julia Child obviously didn’t know Dave Hurayt, a good friend and fellow gastronome who’s shared some wonderful…

Effingbar and Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoAlbuquerque, Bar & Grill, New Mexico

The late comedian and beloved social critic George Carlin might be surprised at how far America has come (some might say how much we’ve regressed) when it comes to uttering foul invectives, especially the “seven words” he postulated “you can never say on television.” While most of us still won’t vocalize the infamous “F-word” in polite company, its diminutive version has become part of our vernacular. Whether on screen or in print (or on shirts emblazoned with the abbreviation F.U.…

Omira Bar & Grill – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoBar & Grill, Brazilian, Closed in 2017, Gone But Not Forgotten, Rated 25, Santa Fe

HOLLY: I can’t believe you’ve never taken anybody here before. JERRY: Well, I’m not really that much of a meat eater. HOLLY: . . . You don’t eat meat? Are you one of those. . . JERRY: Well, no, I’m not one of those. ~ Seinfeld “One of those!” Around my Chicago born and bred Kim and her family, that term fits me to a tee. As with many Midwestern families, my in-laws are rapacious carnivores. Their dining room table…

The Stumbling Steer – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoAlbuquerque, American, Bar & Grill, Closed in 2015, Gone But Not Forgotten, New Mexico

There are ranchers throughout New Mexico who might not think there’s anything even mildly amusing about a brewery and gastropub called The Stumbling Steer. These robust ranchers would likely equate the term Stumbling Steer to the clumsy gait exhibited by their precious livestock after they consume locoweed, a poisonous plant found in every one of the Land of Enchantment’s 33 counties. Ultimately leading to paralysis and death if not controlled, locoweed accounts for millions of dollars in livestock loss each…

Kelly’s Brew Pub – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoAlbuquerque, American, Bar & Grill, Breakfast, Dog Friendly

“If you ever plan to motor west Travel my way, take the highway that’s the best A-get your kicks on Route sixty-six It winds from Chicago to LA More than two thousand miles all the way Get your kicks on Route sixty-six.” ~Nat King Cole With a population of approximately 30,000, Albuquerque had just about as many people in 1939 as Alamagordo has today. In 1939, life in the Duke City centered around Central Avenue and 4th Street where F.W.…