Category: United States

ArizonaBarbecueRating: ExcellentUnited States

Honey Bear’s Barbecue – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno2:40 PM

Depending on the type of egg, the minimum temperature for frying an egg is said to be 144-158F and on scorching summer days in Phoenix, television news shows perennially traumatize visitors and tourists by frying an egg on the city’s sidewalks. If blistering heat is the reason the Phoenix area has so many outstanding barbecue restaurants, I’m all for Albuquerque’s temperature climbing a few degrees in the summer. The venerable Honey Bear’s Barbecue is easily equal to, make that superior to Hap’s Pit Barbecue which I had thought to offer the best barbecue in the greater Phoenix area. Honey Bear’s has been serving Memphis-style barbecue since 1986 when the proprietors launched the first of three Phoenix area restaurants.  In close proximity to the airport, it’s a popular destination for people flying in and out of Phoenix–and one of the few reasons I enjoy business trips to the Land of the Sun. Two slogans define the secrets to the restaurant’s success: “You don’t need no teeth to eat our meat” and “Put a little south in your mouth.” One word of caution about all the sandwiches at Honey Bear’s–the bread just isn’t resilient enough to hold all that flavor (and sauce). …

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,…

ArizonaClosed in 2018Gone But Not ForgottenSushiUnited States

Sushi Eye – Tempe, Arizona (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:04 AM

To Western diners used to restaurant ambience defined by an effusive, sensory bombarding, over-the-top flamboyance, many Japanese restaurants feel stark and barren in comparison. That austerity is actually by design. The Buddhist teaching of “wabi” which means “quiet of tranquility” posits a non-attachment to material things. Wabi values the ability to make the most of starkness and poverty by cherishing the subtle beauty found only in a very simple environment. In some sushi restaurants, the minimalist decor is not much more than functional and and nearly as raw as sashimi. Lighting is subtle, perhaps even romantic. The ambience seems to inspire hushed tones and an almost reverent mood, in some cases almost as if you’re at a Buddhist temple. That’s the concept of wabi. In wabi fashion, the not quite wasabi colored walls at Sushi Eye are relatively stark, festooned with but a few framed images. The restaurant’s activity center and heart, the sushi bar, is more brightly illuminated. A single neko cat, symbolizing good luck, sits on that bar. Sushi Eye is situated in a nondescript Tempe strip mall practically next door to the Fascinations Superstore where sensual shopping can precede sushi sampling if you’re so inclined. It opened…

BarbecueClosed in 2010Gone But Not ForgottenNevadaUnited States

Buckingham Smokehouse Bar-B-Q – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno11:53 PM

Las Vegas has established itself as one of America’s, if not the world’s, preeminent dining destinations. Many of the world’s most famous and successful chefs have launched flamboyant restaurants that celebrate their self-aggrandizing greatness in magnificent pantheons of gustatory grandeur. Fortunately for true gastronomes who don’t worship exclusively at the tables of gastronomic glitterati, Las Vegas has also attracted its share of chefs with whom those of us of the common clay can identify–chefs who didn’t refine their skills at a snooty culinary institute but in the backyard on the family grill. With a recent influx of pit masters migrating to Las Vegas from America’s heartlands, Sin City may someday compete with Memphis, Kansas City, Texas and South Carolina as a bastion of barbecue. Witness: Mike “The Legend” Mills, a four-time world champion at “Memphis in May,” the most prestigious barbecue competition in the world chose Las Vegas as the site of his four Memphis Championship Barbecue restaurants. In recent years his restaurant has been a mainstay on the annual “Best of Las Vegas” awards. It’s been said that when it comes to Texas barbecue, all roads lead to the award-winning Salt Lick Barbecue restaurant in the tiny backwater town…

Closed in 2008Gone But Not ForgottenNevadaSandwichUnited States

Windy City Pizza & Subs – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:22 PM

Ask any Chicago transplant to list the five things they miss most about the Windy City and it’s a good bet the list will include Italian beef sandwiches, a staple in Chicago. Chicagoans grow up worshipping at the tables of Italian beef sandwich shops and are almost as passionate about this sloppy sandwich as they are Da Bears. After my several first two experiences with Italian beef, my reaction was “okay, so what’s so great about these” then we visited Johnnie’s Italian Beef and I had an epiphany. Now my nights are (Italian) spiced with dreams of gravy running down my arms and the sounds of giardinaire crunching in my mouth. Italian beef sandwiches are an absolute “must have” during our visits to the Windy City. Several years ago during one of our frequent sojourns to Las Vegas, we discovered Mastro’s Italian Beef a scant three miles from our Vegas residence and struck up a friendship with Mike Mastro, the affable proprietor. Mastro evinced the adage that “you can’t trust a skinny chef.” A formidable man, he shared our passion for Italian beef authenticity and crafted the very best example of that sandwich we’ve ever had outside of Chicago. Trepidation…

Closed in 2022Gone But Not ForgottenNevadaThaiUnited States

Satay Thai Bistro & Bar – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:21 AM

While Albuquerque has come a long way toward becoming a cultural melting pot, a dramatic dearth still exists when it comes to a pot of another sort–the pot in which enculturated diners might find simmering some of the world’s most flavorful cuisine: Ethiopian, Basque, Russian, Hawaiian and Malaysian, for example.  Fortunately, more cosmopolitan dining destinations such as Las Vegas are only a short flight away. Las Vegas diners have embraced the Satay Malaysian Grille, the first Chinatown area restaurant to feature the fragrant spices, pungent curries and distinctive flavor combinations that have long made Malaysian cuisine a favorite of savvy diners.  Talk about a melting pot.  The population of Malaysia is comprised heavily of ethnic Chinese and Indians so it stands to reason that their cuisines would play a major culinary influence in the development of their cuisine.  Proximity to Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam certainly wielded some influence as well. The Satay Grille is named for the popular grilled skewers with which aficionados of Thai cuisine are familiar.  Regarded as “street food” throughout the Far East, satay has become a popular American favorite, perhaps because of its similarity to the skewers prepared on many a barbecue grill.  A satay…

CaliforniaMalaysianRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Spice Islands Cafe – Mountain View, California

Gil Garduno4:34 AM

During a two-hour layover en route to a business meeting in Silicon Valley, I managed to devour every single delectable word of Garlic and Sapphires, the raucously entertaining bestseller to be by Ruth Reichl, erstwhile restaurant critic for the New York Times.  The book–woven with the same incomparable alchemy with which she crafts her restaurant reviews–was transcendent in its ability to paint vividly palpable pictures with unmatched clarity and flair. I can only hope a modicum of that alchemy rubbed off on me because the Spice Islands Cafe, the first restaurant I visited after reading the book, deserves the Ruth Reichl treatment.  Not being Ruth Reichl, I’ll probably subject you to my usual parochial repertoire of tired adjectives in describing a meal a Japanese dining patron might say had moments of unami–moments in which something is exactly right. Spice Islands is tucked away in a woodsy idyll less than an hour away from San Francisco.  For aficionados of Asian cuisine, downtown Mountain View is Nirvana with Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Thai and Sushi restaurants occupying many of the area’s edifices.  Your greatest challenge will be selecting from which cuisine to partake. For me, the recognition that Malaysian, Singaporean and Indonesian dishes…

Closed in 2010FusionGone But Not ForgottenNevadaUnited States

Chinois – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:16 AM

It’s been well established that world-famous chef and restaurant impresario Wolfgang Puck can talk the talk. Chinois, a critically acclaimed fine-dining fusion restaurant located in Santa Monica, California is, in the estimation of many, proof that he can also “walk the wok.” So successful was his original Asian and French influenced fusion restaurant that he launched a branch within the confines of the people watching Mecca of the Forum shops at Caesar’s. Prior to visiting Chinois, I read several reviews in which fulsome praise was lavished on the über celebrity chef’s Asian masterpiece. I’ve been accused of hyperbole, but compared to what I read about Chinois, my favorable reviews are understated. One reviewer proclaimed Chinois as “quite possibly the best restaurant in Vegas” while another described the menu as “a banquet of creative and flavorful tastes from beginning to end.” Some reviewers were even more profuse in their praise. After reading several diatribes of effusive burble, my expectations were sky-high. Those expectations were hardly dashed when I arrived too early for a sushi bar one critic described as “super fresh.” Studying the lunch menu delivered the promise of an exciting meal even sans sushi–even though the menu listed fewer than…

AmericanClosed in 2020Gone But Not ForgottenNevadaUnited States

Mesa Grill – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno2:06 AM

With an upset rematch victory over über Japanese iron chef Masaharu Morimoto in a 2003 Iron Chef competition, (arguably) America’s preeminent grill master and New York City restaurant impresario, Bobby Flay became more than a pretty face on several Food Network television shows and the CBS morning news. He cemented his credibility as a legitimate force with which to be reckoned in the world of fine dining where chefs have become larger than life glitterati. On October 7, 2004, he launched his first restaurant outside New York City within the confines of Caesar’s Palace which has become a Mecca for some of America’s premier celebrity chefs. A flame themed ambiance features a flamed patterned carpet, copper flames on the wall and even flaming ceilings. Also impressive were the teak wood and flagstone floors, but the star of the show is the 20-foot rotisserie with a grill and quesadilla oven. As frequently as Flay visits New Mexico, it was refreshing to see his menu peppered (no pun intended) with ingredients indigenous to the foods of the Land of Enchantment. Those menus use the correct spelling of the word “chile” which showed just how much Flay pays attention during his dining forays…

Closed in 2020Gone But Not ForgottenNevadaSandwichUnited States

Carnegie Deli (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno7:40 PM

Father Mark Schultz, the charismatic priest at the San Antonio De Padua church in Penasco, jokes that the reason Catholics are required to abstain from eating meat on Fridays is not because there’s a shortage of cows. That’s certainly true. There is more beef on the hoof in America than there are tax-paying citizens. That’s why it’s always puzzled me that sandwich restaurants in New Mexico are so chintzy with their meat portions. You’d think there really was a beef shortage (and an excess of bread and lettuce) considering the the typical Albuquerque restaurant sandwich is comprised of thin shards of beef buried under half a head of lettuce and enough bread to choke a mule. In the American megalopolises of Chicago and New York, sandwiches are piled skyscraper high with beef and it’s not a figment of your imagination when you actually experience the flavor of bovine amidst the constituent parts of a sandwich. You’d think Chicago and New York were closer to cattle ranches than New Mexico is, but I digress. This is a review on a Las Vegas deli from which restaurants in my beloved Land of Enchantment could learn much. In recent years, Las Vegas has…

Closed in 2023Gone But Not ForgottenItalianNevadaUnited States

Spiedini – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:39 AM

Spiedini is a magnificent sensory feast that begins when your olfactory senses first catch a whiff of the intoxicating emanations wafting from the kitchen as you drop your car off at the valet parking station. It continues as you step into the marble tiled floors of an ultra modern, visually appealing restaurant extravagance. Your tactile senses are aroused as you dip the fabulous focaccia bread into a marvelous mixture of virgin olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. Finally, your taste buds culminate the exhilarating experience as you savor each and every bite of a very memorable Italian culinary event. Just like the now defunct Las Vegas legend, the Venetian restaurant, Spiedini exemplifies the huge delta in quality between Italian restaurants in large metropolitan cities and those in my beloved New Mexico where the dearth in truly outstanding Italian establishments is lamentable. The brainchild of Viennese born Gustav Mauler, one of only 54 certified master chefs in the United States, Spiedini may be the very best Italian restaurant we’ve experienced west of the Mississippi. Attention to detail is one of the reasons. While the oily and unappealing travesty other restaurants call antipasto is enough to make any pasta proponent anti antipasto, once…