Category: Breakfast

BreakfastClosed in 2017Food Network Eats New MexicoGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanSanta Fe

Guadalupe Cafe – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno9:07 PM

1974, Mexico’s Nobel laureate Octavio Paz wrote that “the Mexican people, after more than two centuries of experiments, have faith only in the Virgin of Guadalupe and the National Lottery.” Though perhaps not to the same degree of reverence as people of Mexican descent have for Our Lady of Guadalupe, many diners literally make pilgrimages to Santa Fe’s Guadalupe Cafe. You might say they trek to this beloved institution with a type of fervor which could be considered almost spiritual. The Guadalupe Cafe, long removed from Santa Fe’s Guadalupe District and Guadalupe Street, does indeed inspire a fierce devotion. It is one of the most popular restaurants in Santa Fe, a venue often included in discussions about the best New Mexican restaurants in Northern New Mexico. It’s not uncommon to find yourself seated next to families who drove from Albuquerque or Taos (as has been our experience) just for breakfast at this institution. It’s not uncommon for tourists to make this the first restaurant they visit when they return to Santa Fe (and the City Different always inspires return visits).a During a return visit to Santa Fe for her Tasty Travels show, the effervescent kitchen diva Rachael Ray touted the…

BakeryBreakfastNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Very GoodTaos County

Michael’s Kitchen – Taos, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:56 PM

Murphy’s Law postulates that “if anything can go wrong, it will.” This rather pessimistic and oft-quoted expression has become a catch-all when everything seems to go askew. Murphy’s Law is blamed when you’re in the slowest line at a grocery store behind people who can’t find their checkbooks. It’s the reason the toast you accidentally drop off the table lands butter side down. It’s why the loudest and rudest people always sit in front of you at a movie theater. Murphy’s Law is also the reason the restaurant you brag most about will invariably have an “off night” on the day people you most want to impress visit. It never fails! This immutable law works like compound interest. The more you brag about a restaurant, the worse it will be for your guests. My brother George whose opinion on everything I value had told me for years that Michael’s Kitchen was one of the best restaurants in northern New Mexico. He appreciated its portion size, value and the quality of its New Mexican food (which the menu listed as “Spanish”). Our inaugural visit was compounded by mistakes. Going out on a rainy July night in 2003 when the Taos fiestas…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastClosed in 2009

Sunshine Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:36 AM

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry Sunshine on the waters looks so lovely Sunshine almost always makes me high -John Denver A gloomy, gray winter day in Minnesota was the inspiration for John Denver’s number one song “Sunshine on My Shoulders.” During a visit to the Gopher State in 1974, he experienced the type of “cabin fever” with which many New Mexicans are familiar after one gloomy winter day after another (ask anyone from Chama).  Minnesota, as we know, is a far cry from New Mexico when it comes to winter warmth and sunshine. Still, after the winter of 2007-2008, many New Mexicans are able to empathize with Denver’s being ready for spring and wanting to go outdoors again where the sun itself can make you feel good. Albuquerque boasts of 310 days of sunshine, making it an ideal milieu for outdoor activities year-round. With a mile-high elevation, ours is a penetrating sun made warm and bright thanks to our rarified, thin air.  It’s a rare season in which Duke City residents are stranded indoors for too long without the life-giving, Vitamin-D imparting rays of our sun.  Even when the thermometer…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastClosed in 2012Gone But Not ForgottenRating: Excellent

Milton’s Family Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno3:03 AM

In a 2002 column Jason Sheehan, one of the best in a succession of outstanding Alibi restaurant critics assembled a dream menu of the best foods he had ever eaten, a “desert-island top ten” from which he’d choose if ever asked the question, “If you could eat only one thing every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?”  His top ten list included the phenomenal red chile breakfast burritos from Milton’s Family Restaurant in Albuquerque. As a restaurant critic I’d flatter myself disingenuously if I compared myself to Sheehan, but at least in terms of our mutually high opinion of Milton’s breakfast burritos, we’re completely simpatico. I first discovered those tortilla encased treasures when stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base in the late 1970s. Milton’s burritos are simplicity itself–grilled tortillas enwrapping eggs and potatoes then smothered in some of the best, most earthy red chile (or alternatively, a savory, fruity green chile that’s just as wonderful) as any served anywhere in New Mexico. Make sure to order these burritos “Christmas style” so you can have both red and green chile. These breakfast burritos (pictured at left) are a truly mellifluous marriage of great ingredients prepared uniquely…

AmericanBreakfastBuffetNevadaRating: ExcellentUnited States

Bellagio Buffet – Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Garduno10:51 PM

Comparing the Bellagio Buffet to the buffets proffered at other casino hotels isn’t quite akin to comparing a Bacchanalian festival to a swinish feeding troth, but it might be close.  That’s because the difference in quality between the Bellagio Buffet and its nearest competitor is several degrees of magnitude. It’s the one buffet in Vegas in which you might actually see the gentrified and the affluent condescend to mingle with the rabble.  It’s also the one buffet in which some of the patrons don’t look like they parked their hay wagons in front of the casino and walked in. Being the very best, the Bellagio Buffet seemingly brings out the best behavior among its dining patrons who at other casinos might jostle and push their brethren just like European tourists do (and by the way, some of them put the much-maligned and stereotyped “ugly Americans” to shame). There are many other Vegas buffets which offer greater variety, but where the Bellagio stands out is in its lavish presentation of cuisine as opposed to chow, fine dining as opposed to smorgasbord and culinary creations as opposed to caloric caches. While other buffets have action stations usually featuring thematic (such as seafood)…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastClosed in 2010Gone But Not Forgotten

Chef Jim White’s Cafe & Catering – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:43 AM

Long before the Food Network made chefs legitimate on-air celebrity icons, Albuquerque had its own larger-than-life, media-savvy celebrity chef who, it seemed, spent almost as much time on the airwaves as behind the stove. Chef Jim White was a peripatetic presence on television where he hosted short cooking segments on two Duke City television news programs in addition to having a three-minute format airing in a San Diego station. He also wrote a highly-regarded food column for the Albuquerque Journal. So well known was (and is) Chef Jim White that in Albuquerque his name is always prefaced with his title, “Chef.” In society, only doctors and professors seem to earn that level of respect and in Hollywood, the celebrity equivalent might be being known by first name (i.e., Oprah, Beyonce). Chef Jim White was everywhere. He had the energy, enthusiasm and credentials (graduating no less than at the top of his class at the Culinary Institute of America) to carry off bona fide celebrity. He also had an endearing effusive personality that engendered genuine affection among many loyal patrons. From 1999 until July, 2005, the indefatigable chef also owned Casa Vieja, a venerable Corrales restaurant. At Casa Vieja he popularized…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBakeryBreakfastClosed in 2009Gone But Not Forgotten

Painted Horse Coffeehouse – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:10 PM

In the summer of 2000, prominent artists throughout the Southwest resoundingly answered the call to submit their design ideas for painting on an unconventional medium–a horse cast in a durable resin blend. This particular canvas was chosen to commemorate the introduction to North America of the horse. More than five centuries ago, Spanish Conquistadores explored New Mexico astride the noble beast. The painted ponies were intended to promote artistic excellence and for about a year, the “trail of painted ponies” led art aficionados to various galleries throughout the state where the equine masterpieces were on display. In the fall of 2001, the ponies were sold and garnered over half a million dollars for altruistic causes.Fast forward to March, 2006 when culinary pioneers Debbie and Jud Lewis-Mahon, blazed their own trail on painted ponies of their own, albeit gleaming metal steeds with considerably more horsepower than the Conquistadores’ horses. That’s when they launched the Painted Horse Coffeehouse in the Paseo del Norte Shopping Center on Albuquerque’s far Northwest corner. Like the Spanish explorers, the Lewis-Mahons have had to surmount vast expanses of wasteland–in this case, a plethora of chain restaurant mediocrity. The Painted Horse Coffeehouse is a rarity in this part…

AmericanArizonaBreakfastRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

El Tovar – Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Gil Garduno9:57 PM

When Spanish explorer García López de Cárdenas first laid eyes on the Grand Canyon, surely his reaction wasn’t “it’s just a great big hole in the ground.” That was the reaction of a friend of mine, who much like other modern Americans is so caught up in the trappings of pop culture and “technolust” that he’s lost the ability to be impressed by what it has taken nature millions of years to produce. It took some six million years for the Colorado River to create the multi-hued, steep-sided gorge that is today considered one of the natural wonders of the world.  The incomparable magnitude of the Colorado River’s handiwork certainly wasn’t lost on the Fred Harvey Company, the West’s most prolific hospitality providers during the great era of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF). In 1905, the Fred Harvey Company opened El Tovar Hotel a mere 30 yards from the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  Today, the hotel remains the premier lodging facility at the Grand Canyon, having been most recently renovated in 2005.  It is at the northern terminus of the Grand Canyon Railway, formerly a branch of the ATSF. El Tovar is elegant and charming,…

AmericanBreakfastNew MexicoNew Mexico Culinary Treasures TrailRating: Good

El Rancho – Gallup, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:22 AM

In the 1930s and 1940s, sometimes considered the halcyon days of Western movies, the Four Corners region was the site of many cinematic classics, quite a few featuring battles between the cavalry and “misplaced” American Indians.  Never mind that the Cheyenne and the Sioux actually lived hundreds of miles (and several states) away, the region’s dramatic topography was a perfect backdrop for cowboy conflicts with these Midwestern Indians. Besides that, Navajo “actors” were plentiful.  Producers would attire them in war bonnets, arm them with lances and hand them scripts in which they would invariably succumb to the “righteous might” of the charging cavalry. One movie, John Ford’s classic Cheyenne Autumn, featuring Navajo actors pretending to be Cheyenne, has an almost cult following in Navajo country. Navajo members watching the movie today roar with laughter when Cheyenne leaders speak in Navajo, supposedly discussing treaties and tribal needs.  What the Navajo actors in the film really said in somber tones generally concerned the size of the colonel’s privates (not the ones who march) or some equally disrespectful or bawdy double-entendre. When filming took place in Navajo country close to Gallup, New Mexico, the stars found a temporary home at the El Rancho Hotel,…

BreakfastClosed in 2022Gone But Not ForgottenMexicanNew MexicoSanta Fe

Felipe’s Tacos – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:23 PM

The rich folklore of the Hispanic culture of New Mexico and southern Colorado is preserved largely through cuentos (stories, legends and myths) passed down from one generation to the next. Among my favorites is a short story of how God named His people. According to this cuento, God passed out so many names–Ortega, Lopez, Gonzalez, Sanchez–that He ran out of last names and said, “the rest of you will be called Martinez.”  This cuento is meant to illustrate why there are so many people with the last name of Martinez in New Mexico and southern Colorado. Told in English, God would have given everyone else the last name of Smith or Jones. Common though the name Martinez may be, it is also a very proud name brought to distinction by its bearers–proud holders such as Rico Martinez, the brilliant founder of the now defunct The Rant Pack, Albuquerque’s most hilarious blog, and Felipe Martinez, the proprietor and creative genius behind his eponymous restaurant in St Michael’s Village.  The recipes were actually passed down from Felipe’s mother, a native of Zacatecas, Mexico, but it is Felipe who has been sharing them with Santa Fe for more than a decade. For that,…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastClosed in 2017Gone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico Culinary Treasures Trail

Murphy’s Mule Barn – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno5:09 AM

A mule is an animal with long funny ears he kicks up at anything he hears His back is brawny but his brain is weak he’s just plain stupid with a stubborn streak and by the way if you hate to go to school You may grow up to be a mule. – Bing Crosby Murphy’s law, a popular adage in Western culture is commonly formulated as “if anything can go wrong, it will.”  Murphy’s Mule Barn, a popular North Valley restaurant, hasn’t posited any law that I know of, but if it did, the law might read something like “friendly folks, great food, huge portions, small check.” Named for Murphy’s Mule Barn in Salina, Kansas, the restaurant celebrates all things mule in a cutesy sort of way with an ambience that includes barn implements such as stirrups, harnesses and other mule driving tools, many of the antique variety. Pictures of mules and ceramic statues of burros add rustic charm while posters by prominent New Mexico artist B.C. Nowlin give no indication that Nowlin, one of the restaurant’s most famous “local” patrons starts many a day with breakfast at Murphy’s before heading to his studio (and it’s a good bet…