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, the much-missed managing partner of the insanely popular M’tucci’s family of restaurants once described flagship restaurant M’tucci’s Italian Restaurant (previously M’tucci’s Kitchina) as “as good as anything we did in New York City.” That is really saying something considering over the course of 23 years, Jeff and his wife, life and business partner Katie Gardner owned and operated eleven restaurants in The Big Apple. Those eclectic eleven were highly regarded dining establishments, earning praise and acclaim from the dining public and media alike. One, The West End Bar & Grill, was a legendary Columbia University institution and veritable second home to students, faculty and staff. Two chefs who once worked for Jeff and Katie have earned Best Chef recognition from the James Beard Society while one has garnered significant notoriety as a chef, author and television personality (some of you might recognize the name Anthony Bourdain). When Jeff and Katie returned to Albuquerque (his hometown) in 2007, they initially pursued other ventures. Eventually the lure of the restaurant world at which they had succeeded at the highest…

Marigold Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

It’s not all parents who can give birth to two children in a six week period, but that’s precisely what Harrison and Violet did.  In early October, 2019, they welcomed into the world a beautiful bundle of love they christened Jasmine.  Just before Thanksgiving six weeks later, they greeted their second “baby” when Marigold Cafe opened its doors in the Journal Center area retail space which also houses Restoration Pizza and Cabela’s.  Along with Torinos @ Home, these two bookend restaurants just may make the Journal Center area a dinnertime dining destination instead of just two other restaurants serving the burgeoning area’s lunch crowd. The Marigold Cafe is a breath of fresh air, introducing the Duke City to a heretofore unsampled fusion concept that melds Indian cuisine with New Mexican and American favorites. It’s an idea whose time has come and best of all, it’s executed exceptionally well. Credit that to the passion of its dynamic owners. When Marigold’s website touts a “local, family owned business that has a passion for food and culture,” you can take it to the bank that these aren’t prosaic platitudes.   Neither is Marigold’s mission statement. A restaurant’s mission statement is used to convey a…

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 boys, jerk chicken, carne adovada fries & more!” Yeah, we did a double-take, too. One of those items just seemed a bit out-of-place? If you’re thinking “carne adovada fries” don’t belong on the list because they’re not Soul food, you’d be wrong. Carne adovada fries definitely belong on the list. So does jerk chicken which, by most conventional definitions, isn’t soul food either. The one item we thought to be out-of-place was “& more.” I mean what more could you possibly want listed on the banner. If it didn’t have you at “catfish” you probably haven’t had catfish down South…and if it didn’t seal the deal with “gumbo,” you definitely need an infusion of South in your mouth. Beyond catfish and gumbo, the rest is gravy and it’s absolutely delicious. Until the summer of 2016, restaurant-goers craving Southern cuisine had only one option for soul food, albeit a wonderful option in Bucket Headz (sadly now closed). For those of us on the “west side,” the…

Hell’s Backbone Grill – Boulder, Utah

“I’m going to hell! The worst place in the world! With devils and those caves and the ragged clothing! And the heat! My God, the HEAT!” ~Elaine Benes (Seinfeld: Season 9, Episode 16) Most of us would describe Hell in similarly terrifying terms (albeit without the humor) as Elaine Benes did during a memorable episode of Seinfeld back in 1998.  The Hell that existed in Elaine’s mind  was indeed “the worst place in the world!”  If Hell can be so nightmarish, can Hells Backbone be any better?  Are there devils wearing ragged clothing and living in caves in Hells Backbone?  Not in the Hells Background we visited in June, 2024. Hells Backbone in Southwestern Utah is a spectacularly rugged area bridging the towering Boulder Mountain on the north and the breathtaking canyons to the south cut by the Escalante River over millions of years.  The Hells Backbone Road meanders through and past ridges and unearthly mountain contours that stagger the imagination. It winds from juniper and sage desert high up into the lush pine and aspen forest on Boulder Mountain and the highest plateau in North America.  The Hells Backbone Road is one of the most scenic–albeit trecherous during stormy…

377 Brewery – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Could have.  Would have.  Should have.  These are perhaps the three saddest statements a coach can utter about the team he or she leads.   Essentially, that coach is saying “we’re not good enough,” “having potential is not enough” and “moral victories don’t count.”  In 1987, Jim Mora, coach of the perpetually woeful New Orleans Saints addressed the media after a close loss to the San Franciso 49ers.  “Could’ve, should’ve, would’ve,” he declared, “I’m tired of saying “could’ve..”  His fiery diatribe lit a fire under his Saints which proceeded to go on a nine game winning streak. Could have.  Would have.  Should have.  These are sad statements, too, for restaurant owners whose chef or wait staff have an off day.  Sure, it happens, but the very best restaurants–those whose guests return strive to minimize–or eliminate off days.  They realize it only takes one bad day to lose a potential loyal guest.  Not all guests are forgiving.  Many will weaponize social media to vent against that restaurant.  They’ll dissuade friends and colleagues from visiting.  I’ve always contended that no restaurateur or chef sets out to serve bad food, but sometimes it does happen. I try not to let Gil’s Thrilling… become…

Rio Grande Social – Albuquerque, New Mexico

When Lisa Wong, my friend and former colleague at Intel,  first cast her eyes on the Rio Grande, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.  For years, she has captained dragon boat racing teams as they paddle the mighty Willamette River which is 40 feet deep and varies in width from 600 to 1,900 feet.  Though some 1,700 miles shorter than the Rio Grande, the 187-mile long Willamette dwarfs the Rio Grande.  There’s no way a dragon boat (forty feet long with seating for twenty paddlers) race could take place on the murky Rio Grande.  Never mind that in the 1990s one of Albuquerque’s most highly regarded restaurant was called the Rio Grande Yacht Club.  Our pathetically water-poor Rio Grande isn’t deep enough to accommodate much more than a canoe. The Rio Grande, which trickles…er, meanders some 1,890 miles from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico, is the Rodney Dangerfield among the world’s great rivers. Will Rogers once described it as “the only river I know of that is in need of irrigating,” a prescient observation considering how over-allocated and over-appropriated this fabled river has become.  Though it is considered the 5th longest river in North America and the 20th…

Gimani: A Slice Bar – Albuquerque, New Mexico

“You better cut the pizza in four pieces. I’m not hungry enough to eat six.” ~Yogi Berra In New York City, pizza by the slice is as ubiquitous as towering skyscrapers. Many of the city’s nearly 2,000 pizzerias serve pizza by the slice. Most have been doing so since the end of World War II when recently returned American veterans who had 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. According to my friend, the late, great Italian chef Mario D’Elia of Poppy’s Pizza & Italian Eatery, pizza is a street food.  “That’s so you can eat it while you walk,” he explained. At about three bucks a slice, it’s usually pretty decent thin-sliced pizza blanketed with cheese. The ubiquity of pizza by the slice 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…

Kawaii Boba Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

I have a confession to make.  I just don’t get anime…and can’t figure out the pokemon craze.  That’s a rather starting admission for an Information Technology (IT) professional to make.  Maybe I need help?   After all, for your stereotypical male IT professional, anime and pokemon are just steps in the typical progression of IT affectations.  They’re the logical graduation that follows a rather unhealthy obsession with Princess Leia and all things Star Wars.  Which reminds me, I found Star Wars silly and boring.  Since I’m airing dirty laundry, I may as well admit I’d just as soon watch paint dry as play a video game.  Any video game. Nor do I ever celebrate Pi day (March 14th) and my Kim had to explain what Star Wars Day (May 4th) means (May the fourth be with you). My male colleagues in the IT profession, several of whom still live in their mom’s basement, are probably apoplectic about these revelations.  They probably think I don’t like dinosaurs either.  Well, er…   All these heretical confessions probably mean I’ll have to renounce all my IT certifications and turn in my beanie.  Next thing you know my techno-nerd colleagues will hack my computer to…

Belle’s Urban Deli – Corrales, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Father Mark Schultz, the charismatic former priest at the Holy Ghost Parish in Albuquerque used to joke that the reason Catholics are required to abstain from eating meat on Fridays is not because there’s a shortage of cows. That’s certainly true. There is more beef on the hoof grazing on the Land of Enchantment’s green (and mostly brown) grass than there are tax-paying citizens.  That’s why it’s always puzzled me that sandwich restaurants in New Mexico are so chintzy with their meat portions. You’d think there really was a beef shortage (and a surfeit of bread and lettuce) considering many an Albuquerque restaurant sandwich is comprised of thin shards of meat buried under half a head of lettuce and enough bread to choke a mule. Americans are obsessed with size, er…sandwich size.  We’ve come to believe that small sandwiches are un-American!  That it’s practically a mortal sin to construct, serve or eat a small sandwich.  Perhaps that train of  thinking might be attributable to a comic strip called Blondie which has entertaining Americans since 1930.  Blondie’s husband Dagwood was renowned for raiding the leftovers in the refrigerator to construct titanic, multilayered, cartoonishly exaggerated sandwiches. Those sandwiches were replete with sausage,…

El Chile Toreado – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Until 2008, the notion of gourmet culinary offerings being proffered by a mobile conveyance was unheard of.  Prior to then, food trucks were (often rightfully so) known as “roach coaches” or even worse “barf buggies.”  Roach coaches were an eyesore, a medium of last resort usually parked at construction sites, manufacturing plants, public parks or basic military training bases where captive trainees had no alternative.  Roach coaches were a pure convenience with no pretense to gourmet (or even good) cuisine.  Most of them hawked simple fare such as hot dogs and tacos as well as potato chips, cigarettes, candy and chewing gum. During the era of “convenience stores on wheels,” food trucks weren’t worried about building a brand.  Nor were they concerned with repeat business or customer loyalty. There was no such thing as social media at the time and there were no Yelp reviews. These unsightly vehicles (many with actual roaches in tow) were in business to serve a location for a short time period. After at construction job ended at one site, for example,  they would simply move onto the next profitable location and the process would continue.  These “convenience stores on wheels” served a purpose, but during…

Dave’s High Desert Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

It’s easier, by far, to define and describe Japanese and Chinese cuisines than the melting pot (literally and figuratively) that is American cuisine.  It’s the same with French cuisine and Italian cuisine.  Virtually every cultural culinary tradition had been influenced by the traditions of neighboring countries while managing to retain elements that are unique to that particular cuisine.  American cuisine, on-the-other-hand is pretty much a mishmash of every other cuisine, near or far.  To say American cuisine consists of the cooking style and traditional dishes prepared in the United States is to sell that cuisine short.  Immigrants, in particular, have created a diverse cuisine that often varies by region. As if American cuisine sounds like a catch-all term, a phalanx of restaurants are increasingly self-glossing as “New American” restaurants, a term Scottsdale chef Dom Ruggiero of Hush Public House says “let’s me do whatever I want.” Also known as “Contemporary American cuisine” or “Modern American Cuisine,” this evolved cuisine is primarily served at upscale fine dining eateries across the fruited plain.  It’s essentially a fusion cuisine which assimilates flavors from the conflation of multicultural foods and often components of molecular gastronomy with a focus on fresh, local and seasonal farm-to-table…