Category: Closed in 2011

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2011Gone But Not ForgottenMexican

Guicho’s Authentic Mexican Food Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno7:04 AM

There have been Mexican restaurants in the Land of Enchantment for as long as there have been restaurants.  While the distinction between Mexican restaurants and New Mexican restaurants has become less obfuscated over time, there is still a tendency among many casual diners to think “a Mexican restaurant is a Mexican restaurant.”  That errant thinking is probably due to the preponderance on this side of the border of Mexican restaurants from the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. The cuisine of Chihuahua is characterized by its simplicity, reflecting the resilience of its people, settlers of a land steeped with rugged terrain, craggy mountains and rough lands in which great temperature variations exist between scalding heat and almost freezing cold.  Dehydrated chile is a staple of Chihuahua.  When reconstituted, flour is added to thicken it for such popular favorites as enchiladas, tacos, chile rellenos, quesadillas, beans and tamales, all foods with which New Mexicans are intimate.  The cuisine of this region is also characterized by the use of melted or roasted cheese, much of it courtesy of the large Mennonite population in the area. In the past decade or so, New Mexico has seen a growing number of restaurants from states other than Chihuahua.…

Closed in 2011Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoPizzaRio Rancho

Rocco’s Pizzeria – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:16 AM

In an age of sensory bombardment, we all occasionally experience a phenomenon known as an “earworm.” Earworm is a literal translation of a German term for a song (particularly an annoying one) stuck in someone’s head. For some it’s the Gilligan’s Island theme song. For others, it might be “It’s a Small World” or the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine.” In the 1960s, one television commercial was responsible for an earworm that afflicted many of us in the Albuquerque viewing area. It was a commercial for Peppino’s Pizza Joint and the words to its annoyingly catchy jingle were “The p-pizza’s p-perfect at Peppino’s, the p-pizza’s p-perfect at Peppino’s p-pizza joint.” I’ll bet some of the more “seasoned” (geriatrically advanced like me) members of the Duke City Fix’s Born in ‘Burque group reading this post are cursing me because now they can’t get that jingle out of their minds. Peppino’s Pizza Joint and that catchy jingle have been gone now for close to forty years, but the jingle is reborn every time I passed by or thought about Petitto’s Pizzeria in Rio Rancho. Petitto’s, which opened in 2007, was ensconced in a fairly nondescript strip shopping center on Southern Boulevard and was not…

AlbuquerqueCajunClosed in 2011Gone But Not Forgotten

The Cajun Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:04 AM

Note:  After 24 years of serving Albuquerque in two locations, the Cajun Kitchen closed its doors on Friday, March 11, 2011.  On a notice in the menu, the Hebert family wrote, “It has been a privilege serving the Albuquerque community and have been equally blessed by the support of those who have graced our tables making the restaurant the institution it has become.” When we moved back to Albuquerque in 1995 after eight years of living in the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we begrudgingly accepted the fact that in New Mexico, we would never experience the type and quality of  Cajun and Creole cuisine with which we had fallen head-over-heels in love.  Our taste buds, we thought, would be deprived of  the very lively, very colorful and very varied rustic cuisine characterized by the use of the “holy trinity” (bell pepper, onion and celery), just-off-the-boat seafood, spicy sausage and perfectly prepared rice.  Where, we wondered would we receive our meals with the “laissez bon temps rouler” (let the good times roll) attitude so prevalent in the Deep South? Obviously we didn’t know about the Cajun Kitchen, where Duke City diners have been getting their Cajun and Creole cooking fix for nearly a…

AmericanBreakfastBrunchClosed in 2011Gone But Not ForgottenRio Rancho

Outlook Cafe – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:25 PM

Some would argue that the city of Rio Rancho was spawned as a dubious marketing ploy designed to bilk gullible New Yorkers out of their savings by enticing them to a vast wasteland under the pretext  that their  “lucrative investment” would  ensure a comfortable retirement in “among the greenest, most fertile valleys in the world.”  Others see those pioneers who sought to civilize the wilderness on the plateaus west of Albuquerque as visionaries possessing a clarity and prescience that escapes most of us. Frankly, on our inaugural trek to the Outlook Cafe, we began to question our own sanity as we traversed what seemed to be an endlessly empty enormity of sage and sand beyond any vestige of civilization save for the two-lane Unser Boulevard on which we drove.  Any restaurant this far out in Rio Rancho’s vast outskirts would have to be a veritable oasis in a high desert expanse untouched and unsullied by modernity.   It would have to be a true destination restaurant, an  exclusive enclave far away from the bustling well-beaten and well-eaten path that defines the City of Vision’s dining scene. In truth, from the intersection of Rio Rancho’s Unser and Southern Boulevards, the Outlook…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2011DonutsGone But Not Forgotten

GoNuts Donuts – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:26 AM

Their Points of View. ‘Twixt optimist and pessimist The difference is droll; The optimist the doughnut sees – The pessimist the hole. – New York Sun, 1904 It’s almost deliciously ironic that the “Optimist’s Creed” references the oft-maligned donut. In recent years, donuts and their high-carb brethren have been damned and all but banned by the “nutritionally correct” who believe America should supplant these decadent orbs of sugary deliciousness with tofu, celery sticks, carrots and beef juice.  Donuts went through a period in which they were nearly as popular as terrorist extremists at a New York City fire department party.  Even the once sanctified Krispy Kreme saw its stock prices plummet. In such a climate of adversity, it is donut purveyors who have to be eternal optimists even as their product is assailed and vilified. Albuquerque has in recent years seen the demise, departure or diminished numbers of Krispy Kreme, Shipley’s Donuts, Winchell’s Donuts and even Dunkin’ Donuts. Whether it was an onslaught of health-crazed fanatics, reduced ranks in the police force or a combination of other factors, the Duke City can hardly be called the Donut City. In an article for Saveur, writer extraordinaire John T. Edge, who spent…

AmericanClosed in 2011Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanRio Rancho

Sevyn’s Cafe – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:15 AM

During a 1996 episode of Seinfeld, George Costanza, a self-proclaimed “short, balding, unattractive man” made the mistake of telling his fiancee he wanted to name his child “Seven” after his idol Mickey Mantle.  To George’s chagrin, his fiancee’s cousins liked the idea so much they decided to name their own child Seven.  Even as the female cousin was being wheeled by an orderly into the delivery room, George tried in vain to convince them to name the child something else.  Six,  Thirteen, Fourteen, even…Soda.  “it’s bubbly, it’s refreshing!,” he cried. Driving by the familiar yellow roofed building that previously housed the now defunct Mad Max’s BBQ, I couldn’t help but laugh while recalling that hilarious episode.  There on that yellow roof was new signage for a cafe named Sevyn’s Cafe–George Costanza’s coveted baby name only spelled differently.  Sevyn’s Cafe opened for business on Wednesday, November 5th, 2010, the retirement dream of Pamela and Ralph Hartsock.  Pamela, a nurse, and Ralph, who’s in the construction clean-up business, haven’t retired yet, but it’s never too early to start planning. Pamela explained that the cafe is named for her granddaughter, jokingly adding that her son picked the name in recognition of the seven…

AlbuquerqueChickenClosed in 2011Gone But Not ForgottenSpecialty

Wings ‘N Things – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno11:00 AM

The “language of love.”  It can reduce the most eloquent of women to twaddling teeny boppers and the most macho of men to cooing grade schoolers.  It is most active–some would say most infantile–when the biochemical pathways of love are waxing to a peak during the relationship stages between infatuation and falling in love.  It’s when cute nicknames–those mushy, syrupy terms of endearment–are created and used in place of actual names, when phone calls don’t end because neither party can hang up. Not even Jerry Seinfeld was exempt from the language of love.   Renown for his cooly detached approach towards commitment and for breaking up with women for the the most picayune of reasons, Seinfeld may have, in fact, taken the language of love to new depths (or heights, depending on your perspective).  In his eponymous television sitcom, Seinfeld nauseated his friends George and Elaine with his openly affectionate behavior, baby talk and especially a term of endearment they found particularly offensive–Schmoopie. The only thing that could cool his ardor was a thickly-accented, stone-faced chef renown for enforcing a strict protocol of queuing, ordering and paying for Manhattan’s best soup.  Rather than incur the “Soup Nazi’s” ire and be…

AlbuquerqueAmericanClosed in 2011Gone But Not Forgotten

Rodeo Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:32 AM

“Who’s gonna fill their shoes?,” laments the legendary Country music crooner George Jones over the loudspeakers at the Rodeo Grill.  “Who’s gonna stand that tall? Who’s gonna play the Opry and the Wabash Cannonball?  Who’s gonna give their heart and soul to get to me and you?  Lord I wonder, who’s gonna fill their shoes.” Ironically I was thinking something similar as we stepped into the kitschy and brash restaurant on Wyoming which purports to feature “nuevo vaquero chow.”  My thoughts, though, were of the iconic figures of American pop culture and historical legacy–the cowboys portrayed in the movies of my youth by stalwart stanchions  of masculinity and virtue such as John Wayne, Jimmy Steward, Henry Fonda and Robert Mitchum.  I wondered who, if anyone could possibly fill their shoes.  That led to contemplating what these rough-riding, tough-fighting, quick-shooting cowboys would think of the Rodeo Grill, a restaurant and cuisine they might consider “feminine.” Save for Gene Autry whose famous cowboy code advocated truthfulness, respect and patriotism, the cowboys of Western lore were certainly not politically correct, despite their other virtues.  Were one of them (I have John Wayne in mind) to write a review about the Rodeo Grill, I imagine…

Closed in 2011Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoPizzaRio Rancho

Frattellis – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:24 AM

In New York City, pizza by the slice is as ubiquitous as towering skyscrapers. Many of the city’s nearly 3,000 pizzerias serve pizza by the slice. Most have been doing so since the end of WWII when recently returned American veterans who served in Italy craved the sliced pizza they had enjoyed during their service. Heck, in the Big Apple, you can even find pizza by the slice proffered by sidewalk vendors. At about two bucks a slice, it’s usually pretty decent thin-sliced pizza blanketed with cheese. A widespread presence doesn’t mean the practice is universally approved of. The other school of thought snubs its nose at the thought of serving by the slice, the triangle-shaped, tomato sauced pie Americans consume at the rate of 100 acres a day. Many traditionalists, particularly artisan Pizzaiolis with coal-burning oven pedigrees disdain the practice of pizza by the slice, scoffing that the practitioners of this sacrilege have reduced the art of pizza making to a fast-food assembly-line pretense. While several pizzerias in the Albuquerque metropolitan area serve pizza by the slice, the lack of historical ties to the genesis of America’s pizza might be the reason you don’t hear the slice versus no…

BernalilloClosed in 2011Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew Mexico

Coronado Grill – Bernalillo, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno3:06 AM

In 1540 while searching for the fabled seven Cities of Gold, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado camped with his soldiers near the ancient Pueblo of Kuaua on the western banks of the Rio Grande where the city of Bernalillo exists today. Coronado never did locate the mythical Cities, finding instead a thriving agricultural village inhabited since 1300. Only the partially reconstructed ruins of Kuaua (a Tiwa word for “evergreen”) remain today, but the “City of Coronado” still celebrates the Spanish explorer whose legacy has been somewhat tarnished by revisionist history. The conquistador’s namesake restaurant is situated just south of the ruins in a sprawling 5,000 square foot complex sitting on three acres overlooking the Rio Grande. For ambience, you can’t beat the spectacular Rio Grande riverside vistas, especially on a crisp autumn evening when the moon is coming up over the Sandias. It’s one of the most spectacular vantage points in the entire state for luminous lunar gazing. Weather permitting, diners can take advantage of the spectacular vistas by dining al fresco under a canopy of stars where they can breathe in New Mexico’s salubrious night air.  The exterior patio is a popular venue for parties and golfers alike.  From two…

AmericanBakeryBreakfastClosed in 2011Gone But Not ForgottenLos Ranchos de Albuquerque

Calico Cantina & Cafe – Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:22 AM

The first time my friends and I visited the Calico Cafe at its original Corrales location, we wondered if the restaurant suffered from an identity crisis. Exterior signage read “Calico Cafe” but the menus indicated we were dining at “Cowgirl’s.” Apparently the restaurant was initially christened Cowgirl’s, but a name change was court-ordered after a naming dispute with Santa Fe’s long-established Cowgirls BBQ restaurant. On December 2nd, 2004, the popular and intimate lunch and breakfast restaurant owned by Corrales residents Vernon and Angel Garcia, was consumed by fire. In 2006, the Calico Cantina & Cafe launched in a new and much expanded location, the 19,000 square foot Village Shops at Los Ranchos–in the heart of the original Route 66. Coupled with outdoor seating in a spacious patio, the Cafe now accommodates as many as 189 diners. The Village Shops at Los Ranchos is a burgeoning complex usually beset by the parking woes of popular destinations. The Calico Cantina & Cafe is an anchor tenant along with its sister restaurant Vernon’s Hidden Valley Steakhouse, located directly behind the Cafe’s bakery. Vernon’s, patterned after a probation era speakeasy, can be accessed through the Los Ranchos Liquors store. Thematically, the Calico Cantina &…