Category: United States

BakeryClosed in 2022Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenUnited StatesUtah

Les Madeleine’s Patisserie Cafe – Salt Lake City, Utah (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

About fifteen years ago, Becky Mercuri, a highly-regarded food writer from upstate New York contacted me about a book she was working on to recognize the best breakfasts in every state.  I was already a huge fan of Becky’s writing so when she asked for my input on the best breakfast in New Mexico, I considered it a huge honor.  It didn’t take very long before Becky and I began a daily dialogue not only on food, but on virtually every topic under the son.  The more we shared with each other, the more our kindred interests revealed themselves.  We discovered so many mutual interests that it called to mind something Greek philosopher and polymath Aristotle once said: “A friend is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.” During our fifteen year relationship, we’ve commiserated over the loss of beloved pets, shared humor others might find irreverent, debated culinary intelligence, pondered family drama and lambasted politicians (a lot of that, especially now). Becky has been my sounding board, confidant, uncredited editor and sometimes my conscience.  We don’t agree on everything, but can disagree with one another without regarding our difference of opinion as a personal affront.  For example, she loves…

AmericanDog FriendlyRating: N/R (Not Rated)SouthernUnited StatesUtah

Sweet Lake Biscuits & Limeaid

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In 2008, Natchez, Mississippi, was officially named the Biscuit Capital of the World, a process which took three years of research by Chef Regina Charboneau.  Just our luck, the Natchez native and French-trained chef began serving her famous biscuits at her Twin Oaks Bed & Breakfast in Natchez a decade after our last visit to the “Antebellum Capital of the World.”  While we didn’t get to partake of Chef Charboneau’s celebrated biscuits (revered by the Rolling Stones), our breakfasts in Natchez were memorable because biscuits in the Mississippi River town are truly “biscuit capital” worthy. In the quarter-century plus since we lived in Mississippi, we haven’t missed the oppressive humidity or the politics (on par with New Mexico and let’s just leave it at that), but we’ve missed the patriotism, people and…maybe especially the biscuits.  Yes, I know biscuits are made everywhere across the country, but only in the South are biscuits a transformative flaky, buttery and ethereal experience.   Everywhere else most biscuits are floury hockey pucks–dry, tasteless disappointments not worthy of the butter, jam or gravy with which they’re slathered. Not surprisingly, the last truly life-altering biscuit to cross my lips was in Charleston, South Carolina at the James Beard…

Dog FriendlyFine DiningRating: N/R (Not Rated)United StatesUtah

Desert Bistro – Moab, Utah

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

My Kim didn’t buy my explanation that Moab is an acronym standing for “Mother Of All Buffets.”  She did find my legitimate explanation viable.  I explained that Moab means “a land just short of the Promised Land,” a name bestowed  because the Moab valley was a verdant oasis in the middle of a desert.  Moab first appears in the Old Testament book of Genesis and is situated in ancient Palestine just east of the Dead Sea where Jordan now lies.  Because of the physical similarities to the desert jewel of the Old Testament, the small Utah town founded by Mormon settlers in the 1800s was dubbed Moab. When we first visited the Moab area nearly three decades ago, its breath-taking topography and emerald skies called to mind a term synonymous with “a land just short of the Promised Land.”  Never mind the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River of John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads.”  Even more than West Virginia, the Moab area was “almost heaven.”  More spectacular than Sedona, more wondrous than Taos, more otherworldly than Abiquiu, the Moab area was quite simply an awe-inspiring idyll.    Because life…and mostly work, gets in the way, it took us…

Rating: N/R (Not Rated)Soul FoodSouthernTexasUnited States

Delvin’s Restaurant & Catering – Amarillo, Texas

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Throughout its storied history, Amarillo’s culinary reputation has been based primarily on one kind of food: beef.  That’s no surprise considering Amarillo-area ranches produce thirty-percent of the nation’s beef and ninety-percent of the beef in Texas.  So when the city on the High Plains is described as a “cow town,” it’s not solely because of the odoriferous emanations from thousands of cattle in the feed yards along I-40.  While researching restaurants to explore during our extended weekend stay in Amarillo, it quickly became apparent that while beef may still be king, cows alone no longer define Amarillo menus.     Among the surprises that emerged from my research is the sheer number of Cajun and Soul food restaurants in the Amarillo area. It’s almost a full day’s ride from West Texas to “Lapland” (what the southeastern corner of Texas is called because of the overlapping of Cajun and Texas cultures).  The popularity of soul food is probably easier to explain.  As LaMyiah Harvel of the ABC affiliate in Amarillo explains: “The roots of Soul Food are tangled into each and every one of us. What was once meals simply made to survive, is now one of the most popular types of…

Dog FriendlyIndianRating: N/R (Not Rated)TexasUnited States

It’s A Punjabi Affair – Amarillo, Texas

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

During our last full year at Intel, my friend Bill Resnik and I had the distinct honor and privilege of working on a project with a team from Microsoft comprised mostly of information technology professionals with roots in the exotic subcontinent of India.  We had expected impeccable technical expertise, but their dedication and focus was far beyond what any of us would have anticipated.  As an example, Kannan, a technical solutions analyst once took a well-deserved vacation in Hawaii and still called in to daily project meetings.  Tropical birds sang in the background as Kannan provided his updates while lounging on the lanai. Never one to miss out on an opportunity, Bill downloaded an application for his iPhone which played everything from beautiful bird songs to simple tweets and chirps.  The second Kannan began to speak during a meeting–either from his San Francisco home base or somewhere Microsoft had dispatched him–Bill would play bird sounds that weren’t necessarily indigenous to Kannan’s location at the time.  We heard everything from turkeys gobbling and chickens cackling to a pterodactyl screeching.  It was driving Kannan batty trying to figure out where all these strange and exotic bird sounds were emanating.  It brought to…

Bar & GrillBurgersRating: N/R (Not Rated)TexasUnited States

The Golden Light Cafe & Cantina – Amarillo, Texas

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

Published in 1938, John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath is widely regarded as one of the greatest American novels ever written. Replete with timeless themes of struggle, destitution, injustice, and the pursuit of a delusive “Promised Land,” the novel centers around the trevails of the Joad family.  Along with thousands of other tenant farmers from Oklahoma who lost their livelihood and property because of the Dust Bowl, the Joads travel the relatively nascent Route 66 toward California and the pursuit of a piece of land to call their own. Every night on their journey, the Joads and their fellow migrants witnessed man’s inclinations toward desperation, violence, and murderous anger as well as generousity and respect.   We couldn’t help but think about the Joads when we made reservations for three nights at Amarillo’s Hubbel Duplex.  We couldn’t help but reflect on all the “Okies” who passed in front of the Duplex en route to California.  Situated on the western end of West Sixth Street, the brick dwelling remains virtually unchanged since its construction in 1925.  West Sixth Street was the first paved highway through Amarillo and a vibrant part of Route 66. Today the U.S. Route 66-Sixth Street Historic District runs for…

ArizonaDiners Drive-Ins and DivesDog FriendlyGermanRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Haus Murphy’s – Glendale, Arizona

Gil Garduno5:53 PM

To some of us of a certain age and generation, the term “grandma’s food” evokes emotionally-arousing childhood memories of the foods our grandmothers would prepare. That’s especially true for those of us who no longer have those heaven-sent treasures.  Food was just one of the many ways grandma showed how much she loved her family.  Memories of grandma’s cooking sustain us and bring a flood of warm, fuzzy, happy memories to us–powerful memories that touch our senses of taste, touch, smell.  For the sentimental among us, “grandma’s food” summons the sense of love and happy familiarity in our hearts.   For restaurateur Thomas Hauck, the term “grandma’s food” also represents how German food is perceived by an American dining public more inclined to chase the shiny new culinary trend.  In a 2018 interview with the Washington Post for an an article titled “How Changing Tastes are Killing German Restaurants,” Hauck lamented the closure of his venerable German restaurant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  “It’s a German restaurant that’s 114 years old,” Hauck said. “It’s not what the trend is; it’s just not.” Despite ranking “high” in familiarity by respondents to Yelp polls, Yelp’s research indicated German food ranked 83rd among 100 restaurant categories…

ArizonaNew MexicanRating: ExcellentUnited States

Richardson’s Cuisine of New Mexico – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno3:34 AM

My friend and former Intel colleague Steve Caine will forever rue the day he asked me to help him with an expense report for a business trip he made to Portland, Oregon. His itemized expense report indicated he had dined twice at Chevy’s, a middling quality Americanized Mexican restaurant which wouldn’t survive in the tough Albuquerque market.   I teased him mercilessly. Worse, when my boss saw what the commotion was all about, he immediately put Steve on double-secret probation. Steve has never lived down visiting a Chevy’s in Portland where he could have had some of the country’s freshest and best seafood. When the din died down, Steve admitted somewhat sheepishly that after two days in Portland, he was missing New Mexican food so desperately that he visited the closed facsimile he could find. It was either Chevy’s or a restaurant named Machissimo Mouse (seriously).  In truth, I’ve been there, too…well, not to Chevy’s and definitely not to Machissimo Mouse, but at a point in my business travels where the craving for New Mexico’s inimitable cuisine strikes like an addict’s need for a fix. We New Mexicans are understandably proud, maybe even haughty about our cuisine. We don’t think…

ArizonaDog FriendlyItalianRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Fat Ox – Scottsdale, Arizona

Gil Garduno10:26 AM

In the Alpine village of Carrù in the Piedmont region of Italy stands the “Monumento al Bue Grasso” (monument to a fat ox).  Depicting two fat oxen under yoke, the monument celebrates the beast of burden so important to the region.  December’s ‘Fiera del Bue Grasso’ (festival of the fat ox) brings together tens of thousands of visitors who come to gaze at the oxen and eat copious amounts of deliciously warming tripe soup and boiled beef, washed down with a milled wine.   Farmers from throughout the region truck their oxen into town to show them off and vie for the chance to win the honored title of the “fattest ox.” Onlookers gather well before dawn to admire these enormous Piedmontese cattle. During our December, 2020 visit to the Phoenix area, we decided to celebrate another December holiday at a restaurant named for the Bue Grasso.  Indeed, Scottsdale’s Fat Ox is inspired by the rich culinary history of the Festival of the Fat Ox in Carrù.  An image of a fat ox precedes the restaurant’s name by the entrance to the spectacular edifice.  On Christmas night, the lavish dining room with its contemporary glass and wood appointments was dimly…

ArizonaDiners Drive-Ins and DivesDog FriendlyItalianPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

DeFalco’s Deli: Italian Eatery & Grocery – Scottsdale, Arizona

Gil Garduno5:27 PM

My Kim usually leaves the recitation of movie or television quotes to me (apparently it’s a guy thing), but every once in a while she’ll surprise me with an utterance or exclamation she could have picked up only from the big screen or idiot box.  When we strode into DeFalco’s Italian Eatery & Grocery, she approached an employee and–doing her best to channel New Jersey mobster Tony Soprano–asked “where’s da gabagool?”.  She had no intention of buying gabagool and doesn’t even like the stuff much.  The moment just seemed appropriate.   Here we were in an Italian grocery brimming with comestibles you’d find at the best East Coast Italian delis and my Kim followed up her question with “gabagool is nothing but fat and nitrates ,” a line uttered by Meadow Soprano.  The Dude and I were looking for a hole to crawl into.  Fortunately the employee was also a fan of The Sopranos and had undoubtedly been asked about gabagool before, albeit probably not with a slight Chicago accent trying to sound like a New Jersey mobster.    If you’re not a fan of The Sopranos or may have missed a 2009 episode of The Office in which Michael tried…

ArizonaEnglishRating: ExcellentUnited States

Cornish Pasty Company – Scottsdale, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:57 PM

There’s a European joke that uses stereotypes to deride British cooking, among the most maligned cuisines in the world culinary stage. As the joke goes, in the European conception of heaven, the French are the chefs, the British are the police, the Germans are the engineers, and so forth, while in the European conception of Hell, the Germans are the police, the French are the engineers and the British are the chefs. Rodney Dangerfield got more respect than British cuisine. While fish and chips are probably what most Americans would answer if asked what constitutes traditional British food, the truth is British food is as diverse as its many regions. During the three plus years we lived in England, we made the most of our opportunities to explore the mystical land of mystery and lore.  We experienced not only much of its renown pub grub, but classic high-end cuisine that is as good as any in America. At the pubs, we consumed many a ploughman’s lunch (consisting of crusty bread, various pickles, a wedge or two of local cheese and sometimes salad) and ate steak and kidney pudding (with a suet crust) like locally indigenous personnel (a MASH term that…