Category: Dog Friendly

AmericanBar & GrillDog FriendlyPizzaRating: Very GoodSocorro

Socorro Springs Brewing Company – Socorro, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:24 PM

Socorro, New Mexico is a dichotomous town.  It is the second oldest inhabited community in our culturally blessed Land of Enchantment, yet it boasts one of the nation’s premier research universities.   It is steeped in history and tradition, inextricably linked to its storied past while embracing the technologies which are laying the groundwork for future peace and prosperity.  According to Visit Socorro “Socorro (literally to give aid, to give succor) was indeed a source of help to the first expedition of Spanish families traveling north from Mexico in 1598, led by Don Juan de Oñate y Salazar. Socorro’s first inhabitants, Piro-speaking people of the Teypana Pueblo, welcomed the scouting party of Oñate and his men. They showed no fear…

2020 James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistBarbecueBurgersDog FriendlyJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersNew MexicoNew Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011Rating: Outstanding

Sparky’s Burgers, Barbecue & Espresso – Hatch, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:08 PM

New Mexico’s Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail not only celebrates one of the Land of Enchantment’s most iconic foods, it showcases the restaurants, drive-ins, diners, dives, joints, cafes, roadside stands and bowling alleys which prepare our ubiquitous, incomparable green chile cheeseburger.  To New Mexicans, there is nothing as thoroughly soul-satisfying and utterly delicious! What elevates a burger from the ordinary to the extraordinary is taste bud awakening, tongue tingling, olfactory arousing green chile, New Mexico’s official state vegetable (even though it’s technically a fruit).  In the continually evolving mosaic that describes New Mexico’s cultural intermingling, one constant is green chile, an essential ingredient in many of our recipes and THE centerpiece of any outstanding green chile cheeseburger.  Even such corporate megaliths…

AmericanBreakfastClosed in 2022Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew MexicoTaos County

Taos Diner – Taos, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

FX on Hulu’s comedy-drama television series The Bear chronicles the adventures and misadventures of Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, a James Beard Award-winning-chef who returns home to Chicago to run his family’s Italian beef sandwich shop after his older brother’s suicide. Unbeknown to the Chef, his brother left behind mountainous debts, a dilapidated kitchen, and an undisciplined staff.  The highly entertaining series has fueled a spike in the sales of Italian beef sandwiches (piles of thin-shaved roast beef slid au jus into a French roll and topped with giardiniera)–not only at Chicago-specialty restaurants across the fruited plain, but in restaurants (such as Albuquerque’s High Point Grill) inspired to try their hand at Chicago’s sacrosanct sandwich.  Sales of the classic Chicago sandwich are…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastBrunchDog FriendlyGreekNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Meraki Coffee + Market – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“I saw Sisyphus in violent torment, seeking to raise a monstrous stone with both his hands. Verily he would brace himself with hands and feet, and thrust the stone toward the crest of a hill, but as often as he was about to heave it over the top, the weight would turn it back, and then down again to the plain would come rolling the ruthless stone. But he would strain again and thrust it back, and the sweat flowed down from his limbs, and dust rose up from his head.” ~Homer, The Odyssey Even those among us most satisfied with our jobs sometimes feel work is our personal Sisyphean ordeal.  That’s especially true on days in which work seems…

BreakfastContinentalDiners Drive-Ins and DivesDog FriendlyFood Network Eats New MexicoNew MexicoRating: ExcellentTaos County

Gutiz – El Prado, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:49 PM

I once joked with Lesley King that she is the true New Mexico Gastronome. Lesley, the wonderful author who once enthralled readers with her monthly “King of the Road” columns for New Mexico Magazine, likes to say–jokingly–that she “eats and sleeps around,” because her writing assignments require that she sample so many restaurants and accommodations.  She has literally traveled every friendly highway and byway in the Land of Enchantment, dining in as many–or perhaps even more–restaurants than I have while somehow managing to remain svelte, beautiful and elegant. I had the great privilege of collaborating with Lesley and Chef Rocky Durham in celebrating the Land of Enchantment’s cuisine in a feature for New Mexico Magazine. The June, 2010 edition of America’s…

AmericanDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Taos County

Medley – El Prado, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:01 PM

You’re probably expecting my review of an El Prado restaurant named “Medley” to start with a musical theme, maybe likening the menu to “a musical composition made up of a series of songs or short pieces.”  That would be an easy way to do it, but it would also be slightly disingenuous.  Medley isn’t named for anything having to do with music and though the menu is akin to a composition, the restaurant and wine shop are named for Chefs-Owners Colleen and Wilks Medley.  Medley is also, according to the restaurant’s website is a philosophy–“something good, for everyone.” That something good absolutely starts with its incomparable setting.  Almost equidistant between Taos Plaza and the Taos Ski Valley, Medley is situated…

Dog FriendlyIce CreamNew MexicoRating: OutstandingTaos County

Taos Cow – Arroyo Seco, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:13 AM

As with many foods “invented” before the widespread documentation and dissemination of information, the “origin” of ice cream is in much dispute with several claimants seeking credit.  Several of those origin stories are rather romantic in nature, mired in folklore and legend.  Among the historic people to whom the invention or introduction of ice cream have been incorrectly ascribed are King Solomon, Nero, Catherine de’ Medici, Montezuma and even King Charles II.  These origin stories are early examples of the fake news so prevalent in modern journalism.   Culinary historians agree the progenitor of ice cream as we know it today was based on sweetened water that was iced, ground into little pieces then decorated with various tasting toppings and…

ContinentalDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Europa Food. Farm. Festival – Los Lunas, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“I realized very early the power of food to evoke memory, to bring people together, to transport you to other places, and I wanted to be a part of that.” ~Chef-Humanitarian Jose Andres During the dark days of the Cabrona virus, trying our hands at preparing recipes (most culled from edge-worn and tattered cookbooks) of the world  became one of the few ways to escape mandated restrictions.  Food became one of the few remaining ways to connect us to other cultures and travel to destinations we couldn’t otherwise enjoy.  Whether in bad times or in good, food–enticing aromas, delicious flavors and the experience of sharing them with loved ones–has that unique power to transport us back to many of our…

AlbuquerqueAmericanClosed in 2025Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

Canvas Artistry – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“Edible art” isn’t just some trite phrase pedantic food critics use when food has aesthetic values that delight our senses. Mankind has been been intrigued by the concept of food as art since the dawning of rational thinking. Prehistoric cave paintings such as those in Les Trois Frères in Ariège, in southern France, depict families gathering around the fire to share the foods they had prepared, an event made possible by the discovery of fire. Fire, it goes without saying, was also the catalyst behind men first wearing aprons emblazoned with “kiss the cook.” Moving past prehistoric taggers scrawling graffiti on cave walls, edible art became more urban when Egyptians painted food on the walls of the great pyramids (ostensibly…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyNew MexicoSalad

Vinaigrette – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:11 PM

“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 I’m not the type of guy who could write a tearful tell-all or confess some scurrilous detail to Oprah.  Nor do I ever get on Facebook and publish a litany of mundane minutia about my life.  However, in the spirit of “confession is good for the soul,” I’ve got a secret to divulge.  I’ve got a huge crush on Erin Wade.  It’s not the type of crush for which I’d leave my Kim, but the type of crush a geeky, gangling high school kid might have on…

AlbuquerqueBurgersDog FriendlyNew MexicoNew Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011Rating: Very Good

Laguna Burger (12th Street) – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:10 PM

“The best stories are like the best burgers: big, juicy, and messy.” ~A.D. Posey, American Author For men of my generation, a Big Mac was a rite of passage, a graduation from Happy Meal cheeseburgers to a real adult burger…an event akin to transitioning from training wheels to a ten speed bike.  We had grown up singing the jingle “two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun” and finally got to experience one for ourselves.   I had assumed all parents would, when their sons had proven worthy, introduce them to the Big Mac.  You can imagine my surprise upon reading a 2016 Wall Street Journal report that only one in five adults between…