Saigon City – Albuquerque, New Mexico
My brother in blogging Ryan Cook describes his first day in Vietnam: “So, my first stop in Vietnam was the capital, Hanoi. My honest first impressions… what the hell have I let myself in for. …
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Mighty Mike’s Meats – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Thank you, Mighty Mike! Thank you for restoring our faith in barbecue just one day after my Kim declared “I don’t want to have barbecue for a long time.” Readers might find it hard to …
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M’Tucci’s Moderno – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
“If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere It’s up to you, New York, New York.” ~Frank Sinatra Jeff Spiegel, managing partner of the insanely popular M’Tucci’s family of restaurants has described flagship …
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Curry Leaf – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Leonard: Is it racist that I took you to an Indian restaurant? Priya: It’s okay, I like Indian food. Leonard: Or as you probably call it back home, food. ~Big Bang Theory (Season Four, Episode …
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La Choza Restaurant – Santa Fe, New Mexico
“I have tried to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh Using bold and furious brushstrokes and striking colors (mostly red and green), Van Gogh once …
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Seasons Rotisserie & Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up …
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Namaste Restaurant – Rio Rancho & Albuquerque, New Mexico
Several years ago while leading my organization’s e-business marketing and communication effort at Intel, I had the great fortune of hiring a phenomenal Web developer recently arrived from India. In the process of filling out …
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Albuquerque / Closed in 2019 / Dog Friendly / Gone But Not Forgotten / Mexican / New Mexican / New Mexico / Rated 24
Sophia’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
Exterior signage for Dennis Apodaca’s new restaurant venture sports the name of the previous tenant, a short-lived eatery named MIXX. In a February blurb announcing Dennis’s return, the Albuquerque Journal called his new venture “REMIXX.” …
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Pollito Con Papas – Albuquerque, New Mexico
I think a rotisserie is like a really morbid ferris wheel for chickens. It’s a strange piece of machinery. We will take the chicken, kill it, impale it and then rotate it. And I’ll be …
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Cafe Bella – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
Caffeine is my shepherd; I shall not doze. It maketh me to wake in green pastures: It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses. It restoreth my buzz: It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness …
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Alqud’s Mediterranean Grill & Grocery – Albuquerque, New Mexico
The St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Magdalena, New Mexico is adorned with ceramic statues, most familiar and easy to identify…at least for dyed-in-the-wool Catholics like me. After Sunday Mass one September, 2010 morning, we …
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Campo at Los Poblanos – Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico
A simple day laborer at a wealthy estate, Ysidro began his days by rising early and attending Mass. His fellow laborers complained that they had to do some of his share of the work because …
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Sugar Nymphs Bistro – Peñasco, New Mexico
Peñasco has always been the beautiful stepsister ignored by the dutiful suitors who prefer the company of Taos, its more glamorous sibling. Taos, the mystical art colony to which new age subscribers seem preternaturally drawn …
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Albuquerque / Closed in 2020 / Dog Friendly / Gone But Not Forgotten / Italian / New Mexico / Rated 24
Farmhouse 21 – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
I love Italian food but that’s too generic a term for what’s available now: you have to narrow it down to Tuscan, Sicilian, and so on.” ~ Lee Child, Author “You don’t want to be …
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Danny’s Place – Carlsbad, New Mexico
For some reason, national print and online publications and even the Food Network can’t seem to fathom that the Land of Enchantment has outstanding cuisine outside the shining pinnacles of Santa Fe and Albuquerque. To …
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Teofilo’s Restaurante – Los Lunas, New Mexico
Several years ago award-winning Albuquerque Journal columnist Leslie Linthicum (since retired) penned a wonderfully evocative column entitled “Spanish Names Fade into History.” Leslie observed that if you frequent the obituaries, especially those published on the …
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Albuquerque / Closed in 2019 / Gone But Not Forgotten / Latin American / Mexican / New Mexico / Rated 24
Maya – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
My precocious niece doesn’t miss a beat. Ever attentive to adult conversation, she often stumps my brother and me with her surprisingly deep and thought-provoking questions. Case in point, when she overheard me telling my …
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Ming Dynasty – Albuquerque, New Mexico
The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was renowned as one of the greatest periods of governmental and societal stability in the history of mankind. At its peak, the Ming dynasty made China a global superpower, influencing the …
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Pad Thai Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain likened his first experience tasting Thai food to “like discovering a color I never knew existed before. A whole new crayon box full of colors.” With so many vibrant colors available, …
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The Artichoke Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“These things are just plain annoying. After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual “food” out of eating an artichoke as you would from licking 30 or 40 postage stamps. …
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SweeTea Bakery Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
In some metropolitan areas, legions of restaurant bloggers dissect and report on every facet of the area’s dining scene. These bloggers have a significant impact on the restaurant choices diners make. That fact isn’t lost …
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M’Tucci’s Italian Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Sometimes the spaghetti likes to be alone..” —Stanley Tucci as Segundo in Big Night With a name like M’Tucci’s Italian Restaurant, you might wonder if the Italian restaurant on the intersection of Coors and Montano …
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Golden Crown Panaderia – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Although we pride ourselves on keeping a pulse on the local dining scene, it took a nationally syndicated Food Network cable program called Food Finds to introduce us in 2003 to the Golden Crown Panaderia, …
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Albuquerque / Closed in 2017 / Food Network Eats New Mexico / Gone But Not Forgotten / Latin American / New Mexico / Rated 24 / Restaurant Impossible
Pasion Latin Fusion – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
“In my experience, food and passion always intertwine. Passion is food for the soul’s mood at any particular time.” Tammy Mollai Robert Irvine, host of the Food Network’s Restaurant: Impossible show has some nerve! In …
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The Burrito Lady – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“It is the blood of the Lunas to be quiet, for only a quiet man can learn the secrets of the earth that are necessary for planting — They are quiet like the moon.” ~Bless …
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Talking Drums – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“There is strength in Africa. Not the crushing brute strength of the bull elephant. Nor the rigid, unyielding strength of the Kilimanjaro. But a calm, enduring strength, the kind of abiding strength that will not …
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Zinc Wine Bar & Bistro – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque’s Nob Hill district largely owes its emergence as the city’s first “suburb” to Route 66, the great Mother Road which carried Americans westward. Because of Route 66, the Nob Hill area has been, since …
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The Turquoise Room – Winslow, Arizona
The concept of “fast food” had a far different connotation during the Southwest’s Frontier days than it does today. This is especially true if one traveled via railroad through hundreds of miles of desolate, open …
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Geoffrey’s Malibu – Malibu, California
The walls at Geoffrey’s Malibu are festooned with copies of whimsical framed “doodles” created by Hollywood celebrities and movie stars who have dined at the posh seaside restaurant. Most are tongue-in-cheek self-portraits which probably speak …
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Opal Restaurant and Bar – Santa Barbara, California
We’re all familiar with premise of Iron Chef America in which accomplished chefs are pitted against the veritable pantheon of culinary giants who have earned the title of Iron Chef. Can you imagine if one …
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EVO – North Charleston, South Carolina
America is a pizza obsessed nation. Ninety-three percent of us consume at least one slice of pizza per month and collectively, we each eat some 46 slices of pizza per year. According to Pizza Magazine …
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Paco’s International Smoked Cuisine – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
“If salt is the odorless spice, smoke is the ephemeral magical invisible spice. You can’t feel it, you can’t touch it, but you can taste it.” ~Chef Seamus Mullen, Tertulia Restaurant, New York City. Have …
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Piatti Ristorante & Bar – La Jolla, California
A tavola non si invecchia. Translation: At the table with good friends and family you do not become old. ~ Italian Proverb While this timeless Italian dictum which our friend Sandy Driscoll shared with us …
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Albuquerque / Closed in 2014 / Gone But Not Forgotten / Indian / Los Ranchos de Albuquerque / Rated 24 / Vegetarian/Vegan
Paddy Rawal’s OM- Fine Indian Dining – Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
It wasn’t New Mexico’s Chamber of Commerce winter weather that enticed Chef Pramad “Paddy” Rawal to remain in the Land of Enchantment. In fact, when he first landed at Albuquerque’s International Sunport, he wondered if …
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Il Piatto Italian Farmhouse Kitchen – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)
As an independent observer of the New Mexico culinary condition, I used to think the most prominent delta in quality between restaurants in the Land of Enchantment and those in large metropolitan cities are in …
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Savoy Grill – Kansas City, Missouri
In a 2012 episode of the Travel Channel’s “No Reservations” television program, host Anthony Bourdain and his Russian pal Zamir Gotta visited Kansas City in search of the city’s best barbecue. When not licking barbecue …
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