Category: Rating: Very Good

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

AlbuquerqueRating: Very GoodSandwich

The Yeller Sub – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno10:20 AM

In the town where I was born… Lived a man who sailed to sea… And he told us of his life… In the land of submarines… – The Beatles: Yellow Submarine The phantasmagorical 1966 Beatles song Yellow Submarine may or may not have been the inspiration for Albuquerque’s venerable Yeller Sub, but one thing’s for certain.  Since it launched in 1979, the Yeller Sub has been the Duke City’s land of  oversized sub and torpedo sandwiches. Long-time residents will remember that the Yeller Sub was first located on Juan Tabo not too far from Manzano High School. Today it resides…

AlbuquerqueBarbecueDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: ExcellentRating: Very Good

Rudy’s Country Store & Barbecue – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:49 AM

In 1983, country crooner Ed Bruce released a song titled “My First Taste of Texas,” the first line of which was “My first taste of Texas was her blue eyes and golden hair.” Some ten years later, I experienced my first taste of great Texas barbecue when visiting Rudy’s Country Store & Barbecue in Leon Springs, Texas, a San Antonio suburb on the fringes of the magnificent Texas Hill Country. At the time Rudy’s was just beginning to make inroads toward becoming a significant barbecue presence in Texas where beef and brisket are king. Back then Leon Springs appeared to…

BernalilloFood TruckMexicanNew MexicoRating: Very GoodTacos

Sazon Con Amor – Bernalillo, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

The Broadway musical Rent taught us that a year is comprised of “five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes.”   Instead of measuring the length of a year “in daylights, sunsets, midnights, cups of coffee, inches, miles, laughter or strife,” Rent encouraged us to measure a year in life in seasons of love.  Not surprisingly, Seasons of Love (a song from the musical from which the italicized lyrics originated) came immediately to mind when we espied Sazon Con Amor, a food truck (that’s mobile kitchen to you, Bob) parked on Highway 550 in Bernalillo. Sazon Con Amor translates from Spanish to…

ArizonaHot DogsRating: Very GoodSandwichUnited States

Ted’s Hot Dogs – Tempe, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

Reading Becky Mercuri’s magnificent Great American Hot Dog Book had the same effect on me that Fifty Shades of Grey had on soccer moms throughout the country.   How can someone so food obsessed not delight in such beautiful prose as “Western New York is definitely hot dog country and the preferred method of cooking is charcoal grilled.”  Charcoal grilled!  There goes another foodgasm.  New Mexicans don’t have to travel all the way to Buffalo, New York to experience these magnificent charcoal grilled libido activators.  We only have to go to Tempe, Arizona to sate our hunger…or lust, in some…

AlbuquerqueNew MexicoPizzaRating: Very GoodSandwich

Richie B’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:14 PM

If you’ve ever wondered why New Yorkers fold their pizza slices in half lengthwise (aka the “fold hold”) and if you’ve ever attributed that practice to Big Apple quirkiness, you owe it to yourself to visit Richie B’s, a New York-style pizzeria on Unser in the Duke City’s Northwest quadrant. Now, the Albuquerque metropolitan area has plenty of claimants to New York-style pizza, but can you name a single one in which you’ve actually HAD to utilize the fold hold to eat a slice? New Yorkers have mastered the fold hold because true New York-style pizza is thin-crusted and cut…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBurgersNew MexicoRating: Very GoodSandwichSteak

Dave’s Valley Grill – Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno10:22 AM

Several years ago, Major Larry Abraham (God rest his soul) of the Village of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque called me out, reminding me that such restaurants as Sadie’s of New Mexico, Casa de Benavidez and Vernon’s Speakeasy were located not in Albuquerque as credited on Gil’s Thrilling…, but in the village he capably served for four terms. He politely asked me to correct my oversight. Ever since Mayor Abraham’s gentle prodding, your humble blogger has been much more diligent about ensuring the correct location of every restaurant reviewed–especially when at issue is whether the restaurant is in Albuquerque or in…

AlbuquerqueBuffetIndianNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Maharaja Indian Cuisine – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In his Netflix “23 Hours to Kill” special, comedian Jerry Seinfeld posed the question:  “What is the idea of the buffet?  Well, things are bad.  How can we make it worse?  Why don’t we put people that are already struggling with portion control into some kind of debauched Caligula food orgy of unlimited human consumption?”  Frankly, that’s a notion I’ve contemplated myself, but it’s not the only reason I don’t partake of buffets.  As an independent observer of the culinary condition, reviewing buffets–irrespective of how good they might be–is not a true indicator of a restaurant’s quality.   For that, you’ve…

AlbuquerqueAmericanNew MexicoPizzaRating: Very Good

Tula’s Kitchen (Pan American) – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“Pizza makes you a hero in the eyes of your kids. “Daddy got pizza!” You are higher status walking in the door with a pizza than if you were returning from a war with a Purple Heart.” ― Jim Gaffigan, Dad Is Fat Virtually since its inception, Dion’s Pizza has been a beloved Albuquerque staple–as much a Duke City institition as the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, the Sandia Peak Tramway and the Albuquerque Isotopes.   Denizens of the Duke City love Dion’s, a prolific purveyor of pulchritudinous pies since 1978.  With thirteen locations in Albuquerque alone as well as several others throughout the…

AlbuquerqueBurgersNew MexicoRating: Very GoodRio Rancho

Stackers Burger Co. – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In baseball it’s called the “Triple Crown,”an incredibly rare achievement in which a player leads the league in average, home runs, and runs batted in.  To win the triple crown, a player must tremendous power to hit for distance as well as a very keen eye to hit baseballs thrown at nearly 100 miles per hour and place them on the field in positions that result in driving in runs.  In horse racing, the term Triple Crown represents a series of horse races for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.  To win all three of these…

AlbuquerqueBernalilloNew MexicoPizzaRating: Very Good

Kaktus Brewing Company – Bernalillo, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:00 PM

Most of us have known a wine snob or two. You know the type. They refer to themselves as oenophiles, a fancy way of saying “connoisseur or lover of wines.” They believe themselves to possess refined palates and won’t drink a wine that isn’t as cultured as they are. Even then, they first have to check the color and opacity of the wine. Then they twirl their glass for ten minutes or so before sticking their nose into the glass (like anteaters at an ant hole) and sniffing the wine noisily. They then proudly proclaim the wine has notes of…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastBreakfast BurritosBrunchDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Cinnamon Sugar and Spice Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:20 PM

Back in the dark ages when I grew up–long before America became the kinder, gentler Utopia it is today (seething with cynicism)–it would have been inconceivable that boys and girls would receive trophies just for “participating.” Back then, we were expected to be competitive about everything. The battle of the genders was waged at home every night with my brothers and I pitting our brawn and bulk against the brains and gumption of our sisters, two of whom would go on to graduate as valedictorians and all of them much smarter than the recalcitrant Garduño boys. It rankled us to…