The Safari Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“The wild dogs cry out in the night As they grow restless longing for some solitary company I know that I must do what’s right Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti I …
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El Patron – Albuquerque, New Mexico
I was a strapping lad of fifteen when hired as a “box boy” at a country store in Peñasco. Now, being a box boy at a small village country store is to being a bagger …
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Freight House Kitchen & Tap – Bernalillo, New Mexico
Many of us look at an unused and timeworn historical building and a wave of nostalgia sweeps over us as we imagine what life was like when that building teemed with activity. Some see such …
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Happy Chickenzz – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“And believe me, a good piece of chicken can make anybody believe in the existence of God.” ~Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Two things came to mind when my friend …
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Sassella – Santa Fe, New Mexico
In Cold Tuscan Stone, the first in a series of spellbinding mysteries set in Italy, author David P. Wagner did such a magnificent job in developing relatable characters and creating a sense of place that …
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Gray’s Coors Tavern – Pueblo, Colorado
Dante Alighieri’s classic poem “A Divine Comedy” recounts a spiritual journey in which the author was guided by ancient Roman poet Virgil through hell, purgatory, and paradise. Their path takes them through the nine circles …
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Shamrock Brewing Co. – Pueblo, Colorado
When my friend David Wagner, author of the spell-binding Rick Montoya Italian mysteries, invited us to dinner at the Shamrock Brewing Co. in his hometown of Pueblo, Colorado, I quickly leapt to the conclusion that …
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Ajiaco Colombian Bistro – Albuquerque, New Mexico
If your perception of Colombia is of a nation beleaguered with drugs, terrorism and violence, you may just have to recalibrate your thinking. In 2014, for the second consecutive year, a WIN-Gallup poll conducted in …
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1933 Brewing Co. – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
“Why don’t they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth.” ~Will Rogers …
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2G’s Bistro – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In May, 2018, Yelp published its listing of the 50 best restaurants in Albuquerque. Only three of them came from the not-yet-done-revitalizing East Downtown (EDo) district. The two that won’t surprise anyone are The Grove …
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La Fonda Del Bosque – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In the millennium year, after years of planning and lobbying, the dream was finally realized of a haven dedicated to the preservation, promotion, and advancement of Hispanic culture, arts, and humanities. In 2000, the National …
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Vinaigrette – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“People aren’t either wicked or noble. They’re like chef salads With good things and bad things chopped and mixed together In a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.” ~ Lemony Snicket, The Grim Grotto Before launching …
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Don Choche Tacos Y Cerveza – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Well, there’s not a taco big enough for a man like me That’s why I order two or three Let me give you a tip, just try a nacho chip It’s really good with bean …
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Monica’s El Portal – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“It feels so true when I’m with you I’m free A place I go that feels like home to me It feels so true It’s time well spent when I’m with you.” ~Feels Like Home …
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Sixty Six Acres – Albuquerque, New Mexico
My high school football coach used to call his team “chiquitos pero picosos,” a Spanish term meaning “small but piquant” (like New Mexico’s chiles). At 6’1” and a svelte 175 pounds in full uniform, I …
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The Feel Good – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Whoa! I feel good, I knew that I would, now I feel good, I knew that I would So good, so good, ’cause I got you So good, so good, ’cause I got you So …
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Vara Winery & Distillery – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In 1620, King Philip III of Spain issued a royal decree mandating that each of the 19 recognized New Mexican Pueblos elect by popular vote, a governor, lieutenant governor and other officers as might be …
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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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Sophia’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Exterior signage for Dennis Apodaca’s new restaurant venture sports the name of the previous tenant, a short-lived eatery named MIXX. In a February blurb announcing Dennis’s return, the Albuquerque Journal called his new venture “REMIXX.” …
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Indigo Crow Cafe – Corrales, New Mexico
Now I lay myself down to sleep I pray oh lord my soul to keep Cause if I should die before I wake I hope up in Heaven they’ve got lobster and steak It’s a …
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Ponderosa Family Restaurant & Grill- Tijeras, New Mexico
The teeth, tail and eye of the tiger caused quite an uproar in the Sandia National Forest near Tijeras, New Mexico back in 2015 and it made the national news. A mountain biker took a …
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Two Cranes Bistro and Brew – Albuquerque, New Mexico
As we wended our way along meandering Rio Grande Boulevard, I commented to my Kim, “I sure miss Ichabod and Katrina.” “Colleagues of yours at UNM?,” she asked. “No, not colleagues,” I replied pointing to …
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Albuquerque / Dog Friendly / Food Network Eats New Mexico / New Mexican / New Mexico Culinary Treasures Trail / The Secret Life Of / Travel Channel Eats New Mexico
El Pinto – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Over the years, perhaps no restaurant across the Land of Enchantment has garnered as much recognition from the national media as has El Pinto. Rather than recap all its accolades across the years, let’s focus …
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Bosque North Brewery & Taproom – Bernalillo, New Mexico
“Are you going to explain how to pronounce “bosque?,” my Kim asked when she espied me working on this review. Though her Spanish vocabulary is rather limited, she pronounces the five or six hundred Spanish …
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K’Lynn’s Cuisine – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
Before permanent signage was mounted, a tethered banner in front of K’Lynn’s Southern & Cajun Fusion in Rio Rancho listed a few of the delicious treasures available in the tiny restaurant: “catfish, BBQ, gumbo, po …
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Pollito Con Papas and Pollito Con Papas II – Albuquerque, New Mexico
I think a rotisserie is like a really morbid ferris wheel for chickens. It’s a strange piece of machinery. We will take the chicken, kill it, impale it and then rotate it. And I’ll be …
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Nexus Blue Smokehouse – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Tim “The Toolman” Taylor just didn’t get the concept of “low-and-slow.” During barbecue week on Taylor’s “Tool Time” television show, his buddies from NASA told him the secret to quickly igniting a grill was to …
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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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Albuquerque / American / Breakfast / Burgers / Dog Friendly / New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009 / New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011
The Owl Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Shortly before 6AM. on July 16, 1945, some of the world’s most brilliant minds ushered in the nuclear age with the detonation of the first atomic bomb, an occasion which later prompted Los Alamos Laboratory …
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The Kosmos – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Even though New Mexico’s license plates have been graced with the sobriquet “Land of Enchantment” since 1941, it didn’t become the state’s official nickname until 1999. For much longer than that, the more derisive epithet …
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Papa Nacho’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.” …
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Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen – Santa Fe, New Mexico
My friend Schuyler jokes that because the diet of my formative years was mostly beans, chile and tortillas as well as chile, tortillas and beans, I’ve developed an insatiable curiosity and appetite for anything that …
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FireBird Nashville Hot Chicken – Albuquerque, New Mexico
My brother Mario–seven years younger, much better looking and quite a bit smarter–and I have shared many memorable firsts. There was the time I taught him how to drive on our dad’s 1965 standard transmission …
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Oni Noodles – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In retrospect, the monsters and bogeymen who frightened impressionable children of my generation were pretty lame. Perhaps the most lame of them all was Frankenstein, a lumbering behemoth who walked around with his arms outstretched …
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Spring Rollin’ – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Reclusive American poet Emily Dickinson insisted a light exists in spring that’s not present at any other time of year. If you’ve ever spent a winter in the Northern Hemisphere at a latitude of 42° …
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The Last Call – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Ah, but after the sunset, the dusk and the twilight, when shadows of night start to fall. They roll back the sidewalk precisely at ten and people who live there are not seen again.” ~John …
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