Category: Dog Friendly

BarbecueDog FriendlyRating: N/R (Not Rated)TexasUnited States

Black’s Barbecue – Lockhart, Texas

Gil Garduno12:54 PM

Yabba-dabba-doo!  After finishing another day of toiling at the quarry, Fred Flintsone rushes home to pick up his modern stone-age family for a drive-in movie, an exclusive one-night only viewing of The Monster.  Courtesy of Fred’s two feet, the family then proceeds to Bronto Burgers & Ribs Drive-In for an order of ribs.  Somehow a slim waitress manages to heft the behemoth ribs over to Fred’s car, but when she deposits them onto the carhop window service tray, the vehicle and all its occupants tip over.  Until our visit to Black’s Barbecue in Lockhart, Texas, we believed ribs that big were to be found solely in animated television cartoons. Now we know better! If the mention of Lockhart, Texas triggered involuntary salivation and an acute longing for smoked meats, you’re an inveterate barbecue aficionado.  Lockhart is a meat lover’s mecca, a town so synonymous with barbecue that it was officially proclaimed “The Barbecue Capital of Texas” (Resolution No. 1024) by the Texas state legislature.   Generations of barbecue lovers don’t just visit Lockhart.  They make pilgrimages to Lockhart–purposeful, inspired, meat-seeking missions to the town of some 15,000 souls that four of the most famous purveyors of low and slow smoked meats…

AmericanClosed in 2023Dog FriendlyDonutsGone But Not ForgottenRating: N/R (Not Rated)TexasUnited States

Gourdough’s Public House – Austin, Texas (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:23 PM

Donuts could have gone their entire existences fat, dumb and happy with a following–mostly cops, adult men my age (39) and households with annual incomes of less than $10,000–who expected nothing more out of them than we were already getting.  Essentially just fried or fruit-filled delivery mechanisms for quadruple our recommended daily allowance of calories, sugar and guilt, donuts have always been predictable, unchanging…reliably there for us.  Our expectations for these sweet, ring-shaped fried cakes weren’t exactly very high.  Then something changed.  Donuts became “gourmet,” experiencing a much-needed make-over.   In recent years, several foods have experienced a similar artisinal reinvention, metamorphosing from tasty enough moths into glorious, flavor-packed butterflies.  A more demanding public–especially those of us who self-gloss as foodies or gastronomes–didn’t want to leave well enough alone.  We wanted to explore possibilities, to actualize the foods we love most.  We did it with the most sacrosanct of plebeian foods such as hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and donuts, transforming the prosaic into the inspired with new and different ingredients and preparation methods. No one is under the illusion that these so-called gourmet innovations have supplanted their staid predecessors or converted their loyal sycophants.  There will always be consumer base completely…

AmericanBrunchChickenDog FriendlyRating: N/R (Not Rated)SouthernTexasUnited States

Lucy’s Fried Chicken – Austin, Texas

Gil Garduno8:04 AM

“I‘m only eating the skins, so the chicken’s up for grabs.” ~Joey Tribbiani Several of my earliest memories of growing up in agrarian Peñasco, New Mexico involve chickens.  Some of those memories–such as getting viciously pecked by my Grandma Piedad’s cantankerous old rooster–were rather painful.  Other memories, however, were of mischievous fun my brothers and I had with our friends Estevan and Gabriel Lopez.  Once, for example, we emptied the contents of an entire can of beer onto the corn and grain mixture fed to the chickens.  It was hilarious fun watching drunken chickens stumble about and especially seeing the old rooster become overly amorous with the young chicks but not being able to do anything about it because he couldn’t retain his balance.  One of our favorite spectator sports, a weird sort of mix between football and professional wrestling, also involved chickens. We would catch fresh water sucker fish from the Rio Santa Barbara and toss them into the chicken coop.  The chickens would tear the fish apart and chase each other around the coop trying to take entrails away from whichever chicken had them.  Estevan and Gabriel, by the way, would grow up to make Peñasco very proud. …

AmericanBrunchClosed in 2021Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenTexasUnited States

Contigo – Austin, Texas (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno11:59 PM

There are a phalanx of “best of” lists online and in print publications that celebrate restaurants deemed true stand-outs worthy of accolades.  Such lists are obviously very subjective though by no means definitive.  That holds true as well to the concept of restaurant review ratings, a mere snapshot in time valid really only to that reviewer at that very specific date and time of a visit.  Still, when we travel, I study the restaurant scene at our intended destinations, taking the pulse of what lay diners and cognoscenti have to say and yes, how they rate a restaurant.  When we visit a restaurant in a city to which we travel, we’re unfailingly well armed with information and know full well what to expect. More than “best of” lists and subjective ratings, I’ve come to value the notion of “essential restaurants” a concept posited by Eater that recognizes how much the experiential aspects of a meal really matter.  For Eater, “it’s not about the “best” or the most lavish or the trendiest or the prettiest or the coolest restaurants in the country.  It’s an open-armed embrace of all of America’s culinary achievements, a full-throated refrain for the beautiful, satisfying meals we…

BarbecueBurgersClosed in 2023Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoNew Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011Rating: Excellent

Sugar’s BBQ & Burgers – Embudo, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno3:52 AM

The winding highway meandering along the murky Rio Grande through Embudo is among the most scenic in the state, particularly in mid-autumn when leaves turn a vibrant shade of gold. You’ll want to drive slowly to take in the foliage, but especially to make sure you imbibe the hazy smoke plumes emanating from Sugar’s BBQ & Burgers which waft into your motorized conveyance like a sweet Texas smoke signal beckoning you to try a combo platter. The first time we met owners Nancy and Neil Nobles, we were blown away by their genuine humility. Until we told them, the genial proprietors of this corrugated tin shack and kitchen only a couple of hundred feet from the serpentine Rio Grande had no idea that they had been showcased on Roadfood.com. Their giddiness was unique and refreshing. While Neil prepared our meal, Nancy looked up Michael Stern’s eloquent review on the Roadfood Web site. That review is now framed and posted on the walls of the restaurant’s kitchen. Another glowing accolade–recognition as one of America’s ten best drive-ins by no less than Gourmet magazine–is also posted. That recognition came in May, 2005, culminating five years of growing acclaim.  Most recently (October, 2018),…

AlbuquerqueAsianBrunchClosed in 2019Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenHawaiianLatin AmericanNew MexicoRating: Outstanding

POKI POBLANO FUSION LOUNGE – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:09 PM

Starting with a raucous concert in 1954, the idiom “Elvis has left the building” was uttered at the conclusion of many of Elvis Presley’s concerts to encourage rabid fans to accept that no further encores were forthcoming and that they should go home. Today, those five simple words are an oft used catchphrase and punchline used in a humorous or sarcastic vein to refer to virtually anyone who has made an exit or vacated a premises, especially in dramatic fashion. The phrase was later co-opted in the Kelsey Grammar sitcom “Frasier” which ended with a play on the line—“Frasier has left the building.” For many Duke City diners, the term “Elvis has left the building” recalls June 1, 2017, the sad day when wunderkind Chef Elvis Boncomo shuttered the doors at Pasion Latin Fusion one final time. Pasion was unlike any restaurant in Albuquerque, showcasing a menu demonstrating uncommon creativity, imagination and willingness to experiment with ingredient and flavor combinations. It was quite simply one of the very best restaurants in Albuquerque with Elvis widely acknowledged as one of the city’s most innovative and talented chefs. The menu was an eye-opening melange of Latin fusion with elements of Cuban, Haitian,…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyFrenchNew Mexico

La Madeleine – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:30 PM

“Show me another pleasure like dinner which comes every day and lasts an hour.” ~Charles Maurice de Talleyrand–Périgord On Wednesday, November 3, 1948, at Auberge La Couronne in Roule, France,  Julia Child ate what she later declared to be the “most exciting meal of her life,” a veritable feast she shared with her husband Paul: six Brittany oysters, Dover sole meuniere, green salad, fromage blanc with berries, and coffee. Since the airing of “Julie & Julia’’ diners (mostly American and British) have made pilgrimages to Roule in attempt to replicate the French Chef’s gastronomic epiphany. Replicating what Julia ordered is easy. The menu at La Couronne offers the very same meal, calling it “Menu Julia Child.” Replicating the experience itself is not always so easy for American diners who don’t always esteem the experiential aspects of dining as highly as the French do. American writer Alice B. Toklas relished the dining experience, too, noting: “The French approach to food is characteristic; they bring to their consideration of the table the same appreciation, respect, intelligence and lively interest that they have for the other arts, for painting, for literature, and for the theater.” Other expats—Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Pablo Picasso—were…

AlbuquerqueAmericanClosed in 2025Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew MexicoSteak

Cafe 6855 – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

The cover page of the May 20, 2013 edition of Time Magazine depicts a twenty-something woman sprawled on the floor taking a selfie. In large type above the photo is the caption “The Me Me Me Generation” subtitled with “Millennials are lazy, entitled narcissists who still live with their parents.” If you believe the monolithic label “millennial” (typically assigned to a person born between 1981 and 2001) defines all young people and that popular characterizations and stereotypes about millennials are accurate, perhaps you’ll be interested in an oceanfront piece of real estate I’m selling in Arizona. If your perceptions of young people skew toward the negative, let me introduce you to Victoria and Julian Gonzales. Victoria and Julian are among the 80-million millennials across the fruited plain. As with many millennials, they’re technologically savvy, very civic-minded and conscious of health, environmental and socioeconomic issues. They’re confident and driven. They’ve got exceptional work ethics and value social connectedness very much…and not just online Both are very outgoing and friendly. They’ve had to be. We’ve known Victoria and Julian since they tagged along with their charismatic dad Michael as he launched Café Bella, his then-fledgling coffee empire in Rio Rancho. We’ve watched…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyFood TruckNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Rollin’ On In Food Truck – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:44 PM

While their brick-and-mortar counterparts can afford to have multi-page menus to please a wide variety of palates, mobile food kitchens (that’s food trucks to you, Bob) are somewhat at a disadvantage. By sheer necessity, food trucks must be limited, well-defined, maybe even singularly focused.  The advantage the successful ones have is that they can concentrate on creating memorable dishes around their concept using a few common ingredients.  Rollin’ On In, for example, lists only four entrees on its menu: three tacos, a quesadilla, three enchiladas and a burrito. With those four entrees, however, there are an infinite number of “build-your-own” possibilities.  Your construction options include four fillings (shredded chicken, shredded pork, ground beef and potato and veggie mix), eleven fresh faves (cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, fresh jalapeño, grilled corn, green onion, red cabbage, cucumber, cilantro and lime) and four sauces (lime and cilantro ranch, salsa, red chile and green chile).  Okay, mathematically the number of options isn’t infinite, but with over 300 million possible combinations for each entree, (don’t ask me to show my math) that’s still an impressive number. Food Network celebrity chef Bobby Flay once lamented, “when people pile seven things onto one burger, it drives me nuts!.” …

AlbuquerqueBrewery-PubDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Steel Bender Brewyard – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:58 AM

“Sometimes you want to go Where everybody knows your name And they’re always glad you came You want to be where you can see The troubles are all the same You want to be where everybody knows your name.” ~Theme Song From Cheers Just another banal, meaningless television show jingle?  Think again.  Urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg might even argue that the Cheers theme song exemplifies his concept of “third place.”    In 1989, Oldenburg published That Good Place in which he introduced the concept of third place into the lexicon.  Third place refers to places where people spend time between home (‘first’ place) and work (‘second’ place).  Third places are, according to Oldenburg, locations where we, as social beings, exchange ideas, have a good time, and build relationships.  Moreover, third places are face-to-face, not virtual (online).  They’re the hangout spot or “home away from home” that provides an essential and welcoming zone that’s not home and not work.  Third places cultivate essential social experiences in the company of like-minded people…ostensibly who know your name and are glad you came. In terms of design as well as functionality, a third place must be set up as an inviting hangout spot for…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastClosed in 2019Dog FriendlyFrenchGone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

Crepe Crepe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:17 PM

Richard Olney, a cookbook author best known for his books on French country cooking described crepes thusly: “their greatest pitfalls derive, no doubt, from their versatility — not in itself a fault, but a quality that teases many a cook into overstepping the boundaries of sense and taste. One should never lose sight of the fragile and delicate, thin, tender thing that is the crepe itself.”  In his magnificent tome The French Menu Cookbook, he prefaced a recipe for Gratin of Stuffed Crepes with: “crepes may contain practically anything and they represent one of the prettiest and most satisfactory means of disposing of leftovers.”  Then as to demonstrate their versatility, he listed among the ingredients for the stuffed crepe, one calf’s brain. If you’ve ever partaken of crepes at a French restaurants in the metropolitan area, versatility is probably not how you’d describe those crepes.  Delicious, mouth-watering, delightful…yes, but they won’t surprise you with ingenuity.  They all pretty much uphold French crepe traditions (though surprisingly only one Duke City French restaurant offers Crepe Suzette, the most famous crepe dish in the world).   The versatility described by Richard Olney began with mobile food kitchens (that’s food truck for you, Bob) which began experimenting…