Category: United States

2024 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Mountain" SemifinalistBasqueDog FriendlyIdahoJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersRating: N/R (Not Rated)SpanishUnited States

Ansots Basque Cuisine – Boise, Idaho

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Historian Jan Morris wrote “Basque is one of the world’s more alarming languages. Only a handful of adult foreigners, they say, have ever managed to learn it. The Devil tried once and mastered only three words – profanities, I assume.”  Ellie Ansotegui, co-owner (along with her father Dan) of Ansots Basque Cuisine in Boise, Idaho lived in Basque Country for a year where she studied the language, enhancing the intermediate proficiency she had acquired growing up in a Basque family.  Alas, she returned to her Boise hometown and without practicing it faithfully, quickly lost the additional mastery she acquired in…

Diners Drive-Ins and DivesDog FriendlyIdahoRating: N/R (Not Rated)RussianUnited States

Alyonka Russian Cuisine – Boise, Idaho

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In the 1970s when most people still had a sense of humor and society wasn’t offended by virtually everything, Wendy’s ran a commercial humorously depicting a Soviet fashion show.  This fashion show portrayed a heavyset (calorically challenged if you insist on political correctness) Russian woman modeling day wear, evening wear and swim wear.  In each case, the attire was exactly the same–a drab wool sack with matching hat.  Only her accessories were different: a beach ball for swim wear and a flashlight for evening wear.  A Soviet ambassador appeared on television to condemn the depiction of Russian womanhood.  Before the…

AmericanCoffeeDog FriendlyFarm to TableIdahoRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Yellow Brick Cafe – Twin Falls, Idaho

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In the Air Force, when you’re stationed at a base overseas, service members receive an orientation on how to comport ourselves (behave) in that country.  We’re cautioned about cultural do’s and don’ts.  We’re introduced to American terminology and conduct our host country members might find offensive.  Above all, it’s emphasized that we are ambassadors for the United States, that our behavior reflects on our country.  We’re admonished not to perpetrate the “ugly American” stereotype that some countries have about the fruited plain.  If you’re not familiar with the term, here’s how Wikipedia defines it: “Ugly American” is a stereotype depicting…

AsianDog FriendlyIdahoRating: N/R (Not Rated)ThaiUnited States

Jasmine Thai Cuisine – Twin Falls, Idaho

Gil Garduno10:09 AM

My sister and I joke that our hometown of Peñasco is the only place in the entire country that doesn’t have a McDonald’s or a Thai restaurant.  Thanks to our neighbors in the Picuris Pueblo, there’s a Subway just a few miles west of our home.  The McDonald’s closest to Peñasco is 25 miles away in Taos which also boasts of three Thai restaurants.  Driving twenty-five miles in the high mountain country is very different from driving 25 miles in Albuquerque where you might still be in the Duke City when driving that distance.  Driving from Peñasco to Taos involves…

ChickenClosed in 2023Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenUnited StatesUtah

The Crack Shack – Salt Lake City, Utah (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

NOTE: In November, 2023, it was announced that all Utah Locations of The Crack Shack would be closing and transitioning to a new concep. tOnly culinary historians would call 2020 the “year of the fried chicken sandwich.”  Most of the rest of us would call 2020 the “year of the Cabrona virus” or the “year the world shut down.”  During that annus horribilis, some 50 chains introduced either brand new premium chicken sandwiches or upgraded former versions.  The instigator of the “chicken sandwich wars” was Chick-fil-A whose slogan boasts “we didn’t invent the chicken, just the chicken sandwich.”  In response…

Dog FriendlyItalianRating: OutstandingSandwichUnited StatesUtah

TONY CAPUTO’S MARKET & DELI – Salt Lake City, Utah

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

Most of us know someone like Lucy Van Pelt, the irascible, bossy, highly opinionated diva in the syndicated Peanuts comic strip.   Since her debut in 1952, Lucy has been the perpetrator of two long-running gags.  One involves her holding the football (ostensibly so that Charlie Brown can kick a field goal or extra point) and pulling the ball away because she doesn’t want Charlie Brown to get it dirty.  The second gag parodies the lemonade stand operated by many young children under spacious skies.  Instead of a lemonade stand, she operates a psychiatric booth where she offers advice and…

BakeryDonutsRating: ExcellentUnited StatesUtah

Banbury Cross Donuts – Salt Lake City, Utah

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“Ride a cockhorse to Banbury Cross, To see a fine lady upon a white horse; Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, She shall have music wherever she goes.” ~The Dorling Kindersley Book of Nursery Rhymes While planning our culinary exploration of the Salt Lake City restaurant scene, there were a number of restaurants we categorized as “must visit.”  Among those in that rarefied air were restaurants with a national profile such as Tony Caputo’s Market & Deli and Freshie’s Lobster Co.  Another made our must visit solely on the basis of its name.  The name Banbury Cross…

BarbecueDog FriendlyRating: ExcellentUnited StatesUtah

Blu Pig BBQ & Blues – Moab, Utah

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

For many of us barbecue is a noun as in “a social gathering at which barbecued food is eaten.”   For others it’s a verb (to roast or smoke food over wood using smoke at low temperatures over a long cooking time).  For the most passionate and devoted, barbecue is a way of life…even a religion.  That religion is practiced by large and small congregations in both outdoor and indoor temples throughout a portion of U.S. Highway 61.  The hymns wailed and warbled by choruses of angelic voices are the reason that portion of U.S. Highway 61 is known as the…

BurgersEspañolaNational ChainNevadaNew MexicoRating: Very GoodUnited States

Fatburger – Isleta & Espanola, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:10 AM

To its detractors, there are a lot of things about which to criticize California, but even detractors will give the Golden State its due when it comes to a national obsession–the hamburger.  California is the state that gave America McDonald’s, In-N-Out Burger and my favorite, the Fatburger. (My Illinois in-laws will remind me with proud vehemence that the “original” McDonald’s restaurant location (launched on April 15th, 1955) was in Des Plaines, Illinois, but the “first” McDonald’s hamburger stand operated out of San Bernardino in 1954.) To some readers, my declaration of Fatburger being my favorite California burger may be seen…

2024 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Texas" SemifinalistAsianClosed in 2023Dog FriendlyFusionGone But Not ForgottenJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersJapaneseMariscosMexicanRamenTacosTexasUnited States

El Charlatan – Socorro, Texas (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

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 New Mexico and Texas share.  He explained that during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, members of the Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico were displaced to El Paso along with Oñate and the Spaniards.  Today, descendants of those Native Americans reside…

ArizonaBurgersDog FriendlyRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Matty G’s – Chandler, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

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, “If you build it, he will come.” Ray then sets out to make the baseball field of his vision a reality.  All the while, he is spurred onward by the voice urging him that if he builds it, “he” or…