Category: Rating: Excellent

Excellent – High quality dining experience; very good to excellent food, attentive service, and a well-maintained atmosphere; worth a detour.

New MexicanNew MexicoRating: ExcellentRio Rancho

Hot Tamales – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:45 PM

While the word tamale is most certainly Spanish, its derivation is from the Nahuatl word tamalli.  Tamallis were developed as a portable ration carried by war parties in pre-Columbian North America and were as common and varied as the sandwich is today.  One commonality among tamalli then and tamales today, is the corn meal dough (masa) which is made through a process called “nixtamalization.”  In pre-Colombian times, the process involved using wood ashes to soften field corn for easier grinding.  Today this is done by slaking lime.  Interestingly, nixtamalization not only softens field corn, it aids in digestibility and increases the nutrients absorbed by the human body. Though the fundamental component of the tamale remains masa, fillings for this delicious snack or entree are almost as diverse as the imagination, ranging from sweet (pineapple, coconut, pecans, bananas, chocolate and more) to savory and everything in between.  There are also tremendous variations in the wrapper which envelops the filling.  Dried corn husks are probably the most common, but the descendants of the Meso Americans also use fresh corn husks, banana leaves and the membrane from some agave plants. In New Mexico, we like to think of tamales as being part of…

AlbuquerqueBakeryBreakfastDog FriendlyJewishNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Kaufman’s Coffee & Bagels – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:59 PM

Seinfeld: “What is that smell?” Kramer “That’s East River.” Seinfeld: You’re swimming in the East River? The most heavily trafficked, overly contaminated waterway on the eastern seaboard?” Kramer: Technically Norfolk has more gross tonnage.” When I lived in the Boston area for two years immediately following high school, those of us in the Bay State (even temporary residents) refused to acknowledge New York City was better than Boston at anything.  We were devastated when the hated Yankees bested our beloved Red Sox in the 1978 American League East tie-breaker.  For that we’ll never forgive Bucky Dent.  Before my first visit to the dreaded Big Big Apple (Bucky Dent is the worm in that apple), friends told me in private and in hushed tones not to miss either a slice of pizza or a bagel.  Both, they acquiesced, were better than what we had in Boston.  Publicly–unlike this guy–they would have denounced anything from New York having even a modicum of merit. Naturally upon my return to Boston, I badmouthed the New York City pizza and bagels in public while privately thanking the brave dissenting voices who encouraged me to try them.  Several lifetimes later, I still remember the aromas, textures…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBetter Call SaulBreakfastDog FriendlyRating: Excellent

The Grove Cafe & Market – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:57 PM

Voracious readers*, avid aficionados of art and those aflame with a musical ardor know that great books, art and music are imbued with the power to transport them to another time and place. A recent influx of contemporary restaurants in Albuquerque also has that power. If you think about it, having a meal at most Duke City restaurants–transcendent though some may be–is just so…Albuquerque. There’s an almost boring consistency and sameness about many local restaurants. Their sole distinctiveness comes from the foods they serve. It’s very difficult, for example, to picture yourself on the beaches at Cabo San Lucas while sipping on a margarita at Garduño‘s. Noshing on mussels at the Indigo Crow just doesn’t feel like a leisurely repast on a sidewalk cafe in Paris. With the advent of the millennium, a new dining trend emerged in Albuquerque that has something to do with the type of cuisine, but perhaps even more to do with the “look and feel” of the dining experience. New restaurants emerged that can transport you from the dour sameness of Duke City dining. Restaurants such as the Slate Street Cafe and perhaps most of all the Grove Cafe & Market are so un-Albuquerque that…

AmericanBreakfastNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: ExcellentRio Rancho

Lily & Liam Bistro – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:25 PM

Family owned restaurants have been called the heartbeat of a community, its pulse and its roots.  Beyond the tintinnabulation of silver spoons on ceramic coffee mugs and over the hum of conversation, restaurants become living links to the past and storehouses of memories.  They’re are a respite from the strife and stress of our daily vicissitudes.  They help us unwind, relax and catch up with friends and family.  In a sense, these beacons of comfort and repose often become family. Not all restaurants achieve this distinction, of course, and if they do, it usually doesn’t happen quickly.  Restaurants have to prove themselves over time with a combination of memorable food, a homey look and feel and mostly personable, attentive service.  To find the template for how a restaurant becomes the heartbeat of a community, you need look no further than Joe’s Pasta House, a paragon of service excellence and culinary deliciousness where all guests are treated like family. It may be early to know for sure, but it appears Lily and Liam Bistro in Rio Rancho has the potential to become a community heartbeat restaurant.  It’s been open only since November, 2019, but already there are telltale signs that it’s…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastNew MexicanNew Mexico Culinary Treasures TrailRating: Excellent

Duran’s Central Pharmacy – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:23 PM

In an early episode of the Andy Griffith Show, while contemplating a job offer in South America, Andy tried to assuage his son Opie’s concerns about leaving Mayberry. Instead, he wound up confusing Opie by explaining that people in South America ate something called tortillas. Opie wondered aloud why anyone would eat spiders (tarantulas). Had Opie ever tasted the delicious, piping hot, just off the comal 10-inch buttered orbs at Duran’s Central Pharmacy, it’s unlikely he would ever confuse those grilled spheres with any arachnid. That’s because Duran’s features some of the very best tortillas of any restaurant in New Mexico. These are not the flavorless, paper-thin, production-line, machine-fashioned orbs you find at some restaurants (can you say Frontier Restaurant). Duran’s tortillas are made to order on a real comal and shaped by skilled practitioners using a well-practiced rolling pin. It’s the way abuelitas in New Mexico have done it for generations, a time-honored tradition Duran’s honors–with one exception. No lard is used on these tortillas; they’re strictly vegetarian. You can tell and appreciate the difference. In its annual Food & Wine issue for 2012, Albuquerque The Magazine awarded Duran Central Pharmacy a Hot Plate Award signifying the selection of…

ArizonaDog FriendlyFusionRating: ExcellentUnited States

Alter Ego – Tempe, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Ever since my wonderful 94-year young mom was no longer able to prepare and host lavish Christmas Day dinners at her home, my Kim and I have been “snowbirding” it with annual trips to the Valley of The Sun.  Every year I try to surprise my Kim with a better than the previous year’s Christmas dinner at some fancy schmantzy restaurant.  Last year it was at the magnificent Zinc Bistro in Scottsdale.  The previous year, we dined at Roy’s Restaurant, also in Scottsdale.  Our inaugural Christmas dinner in the Phoenix area was at the Fat Ox, a  James Beard nominated restaurant in Scottsdale.  All served us fabulous (albeit very expensive) meals. My criteria for selecting a restaurant includes, of course, a restaurant that accommodates The Dude, our debonair dachshund.  It wouldn’t be a family Christmas without our four-legged fur baby.  This year (2023) rather than another Christmas in Scottsdale, I scoured various sources for something closer to our Tempe rental.  At the very top of that list was Alter Ego, the signature restaurant of the Canopy Hotel in Downtown Tempe directly across University Blvd. from Arizona State University (ASU). That location set off alarms, but only because my experiences with…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastBrunchDog FriendlyRating: Excellent

Slate Street Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:42 AM

In 2005, Slate Street and an eponymous bistro just north of Lomas became the toast (a garlicky bruschetta) of the town. The Slate Street Cafe opened its doors in July, 2005 in a heretofore lightly trafficked, relatively unknown street north of Lomas. Nestled in the heart of the legal district, the Slate Street Cafe is so, make that Soho cool. Its sleek, modern, high-ceilinged dining room, looming wine bar and capacious patio is frequented by some of Albuquerque’s most hip and beautiful people. It’s a breath of fresh air in a burgeoning downtown district where revitalization doesn’t always appear to be working. The Slate Street Cafe is the braintrust of a proven and very successful pedigree whose bloodline includes founding chef Albert Bilotti (Al’s NYPD and Kanome) and owner Myra Ghattas whose family owns Duran’s Central Pharmacy. The menu might best be described as eclectic, contemporary and fun with a playful twist to American comfort food favorites such as buttermilk fried chicken, chicken soup, mac and cheese, fish and chips and even homemade cupcakes for dessert. For breakfast, green eggs and ham might just be what the doctor ordered–and not just if your physician is Doctor Seuss. Slate Street’s version…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBetter Call SaulBreakfastDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Java Joe’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno9:17 PM

“I hate chile powder.” ~Tuco Salamanca Breaking Bad, Season 2 Duty-bound to make himself available to the citizenry of the fledgling United States, newly elected president George Washington spent the night in so many private homes and inns that “George Washington Slept Here” remains a real estate cliché and tourist draw centuries later. Perhaps the closest similarly celebrated landmarks in the Albuquerque metropolitan area are the filming sites for the 16-time Emmy Award-winning television series Breaking Bad. Never mind that Albuquerque recently celebrated its Tercentennial–three hundred years of history. History is not what visitors want to see. They want to see the Duke City of Breaking Bad. Albuquerque, which itself became a character in Breaking Bad, is the home of Walter White, the down-and-out chemistry teacher who metamorphosed into “Heisenberg,” the city’s meth kingpin. Five years after the series ended, pilgrimages to every Breaking Bad filming location remain a popular draw. During my inaugural visit to Downtown Java Joe’s, a number of tourists, not all of them millennials, were snapping selfies in front of the east wall where a towering graffiti-inspired tribute to city life dominates. One of them exclaimed “this used to be Tuco’s lair.” Another chimed in, “yeah,…

AlbuquerqueAmericanDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: Excellent

The Kosmos – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:22 AM

Even though New Mexico’s license plates have been graced with the sobriquet “Land of Enchantment” since 1941, it didn’t become the state’s official nickname until 1999. For much longer than that, the more derisive epithet “Land of Entrapment” has also been in use. In 1955, the New Mexico Motor Club began using it because state highway police were perceived as being overly “aggressive and deceptive” in ticketing motorists. That infamous Land of Entrapment nickname is sadly still in use, primarily by malcontents and miscreants who wouldn’t recognize enchantment if it gave them 280 days of sunshine a year. Those of us with unbridled state pride prefer to think that New Mexico enrapts you with its enchantment; it doesn’t entrap you. For us, New Mexico truly is the Land of Enraptment…er, Enchantment. No matter the length of time away, every time we set foot back in the Land of Enchantment, we just “get it” the same way we got it the first time we stepped onto its enchanted soil.  Perhaps more accurately, New Mexico gets to us. It weaves its preternatural spell and stirs something deeply in those of us open enough to its calling. English writer D. H. Lawrence said…

AlbuquerqueChineseFusionKoreanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Hanmi Korean-Chinese Fusion – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Popular culture is defined as “commonly known information that briefly holds the public interest. It is typically discussed in various mass media, including TV and the Internet, and becomes a topic of everyday conversation (what used to be called a “water cooler conversation” before that term fell from popularity).  Apparently you’re out of touch with pop culture when you believe Game of Thrones is a video game and that Taylor Swift is a sprinter, the female equivalent of Usain Bolt. Approaching forty years of youth, I’d probably be completely out of touch with pop culture were it not for our interns at UNM Information Technology.  They do their best to educate this old fogey on what’s lit, cool, on fleek or whatever their generation’s version of groovy may be.  My lack of pop culture knowledge puts me in the same company as their parents and grandparents, all of whom are clueless as to what’s important.  While they might be less patient with their parents, they find my ignorance humorous.  For example, when I walked in on a conversation they were having and overheard the term K-Pop, I asked if it was a Korean dish similar to bibimbap.  I still haven’t…

BurgersDog FriendlyNew Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011Rating: ExcellentSanta Fe

Santa Fe Bite – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:29 PM

“This burger is a wonder. It’s thick, it’s perfectly cooked, juicy and covered in cheese… If eating a burger is a sin, this burger is like going to Vegas with a hooker who you kill, stuff in your trunk, and push off into a canyon.” —The Amateur Gourmet Glass-half-full nay-sayers will tell you it shouldn’t have worked. Housed in a ramshackle building some might describe as being “in the middle of nowhere,” it defied the number one rule for restaurant success: location, location, location. It was Lilliputian in size, incapable of accommodating everyone clamoring to get in. Long waits were common with only a small porch and limited eating as a “waiting area.” Seating was in personal space proximity. in winter and rare rainy seasons, the dirt and gravel parking lot could become rather messy. From a debits and credits perspective, these were the debits, the factors which worked against the Bobcat Bite ever becoming a success, much less a legendary dining destination. Fortunately the Bobcat Bite was frequented by diners with a glass is half full perspective, not by accountants and their ledgers. The Bobcat Bite was not beloved in spite of the aforementioned debits; it was beloved because…