Category: Dog Friendly

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: ExcellentSalvadoran

Gobble This – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno6:06 PM

“Is there a sound on Earth as joyous as the pat-pat-pat from a Salvadoran kitchen, the gentle rhythm of a cook slapping together a pupusa that just happens to be yours?” ~Jonathan Gold Pulitzer Prize-Winning Restaurant Critic Los Angeles Times Somewhere amid the bottlenecked tangle of highways, byways, freeways, parkways, roadways and expressways (boy, is that a misnomer) that make up Los Angeles there is well-trod mile many consider sacred. The Los Angeles Times calls it the “pupusa mile.” Housed in this approximately 5,280-foot-long stretch just beyond Koreatown is a congregation of Salvadoran restaurants so revered that “walking the pupusa…

CaliforniaDog FriendlyFine DiningRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

AC3 – Palm Desert, California

Gil Garduno10:43 AM

Hollywood’s movie studio system of the 1920s and 30s contractually required its greatest glitterati  to remain within 100 miles of Tinseltown’s studio during production. Because of this “two-hour rule,” such stars as Cary Grant, Debbie Reynolds, Frank Sinatra and his “Rat Pack” buddies traded Hollywood’s frenetic, paparazzi-plagued lifestyle for the more secluded and sedate pace of Palm Springs, exactly 100 miles from Hollywood.  This system of indenture is long gone, but A-list stars continue to flock to the high desert for a lifestyle suitable for the rich and famous.  Despite its reputation as a top getaway destination for Los Angeles luminaries, Palm…

BakeryBreakfastCaliforniaDiners Drive-Ins and DivesDog FriendlyJewishRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Sherman’s Deli & Bakery – Palm Springs & Palm Desert, California

Gil Garduno1:53 PM

Not everyone appreciated my friend Bob’s stark honesty as much as I did. For nearly twelve years, Bob was my most trusted source for information on the Santa Fe dining scene. He was also a huge advocate for my writing, even when his reaction to one of my particularly “long way around” missives was “what?.” From a style perspective, he was a “get to the point” guy while your humble blogger sometimes (okay, okay, always) takes a circuitous, raconteur’s route to get somewhere. Bob often chided me for not liking cumin on New Mexican food, once telling me “when you…

BurgersCaliforniaDiners Drive-Ins and DivesDog FriendlyRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Grill A-Burger – Palm Desert, California

Gil Garduno10:58 PM

California may not have invented the hamburger, but a strong case could be made that no state has and continues to evolve what is arguably America’s most sacrosanct food.  With more than 6,000 burger restaurants, California has more eateries dedicated to the sacrosanct burger than any other state.  That’s only fitting considering the Golden State also gave us McDonald’s, Jack In The Box, In-N-Out and the “Impossible Burger,” a burger made with a plant-based meat substitute.  The first half of the 20th century introduced the designation “California Burger” in recognition of burgers topped with lettuce, onion and tomato, the fresh produce grown year-round…

AmericanCaliforniaDog FriendlyRating: OutstandingUnited States

LULU CALIFORNIA BISTRO – Palm Springs, California

Gil Garduno2:12 PM

How many times have you heard a transplant to the Land of Enchantment say it just doesn’t feel like Christmas without snow? Some of you expats dream of a white Christmas, just like the ones you used to know back when you lived in Siberia, the North Pole, Greenland and other similarly snowed-in states that aren’t as beautifully balmy in winter as is New Mexico. It’s not enough for you that winter temperatures across the Land of Enchantment occasionally drop into the forties and you sometimes have to wear long pants outdoors. You hardy, masochistic northerners are accustomed to mountains…

AmericanBrunchCaliforniaDog FriendlyRating: OutstandingUnited States

JAKE’S – Palm Springs, California

Gil Garduno7:54 PM

“Now i lay me down to sleep And pray the Lord my soul to keep If i die before i wake, feed Jake He’s been a good dog My best friend right through it all If i die before i wake, feed Jake.” ~Pirates of the Mississippi “On one hand,” my Kim tells me, “you’d make a great politician.” “You maintain a perfect deadpan expression while telling the biggest whoppers.” She had just watched me convince a gullible millennial (okay, she was your stereotypical California blonde valley girl) that the Jeff Bridges character in the movie The Big Lebowski was…

AmericanCaliforniaDog FriendlyMichelin Recognized RestaurantsMichelin: Selected RestaurantRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Workshop Kitchen + Bar – Palm Springs, California

Gil Garduno9:04 AM

“Good restaurant design is about achieving equilibrium between the food, service and design – in effect telling a complete story.” ~ David Rockwell, American Architect Andy Rooney, the curmudgeonly commentator on television’s 60 Minutes didn’t like food that’s “too carefully arranged;” declaring “it makes me think that the chef is spending too much time arranging and not enough time cooking,” adding “If I wanted a picture I’d buy a painting.”  Those of us who write about food not only notice, we enjoy eye-pleasing artful plating, especially when everything is where it should be for optimum harmony, balance and appearance.  We like plate syzygy. The…

CaliforniaDog FriendlyRating: N/R (Not Rated)SeafoodUnited States

Shanghai Reds at the Fisherman’s Market & Grill – La Quinta, California

Gil Garduno5:54 PM

For years, fish tacos have been one of those popular, almost faddish obsessions which have garnered more attention and affection than cynics like me believe is warranted (much the same way some of us feel about Beyonce and anything Kardashian).  It’s always been well beyond my capability to understand why fish tacos have been so highly regarded.  Sure, my Kim and I have had a number of good to very good fish tacos, but we’ve never had a truly transformative, eye-opening “now I get it” fish taco.  Not even in San Diego.  Certainly not in New Mexico.  Apparently, we’re not…

AmericanDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Sammy C’s Rock ‘n’ Sports Pub & Grille – Gallup, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:30 PM

Gallup, New Mexico is a city of dichotomies, contrasts and contradictions.  As recently as the 1990s, Gallup was known as “Drunk Town, USA” after ranking number one across the fruited plain for the number of alcohol-related deaths.  Despite that ignominious distinction, Gallup also boasts of “more millionaires per capita than any other place in the world,” largely on the strength of Native American art.  In 2013, map and atlas publisher Rand McNally named Gallup “America’s Most Patriotic Small Town.” Four years later, Roadsnacks, an online infotainment media declared Gallup the second most dangerous city in New Mexico, a year after the Federal…

AlbuquerqueBurgersDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Burger 21 – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno9:42 PM

“When people pile seven things onto one burger, it drives me nuts!” ~Bobby Flay Burger meals at the Garduño home are always an interesting dichotomy, some might say a clash of opposing ideals and styles.  For my Kim, a burger is about the meat to bun ratio ameliorated by a minimum of tried and true ingredients, usually just lettuce, relish and mustard (yawn).  For her mad scientist of a husband, meat and buns are tabula rasa, merely starting points for experimentation with sundry ingredient combinations.  Over the years I’ve become rather adept at figuring out what ingredients work well together…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2019Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenItalianNew MexicoRating: Outstanding

M’TUCCI’S MARKET & PIZZERIA – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno9:35 AM

Greek mythology recounts the story of Tantalus, progeny of a divine parent (Zeus himself) and a mortal one. Uniquely favored among mortals by being invited to share the food of the gods, Tantalus abused that privilege by slaying his own son and feeding him to the gods as a test of their omniscience. The gods immediately figured out what Tantalus had done and in their rage condemned him to the deepest portion of the underworld where he would be forever “tantalized” with hunger and thirst. Though immersed up to his neck in water, when Tantalus bent to drink, it all…