Category: Rating: Very Good

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

AlbuquerqueAmericanDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Sixty Six Acres – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno6:36 PM

My high school football coach Jesus Bautista used to call his team “chiquitos pero picosos,” a Spanish term meaning “small but piquant” (like New  Mexico’s chiles). At 6’1” and a svelte 175 pounds in full uniform, I was the biggest guy on the team.  That made me an enforcer of sorts when players on the other teams tried to bully my smaller teammates. For the most part, I was able to handle the biggest, meanest, roughest players we lined up against. The one exception was when we played Albuquerque Indian School. To keep us from touching their quarterback, the Braves positioned a steel wall in the backfield, an impenetrable barrier President Trump would envy. Disguised as a fullback, that human wall pummeled us mercilessly. We couldn’t go around him and we darn well couldn’t go through him…though I sure tried. I was sore for three days every time we played Albuquerque Indian School. To this day, every time we’re in the vicinity of the 12th Street acreage that formerly housed the Indian boarding school, memories still visit me of the felony-level atrocities “the wall” perpetrated upon me. Albuquerque Indian School is long gone. In its place, not far from the…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastBreakfast BurritosBurgersNew Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011Rating: Very Good

Blake’s Lotaburger – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Blake’s Lotaburger is a premier New Mexico institution founded in 1952 by long-time proprietor Blake Chanslor who owned it for half a century before selling it in 2003. While the marquee may still carry Blake’s name, the 76 store franchise with a presence in most of New Mexico’s larger cities and towns (23 in all) is now owned by Brian Rule, an Albuquerque resident.  On April 10, 2009, Chanslor passed away, having left a legacy based not only on having founded a New Mexico institution, but for his philanthropic endeavors. Thankfully, Lotaburger has, for the most part, retained the high quality that has allowed it to thrive despite the onslaught from deep-pocketed, worldwide corporate megaliths.  At least that’s the case for many of the state’s Lotaburger restaurants. As is often the case with multi-store chain restaurants, not all links in the chain are equally strong.  All too frequently, we have visited Lotaburger restaurants throughout the state in which service is spotty and the burgers don’t quite meet the high preparation standards for which Lotaburger has been known. Though I have not tried nearly all of New Mexico’s LotaBurger restaurants, those I frequent most often (one in Rio Rancho and one…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyItalianNew MexicoPizzaRating: Very Good

Sal’s Ristorante & Pizzeria – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:51 PM

“Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti.” ~Sophia Loren The ageless movie siren (currently age 90), perhaps the most voluptuous nonogenarian in the world, is hardly a proponent of low carb diets, admitting to daily dosages of macaroni. She maintains her classic hourglass figure by limiting portions–never consuming too many calories in one meal–and by not overloading pasta with rich, thick cream or cheese sauces. Though La Dolce Sophia once told a Sunday morning CBS program that she cannot diet, she actually does adhere to a strict Mediterranean diet which advocates a lot of vegetables, olive oil, pasta and red wine. That Sophia Loren maintains a figure women half her age envy is a credit to her discipline.  For many of us, Italian food is an irresistible indulgence shrouded in one stereotype. “The trouble with eating Italian food,” according to British writer George Miller, “is that five or six days later you’ll be hungry again.” With Italian food–at least Americanized Italian food served across the fruited plain–portions are often enough to feed a village in a developing country.  On every table at so many Italian restaurants, you’ll espy a plethora of pasta, tons of tomato sauce, mountains of meatballs, bakeries…

AlbuquerqueHot DogsMexicanNew MexicoRating: Very GoodSandwichTacos

Dogos VIP – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Thanks largely to a 1974 Chevrolet commercial and its catchy tune, the phrase “As American as baseball, hot dogs and apple pie” has purportedly defined what Americans hold most sacrosanct.  Never mind that hot dogs are derivative of European sausages, they’re inextricably part of the fabric of the fruited plain. The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (yes, there is such a thing) estimates that Americans eat seven billion hot dogs (so it’s not just me) during the unofficial summer season which runs from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. That’s 818 hot dogs per second and more than a third of the hot dogs eaten per year! July 19th has been designated National Hot Dog Day, but a case could easily be made that there are actually two days in which the not-so-humble hot dog is celebrated in America.  The second day, of course, is the 4th of July when Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs sponsors its annual Hot Dog Eating Contest, the premier competitive event for gurgitators.  It’s no surprise that  several locations under the spacious skies have declared themselves the “hot dog capital of the world.” It may have started in 1999 when former New York City Mayor…

New MexicanNew MexicoNew Mexico Culinary Treasures TrailRating: Very Good

La Posta De Mesilla – Mesilla, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:27 AM

If only walls could talk, you’d want the adobe brick walls at La Posta (The Inn) to recount their impressions of the veritable “who’s who” of Western history who once sought shelter within its fortified walls.  You’d want those walls to reveal their thoughts of legendary outlaw Billy the Kid who hung out at La Posta on his road to notoriety.  You’d want those walls to tell you about the steely presence of General Douglas MacArthur, who commanded Allied forces in the Pacific Theater during World War II. You’d want those walls to share their account of Generalissimo Pancho Villa, another sojourner who sought shelter at La Posta.  Certainly no raconteur could provide the details known only to the walls at La Posta when it quartered controversial frontiersman Kit Carson or for then General, later President, Ulysses S. Grant. Built in the 1840s by Sam and Roy Bean, themselves  historical luminaries, La Posta was originally a freight and passenger service.  After the Civil War, it became part of the Butterfield Stagecoach line which ferried passengers and mail from eastern outposts in Memphis and St. Louis to California.  During the 1870s and 1880s, the sprawling edifice was home to the Corn…

AlbuquerqueAsianChineseNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Fan Tang – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

For “city dwellers” Chinese restaurants are ubiquitous.  There’s one in every corner   Most urbanites were weaned on Chinese food.  It’s as much a part of their diet as “American” food.  Those of us who grew up in the “sticks” during the stone age had to travel great distances to find Chinese food…and when we did find a Chinese restaurant, we really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.  Everything we knew about that mysterious, exotic cuisine came from television programs in the days long preceding the Food Network.  Every once in a while, mention was made on one of those  television shows about egg foo young.  I’m thinking maybe Maxwell Smart may have mentioned egg foo young during in an episode in which he battled his nemesis “The Craw“, er…The Claw. As chronicled on Gil’s Thrilling…my very first experience with Chinese food transpired in Lexington, Massachusetts within easy walking distance of the famous Lexington Minuteman Statue.  My friend (and boss at the time) Paul Venne enjoyed my bumpkinly naivete.  I literally had no idea about Chinese food other than the little bit learned from television.  He recommended starting out at the Chinese Food 101 level.  That meant egg…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastBreakfast BurritosBurgersDog FriendlyGreekRating: Very Good

Vic’s Daily Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?” “What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?” “I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.” Unlike the great philosopher Winnie the Pooh, many Americans, it seems, don’t equate breakfast with excitement. Studies show that far too many of us fuel our bodies with a “gobble and go” mentality that typifies our frenetic lifestyles. In 2007, one food service industry research firm concluded that most Americans spend no more than three minutes shopping for breakfast (at such paragons of nutritional virtue as McDonald’s and Starbucks).  Too many of us it seems would just as soon wait for lunch, our hunger being reason enough to overindulge. A food and health survey of Americans showed that 92 percent of respondents consider breakfast the most important meal of the day, yet fewer than half (46 percent) of them actually ate breakfast seven days a week. The most frequently cited reasons for not eating breakfast every day include “not being hungry after waking up” (59 percent) and “not enough…

AlbuquerqueBarbecueNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Duke City BBQ – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

During a 2016 campaign event in Phoenix, Arizona, Latinos for Trump founder Marco Gutierrez warned that if the country did not adopt tighter immigration standards as proposed by Republican nominee Donald Trump, there would be “taco trucks on every corner.”  For many of us, the only conceivable retort was along the lines of “what could possibly be wrong with that?”  Tacos (Mexico) have become as American as pizza (Italy), apple pie (England), French fries (Belgium), hot dogs (Germany), peanut butter (Ancient Inca and Aztec civilizations) and barbecue (Caribbean).  These foods may not have been invented in the good ol’ USA, but we’ve adopted them.  They’re part of the fabric of what makes this country fat…er, great. It’s likely that if you didn’t grow up hearing the adage “as American as apple pie,” you may have heard a version in which barbecue takes the place of or is included with apple pie.  Barbecue, in fact, has supplanted apple pie as the proverbial All American gastronomical delight.  It’s practically a cult in some parts of the fruited plain.  At the very least, it represents a pop culture microcosm.  Americans make pilgrimages to famous pantheons of barbecue to partake of meat cooked low…

AlbuquerqueFrenchNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Chez Axel – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno7:59 AM

At an Italian restaurant in which he once worked,  one of Chef Daniel Little’s primary tasks was to construct charcuterie boards, a recognition of his artistic nature and deftness.  He would much preferred to be doing the cooking.  The Central New Mexico (CNM) Community College trained chef is doing all the cooking he wants to do now.  After more than twelve years of working for some of Albuquerque’s premier chefs at such enchanting eateries as M’Tucci’s Bar Roma, Savoy and Level 5, Chef Little is now calling the shots as the chef-owner of Chez Axel, one of Albuquerque’s most venerable French restaurants. During our 2025 visit to Chez Axel after an absence of fourteen years, Chef Daniel was both host and server while a fellow CNM alum did the cooking.  Chef Daniel is a genial guy with a great sense of humor and guest orientation that makes everyone feel welcome.  Moreover, he’s absolutely committed to his craft and not just the cooking part of owning a restaurant.  He’s also pursuing a degree in Business with an emphasis in Marketing so that he can take advantage of social media’s broad reach.  One of the challenges he faces is that Chez Axel…

Dog FriendlyRating: Very GoodSteakTexasUnited States

The Big Texan Steak Ranch – Amarillo, Texas

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

If you’ve ever wondered about the meaning of the line “I’ll be lookin’ for eight when they pull that gate” in George Strait’s classic hit Amarillo By Morning, here’s a theory you probably haven’t heard.  The country crooner was actually looking for eight brawny guys to help him finish the 72-ounce steak at Amarillo’s The Big Texan Steak Ranch.  Seriously it might just take a few of your most hungry friends to tackle that behemoth slab of beef–four and a half pounds of well-marbled meat with a deep, rich flavor and mahogany color. Since its launch in 1960, The Big Texan has thrown down the gauntlet to all comers with Texas-sized appetites: finish the 72-ounce Steak Dinner Challenge–shrimp cocktail, baked potato, salad, roll with butter and of course, the 72-ounce steak–in an hour and you don’t have to pay for it.  Fail to complete the challenge and you’ll have to pay the entire $72 cost.  You might  be surprised at just how many hearty diners have bested the challenge. From 1960 through 2021, nearly 10,000 intrepid eaters have successfully completed the challenge from among some 68,000 who have attempted it.  The Big Texan records their names, weight, age and the…

AmericanBreakfastNew MexicoRating: Very GoodSanta Fe

The Original Realburger – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:10 PM

Her sunrise could bring light into a blind man. Her sunset could put tears there in his eyes. Her colors are laying there in brush strokes. Underneath those peote skies. The lay of the land stirs all of my emotions. She heals me with a laid back energy. She holds onto my broken lifeless spirit. And molds me just like pottery. And nowhere that I’ve ever been can make me feel this way. That’s why I’m going there to stay. – The Bellamy Brothers Santa Fe’s preternatural beauty is so captivating that even the plethora of writers, artists and musicians who pilgrimage to this jewel of the Southwest are at a loss for adjectives to adequately describe it.  Perhaps because of their scarcity of synonyms, some of them refer to it as “Fanta Se” as in fantasy, a city so singularly soul-stirring that its mystical qualities seems to transcend reality. Even Santa Fe’s cuisine is lavished with laudation.  Critics and patrons alike  lionize Fanta Se’s restaurants and the world class chefs which preside over  traditional earthen ovens, ultra-modern steely stoves  and Spanish style tapas grills to prepare the mouth-watering marriage of traditional and contemporary cuisine that has made Santa Fe one…