Category: Rating: N/R (Not Rated)

PizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)SandwichTexasUnited States

Little Deli & Pizzeria – Austin, Texas

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In the 1973 Woody Allen movie”Sleeper,” the neurotic comedian, writer, actor, and film director declaimed, “I believe there’s an intelligence to the universe, with the exception of certain parts of New Jersey.”  Comedian George Carlin pounced on New Jersey’s license plate, deriding the “Garden State” sobriquet, expressing that it should be “The Tollbooth State.”   In response to his son-in-law Michael “Meathead” Stivic’s “I hate Jersey” comment, Archie Bunker declared “Everybody hates Jersey! But somebody’s gotta live there.” New Jersey is the Rodney Dangerfield among the fifty states.  It gets no respect, especially when compared with its nextdoor neighbor New York.  Perceptions among some outsiders is that the population of New Jersey is replete with Italian-American Mafia types like Tony Soprano.  Others perceive as accurate the unwatchable MTV “reality” television series Jersey Shore which perpetuates Italian-American stereotypes of New Jerseyans.  Its gratuitous use of the ethnic slurs “guido” and “guidette” are an affront to every good and decent resident of the state. Admittedly I haven’t spent much time in New Jersey.  My first visit was just long enough to qualify on the M16 rifle before the Air Force sent me to RAF Upper Heyford, England.  Would you consider it boasting if…

BurgersRating: N/R (Not Rated)TexasUnited States

JewBoy Burgers – Austin, Texas

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

With hordes of eager eaters forming lines around select restaurants–if not the block–you’d think those diners were gum-snapping Swifties clamoring to enter the venue of a Taylor Swift concert  That’s the case not only in barbecue joints anointed with Michelin star and James Beard Foundation honors, not to mention restaurants featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.  Queues for ‘cue, lines for lasagna, cavalcades for calamari…that’s pretty much the way it is at all the time in Austin.  It is a foodie city after my own heart.  I loathe lines so much, I’d rather arrive half an hour early than to stand in a line for more than ten minutes. Alas, on a day in which drizzle spritzed city streets, I arrived at Jewboy Burgers fifteen minutes after it opened.  Forget what you hear about Austinites being fair weather diners.  They were there in droves with a lengthy line literally out the door.  That’s where I stood (in misty rain) for twenty minutes before making my way inside.  There was a long line inside the restaurant, too.  Sullen diners also waited for a table to come available, the more intrepid among them taking their burger bounty outdoors.  A fellow queruer related…

2022 James Beard Foundation Award for "Emerging Chef"MexicanMichelin: Bib GourmandRating: N/R (Not Rated)Restaurants Which Have Earned Michelin HonorsTacosTexasUnited States

Nixta Taqueria – Austin, Texas

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Man cannot live on barbecue alone–not even in Austin, Texas where the world’s very best barbecue is to be found.  To limit one’s self to barbecue–as transformative as it may be–is to deprive yourself of some of the best Mexican food and best fried chicken in the known world.  Though the primary purpose of my week-long visit to the City of the Violet Crown was to visit Michelin starred barbecue restaurants, to have done so have been “going deep,”  exploring just one segment of the Central Texas culinary Utopia.  “Going wide” meant exploring options beyond barbecue–options such as some of the aforementioned Mexican food joints for which Austin is renowned. At the very top of my list was Nixta Taqueria which was ranked tenth among the 50 best tacos in Texas.  That compilation was put together by Texas Monthly’s “Taco Editor” Jose Ralat who “traversed the state from the Rio Grande Valley to the Panhandle to find the most superb tacos and taquerias.”  Along the way, he discovered that “More than ever, chefs, cooks, and taqueros—often Mexican immigrants or first-generation Mexican Americans—are crafting nostalgic dishes from their blended cultures and incorporating native Texan ingredients.”  He calls the movement “New Tejano.”…

2025 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Texas" SemifinalistBarbecueJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersMichelin: One StarRating: N/R (Not Rated)Restaurants Which Have Earned Michelin HonorsTexasUnited States

LeRoy And Lewis Barbecue – Austin, Texas

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

What can you say about a wife who practically pushes her husband out the door so he can gallavant through the Lone Star State in pursuit of barbecue?  That’s precisely what my Kim did.  She didn’t do so out of malice or because she’s tired of me.  Far from it.  We’ve been together for four decades.  There’s no one whose company I enjoy more and it’s mutual.  Throughout my Air Force career, we were stationed far away from family and had only ourselves to rely on.  We’ve grown together both figuratively and literally (mostly me).  While I would love for my Kim to be by my side every moment of every day, she knows I sometimes need to explore culinary horizons by myself, advance scouting for when I can take her with me. Mysandrists might decry the Austin weather as divine retribution for me traveling without my bride and our debonair dachsund, The Dude.  An uncommon cold spell has limited my outdoor activity to getting in the car and driving to one of the anointed restaurants on my list.  On February 8, the high temperature in Austin was 88.  Since my arrival, the high temperature has been in the low…

AmericanBreakfast BurritosDog FriendlyNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

The Pantry Dos – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

There’s no annual event I enjoy more than the Roadrunner Food Bank’s Souper Bowl which takes place one week before some ballyhooed football game.  That game is the National Football League’s Super Bowl, a star-studded event in which the celebrity with the best name (Taylor Swift) doesn’t even play football.  Celebrities abound at the Souper Bowl, too, but they’re real people, the type of which you would enjoy sharing a meal with.  During my twelvth year of serving as a judge at the Souper Bowl, I had the privilege and pleasure of spending time with several of those local celebrities.  I wouldn’t trade a minute with them for an hour with Kendrick Lamar (whoever he is) or Taylor Swift. For years, two of those celebrities–Steph Duran of  Magic 995 and the legendary TJ Trout of 96.3 KKOB–have made morning and afternoons much more enjoyable (particularly when driving the city’s mean streets) for denizens of the Duke City.  Their astute observations and facial expressions (particularly Steph’s “Sally” face) as they sipped some thirty soups helped make the 2025 Souper Bowl thoroughly enjoyable.  You probably wouldn’t call Glenn Walters a “celebrity” unless you’re intimate with state government where he’s revered among the…

ArizonaMexicanRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Chilte – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“Me Vale Madre.”  If you grew up speaking Spanish–or maybe just being around Spanish-speaking people–you probably know it’s a derrogatory term.  Essentially, even though the phrase inludes the Spanish term “madre” which means “mother,”  it’s telling someone you don’t give a fu…fudge.  “Me Vale Madre” is Chilte’s mantra.  It’s the restaurant staff basically saying “we don’t care that we don’t meet your conceptions of what Mexican food should be.  We’re going to do it our way.”  How can you not love that?  I asked our server to explain to my Kim what that mantra means and he gave us a polite, G-rated version that was as far from the truth as a political promise. Chilte’s website makes no bones about what it is and aspires to be: “Me vale is our mantra.  Representing unapologetic authenticity to ourselves and our mission.  Join us as we strive to inspire a new culture in the culinary industry by sourcing locally, cooking from the hert, mentoring one another and building a community through food.”  The website also waxes nostalgic about Chilte’s humble beginnings: “Two kids, a grill and a tortilla press walk into a farmers market….Chilte!  Starting in a  10X10 pop-up tent, we have…

ArizonaDonutsRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Randy’s Donuts – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

There’s a scene in Iron Man 2 where billionaire playboy Tony Stark decided to treat a hangover with coffee and a box of donuts from Randy’s Donuts in Inglewood, California.  Instead of enjoying his bounty inside the restaurant like most of us earth-bound “hundredaires,”  he flew up onto the gigantic 32’6″ donut atop the building and ate his donuts there.  My first visage of Randy’s Donuts came from a more altitudinous vantage point than Stark’s.  I first espied the iconic donut on approach to the Los Angeles International Airport.  Had a parachute been available, I might have been tempted to drop down for a donut or ten. My first actual taste of donuts from Randy’s was courtesy of the generosity of my dear friend Bruce “Sr Plata” Silver who grew up not far from the fabled donut shop.  On one of his visits home, he brought back a half dozen donuts for me.  In my 39 years of devouring dozens of donuts, I’ve never had donuts that good.  Randy’s has been making believers of superheroes and ordinary Joes like me since 1953.  That’s seventy plus years of people and palate pleasing.  Iron Man 2 is far from being the only…

ArizonaAsianRating: N/R (Not Rated)ThaiUnited States

Glai Baan – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“We are a “Very Thai” kitchen, focusing on street food and snacks that you would commonly find while visiting Thailand. Most of our dishes are best shared and many dishes are from the Isan region (northeastern), where they like their food spicy. We source our produce and meat locally when possible, and we do not use MSG.”  When I read that introductory statement on Glai Bann’s website and menu, I nearly danced with joy.  Over the years I’ve become increasingly frustrated with Thai restaurants in that the balance of flavors–sweet, sour, salty, bitter, spicy–has skewed overwhelmingly toward sweet.  The culinary journey at many Thai restaurants is incomplete for those of us who don’t particularly like entrees as sweet as desserts. Much of the credit (or blame) for my intolerance of “perfectly fine, acceptable to most” Thai restaurants is because I’ve experienced THE best.  That would be Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas, Nevada.  No less than Pulitzer Prize award-winning writer Jonathan Gold called Lotus of Siam “the single best Thai restaurant in North America.”  In 2010, Chef-owner Saipin Chutima was accorded with “Best Chef: Southwest” honors by the James Beard Foundation.   Her specialty is Issan-style Thai food, its genesis being…

ArizonaGelatoItalianPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Romanelli’s Italian Deli – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

It didn’t dawn on me until after our visit that how fitting it is that Romanelli’s Italian Deli is located on Dunlap Avenue.  Visit Romanelli’s with any degree of regularity and you’re bound to be afflicted with Dunlap’s Disease.  Dan “The Tire Man” Marsh describes it as “Done lapped over the belt” disease.  The symptoms include “a sudden need to unbutton your pants after a meal (a classic blowout!), an inexplicable gravitational pull towards comfy sweatpants and the inexplicable disappearance of your feet when looking down.  Among the causes of Dunlap’s Disease are visiting Romanelli’s frequently. In naming Romanelli’s 2023’s “Best of Phoenix” winner in the Italian Deli category, The Phoenix New Times may have said it best: “Walking into Romanelli’s Italian Deli is like gliding into an olfactory orgy. As soon as the smells of freshly baked bread, zesty spices, piquant peppers, tangy cheeses and cured meats hit your nostrils, your mouth starts watering, and your eyes start wandering.”  Though the Phoenix New Times cites only olactory and visual senses, Romanelli’s doesn’t exclude your other senses.  Probably the most prevalent is sense of taste, when you finally get to bite down on an incomparably delicious meal and follow it…

ArizonaDiners Drive-Ins and DivesFine DiningFood Network Eats New MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Hush Public House – Scottsdale, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

During a February, 2024 episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, host Guy Fieri asked Chef Dom Ruggiero what type of cuisine her served at his North Scottsdale restaurant Hush Public House.  Chef Ruggiero explained Hush features “New American,”  a term which basically “let’s me do whatever I want.”  Chef Ruggiero could have said “Martian” and it’s unlikely he would have received any argument from the periphrastic  host.  In part that’s because Chef Ruggiero is a former United States Marine.  With tatooed guns nearly the size of Hulk Hogan’s, he still looks like he could take on a regiment of terrorists single-handedly.  Despite the chef’s enviable musculature, Fieri observed a culinary technique he described as “such a big hand doing it so daintily.” You might wonder how a former Marine became one of the Valley’s most highly regarded chefs.  After leaving the service, Chef Ruggiero worked in an office in which Cordon Bleu occupied the third floor.  The chef related that he “saw all these guys with tatoos playing with knives and fire.”  His instant reaction was “sign me up.”   Originally from Scottsdale, Chef Ruggiero has been in the culinary arena for nearly fifteen years.  He launched Hush Public House in 2019…

ArizonaDog FriendlyItalianPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Fabio on Fire – Peoria, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In the early ’90s, a mesomorphic V-shaped woman’s man with the mononymous name Fabio garnered worldwide recognition for his appearance on the covers of hundreds of romance novels.  With his flowing mane, chiseled physique and aquiline nose, Fabio Lanzoni was lusted after and admired–at least by readers of romance lovers.   The idyllic man perceptions were reinforced when Fabio revealed that he cooks (albeit with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, a product he’s been hawking on television for more than a decade). When I told my Kim, we were headed to the western enclave of Peoria, Arizona to dine at a restaurant called Fabio on Fire, her immediate reaction was “you mean that hot guy on all those book covers has a restaurant.”  As a not-so-hot guy perpetually waging war against a middle-age spread, I certainly fall short in any comparisons to the hunky Fabio (thankfully my Kim hasn’t resorted to calling me “Flabbio”).   I did console my Kim with the assurance that “there are several “hot” guys at Fabio.”  I didn’t tell her they’re hot because of proximity to stoves and ovens (and the 82-degree Phoenix heat on a late December day). Though somewhat ambivalent about the hot guy…