Category: Rating: N/R (Not Rated)

JapaneseRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

Izanami – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno6:01 PM

“Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words.” ~Marcel Marceau When the Spaniards first gazed upon the setting sun as it hit the towering snow-capped mountains and appeared to bathe the slopes in a burst of red, they were so moved that the pious Conquistadors exclaimed “Sangre de Cristo,” blood of Christ. Whether bathed in the spectacular red alpenglow of sunset or in the “like yellow hair of a tigress brindled with pines” gold of autumn aspens as described by D.H. Lawrence, the Sangre de Cristos still move people deeply, stirring their very souls. The Sangre de Cristos are also spectacular when wispy amorphous clouds dance around the blanket of sky in all its magnificent gradations of blue. That’s the palette from which skies were painted on the day my friends and culinary kindred spirits Franzi Ortega and Nikko Harada joined me for an incredible dining experience at Izanami, the celebrated izakaya-style restaurant at the Ten Thousand Waves resort scant minutes from downtown Santa Fe. You don’t have to spend time at Ten Thousand Waves to fully appreciate Izanami, but if you don’t, you might feel you missed out on a very special place. The…

Rating: N/R (Not Rated)SandwichSouth CarolinaUnited States

Butcher & Bee – Charleston, South Carolina

Gil Garduno4:02 PM

I’m not a sandwich store that only sells turkey sandwiches. I sell a lot of different things. ~Lady Gaga You might expect that a restaurant selected for inclusion on a list of “The 21 Best Sandwich Shops in America” would have a signature sandwich, its chef d’oeuvre. Pittsburgh’s Primanti Brothers, for example, is known for its pastrami and cheese sandwich. The Darwin Cafe in San Francisco is famous for its roast beef sandwich. Every sandwich shop on the list exalting the best sandwiches from sea to shining sea has its magnus opus, a masterpiece for which it is best known. All but one, that is. The sandwich recommended at the very first sandwich shop on the list is “whatever’s available.” It speaks volumes about that sandwich shop. The Butcher & Bee is unlike any stereotype or template of any sandwich shop you’ve ever frequented. It doesn’t subscribe to boring and homogeneous conventions such as serving the same things day after day. From the exterior, it’s relatively humdrum, unadorned by neon spangled signage, flash or panache. Its most telling feature may be the lines of people snaking out the door. Step inside and even Better Homes and Gardens would be challenged…

PizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)South CarolinaUnited States

EVO – North Charleston, South Carolina

Gil Garduno9:01 AM

America is a pizza obsessed nation. Ninety-three percent of us consume at least one slice of pizza per month and collectively, we each eat some 46 slices of pizza per year. According to Pizza Magazine Quarterly, the pizza industry’s number one business magazine and web site, there are nearly 70,000 pizzerias in the United States (or about as many pizzerias as Santa Fe, New Mexico has residents) to sate our love of pizza. Almost two-thirds (or about 46,000) of those pizzerias are independently owned and operated. With such a large number of pizzerias serving the pizza loving public, creating a list anointing the best pizza or any number of best pizzas in the country is an audacious endeavor (just try picking the definitive pizza in the Duke City). Even defining the criteria for designating the best pizza is a plucky proposition considering the tremendous differences in style between purveyors of the sacrosanct pie. In September, 2012, The Daily Meal recruited an august panel au courant with all things pizza and asked them to compile a list of the best pizzas across the fruited plain. After much deliberation and trimming, five spots were allotted to each of seven regions. Because the…

Rating: N/R (Not Rated)Soul FoodSouth CarolinaSouthernUnited States

Magnolias – Charleston, South Carolina

Gil Garduno6:42 PM

Some four million visitors flock to Charleston, South Carolina every year. Charleston is the beguiling Southern charmer, a siren which lures guests with its storied history, artistic communities, architectural styles (which range from antebellum to art-deco), pristine beaches (on ninety miles of coastline) and, of course, incomparable Lowcountry cuisine. Known as the “Holy City” because of the prevalence of churches on the city skyline, the sub-sobriquet “foodies’ heaven” is fitting; however, as songster Steve Miller reminds us in his hit tune Jet Liner, “You know you got to go through hell before you get to heaven.” A great number of Charleston’s very best restaurants are clustered around the historic district, an area several times larger and much more crowded than the Santa Fe Plaza. Getting there is akin to being on a parade route, one with dozens of stop lights. Arriving is only half the challenge. Finding an empty parking spot is comparable to finding a car with working eight-track player. You’ll drive around in circles for a while before finally wandering further out. When you finally locate that elusive parking spot, you now have to traipse that much further on uneven cobblestone walkways to the restaurant while heat and…

Closed in 2025GeorgiaGone But Not ForgottenRating: N/R (Not Rated)SouthernUnited States

The Lady & Son’s – Savannah, Georgia (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno7:50 AM

When I told friends and family of my impending visit to Lady & Sons, the Savannah restaurant owned and operated by former Food Network celebrity chef Paula Deen and her scions Bobby and Jamie, I expected a barrage of well-intentioned criticism. The most “innocent” criticism would have to do with “a cacophony of cackling” and a “chorus of “ya’all” coming from the kitchen. At least one dissenter, I believed, would accuse me of naivete in thinking the celebrity chefs might actually be present, much less actually preparing my meal. The most cutting criticism–the one I feared most–would be an accusation that a visit would actually be abetting racism. Thankfully everyone to whom I mentioned my visit realized that the nature of any restaurant visit I make is with the express purpose of seeking enjoyment in the dining experience. As such, you won’t read any mean-spirited personal attacks on this blog besmirching the character of Ms. Deen, who until recent years was as beloved a culinary glitterati as you’d find on the fruited plain. It would be so easy to pile on, but my stance in doing so has always been right out of John 8:7: “Let him who is without…

AmericanRating: N/R (Not Rated)South CarolinaSouthernUnited States

Poe’s Tavern – Sullivan Island, South Carolina

Gil Garduno11:15 PM

Had Edgar Allan Poe, the legendary writer of tales of mystery and the macabre, been born in modern times, he would likely have been recruited by the notorious National Security Agency (NSA), not to spy on Americans, but to work in its cryptography department. While Poe didn’t invent cryptography, he certainly popularized it in his short story The Gold Bug, the most popular and most widely read of Poe’s works during his lifetime. In the story, he used a substitution cypher to reveal the location of treasure buried by the infamous pirate Captain Kidd, estimated by the narrator to be worth a million and a half dollars. The setting of The Gold Bug is Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina where Poe had been stationed for thirteen months while serving in the Army. Described as “a laid-back, sun-splashed playground for residents of the Lowcountry,” Sullivan’s Island had a significant impact on Poe’s life, providing the setting for at least three of his stories. It’s only fitting therefor that Sullivan’s Island is home to a very popular eatery and imbibery named for the enigmatic writer. As you cross over the white picket fence onto the restaurant’s patio, look down and you’ll see an…

BarbecueRating: N/R (Not Rated)South CarolinaUnited States

Melvin’s Legendary Bar-B-Q – Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

Gil Garduno8:01 PM

In a 2007 pageant, Miss South Carolina Teen became a YouTube sensation after butchering the answer to a question about U.S. geography. Within three days, the video clip had attracted nearly 3.5 million views. The befuddling question she was asked was “Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the United States on a world map. Why do you think this is?” Her now famous response: “I personally believe the U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh…people out there in our nation don’t have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education like such as South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and…I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., err, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our…” When I told family and friends about my plans to vacation in Charleston, South Carolina, some of their responses may have validated Miss South Carolina’s contention that U.S. Americans don’t have maps…”Where’s South Carolina?” “Why would you visit South Carolina?” Other friends who know me very…

AmericanFarmingtonNew MexicoNew Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011Rating: N/R (Not Rated)Sushi

Clancy’s Pub – Farmington, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:42 PM

Characterized by writer Tom Wolfe as the “Me Decade” and derided by cynics as the “Disco Era,” the 1970s witnessed an explosion of copycat fast food chain restaurants and the birth of innovative fusion cuisine in many contemporary restaurants. Fusion cuisine is the inventive combination of diverse, sometimes disparate culinary traditions, techniques and ingredients to form an entirely new genre. In large metropolitan areas, particularly throughout California, the fusion of different cuisines became commonplace. Restaurants featuring the melding of French and Chinese cuisine were especially popular. Still other restaurants had their own ideas as to what constituted fusion cuisine. Instead of intermixing ingredients, they featured menus showcasing the cuisine of several genres. One such restaurant is Clancy’s Pub in Farmington, New Mexico. Though its name practically screams “Irish pub,” Clancy’s Pub is so much more. Founded in 1978, Clancy’s offers one of the most diverse and comprehensive menus you’ll find anywhere in New Mexico. It’s East meets West, surf meets turf, vegetarian meets meat lover, sweet meets savory, and so much more. Now, if you’re wondering if Clancy’s Pub is just another one of those restaurants which endeavors to “be all things to all people” and falls woefully short of…

BurgersNew MexicanRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

El Milagro New Mexican Restaurant – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:31 PM

Believing “there was a void in our menu vis-a-vis the adult who wanted a higher ratio of meat to bun,” a former Vice President of product development for McDonald’s invented The Quarter Pounder in 1971. As a marketing ploy, the name Quarter Pounder quickly became a resounding success. Clever advertising campaigns convinced American consumers they were purchasing a large, beefy burger they would be challenged to finish. Had the burger been given the far less formidable christening of “Four Ouncer” we wouldn’t be talking about this McDonald’s staple forty-some years later. When it comes to burgers across the fruited plain, size does matter. Despite the caloric overachieving revelations of Supersize Me, supersized Americans seem to gravitate toward larger, meatier burgers. Burgers tipping the scales at a half-pound or more are now considered puny. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control, since the 1950s, the weight of the average fast-food burger has grown more than threefold, from 3.9 ounces to 12 ounces. That’s three times the size of the Quarter Pounder. The burgers at El Milagro New Mexican Restaurant in Santa Fe would kick sand in the face of the Quarter Pounder. They’re the proverbial musclebound bodybuilder to the…

New MexicanRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

The Pantry Restaurant – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno7:09 PM

“Although the skills aren’t hard to learn, finding the happiness and finding the satisfaction and finding fulfillment in continuously serving somebody else something good to eat, is what makes a really good restaurant.” In 1948, just three years removed from the second “war to end all wars” Santa Fe was hardly the sophisticated and cosmopolitan tourist haven Conde Naste Traveler magazine readers have named one of their favorite travel destinations for 21 consecutive years. With a population of around 25,000 citizens, Santa Fe’s art, cultural and architectural attractions weren’t nearly as well known as they are today, but then, the world wasn’t nearly as interconnected and small as it is today. For a bit more perspective on life in Santa Fe in 1948, consider that the state capital was yet to observe daylight savings time. 1948 was a leap year with 366 days and February 29th falling on a Sunday. The hottest day of the year was July 14th when Santa Fe hit a high temperature of 94 degrees. February 12th saw the coldest day of the year with a low temperature of -10, about 35 degrees below average for the day. Santa Fe saw 55 consecutive days with no…

AlbuquerqueFusionJapaneseRating: N/R (Not Rated)Sushi

Sushiya Asian Fusion Cuisine – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:39 PM

“I don’t eat anything that a dog won’t eat. Like sushi. Ever see a dog eat sushi? He just sniffs it and says, “I don’t think so.” And this is an animal that licks between its legs and sniffs fire hydrants.”.“ – Billiam Coronel Sushi has come a long way in America.  There was a time–and not very long ago–that many Americans would have agreed with comedian Billiam Coronel’s assessment of sushi.  Fellow funny-man George Carlin certainly did: “I never eat sushi. I have trouble eating things that are merely unconscious.” The attitudinal shift that has made sushi an explosive American phenomenon was at its peak in the ten-year period beginning in 1998.  Ten years later, there were five times as many sushi bars in the fruited plain and there appears to be no surcease to the popularity of what so many people poo-pooed as just “raw fish” just a few years ago.  Sushi has become so popular, so trendy that Food and Wine wrote in 1995 that “America is becoming a nation of sushi connoisseurs.” There are over 330 sushi restaurants in greater Los Angeles, about 335 in New York City and nearly 300 in Dallas.  There are at least…