Category: Rating: Very Good

Very Good – Good to very good food; generally solid; delivers consistent quality, strong technique, and a comfortable, enjoyable dining experience

AlbuquerqueGreekNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Olympia Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno9:41 PM

For culinary diversity, it’s hard to beat the University of New Mexico (UNM) area in which restaurants with a broad socioeconomic appeal are congregated. Aside from academic enrichment, this area is nurturing a refreshing open-mindedness toward the cuisines of the world. That seems to be a commonality in areas within easy walking distance of large urban universities. Perhaps restaurateurs recognize that students–especially the oft-maligned millennials–are not only willing to open up their minds to new knowledge, but their wallets and their minds to new culinary experiences. The UNM area inaugurated many of us from rural parts of the state to wonderful new taste sensations. The heretofore enigmatic mysteries of the Orient unraveled themselves the first time we tasted the sweet…

MexicanNew MexicoRating: Very GoodSanta Fe

Gabriel’s – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:25 AM

Located fifteen miles north of Santa Fe, just south of Pojoaque and within minutes of two garish native American casinos, Gabriel’s is a culinary oasis back-dropped by nearby cedar, cottonwood and pine tree-laden hills and the Santa Fe mountains further to the southeast. Gabriel’s entrance is flanked by unpeeled latillas, a “coyote fence” precursor to one of the best restaurant settings in the Santa Fe area. In the early spring and fall, weather permitting, the sprawling dining room and its Spanish colonial theme are often rebuffed in favor of an outdoor dining experience. For al fresco dining, there are few options to compare with Gabriel’s, a restaurant perhaps more renowned for its experiential qualities than it is for its cuisine.…

AlbuquerqueFood TruckNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Lollie’s New Mexican Food – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CONVERTED TO FOOD TRUCK)

Gil Garduno10:12 AM

NOTE:  Lollie’s New Mexican Food is now operating out of a food truck.  In the frontier wilderness of New Mexico–long before the advent of culinary schools and home economics classes–a cook’s credentials weren’t bestowed by some accredited institution of higher learning. Instruction in the culinary arts was most often imparted lovingly by mothers. Recipes were passed on from one generation to another, using ingredients often grown in the family farm and livestock raised locally. “Credentials” were earned by reputation and the word of mouth of satisfied diners (most often family members, neighbors and visitors). A good cook was known about far and wide. Lollie Padilla can relate to the New Mexican culinary traditions of yore, having worked next to her…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: Very Good

The Daily Grind – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno9:54 PM

Sometimes–such as when Teri, a faithful reader of this blog, recommended I visit The Daily Grind–being a lexicologist can be a detriment. The first thing that came to mind was the drudgery of the software development project to which I was assigned. Since the 1800s, “grind” has been synonymous with boring, tedious work as in “grinding away.” Why then would I want to visit The Daily Grind when the daily grind was visiting me everyday in the form of SQL databases, configuration scripts and dot-net framework. My Kim, who’s got all the common sense in the family, clarified that the type of grind to which Teri was referring had nothing to do with the tedium of the dog-eat-dog routine. The…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyItalianPizzaRating: Very Good

Pizzeria Luca – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno9:14 AM

Can there truly be too many pizzerias? Perhaps only among pizzeria owners who don’t want much competition might you hear that ridiculous notion about one of America’s essential food groups. Take for example one monopoly-minded pizzeria owner in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania who had a resolute belief that there was too much competition in the area and determined to do something about it. It apparently didn’t dawn on him that by serving a better pizza or lowering prices, his business might improve. Instead, in the tradition of villainous scofflaws everywhere, he decided to sabotage his rivals. Alas, his exploits only proved fodder for late night talk show hosts who lampoon stupid criminals. In perpetrating his nefarious misdeed, the perfidious proprietor of…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastNew MexicanRating: Very Good

Burritos Alinstante – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:53 AM

A couple of days before my Kim and I were to be married (some three decades plus ago), my mom flew to Chicago to teach her how to prepare some of my favorite dishes (is it any wonder my sisters call me “consentido” (spoiled)?). A quick study, Kim learned how to make tortillas, lasagna, fried chicken, red chile and other favorites just the way mom makes them. Among the wedding presents my mom gave Kim were a cast-iron comal (griddle) and a rodillo (rolling pin) of her own. In short order Kim began making tortillas as if she’d been making them all her life, in the process contributing significantly to my adulthood struggle with caloric overachievement. The time-honored, traditional art…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBar & GrillDog FriendlyRating: Very GoodTapas

Gecko’s Bar & Tapas – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:39 PM

One of the best examples of the dichotomy of human nature can be illustrated in the way we react to lizards. The mere sight of a lizard scurrying around can send shivers down the spine of otherwise reasonable and intrepid people. Many of us are repulsed or frightened in the presence of any slithering reptile. In Tripoli the sight of a lizard is held to cause women to bear speckled children. To others, however, lizards are a portend of good luck, a source of entertainment and a symbol of plenty. Biographies written by several former prisoners of war in Vietnam recount being entertained by the scampering of geckos. Throughout the Mediterranean, the lizard is fondly regarded as an old family…

AlbuquerquePizzaRating: Very Good

Pizza Castle – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:59 PM

There’s nothing like a topic about which opinions are wide and varied to stir up a good old-fashioned, highly spirited debate–an exercise in the Constitutional right of free speech. One topic which has been known to elicit energized dialogue is pizza. Whether the debate is New York style versus Chicago style, thin crust versus thick crust, brick wood-fired oven versus gas oven, mom-and-pop pizzeria versus the corporate chains or even slices versus whole pie, Americans sound off like England’s Houses of Parliament on CSPAN, only with more class, dignity and intelligence. Such was the case in 2008 when the forum topic “Where Can I get a good Pizza” was introduced on Albuquerque’s most popular blog, the Duke City Fix. The…

BurgersRating: Very GoodSanta Fe

Shake Foundation – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:30 PM

If it seems there’s a glut of restaurants brandishing a much-hyped and often self-glossed as “best” version of New Mexico’s fabled green chile cheeseburger, it won’t surprise you to read that yet another purveyor of the Land of Enchantment’s sacrosanct sandwich entered the fray in January, 2014. What might surprise you is its most worthy motto and raison d’etre: “Dedicated to the preservation of the original green chile cheeseburger.” Just what exactly does that mean? If, like me, your initial inclination is to question why at its pinnacle of popularity, the green chile cheeseburger needs to be preserved, you’re missing the point. Likewise, the motto has nothing to do with mimicking the burgers crafted by New Mexico’s two claimants to…

CorralesNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Apple Tree Cafe – Corrales, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:17 PM

Apple trees have had a bad rap ever since a conniving serpent (probably a lawyer or politician in disguise) in a verdant paradise beguiled Eve into taking a bite of the fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Never mind that Genesis does not specifically mention an apple as having been the forbidden fruit, for some reason (perhaps collusion among grape growers), religious art has always depicted the apple as the one fruit God prohibited Adam and Eve from touching or eating “lest you die.” The apple tree’s nefarious reputation took another nasty hit when an orchard of apple trees hurled fruity missiles at Dorothy and her friends as they made their way to Oz. Dorothy…

AlbuquerqueBarbecueNew MexicoRating: Very Good

The County Line Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:59 PM

If you believe alcohol Prohibition, America’s federally mandated fourteen year social experiment with sobriety, ended with the passing of the 21st amendment in 1933, you would be wrong. As of January, 2016, there were still about 200 “dry” counties (particularly in the Bible Belt) across the fruited plain with what most would consider excessively stringent liquor laws. Residents of dry counties who want to indulge in their favorite adult beverage have but to drive to the county line of the nearest “wet” county where package stores and bars do a thriving business in alcohol sales. It might be a stretch to say that the “spirit” of the county line package stores and bars is alive and well at the County…