Category: Rating: Very Good

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

AlbuquerqueBreakfast BurritosClosed in 2026Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Lavender Cocinita – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

According to Simply Beyond Herbs, “many people find lavender’s gentle fragrance helps center their thoughts and enhance cognitive abilities. It can provide a sense of mental freshness, enabling one to think and make decisions more clearly; this is particularly beneficial during intense work, studying, or when facing challenging tasks requiring heightened concentration.  Whether used as an essential oil, dried flowers, or as part of a relaxing environment, lavender’s influence on mental clarity is valued by many who seek improved focus and a clearer mind.” Hmm, sounds like something we all can use. If you’ve ever attended Los Ranchos De Albuquerque’s annual Lavender Festival, you can probably benefit from lavender’s calming effect as you vie for a parking spot up close and later when you try to exit the premises among catch-as-catch-can queues of impatient motorists.  Lavender in The Village is the largest lavender festival in the Southwest, attended by 10,000 guests in 2023.  Though the event showcases the myriad ways in which lavender can be used, we prefer smaller venues with fewer guests.  One such venue opened its doors in April, 2024 to far less fanfare than the festival.  That venue is Lavender Cocinita, a “little kitchen with big tastes.”…

AlbuquerqueChineseDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Noodle Works – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno7:11 PM

“To witness the birth of a noodle is a glorious thing. I have listened, spellbound, as an 85-year-old noodle chef in Beijing told me why the act of making noodles helped him make sense of the world.” -~Terry Durack, Noodle In the movie Mr. Nice Guy, martial artist cum actor Jackie Chan portrays a  chef with a successful television show.  In the movie’s opening scene, Chef Jackie is presiding over a flour-dusted table, stretching, twisting, and pulling a piece of dough into fine strands of noodles, a process the TV host can only describe as “alchemy.”   For the culinary obsessed among us, that was the highlight of the movie, all the “special effects” we needed.  Later on, Chef Jackie would be stretching, twisting and pulling a drug lord and his syndicate in much the same manner as he did the noodles. There’s something almost mystical about the artisan process of pulling noodles by hand.  Certainly for the onlooker, it’s entertaining to the point of being mesmerizing.  It’s not prestidigitation in that there’s no sleight of hand to deceive you.  It’s sheer brilliant mastery of an time-honored craft.  It’s performance art and scientific precision in one.  Learning to repeatedly stretch…

AlbuquerqueAmericanDog FriendlyGreekNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Tula’s Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Tula: “My mom was always cooking foods filled with warmth and wisdom… and never forgetting that side dish of steaming-hot guilt.” As it celebrates its twenty year anniversary the 2002 Rom-Com “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” remains as timeless and funny as it was when it debuted.  Moreover, it’s still a heart-warming movie with which some of us can relate.  In my estimation, it could easily have been called “My Big Fat Northern New Mexican Wedding” and it could have been set in Peñasco.  The similarities between Greek families and Northern New Mexican families around which I grew up were startling.  That’s especially true about the food, family and eccentricities, the latter especially prominent among the movie’s well-meaning and hovering aunts and the protagonist’s domineering father. My Big Fat Greek Wedding centers around Tula Portokalos, who at thirty is only woman in her family who has failed to find a nice, Greek husband and have babies.  Living at home, Tula works as hostess at her family’s restaurant, “Dancing Zorba’s.” Tula describes her younger self as a “swarthy 6-year-old with sideburns” who was shamed by blonde schoolmates for eating “moose caca” (moussaka).  Tula remains frumpy and insecure until early in her third decade when she practically…

Dog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: Very GoodRio RanchoVietnamese

Pho Garden – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno9:24 PM

NOTE:  In the first few introductory paragraphs below I describe an encounter that took place between two friends.  Though that encounter took place several years ago, it perfectly  illustrates the idealogical divide that has torn our great nation apart. It should have been a point-counterpoint debate for the ages. My ideologically opposed and perpetually squabbling friends Carlos and Hien were arguing about the concept of American exceptionalism. Carlos took the Reaganesque position that America is the shining city on a hill. “Everything about America is great,” he proclaimed. “We have the highest standard of living and pretty much the best of everything.” Hien mirrored Obama’s stance that America does not have exclusivity in believing itself to be exceptional. Much like the chasm that divides Congress, neither disputant would concede a modicum of merit in the other’s argument. When it seemed as if this argument would end in another stalemate, Hien pulled out his trump (no, not another reference to a President) card. “There’s one thing about America that isn’t exceptional,” he declared. “American fast food is terrible.” With that point having been made, Carlos, long an advocate of independent mom-and-pop eateries, capitulated. True to form, they then began an argument…

AlbuquerqueChickenDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Chile Chicken Nashville Hot Chicken – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

My brother Mario–seven years younger, much better looking and quite a bit smarter–and I have shared many memorable firsts. There was the time I taught him how to drive on our dad’s 1965 standard transmission Chevrolet pickup truck.  He was a quick study, soon terrifying our grandmother with drifting skills Formula D drivers would envy.  I took him to his first championship wrestling match at Albuquerque’s Civic Auditorium where we watched “Rapid” Ricky Romero dispatch “Yellow Belly” Robley.  Mario would go on to similarly dominate high school wrestling opponents (though unlike Robley, he didn’t pull “foreign objects” from his trunks with which to beat his opponents).  Already in our grizzled 30s, we once beat two much younger (and ostensibly more fit) starters on Peñasco’s state championship basketball team.  That may not have been a first, but like the four touchdowns scored by Al Bundy, it was one of those youth-reclaiming victories we’ll boast of well into our 80s.  Fittingly, I was with Mario when he experienced Nashville hot chicken for the first time. There are some things brothers will confide only in one another.  One of us told the other the Nashville hot chicken too hot to handle, but the…

AlbuquerqueAmericanDog FriendlyIndianNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Marigold Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

It’s not all parents who can give birth to two children in a six week period, but that’s precisely what Harrison and Violet did.  In early October, 2019, they welcomed into the world a beautiful bundle of love they christened Jasmine.  Just before Thanksgiving six weeks later, they greeted their second “baby” when Marigold Cafe opened its doors in the Journal Center area retail space which also houses Restoration Pizza and Cabela’s.  Along with Torinos @ Home, these two bookend restaurants just may make the Journal Center area a dinnertime dining destination instead of just two other restaurants serving the burgeoning area’s lunch crowd. The Marigold Cafe is a breath of fresh air, introducing the Duke City to a heretofore unsampled fusion concept that melds Indian cuisine with New Mexican and American favorites. It’s an idea whose time has come and best of all, it’s executed exceptionally well. Credit that to the passion of its dynamic owners. When Marigold’s website touts a “local, family owned business that has a passion for food and culture,” you can take it to the bank that these aren’t prosaic platitudes.   Neither is Marigold’s mission statement. A restaurant’s mission statement is used to convey a…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastNew MexicanRating: Very Good

Monroe’s New Mexican Food – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:38 AM

If I’ve learned anything from dining at Monroe’s, it’s that I shouldn’t leave the restaurant with any regrets.  Invariably what I end up regretting most often is that I didn’t have the green chile cheeseburger, one of the very best in town, if not the Land of Enchantment.  It’s a green chile cheeseburger so good that I’ll order it during three consecutive visits before ordering anything else on the menu–and when I don’t order it, I lament not having had my ardor quelled by its utter deliciousness. Some may question how a restaurant with such an “Anglicized” appellation as Monroe’s can possibly proffer such an enchanting green chile cheeseburger, much less any other  excellent New Mexican cuisine.  Frankly, it could have been even worse.  Monroe’s was originally owned by a Scandinavian named Monroe Sorenson who owned a small chile parlor on the corner of Rio Grande Boulevard and Mountain.  So, the restaurant’s name might well be Sorenson’s, a name you might  otherwise associate with lingonberries, lutefisk and even reindeer meat. In 1979, Miguel Diaz, a native of Puerto Rico who grew up in New York, purchased Monroe’s and moved it to a refurbished gas station on Lomas (1520 Lomas, N.W.)…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastBreakfast BurritosBrunchCorralesRating: Very Good

Hannah & Nate’s – Albuquerque & Corrales, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:46 AM

There are just some restaurants at which the stereotypical Ralph Cramden hungry man shouldn’t dine. Hannah & Nate’s might be one of them. It’s not that the food isn’t good. That’s certainly not the case. The troglodytic nature of men is such that we whine and complain when we have to wait more than two minutes for our meals and we become doubly obnoxious when the portions aren’t large enough to feed a small bull elephant. Thankfully, my Kim has been a great civilizing influence on me and I’m able to enjoy restaurants such as Hannah & Nate’s as much as she does. 17 May 2019: Hannah & Nate’s is a home decor and market cafe ideally suited for gentrified ladies with a lot of leisure time on their hands. It’s not a restaurant at which a boorish lout will sit patiently then be satisfied with what he would consider “finger foods.” Take for example the “beef & bleu” sandwich featuring sliced roast beef, caramelized onion and sautéed mushrooms topped with bleu cheese on grilled sourdough. It’s not four inches thick the way such men would want it and the bleu cheese isn’t powerful enough to give us the belch…

AlbuquerqueBurgersNew MexicanRating: Very Good

Kathy’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:34 AM

In 2001, the Alibi staff declared Kathy’s Carry-Out the “best hamburger in the Duke City.” Surely,” nay-sayers retorted, “this had to be a mistake.” How, after all, they reasoned, could a ramshackle garage sized building with a kitschy purple facade and garish orange trim possibly compete with the flamboyant chains and their glitz and glamor or even with the anointed local purveyors in the more well-beaten, well-eaten paths throughout the city? Kathy’s Carry-Out lived up to its name, emphasis on the “carry-out” portion of its name. Carry-Out was the only option available for the phalanx of diners eager to bite into those bodacious burgers. Ensconced in an Isleta Boulevard neighborhood seemingly zoned as much for more residential than commercial purposes, Kathy’s Carry-Out certainly wouldn’t win any awards for esthetics and it probably violated every feng shui principle for harmony, not that hungry diners noticed. Savvy burger aficionados from the South Valley frequented Kathy’s for its wonderful New Mexican cuisine and a burger so good it’d convert staunch vegans. It took one visit to convince my Kim and I you can’t judge a burger by the dilapidated facade of its place of origin. Kathy’s does serve one of, if not THE…

AlbuquerqueNew MexicoRating: Very GoodVietnamese

Pho #1 – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:28 AM

Beef.  How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my pho spoon can reach. Okay, I’m no Elizabeth Barrett Browning, but if I were to count the ways I love beef, the count might stop at seven–as in the special seven courses of beef offered at Pho #1.  Serving  the Duke City for more than two decades, Pho #1 makes an audacious claim by virtue of its name but it’s a claim with which loyalists will agree.  It’s an International District gem that continues to thrive in a neighborhood some diners eschew. With more than one-hundred items on the menu–not including the seven courses of beef–Pho #1 offers a veritable compendium of Vietnamese food favorites including a large selection of pho bo (beef noodle soup).  Pho is the classic Vietnamese fast food, served in a large soup bowl with fresh rice noodles topped with your choice of beef slices (rare steak, well-done flank, brisket, tendon, tripe, skirt flank and beef ball) then sprinkled with chopped green onion, cilantro leaves and sliced onion.  Each bowl is accompanied by a plate of bean sprouts, sliced jalapenos, lime and basil. Pho…

AlbuquerqueAsianFusionNew MexicoRating: Very GoodSanta Fe

Jinja Bar & Bistro – Santa Fe & Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:56 AM

Fusion cuisine.  The term often makes the most stodgy of purists cringe.  Even those among us with the most liberal of palates have been known to cower at its mention.  All too often, fusion cuisine is a loosely defined excuse for restaurateurs to unleash any number of unnatural flavor combinations upon the chaste, unsuspecting taste buds of diners seeking a memorable meal.  Like a shotgun culinary marriage, felonious acts have been perpetrated in the name of fusion, with disparate exotic ingredients forced together by the imagination of sadistic chefs. It would be impossible, however, to dismiss fusion cuisine entirely.  In one respect or another, much of the food we eat is a product of fusion.  There is no one national cuisine entirely self-contained and isolated.  Food is a work in progress–always adapting, always assimilating, always evolving.  Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in the melting pot that is America where the influence of immigrant cuisine from throughout the world has resulted in a true fusion of culinary cultures, where the sum of the whole is more delicious than the cuisine of each culture individually. Over the centuries–through brutal conquests, peaceful immigration and mutually beneficial trade–Southeast Asian nations in close…