Category: Italian

AlbuquerquePizzaRating: Very Good

Saggios – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:11 AM

Where in New Mexico can you go to see his eminence Pope John Paul, II pontificate to Zorba the Greek, Anthony Quinn? Where can you go to see nattily attired cowboy John Wayne cavorting in a cerulean swimming pool with the material girl herself? Where can you find Beetlejuice perched on a saguaro, looking on as other luminaries (including the Beatles and the Supremes) enjoy the pristine waters by the intersection of Central and Cornell Avenues? Only on the imaginative tromp-l’oeil murals which festoon the walls at Saggios can you engage in such fantasy. The fantasy world begins on the restaurant’s Cornell Avenue frontage. Approaching from the south, you might not even know you’re approaching Saggios because the name on the brick and mortar facade is “Lupo Rosso” which translates from Italian to “red wolf,” undoubtedly a tribute to the University of New Mexico Lobos whose uniform colors are cherry and silver. Where you might expect windows, instead you’ll see a montage of sports images: Lobo legend Brian Urlacher hoisting the George Halas trophy overhead, Mia Hamm celebrating the United States gold medal win in soccer and Cassius Clay standing defiant over a vanquished Sonny Liston. A life-sized ceramic status…

AlbuquerqueBrewery-PubClosed in 2023Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenItalianNew MexicoPizza

Lava Rock Brewing Company – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:28 PM

NOTE:  The Lava Rock Brewing Company is no longer affiliated with M’Tucci’s.  The review below remains online for your reading pleasure, but please don’t use it as a guide to the restaurant’s menu. Mark Twain, who quit school at age twelve after having completed the sixth grade, would go on to be widely acknowledged as the father of American literature.  Despite being largely self-taught–valedictorian of the school of hard knocks and salutatorian of street smarts–Twain acknowledged in his posthumously published essay “Taming the Bicycle” that the self-taught man “seldom knows anything accurately” and “does not know a tenth of as much as he could have known if he had worked under teachers.”   That would have been especially true if Twain had a teacher like my dad. An educator for three decades and still the wisest person I’ve ever known, my dad had the unenviable challenge of raising a brash and cocky know-it-all who believed everything I needed to know I learned by sixth grade, I delighted in pointing out all the educational untruths–misinformation, myths and sometimes lies–school systems were propagating.  Such falsehoods as Columbus having discovered America, George Washington wore wooden dentures and that humans use only ten percent…

Dog FriendlyNew MexicoPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Pizza Barn – Edgewood, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:16 PM

“I love my pizza so much, in fact, that I have come to believe in my delirium that my pizza might actually love me, in return. I am having a relationship with this pizza, almost an affair.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love Wikipedia describes the 2010 biographical romantic novel Eat Pray Love as “a journey around the world that becomes a quest for“…pizza. Okay, I took some literary liberties with the “pizza” thing.  What author Elizabeth Gilbert was actually in pursuit of was “self-discovery.”  Pizza….Self-discovery.  Isn’t that pretty much the same thing?  In her travels, Elizabeth went all the way to Italy to discover the art of pleasure, a significant aspect of which is the hedonistic, indulgent joy of eating pizza, pasta, gelato and other treasure troves of absolute deliciousness prepared as they can only be prepared in Bel Paese Thankfully denizens of the Duke City don’t have to cross an ocean to partake of the joys of eating very good, if not life-altering pizza.  A recent comment from Jackie suggested such pizza might be found as nearby as Edgewood, just east of the Sandia Mountains.  I realize some people approach a journey beyond the Sandias with the same…

2025 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistClosed in 2025Dog FriendlyFine DiningGone But Not ForgottenItalianNew MexicoSanta Fe

Sassella – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

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 I felt myself transported to the world of Rick Montoya, the affable protagonist in David’s series.  Through David’s vivid imagery, I could almost taste, smell and experience la dolce vita of the Italian countryside.  I laughed with delightful voyeurism at the bumpkinly naivete of Herb and Shirley, an American couple who came to Italy to find an Italian chef for a restaurant they planned to open in Davenport, Iowa. Not surprisingly their benchmark for Italian cooking was the Olive Garden.   They were puzzled when the menus at the Italian restaurants they visited in the ancient Tuscan hill town of Volterra didn’t offer spaghetti and meatballs or pasta Alfredo.  It baffled them that they had to ask for olive oil to dip their bread into. “It’s almost like they don’t know what Italian food is,” they decried. Can it really be true that the Italian food we know and love across the fruited plain isn’t Italian at all?  That’s what Food Network star Alton Brown…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyFood TruckNew MexicoPizzaRating: Very Good

Punchy’s Wood-Fired Pizza – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:16 PM

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 try to correct the family of Giordano Bruno (1905-1992) if they insist on a different definition. They’ll tell you Grandpa Giordano, the family patriarch, earned the nickname Punchy because of his punching prowess as a Golden Gloves boxing phenom. He could really pack a punch they say, winning 80 bouts and going undefeated during his career. More often than not, it was his hapless opponents who were left loopy after a fusillade of lefts, rights and uppercuts.  Punchy’s talents weren’t limited to the squared circle. He could really cook some knockout Italian dishes, too. When he emigrated to Chicago from Milan, Italy in the 1920s he brought with him family recipes from Tuscany and Naples, the birthplaces of his parents—and the latter, also the birthplace of modern day pizza as we know it. Punchy worked as a chef in Chicago then New York (and if you can make it there…) before moving to New Mexico in 1943. During Sunday family get-togethers, Punchy taught his grandchildren…

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 drained away. When he reached for the luscious fruit hanging on trees above him, winds blew the branches beyond his reach. For years, Duke City diners have been tantalized by the promise of signage beckoning us to visit “delis” only to realize, much like the gods of Olympus, that all is not as it appears. A sign does not a deli make nor do products from peripatetic distributors. As with Tantalus, we’re left to pine for the authenticity of a true deli, the type of which Albuquerque has not seen since the bygone days of Deli Mart. Savvy diners may…

Dog FriendlyPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)TexasUnited States

Via 313 – Austin, Texas

Gil Garduno10:15 AM

It’s oft been said that among males (we’re such children), insults are a form of intimacy.  Perhaps because of societal expectations, many men aren’t comfortable expressing affection toward other males in physically demonstrative ways (even in the Age of Oprah).  In his book A Slap in the Face: Why Insults Hurt – and Why They Shouldn’t, philosophy professor William Irvine contends “the closer the friend, the more teasing there is.”  If the sheer volume of insults is equal to how highly we esteem other men, Jim, my former boss at Intel was esteemed highly indeed. Because Jim was a pretty good guy (and because he was the boss), it was hard (and maybe career-limiting) to attack him on a personal level.  Instead, we teased him mercilessly about his resolute loyalty toward his hometown football team–the hapless, hopeless and helpless Detroit Lions, one of only four NFL teams (the Browns, Jaguars, Lions and Texans are the others) never to reach the Superbowl.  Unlike the bandwagon jumpers who support a team only when it’s winning, Jim never gave up on his beloved Lions.  Privately we all thought it exhibited a masochistic tendency. By extension, we also insulted all things Detroit–its decline from industrial…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2020Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenItalianNew MexicoPizza

Gigi Italian Bistro – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:45 PM

“If you can go through with what Gordon Ramsey puts you through there’s nothing much more you can do. I mean the berating from that guy is unbelievable, but the reward is even greater.” ~ Chef Robert Hesse Veni, Vedi, Veci (I came, I saw, I conquered):  Chef Robert Hesse, the superstar consulting chef who launched Gigi left Albuquerque in February, 2019. The review below was based on three visits to Gigi when Chef Hesse prepared our meals.  In light of his departure, I have removed the rating of “26” I accorded Gigi and will update my review accordingly after my next visit. Chef Robert Hesse isn’t the man he used to be. In fact, he’s literally and figuratively a shadow of his former self. Once tipping the scales at over 600 pounds and espousing the attitude that you should “never trust a skinny chef,” he’s now a svelte and fit 155-pound inspiration to caloric overachievers everywhere. I didn’t recognize him when he escorted The Dude and I to Gigi’s covered patio. Later when he dropped by and visited with The Dude, I thought “wow, Gigi’s host is really kind to dogs.” Even when he ferried over a plateful of…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2020Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenItalianNew Mexico

Farmhouse 21 – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno7:21 PM

I love Italian food but that’s too generic a term for what’s available now: you have to narrow it down to Tuscan, Sicilian, and so on.” ~ Lee Child, Author “You don’t want to be the guy who follows a legend; you want to be the guy who follows the guy who follows the legend.” That tried and proven sports adage applies in every walk-of-life. Indeed, if you’re the person who has to succeed a beloved living legend, you’ll invariably hear about the gigantic shoes you have to fill. Your every move will be scrutinized and your every failure magnified until you prove yourself worthy of breathing the same rarefied air as the icon you’re replacing. It’s not a challenge the faint-hearted should attempt and it will test the mettle of even the most accomplished. Confident people have another perspective on following a legend. They relish the challenge of living up to exceedingly high standards and fully expect to succeed. There’s no exit strategy for them…unless it’s to move on to a loftier challenge. They revel in the scrutiny, seeing it as another opportunity to prove themselves. Confident people aren’t reluctant to chart a different course, to do things just…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2018Gone But Not ForgottenItalianNew Mexico

Il Bosco – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:35 AM

The customer in the Italian restaurant was so pleased that he asked to speak to the chef. The owner proudly led him into the kitchen and introduced him to the chef. “Your veal parmigiana was superb,” the customer said. “I just spent a month in Italy, and yours is better than any I ever had over there.” “Naturally,” the chef said. “Over there, they use domestic cheese. Ours is imported.” While we were perusing the menu at Il Bosco, my Kim noticed polpette on the menu and asked me what polpette was. As usual, she got more than what she bargained for. “Polpette,” I joked “is the Italian word for meatballs…unless you’re in Montreal.” “What the heck are you talking about,” she asked. I explained that in 2013, Quebec’s language police cited an Italian restaurant for using Italian names for Italian dishes on the menu instead of their French equivalents. (In French, polpette would be called “boulettes de viande.” ) “That’s absolutely ridiculous,” she vented. “America may go overboard with its political correctness, but there’s no way any state or city could get away with bashing multi-culturalism. It would be like Albuquerque declaring its official city language to be Spanish…

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Groundstone – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno11:59 PM

Kids say the darnedest things. That was the premise of popular radio and television shows hosted by Art Linkletter from the mid 1940s through 1969. Linkletter would engage children (usually aged three to eight) in casual conversation. Humor–often laced with double entendre–would often ensue out of the children’s naive and silly responses. Once, for example, he asked a little girl to spell Art, his name. She proceeded to spell the host’s name R-A-T. Most parents can relate to the unpredictable nature of what their children say. More often than not, it resonates with child-like innocence, but every once in a while an utterly unintentional and unfiltered zinger sneaks out that will make parents want to slink away and hide. When her son Caleb was four years old, Kimber Scott, an Albuquerque resident and one of my very favorite people, discovered that he was curious about everything his world had to offer. He was fascinated by all the letters, numbers and colors that whizzed by him. Now nine, he’s always asked a lot of questions and has never shied away from expressing himself. Sometimes he speaks with the insightful precociousness of an older child and sometimes with the naivete of innocence,…