Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog
Follow the Culinary Ruminations of New Mexico's Sesquipedalian Sybarite. 1,325 Restaurant Reviews, More Than 13,400 Visitor Comments…And Counting!
Everyone should have a friend like Steve Coleman, the erudite owner of Steve’s Food Page. Not only is he a great guy and a lot of fun to spend time with, he’s a superb host and tour guide. During a two-day sojourn to “El Chuco,” Steve not only showed us the sights, he gave me a much-needed lesson about history…
My friend Steve Coleman, owner of the well-written and impeccably researched Steve’s Food Blog has become quite a culinary anthropologist. Not only does he provide his readers with comprehensive reviews of restaurants throughout the fruited plain, he explores the genesis of the foods he writes about. One of his passions is to define what constitutes El Paso style Mexican cuisine–its…
For years now, my Kim and I have largely eschewed American television, especially its sophomoric, lowbrow and “meant for voyeurs” reality shows. We’ve been increasingly gravitating to an almost exclusive viewership of British television which we’ve found to be meant for grown-ups rather than children. British television programs offer a sophistication direly absent in American programming. British programs tend to…
In the inspirational 1989 movie, Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner stars as an Iowa farmer named Ray Kinsella. As a farmer, Ray has fallen on hard times. While standing in his corn field one day, he has a vision of a baseball field where part of his cornfield is. A disembodied voice (credited by IMDB to “The Voice”) tells him,…
Justina Duong’s effusive personality, easy elegance and chic fashion sense could fill a room–and they often did. From the moment Justina launched Cycle on Chandler Avenue, the captivating chef and hostess extraordinaire didn’t just have guests. She had an audience, a throng of admirers (mostly men). She had peeps. Charming, gracious and attractive, the belle femme made guests feel at…
Inasmuch as they’re both Romance languages, there are a lot of similarities between Spanish and Italian. Because Spanish was my first language, if spoken slowly enough I can probably understand thirty-percent of what is spoken in Italian. Alas, not all Spanish and Italian terms are lexical cognates. That is, they don’t have the same etymology or derivation. For example, the…
“Are you sure we belong here,” my Kim asked as we strolled along Kierland Commons, an upscale Main Street lifestyle center. “Of course, we belong here,” I replied just as a shiny, brand new Bentley parked in the spot we were walking past. We certainly don’t have that kind of money (not even close), but we have a great equalizer.…
In a Phoenix.org feature published in November, 2022, David Tynda declared that Phoenix is a top city for pizza. “I say to people that I believe Phoenix is the pizza capital of the U.S. and I wait for them to slap me across the face,” said Tyda, the co-manager of Phoenix Festivals. The Matador Network agreed: “Phoenix is a slice…
Number one in the entire country. Highest rated from about 90-million restaurant reviews. Topping Yelp’s 9th annual list of the top 100 restaurants in the United States for 2022 is “Cocina Madrigal, a “father-and-son-owned eatery serving Oaxaca fundido and beef birria enchiladas to lucky residents of Phoenix, Arizona (who’ve responded with more 5-star reviews than we can count).” Cocina Madrigal wasn’t on…
My friend Bruce “Sr. Plata” Silver is understandably very proud of his Sephardic Jewish heritage. Sephardic, of course, is a term for Spanish Jews who were forced to Catholicism or face expulsion from Spain. Estimates indicate this diaspora was responsible for the movement of up to 300,000 Spanish Jews who settled in different parts of Europe and the Middle East.…
Gustavo Arellano, the brilliant writer behind the Ask A Mexican column (and even better book by that title) was remarkably quick with a disarming retort that diffused controversy with humor. One example is when a reader–perhaps hoping to ingratiate himself to Arellano–wrote Ask A Mexican: “I don’t go to many Mexican restaurants—not because of the stereotypes but because the food…
