Nomad East – Salt Lake City, Utah
A-Team leader “Hannibal” Smith (George Peppard) used to say, “I love it when a plan comes together.” We learned during our trip to Salt Lake City that sometimes baking in a little flexibility into a …
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Thicc Pizza Co. – Albuquerque, New Mexico
As you’ve read on the tagline for Gil’s Thrilling (And Filling) Blog, your humble blogger fancies himself somewhat of a sesquipedalian (a person who tends to use big words). My logophilia (the love of vocabulary) …
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Urban 360 Pizza, Grill and Tap House – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Babu: Our specials are tacos, moussaka and franks and beans. Jerry: Well, what do you recommend my good fellow? Babu:Oh, the turkey. ~”The Cafe, Seinfeld, Season 3, Episode 7 While perusing the menu at Urban …
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Poppy’s Pizzeria & Italian Eatery – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Chef-owner Mario D’Elia knew what he’d be in for when he named his new restaurant Poppy’s Pizzeria & Italian Eatery. Legions of Seinfeld fans would undoubtedly joke “Poppy’s a little sloppy,” a reference to Poppie, …
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Rustico Italian Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico
What does it say about a restaurant when it runs out of food? Nine times out of ten, you’d probably say it’s either brand new and doesn’t yet have a feel for its traffic volume …
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M’Tucci’s Moderno – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
“If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere It’s up to you, New York, New York.” ~Frank Sinatra Jeff Spiegel, managing partner of the insanely popular M’Tucci’s family of restaurants has described flagship …
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Dion’s Pizza – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Toga! Toga! Toga! Ever since the misfit Delta Tau Chi fraternity threw the most debaucherous toga party ever in the 1978 “teensploitation” comedy Animal House, the toga party has been ingrained in the college party …
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DeFalco’s Deli: Italian Eatery & Grocery – Scottsdale, Arizona
My Kim usually leaves the recitation of movie or television quotes to me (apparently it’s a guy thing), but every once in a while she’ll surprise me with an utterance or exclamation she could have …
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Placitas Pizza – Placitas, New Mexico
Back in the 1960s before the world was “woke” a catchy television jingle painted a pretty bleak picture: “Aunt Jemima pancakes without her syrup. It’s like the spring without the fall. There’s only one thing …
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AK Pizza – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“I hate it. I think it’s an abomination. There are so many awesome things here, I don’t know why that should be featured. It’s leading with your weakness. So much other great stuff.” ~Anthony Bourdain …
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FORGHEDABOUDIT SOUTHWEST ITALIAN – Las Cruces, New Mexico
Genius, it’s oft been said, is ninety-nine-percent perspiration and one-percent inspiration. Apply that equation to Bob Yacone and you’d be selling him far short. So would the cliche “giving one-hundred-percent.” Add a few more hundred …
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Bar & Grill / Dog Friendly / New Mexico / New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009 / Pizza / Rio Rancho
Turtle Mountain Brewing Company – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
The Tewa name “Oku Pin” which translates in English to “Turtle Mountain” has three meanings of significance to the people of Okay Owingeh, one of New Mexico’s great Tewa speaking Northern New Mexico Pueblos. “Oku …
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Mamacita’s Pizza – Abiquiu, New Mexico
If you’re up north in the Abiquiu area perusing Yelp because you’re jonesing for New Mexican food, would you heed the recommendations–good or bad–of someone from Mississippi or Delaware or Texas? No way! You’d look …
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Cafe Rio Pizza – Ruidoso, New Mexico
You might think that a beautiful town whose very name translates from Spanish to “noisy” would be boisterous and braggadocious abut all there is to see and do in that town. Not so according to …
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Village Pizza – Corrales, New Mexico
Research has proven that taste buds are dulled by high altitude and cabin pressure, so as an aircraft climbs, our sense of taste diminishes by as much as 30 percent. That explains why many passengers …
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Slice & Dice – Albuquerque, New Mexico
You might remember a 2004 documentary called Supersize Me in which writer-producer Morgan Spurlock explored the consequences on his health of a diet consisting solely of McDonald’s food for one month. Spurlock has nothing on …
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Davido’s Pizza & More – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
Some might call the American Realty and Petroleum Company (AMREP for short) a pioneering visionary for its early 1960s purchase of over 50,000 acres on the dusty Sandoval County plains that are now Rio Rancho. …
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Il Vicino – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Undoubtedly the most oft-quoted line on Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall” is “good fences make good neighbors.” Frost, a four-time Pulitzer Prize award winning American poet certainly didn’t have Il Vicino (“the neighbor”) in mind …
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Saggios – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Where in New Mexico can you go to see his eminence Pope John Paul, II pontificate to Zorba the Greek, Anthony Quinn? Where can you go to see nattily attired cowboy John Wayne cavorting in …
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Lava Rock Brewing Company – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Mark Twain, who quit school at age twelve after having completed the sixth grade, would go on to be widely acknowledged as the father of American literature. Despite being largely self-taught–valedictorian of the school of …
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Pizza Barn – Edgewood, New Mexico
“I love my pizza so much, in fact, that I have come to believe in my delirium that my pizza might actually love me, in return. I am having a relationship with this pizza, almost …
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Punchy’s Wood-Fired Pizza – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In the parlance of the pugilist, “punchy” is synonymous with punch-drunk, the result of having been battered violently by an opponent. You know, like Rocky Balboa after a few rounds with Apollo Creed. Don’t ever …
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Restoration Pizza – Albuquerque, New Mexico
My dad taught me very early on that all people have inherent worth and dignity and are deserving of respect and kindness. A lifelong educator, he had a knack for reaching students deemed incorrigible or …
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Via 313 – Austin, Texas
It’s oft been said that among males (we’re such children), insults are a form of intimacy. Perhaps because of societal expectations, many men aren’t comfortable expressing affection toward other males in physically demonstrative ways (even in …
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Gigi Italian Bistro – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
“If you can go through with what Gordon Ramsey puts you through there’s nothing much more you can do. I mean the berating from that guy is unbelievable, but the reward is even greater.” ~ …
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Farina Pizzeria – Albuquerque, New Mexico
On May 14, 2011, I had the great honor, pleasure and privilege of being the first guest on Break the Chain, the weekly radio show (sadly no longer on the air) dedicated to showcasing the …
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Albuquerque / American / Burgers / Closed in 2018 / Dog Friendly / Gone But Not Forgotten / New Mexico / Pizza
Groundstone – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
Kids say the darnedest things. That was the premise of popular radio and television shows hosted by Art Linkletter from the mid 1940s through 1969. Linkletter would engage children (usually aged three to eight) in …
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PK’s Restaurant & Bar – Albuquerque, New Mexico
When the Air Force notified me I was being reassigned to Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford, friends who had been stationed in England warned me, “you can forget all about your favorite sports for three …
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Sauce Pizza & Wine – Albuquerque, New Mexico
To celebrate the 100 year anniversary of pizza in America, James Beard Award-winning food writer Ed Levine ate nothing but pizza for an entire twelve month period, taking a representative pulse of the best from …
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Farina Alto – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Much thought, deliberation and market research usually goes into the naming of a business, but every once in a while, one linguistic aspect or another isn’t fully explored to the nth degree. Take for example …
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Irrational Pie – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
Jethro Bodine, the country bumpkin with diverse career aspirations (brain surgeon, street car conductor, ‘double-naught’ spy, Hollywood producer, soda jerk, and bookkeeper) on the Beverly Hillbillies television comedy graduated highest in his class by a …
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ECLECTIC URBAN PIZZERIA AND TAP HOUSE – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
Looking around our table, my friend Ryan “Break the Chain” Scott astutely pointed out the relative scarcity of pizza at our table. Considering the Eclectic Urban Pizzeria and Tap Room may have been the most …
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Forghedaboudit – Deming, New Mexico
Several years ago, former New York Times food editor Sam Sifton posited the “Pizza Cognition Theory” which declared “the first slice of pizza a child sees and tastes (and somehow appreciates on something more than …
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Pizzeria Luca – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Can there truly be too many pizzerias? Perhaps only among pizzeria owners who don’t want much competition might you hear that ridiculous notion about one of America’s essential food groups. Take for example one monopoly-minded …
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Richie B’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico
If you’ve ever wondered why New Yorkers fold their pizza slices in half lengthwise (aka the “fold hold”) and if you’ve ever attributed that practice to Big Apple quirkiness, you owe it to yourself to …
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Pizza Castle – Albuquerque, New Mexico
There’s nothing like a topic about which opinions are wide and varied to stir up a good old-fashioned, highly spirited debate–an exercise in the Constitutional right of free speech. One topic which has been known …
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