Category: Rating: N/R (Not Rated)

MaineRating: N/R (Not Rated)SeafoodUnited States

Mabel’s Lobster Claw Restaurant – Kennebunkport, Maine

Gil Garduno9:06 PM

What comes to mind when you think of lobster?  A rare treat or special event meal?   A delicacy?  Would you believe some cultures still consider lobster “the cockroach of the sea?”  There’s a scientific basis for that.  Neither fish nor mammal, lobsters are arthropods, closely related to the lowly insect.  Like the insect, lobsters belong to the invertebrate (lacking a backbone or spinal column) family. Today you have to pay dearly for an excellent lobster meal, but that hasn’t always been the case.  Lobsters were once so abundant that Native Peoples used them as fish bait and fertilizer.  According to…

MaineRating: N/R (Not Rated)SeafoodUnited States

The Clam Shack – Kennebunkport, Maine

Gil Garduno8:45 PM

The late George Plimpton was a pioneering journalist who garnered much of his acclaim from competing in professional sporting events then recording the experience from an amateur’s standpoint.  From pitching against the National League prior to an All-Star baseball game to quarterbacking the Detroit Lions in an intrasquad scrimmage, Plimpton momentarily lived the dream of every would-be professional athlete. Today, it seems every network and cable channel has a competing reality show in which an unabashed combatant or group of contestants undertake unsavory jobs–such as bullfighter or oil driller–for which they are wholly unqualified.  The Discovery channel even has a…

Diners Drive-Ins and DivesMaineRating: N/R (Not Rated)SeafoodUnited States

Maine Diner – Wells, Maine

Gil Garduno9:38 PM

How do you know when a restaurant has really made it?  Is it when that restaurant is recognized by national publications as one of the very best diners in the country?  Or when celebrities go out of their way to dine at its tables?  Is it when more than five-million people have been warmly welcomed at its doors?  When neither rain, nor sleet nor the most stern and frigid of Maine winters can dissuade visitors? The Maine Diner has achieved all of this and so much more.  Richly deserving of all the accolades bestowed upon it, the telltale sign that…

MassachusettsRating: N/R (Not Rated)Seafood

Woodman’s of Essex – Essex, Massachusetts

Gil Garduno9:34 PM

If you can imagine what New Mexico would be like without green chile or the South without barbecue, you can understand what New England would be without fried clams.  Like our beloved green chile, fried clams are an iconic food, so much so that they are almost synonymous with states like Maine and Massachusetts in which they are harvested and sold.  It’s almost a wonder the license plate mottos in at least one of those two states isn’t “The Fried Clam State.” As with our cherished chile, fried clams have a distinctive, unforgettable flavor that not everybody “gets.”  Similar to…

MassachusettsRating: N/R (Not Rated)Seafood

Union Oyster House – Boston, Massachusetts

Gil Garduno9:50 PM

The Union Oyster House, in continuous operation since 1826, is not only the oldest restaurant in Boston, it’s the oldest restaurant in continuous service in America.  In fact, it’s housed in a building which predates the American Revolution.  Union Street in which it is situated was laid out in 1626 and while there are no municipal records documenting the Oyster House’s construction, there is more than anecdotal evidence that it was built as early as the 1710s. A major landmark for more than a quarter millennium, the Union Oyster House is not officially one of the sixteen nationally significant historic…

ItalianMassachusettsRating: N/R (Not Rated)Steak

Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse – Boston, Massachusetts

Gil Garduno8:16 PM

“When I talk about a great dish, I often get goose bumps. I’m like, whoa, I’ll never forget that one. The Italians are just like that. It’s not all about food. It’s part of the memory.” ~Mario Batali When discussing my upcoming trip to Boston with Dave Hurayt, it evoked a nostalgic sentiment in a fellow gastronome whose opinion on food I respect.  As a graduate student matriculating at one of the fine universities in the “Cradle of Modern America,” Dave knew where his priorities lay.  Academic pursuits aside, Dave’s priorities included discovering the best restaurants in Boston, a pursuit…

Closed in 2024Gone But Not ForgottenItalianMassachusettsRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Sportello – Boston, Massachusetts (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno3:24 PM

In its April, 2009 edition Saveur magazine feted “12 restaurants that matter,” profiling a dozen restaurants that “represent the best of dining in America today.”  Although that title may at first browse sound a bit condescending, the premise of the article was that restaurants are special places.  ”Everybody has to eat, but going out to eat is a choice.” The one choice of the Saveur sages which most intrigued me was a restaurant in Boston that had been open for less than one year, but which had already been drawing rave reviews.  It wasn’t those reviews that likely swayed the…

New MexicoPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)Taos County

Taos Pizza Out Back – Taos, New Mexico

Gil Garduno10:46 PM

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28 It’s unlikely the Taos Chamber of Commerce ever used that New Testament passage to lure visitors to Taos, but it would have made an excellent tourism slogan.  Taos, New Mexico seems to have a mollifying effect on weary souls.  It has been easing burdens and removing the yoke of the heavily laden for more than a millennium. Taos calls its visitors to spiritual odysseys, to commune with incomparable beauty and serenity, to imbibe the exotic melting pot of cultures.  It has inspired…

AlbuquerqueItalianNational ChainRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Bravo! Cucina Italiana – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:21 PM

Perhaps the most memorable slogan to surface during the politics “dirtier than usual” Presidential campaign of 2008 was the frequently used American idiom “you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.” That expression is intended to mean something akin to putting a fresh coat of paint on a piece of junk and selling it for full price. In other words, it aptly describes most political campaigns which tend to be exhaustingly negative repeats of previous campaigns. I promised myself not to ever let my blog slink and slither into the unappetizing muck and mire of politics…

Fine DiningNevadaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Bouchon – Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Garduno10:14 PM

Thomas Keller is the owner and chef of one of the world’s most highly acclaimed and famous restaurants, but despite all the accolades and honors the French Laundry has garnered over the years, he isn’t nearly as famous or popular as his celebrity protégés. One protégé is a provincial rat named Remy whose aspirations to become a great chef despite a lack of formal culinary training mirror Keller’s own path.  Remy’s focus and fastidious attention to detail are known to be patterned after Keller.  To make the restaurant scenes as realistic as possible, the film’s producer interned in the French…

ChineseNevadaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Ping Pang Pong – Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Garduno12:27 AM

The complaint I hear most often about the Duke City dining scene is that we have a lamentable lack of quality Chinese restaurants. This is a sentiment that’s been echoed ad-infinitum on Chowhound and other restaurant blogs. In my years of reviewing Duke City restaurants, I’ve deemed only nine Chinese restaurants worthy of taking up space on my Web site. Considering Chinese restaurants outnumber those of any ethnicity other than New Mexican, that’s not a good sign. I’ve tried dozens of Chinese restaurants in New Mexico (and continue to try them in hopes of finding a rare hidden gem), but…