Category: Rating: N/R (Not Rated)

ArizonaItalianPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Myke’s Pizza – Mesa, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Americans eat a tremendous amount of pizza. Denizens of the fruited plain consume roughly 3 billion pizzas annually. Per capita that’s about 46 slices or 23 pounds per year, adding up to about 100 acres of pizza daily,  Pepperoni is the favorite topping and Super Bowl Sunday the biggest sales day. Over 90% of the U.S. population eats pizza regularly, making it a staple for any meal. With staggering numbers like that, you might think no country–not even Italy–comes close to competing with the United States for pizza consumption.  Norwegians consume the most pizza per capita globally, averaging around about 25 pounds per person annually. That’s significantly more than Italy or the U.S. According to Food & Wine, the most popular pizza in Arizona is a “meat lovers” pizza.  Perhaps, that’s because pizza paramours across the Grand Canyon State have not discovered Myke’s Pizza in Mesa.  When the season is right, Myke Olsen and his crew don’t hesitate to add in-season fruit to a pie.  Pineapple is old news–no longer new, exciting, or relevant.  Everybody does pineapple pizza…much to the consternation of purists.  In season, Myke’s pies may be graced by such ingredients as fresh sliced peaches.  Myke’s has also…

AmericanArizonaBreakfastRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Harold’s Cave Creek Corral – Cave Creek, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Football fans can be unforgiving…and some of us have elephantine memories.  Dallas Cowboys fans, for example, will never forget nor forgive the Pittsburgh Steelers for having bested (obviously the referees cheated) the Cowboys twice in the Super Bowl.  Never mind that our beloved Cowboys finally did beat Pittsburgh in a later Super Bowl.  We’ll never get over losing two.  Our only consolation is that at least we didn’t lose to those neanderthal New York Giants.  Someday you’ll have to ask me how I feel about the Steelers and Giants.  With such antipathy toward those miserable Steelers, the one place you’d think I’d never be caught dead would be a Steelers Bar, much less one of the most highly regarded Steelers Bars in the country.  But, that’s precisely where we spent our New Years Eve. Mind you, it certainly wasn’t my idea.  My brother-in-law Tim–who knows about as much about football as the women on The View know about integrity–wanted to impress me.  He didn’t know that espying propaganda declaring the sprawling Harold’s Cave Creek Corral “Heinz Field West (the dreaded Steelers play at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh) might instead nauseate me.  Still, there it was–copious articles of adulation strewn throughout the…

AmericanArizonaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Perfect Pear Bistro – Tempe, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Growing up Catholic, I probably read more about the gods of Mount Olympus than the catechism which taught about the almighty God worshipped at St. Anthony’s in Peñasco.  I didn’t hold the gods of Greek mythology in reverence.  If anything, I wondered how they could be so peurile and petty.  Though also splenetic and petulent, they were very interesting.  Perhaps indicative of my future gastronomic interests, I was particularly curious about the foods that were so prominent in Greek mythology.  Pears, for example, were sacred to two of the most powerful goddesses: Juno (queen of the gods and marriage) and Aphrodite (goddess of love and beauty.  Pears were also prominent in one of my very favorite books, The Odyssey. Growing up in agrarian Peñasco, we were surrounded by lush trees offering a bounty of cherries, chokecherries, apples, peaches, apricots and more.  The only pear tree I can recall was in our grandfather Max’s front yard.  While the pears were sweet and delicious, we seemed to prefer using them as projectiles to hurl at one another or at offending cows daring to trespass into our yard.  Pears rated rather low in the pantheon of fruits…at least as an edible fruit.  Perhaps…

ArizonaRating: N/R (Not Rated)SouthernUnited States

Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

How do you become a centenarian?  For Elizabeth White, achieving 100 years of age may be attributed to living the Golden Rule (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”).  She instilled that spirit into the restaurant she purchased from her brother in 1964.  Phoenix was a much more segregated city when Elizabeth White christened her eatery “The Golden Rule Cafe.” Despite the prevailing attitudes of the time, she believed in treating everyone with kindness and respect, a core tenet of the Golden Rule.  Her prominent prescence and welcoming spirit led to guests adding “Mrs. White’s” to the “Golden Rule Cafe.”  Like the wonderful woman who founded the restaurant, Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe is an institution. Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe is a home away from home for guests of all walks of life.  Famous clientele include Senator John NcCain, Jesse Jackson, James Brown and others.  Guests frequent Mrs. White’s for comfort food, but they return because of the hospitality.  You really are treated like a welcome guest.  A longtime community cornerstone, its kitchen serves up authentic Southern soul food reminiscent of grandma’s cooking.  Slow-cooked meals prepared to order hearken back to the days before homogenized food…

ArizonaBreakfastJewishRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Scott’s Generations – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Until 2025, the only generations of Scotts I’ve known are Dan (God rest his beautiful soul) and Latayne, their son Ryan and daughter-in-law Kimber and their children Canaan and Judah.  Everyone calls them “the great Scotts,” largely because they live their Christian faith.  Latayne is, in fact, a very prolific author of several Christian books.  My friend Ryan and I have broken bread on many occasions.  He’s a fellow trencherman who delights in finding great restaurants with generous portions.  Ryan would have loved Scott’s Generations in Phoenix…and I would have loved seeing his baby blues feast on a robust sandwich overstuffed with enough meat to feed….well, generations of Scotts (or one Ryan). While the name on the marquee suggests that Scott’s Generations is a family restaurant, its owners aren’t sunamed “Scott” nor are they of Scottish lineage. Scott’s Generations was established nearly four decades ago by father-son duo Gene and Scott Snyder. In 1988, the Snyder family moved to Phoenix from New York, launching the deli six months later (June 1989). It was their way of keeping a slice of the Big Apple with them. Vestiges of New York City are prominently displayed.  They’re on the walls, on the menu,…

ArizonaItalianPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Pullano’s Pizza & Wings – Glendale, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Several years ago during a fund-raising effort, Albuquerque’s PBS television station KNME aired a program called “Sandwiches That You Will Like.”   The documentary was produced by the exceptionally talented Rick Sebak of Pittsburgh station WQED.  The entertaining travelogue featured delicious sandwiches (and the folks who make and enjoy them) served by shops, stands and diners from across the USA. This program originally aired in 2002, also the year a companion book titled Sandwiches That You Will Like was published.  The book was written by fabulous food author Becky Mercuri. I was well aware of most of the sandwiches showcased in the documentary and the book.  There were several, however, I had not tried.  The most intriguing sandwich to me was the “Beef on Weck” from Schwabl’s in West Seneca, New York, just outside of Buffalo.  Schwabl’s claims to have invented the beef on weck.  The segment on the beef on weck featured Becky Mercuri, one of my very favorite food authors.  Becky’s enthusiasm for the sandwich was so heartfelt and genuine that I wanted to visit Buffalo to sample one (or ten) of them.  Moreover, I hoped to share a few beef on weck sandwiches with Becky. What, you ask,…

ArizonaDiners Drive-Ins and DivesMexicanRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Salsa Brava – Flagstaff, Arizona

Gil Garduno2:55 PM

As the feminine form of “bravo,” brava translates from Spanish and Italian to “well done,” “excellent,” or “good.” Brava is often used to praise a female performer, often in conjunction with or preceding requesting an encore for a performance well executed.  Stemming from Italian and Spanish, brava can also be used to mean brave, angry or fierce.  I’m one of those Hispanic gents who expects…make that demands, salsa to be fierce and angry.  I want my salsa to bite me back, to reenforce through its potency and piquancy that pain is a flavor.  That’s especially true when a Mexican restaurant sports the audacious name “Salsa Brava.” Salsa Brava is a perpetual “best of the city” award-winner in Flagstaff.  It’s been earning “best Mexican” and “best salsa” accolades for the entirety of its nearly four decades years serving “The City of Seven Wonders.”  My hopes were that one of those seven wonders was indeed Salsa Brava’s eponymous salsa.  Make that salsas.  Shortly after you’re seated, your server will ferry to your table three salsas and a basket of chips.  The three salsas are a classic pico de gallo (mild), fire roasted-tomato chipotle (medium), and a pineapple/habanero (spicy).  Salsa is complimentary, increasingly…

AlbuquerqueAsianJapaneseNew MexicoRamenRating: N/R (Not Rated)Sushi

Aji Ramen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

If a television show was to be created about ramen (some pronounce it ray-men), it would probably be called “Everybody loves ramen.”  According to the World Noodles Association (yes, there is such an entity), Americans consume 5.15 billion servings of instant ramen every year.  If you think that’s a lot, the United States ranks as only the sixth-largest consumer globally, significantly far behind such Asian nations as China and Indonesia.  Still, the land of spacious skies and fruited plains ranks as the top ramen consumer outside of Asia.   The per person consumption rate among Americans is 15 servings of ramen per year.  Would you believe South Korea is ranked the world’s number one per capita in instant noodle consumption (72.8 servings of instant noodles per annum)? Perhaps because of my non-traditional route (night school and testing out of courses) to higher education, I’ve never had instant ramen.  That’s right.  In my 39 years on planet Earth, my lips have never partaken of the food most commonly associated with college students.  Maybe it’s a good thing.  The high-calorie content and the high concentration of refined carbohydrates, fats, and sodium  in instant noodles, contribute to an increased risk of metabolic disease.  Though…

AlbuquerqueIndianNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Royal Hyderabad – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

When the New York Times described biryani as “the Indian equivalent of arroz con pollo or paella,” legions of Southwest Asians and culinary cognoscenti cried “Fake News!”  The media  megalith with the masthead that boasts of “all the news that’s fit to print” may as well have declared the Taj Majal as the architectural equivalent of Randy’s Donuts in Los Angeles or the Longaburger Company Building  in Ohio.  It’s highly unlikely Latin America and Spain are nearly as passionate about arroz con pollo or paella as denizens of the exotic subcontinent are about biryani, a dish The Better India boasts “epitomizes the zenith of Indian cuisine.  Zenith–that means biryani is at the very top, as good as it can possibly be.  So there, New York Times! Just by its title the book Biryani: The King of Indian Cuisine gives you an idea how esteemed the dish is.  The inside cover explains “biryani is the most beloved dish in every corner of India and many parts of Asia.”  In India, biryani has achieved legendary or mythical heights.  Chef Suvir Saran believes, “Biryani is the mirror image of our population and as the clock is ticking, its a test of time. Biryani has survived longer than any Human being, it will live forever because…

JewishNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)SandwichSanta Fe

Manhattan Avenue Deli – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:55 PM

I’ve been called many things, not all of them kind, but the name I’m most proud to hold is “Gil.”  It was my father’s name.  When colleagues from Intel’s manufacturing plant in Israel met me for the first time, they asked if I was Jewish.  Apparently in Hebrew, “Gil” means “joy,” “happiness,” or “gladness.” The name “Gil” is associated with celebration and optimism.  Gil can also be used a verb, with forms like gili (my joy) or related words meaning to “rejoice” or “be glad.”  The feminine version of Gil is “Gila.”  In my travels over 39 years on this planet, I’ve met several people named Gil, but until November, 2025 had never met anyone named Gila.  That is, until my visit to the Manhattan Avenue Deli in Santa Fe. A very vivacious young lady named Julia greeted and chatted me up as I walked into the Deli.  Not surprsingly, she asked if I was Jewish.   Julia regaled me with tales of her experiences in Israel, sharing that during her time in the Holy Land, she acquired the name “Gila.”  The name certainly fits.  Julia…er, Gila is one of the most genuinely effusive and optimistic people I’ve ever met.  Sporting…

AmericanNative AmericanNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Earl’s Family Restaurant – Gallup, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Two years after the end of the “second war to end all wars,”  a hamburger joint in Gallup first opened its doors.  What started out as a small burger place with scant seating (four stools and a couple of booths) has grown over the years to accommodate legions of loyal guests, some of whom have been frequenting Earl’s Family Restaurant practically since its inception.  Today, the seating capacity at Earl’s approximates 300.   That’s just barely enough to accommodate crowds during peak hours  Earl’s is open seven days a week fror breakfast, lunch and dinner. At nearly eighty years of serving Gallup residents and travelers along historic Route 66, Earl’s shows no signs of surcease. As you amble through the canopied walkway to the restaurant’s entrance, you’ll pass by several tables lining the walkway.  Stationed at those tables are several intrepid Native Americans hawking their wares, braving rain, snow and gloom of night to do so.   This is among the many charming aspects of dining at Earl’s.  You’ll enjoy occasional visits to your table by local artisans from the Native American community.  They’re never intrusive nor will they ever push you to purchase their wares (like some of annoying door-to-door vacuum…