Rating: Good Archives - Page 6 of 7 - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog

Asian Noodle Bar – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoFebruary 15, 2014April 5, 20263:43 AM

In the United States, as in many western cultures, the art of slurping one’s food in public has long been an etiquette taboo. In terms of culinary faux pas, slurping falls somewhere between talking with your mouth open and belching loudly. Conversely, in Japan and other Asian countries, slurping noodles at restaurants is not only perfectly acceptable, it’s often considered a sign of appreciation being conveyed to the chef. Visit a traditional noodle bar in Japan and you’ll be surrounded by an asynchronous symphony of slurping, the audible inhalation of noodles being heartily enjoyed. If slurping noodles was an Olympic sport, the Japanese would earn gold medals (irrespective of the Russian judges) and America would place below Jamaica. Slurping among…

Albuquerque Better Call Saul New Mexican Rating: Good

Taco Sal New Mexican Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoDecember 24, 2013April 3, 202610:58 PM

Rachael Ray, the hyper-bubbly kitchen diva recently divulged that casinos pipe in the fragrance of cumin because it causes gamblers to lose their inhibitions and gamble without guilt. Cigarette smoke and cumin…that doesn’t sound like an olfactory arousing aroma combination to me, much less one which would lure anyone to a purlieu of poker and slots. Now, if casinos figured out how to pipe in the intoxicating aroma of chile being roasted, New Mexicans might never leave. Marcia Nordyke, the Public Relations Director for the Hatch Chile Festival believes the aroma of chile being roasted would make a wonderful air freshener. My friend Bill Resnik says it would make a great aftershave, albeit one which would leave anyone within range…

Albuquerque Chinese Rating: Good

Chin Shan Chinese Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJuly 24, 2013April 5, 20269:27 PM

According to the trade magazine Chinese Restaurant News, as of January, 2007, there were 43,139 Chinese restaurants in the United States. That’s three times the number of McDonalds franchise units and more than the total number of McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s in America combined. More than 80 percent are family-owned with nation-wide chains such as Panda Express and PF Chang’s accounting for only five percent of all Chinese restaurants across the fruited plain. Raking in nearly $17 billion in annual sales, Chinese restaurants are nearly on a profitability par with the behemoth burger chain, too. Until recent years, many (if not most) Chinese restaurants specialized in inexpensive all-you-can-eat buffets, most of dubitable quality. Today, buffets are the bailiwick of…

Albuquerque Mediterranean Rating: Good

Yasmine’s Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMay 1, 2013April 3, 20265:44 AM

Never mind an Emmy. If the Hollywood Reporter and the Huffington Post have their way, comedian Larry David might qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize. That is if a 2011 episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm can do what diplomats and politicians have failed to do over the years. In the episode, entitled Palestinian Chicken, Larry discovers a Palestinian restaurant that serves the tastiest chicken in Los Angeles. The problem is that the restaurant is owned and operated by anti-Semitic Palestinians and Larry is Jewish. Now, Larry could hardly be considered a peace-maker by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, his lusty ardor for both the chicken and the restaurant’s proprietor, override his loyalty to Judaism and the local Jewish…

Albuquerque Pizza Rating: Good

Old Town Pizza Parlor – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJuly 29, 2012April 3, 20264:56 PM

Although it seems Albuquerque’s population experiences an unprecedented population growth every decade, perhaps the ten-year period which most transformed the Duke City from an expansive frontier cow town to a modern metropolitan city was the 1950s. At the start of the decade, the city’s population was 96,815, but bolstered by a post-World War II boom, the population more than doubled to 201,189 by 1960. No successive decade has seen such growth. With J.C. Penney’s, Sears and Montgomery Wards (as well as Woolworth’s) all located on Route 66, downtown was the the economic heart of the community. Consumers reveled in the availability of products and clothing heretofore available only through catalogs. To show off the high fashion available at those department stores and…

Albuquerque Rating: Good Thai

Orchid Thai Cuisine – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJuly 28, 2012April 4, 20268:58 PM

Sydney, Australia has “Thai Tanic” and “Thai to Remember.” In Manila, The Philippines, it’s “Thai Kingdom Come.” Arlington, Virginia boasts of “ThaiPhoon.” “Thai One On” is a Salt Lake City favorite. San Francisco diners frequent “Thai Me Up,” while in Mildenhall, England “En-Thai-Sing” is all the rage. Then there’s “Beau Thai” in Portland, Oregon; “Bow Thai” in Margate, Florida; and “Once Upon a Thai” in Chicago, Illinois. When it comes to Thai restaurants throughout the English-speaking world, it’s a wordplay wonderland. Urbanspoon lists some eighteen Thai or Asian fusion restaurants in Albuquerque specializing in or which include Thai food, none of which evoked once a pun a name. Now operating for more than ten years (it launched on May 10,…

American New Mexico Rating: Good

Hillsboro General Store – Hillsboro, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJune 16, 2012April 5, 20267:51 PM

On a journey by train to San Francisco, New Mexico’s legendary award-winning author Tony Hillerman shared an observation car with businessmen from the East. As the multi-hued Zuni Buttes, majestic Mount Taylor, breathtaking mesas and skies resplendent with monsoon thunderclouds passed in review, his heart was lifted and his worries dissipated. He then overheard one of the Easterners remark to the other, “My God, why would anybody live out here?” Hillerman’s immediate (though unspoken) thought was, “My God, why wouldn’t everyone want to live out here?” As Hillerman’s experience clearly illustrates, one person’s “middle of nowhere” is another person’s idyllic paradise. Similarly, what some consider “nothing to do here” is the pace of life others spend their life pursuing. It’s…

New Mexico Rating: Good Rio Rancho Vietnamese

Viet Rice – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJuly 29, 2011April 5, 20263:41 PM

In Vietnamese, “an com”‘ translates as “eating rice,” but it’s a phrase that more accurately implies the act of partaking of food. At Viet Rice, they know rice and they make the act of partaking of food a memorable one! The motto “We Know Rice” is declared on the menu and it’s part of the restaurant’s logo. It’s even on the restaurant’s entrance. More importantly, it’s obvious in the way Rio Rancho’s very first Vietnamese restaurant operates. True to its name, well crafted rice dishes are a specialty, but there’s so much more than rice at this small gem operating out of a sprawling shopping center. Viet Rice is one of the more visually appealing Vietnamese restaurants in the Duke…

American Breakfast New Mexico Rating: Good Rio Rancho

Weck’s – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJuly 22, 2011April 5, 20263:53 PM

Arguably the very best programming all year long on KNME, Albuquerque’s Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) comes during its four annual fund-raising campaigns. For sandwich lovers all over New Mexico, no PBS feature is more greatly appreciated than Sandwiches That You Will Like, a documentary by Rick Sebak of television station WQED in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The documentary showcases unique sandwich offerings from throughout America. Voracious viewers like me practically salivate at the scrumptious sandwiches on display and lament the fact that most of them can’t be found within the borders of the Land of Enchantment. Watching the documentary is torture of the most delicious sort, no doubt prompting a rush to the refrigerator for even the least tortured among us. One…

New Mexican New Mexico New Mexico Culinary Treasures Trail Rating: Good Santa Fe Travel Channel Eats New Mexico

Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJuly 4, 2011April 5, 20261:00 PM

In 1712, the provincial governor for the kingdom of New Mexico decreed that henceforth, an annual reenactment of Diego De Vargas’ triumphant reentry into Santa Fe would be celebrated every year. Santa Feans have dutifully obeyed the proclamation ever since, making the Fiesta de Santa Fe the oldest civic celebration of its kind in North America. Approaching its 400th year, the Fiesta is renown not only for its pageantry and pomp, but for its respectful reflection on a significant historical event. By 1951, however, the Fiesta as we know it today, had degenerated into a parody of its former self, a victim of crass commercialism which Santa Fe’s Pulitzer Prize winning writer Oliver La Farge called “a shabby commercial carnival.” …

Breakfast Buffet New Mexico Rating: Good

Santa Ana Cafe – Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMarch 21, 2011April 5, 20263:26 AM

As you gaze in awe at the sheer opulence of the expansive Tamaya hospitality complex and resort and consider the Santa Ana Pueblo’s Vegas-style, high-stakes gaming center or 27-hole, championship golf course, you have to conclude that the Pueblo’s tribal enterprises are flourishing–and you would be right. An entrepreneurial spirit is nothing new to the Santa Ana people. The Santa Ana (Tamaya) Pueblo has a long and storied history of forward-thinking and self-reliance. To increase its land base and agricultural production, in 1709 the pueblo purchased 5,000 acres along the Rio Grande. Coupled with its 15,000-acre Spanish land grants and other land purchases, the reservation (population about 500) is today a vast expanse of about 73,000 acres. While Tamaya, the…