Category: Breakfast

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastNational ChainRating: Good

The Cracker Barrel Old Country Store – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:12 PM

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. This really is Gil’s Thrilling (and Filling) Blog and you really are reading a review of  a (gasp) chain restaurant. It would be easy (a cop-out) to say my visit to the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store was the result of brow-beating, cajoling, bribery or even torture, but the truth is my Kim loves the Cracker Barrel.  She’s well aware of my chain-averse attitude, but was hoping the Cracker Barrel would win me over. With my every reference to the “Chancre Barrel” on the drive to the restaurant, she quickly realized it was a hopeless…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastBreakfast BurritosCoffeeNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Blackbird Coffee House – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“Sing a song of sixpence A pocketful of rye Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie.” One interpretation of this English child’s 16th Century nursery rhyme posits that it was written about entremet, an Old French term referring to dishes served between courses of a meal.  “Dishes” had a very figurative meaning and could represent anything from edible scenic displays to foods designed to amuse or surprise.  One of the more popular amusements was to place live birds in a pie.  An Italian cookbook from 1549 (translated into English in 1598) actually contained such a recipe: “To make pies…

AmericanBreakfastBreakfast BurritosBrunchDiners Drive-Ins and DivesFood Network Eats New MexicoNew MexicoRating: ExcellentSanta Fe

Harry’s Roadhouse – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:12 AM

Roadhouses–great inns and restaurants located near major highways traversing the country–once dotted America’s fruited plain, offering respite and sustenance to weary or hungry travelers. Renown for serving great comfort foods, they have been an important part of America’s heritage though with the advent of fast food restaurants and chains, fewer authentic roadhouses exist today.  Harry’s Roadhouse may be a bit more sophisticated and eclectic than its roadhouse brethren, offering several kinds of pizza, sandwiches, burgers, salads, pastas, Cajun and Asian cuisine as well as American comfort food standards that give it a feel and taste of home. To say it’s…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastBreakfast BurritosBurgersDog FriendlyGreekRating: Very Good

Vic’s Daily Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?” “What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?” “I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.” Unlike the great philosopher Winnie the Pooh, many Americans, it seems, don’t equate breakfast with excitement. Studies show that far too many of us fuel our bodies with a “gobble and go” mentality that typifies our frenetic lifestyles. In 2007, one food service industry research firm concluded that most…

AmericanBreakfastNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Del’s Restaurant – Tucumcari, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

The 1950s was the era of American Graffiti and Happy Days.  Motorists were getting their kicks on Route 66 and listening to Wolfman Jack howl as he spun Rock Around The Clock at 45rpm.  Vestiges of that era are still teeming in Tucumcari, the easternmost major town in the Land of Enchantment along Interstate 40.  Known by locals as “the town that’s two blocks wide and two miles long,” Tucumcari’s main thoroughfare traces the route blazed through town by old Route 66.  That route is festooned with vibrant neon signage that cuts a luminous swath through the town. The nocturnal…

BreakfastBreakfast BurritosBurgersOklahomaRating: OutstandingUnited States

Johnnie’s Hamburgers & Coneys – El Reno, Oklahoma

Gil Garduno3:00 PM

“In onion is strength; and a garden without it lacks flavour. The onion, in its satin wrappings, is among the most beautiful of vegetables; and it is the only one that represents the essence of things. It can almost be said to have a soul.” ~Charles Dudley Warner, American Novelist In the vividly hued threads that comprise a diverse tapestry of culinary preferences, onions stand as a polarizing ingredient. While some of us hail onions as the backbone of flavor, others recoil at their mere mention. In some cultures, onions are associated with bad breath and are avoided in social…

AmericanBreakfastNew MexicoRating: Very GoodSanta Fe

The Original Realburger – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:10 PM

Her sunrise could bring light into a blind man. Her sunset could put tears there in his eyes. Her colors are laying there in brush strokes. Underneath those peote skies. The lay of the land stirs all of my emotions. She heals me with a laid back energy. She holds onto my broken lifeless spirit. And molds me just like pottery. And nowhere that I’ve ever been can make me feel this way. That’s why I’m going there to stay. – The Bellamy Brothers Santa Fe’s preternatural beauty is so captivating that even the plethora of writers, artists and musicians…

AmericanArizonaBreakfastDog FriendlyFarm to TableUnited States

The Farm at South Mountain – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:05 AM

There are two indulgences we miss when we visit Tempe: New Mexico’s incomparable cuisine and the coffee we wake up to every morning.  My sister Anita assures us there are now several restaurants in the Valley of the Sun which serve New Mexican cuisine that is more than passable though we have yet to visit any of them.  While our landlords graciously provide a coffee pot, we don’t ever seem to remember to pack our beloved Douwe Egberts coffee from the Netherlands.  Okay, maybe that’s just an excuse to visit Black Rock Coffee in Tempe which serves a very good…

2022 James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAlbuquerqueBreakfastBreakfast BurritosClosed in 2026Gone But Not ForgottenJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Outstanding

My Moms – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno5:01 PM

“God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” —Rudyard Kipling Should you have the pleasure of getting to know Chef Marie Yniguez, even a little, you’ll come away with three absolute certainties.  First, Albuquerque’s arguably most famous celebrity chef is unabashedly herself.  The happy, loving, gregarious person you’ve seen on numerous Food Network culinary competitions doesn’t have a pretentious bone in her body.  She is as genuine and sincere as they come.  Though she left the hardscrabble mining town of Hurley, New Mexico a lifetime ago, she remains a country girl at heart. And even though she was…

BreakfastBreakfast BurritosNew MexicoRating: ExcellentSanta FeSouthwestern

Plaza Cafe Southside – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:37 PM

Santa Fe’s oldest restaurant (circa 1918), the Plaza Cafe is so popular that long waits to be seated are commonplace. Compound that with the hassle of trying to find a parking spot that isn’t a marathon’s length to walk to and from the Cafe then having to navigate through throngs of awestruck tourists and it’s a restaurant we don’t visit as often as we’d like. Our visits have become even more infrequent thanks to the 2003 launch of the Plaza Cafe’s sister restaurant (albeit a sister that’s 84 years younger) on Santa Fe’s south side. The Plaza Cafe Southside, situated…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastNew MexicanRating: Very Good

Monroe’s New Mexican Food – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:38 AM

If I’ve learned anything from dining at Monroe’s, it’s that I shouldn’t leave the restaurant with any regrets.  Invariably what I end up regretting most often is that I didn’t have the green chile cheeseburger, one of the very best in town, if not the Land of Enchantment.  It’s a green chile cheeseburger so good that I’ll order it during three consecutive visits before ordering anything else on the menu–and when I don’t order it, I lament not having had my ardor quelled by its utter deliciousness. Some may question how a restaurant with such an “Anglicized” appellation as Monroe’s…