Category: Italian

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyKoreanNew MexicoPizzaRating: Good

Urban 360 Pizza, Grill and Tap House – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:09 AM

Babu: Our specials are tacos, moussaka and franks and beans. Jerry: Well, what do you recommend my good fellow? Babu:Oh, the turkey. ~”The Cafe, Seinfeld, Season 3, Episode 7 While perusing the menu at Urban 360 Pizza, Grill and Tap House, my ever-witty friend Ryan “Break the Chain” Scott commented that the menu reminded him of The Dream, the very eclectic restaurant owned and operated by Pakistan emigrant Babu Bhatt in an uproariously funny episode of Seinfeld. As Jerry Seinfeld observed about The Dream’s menu, “he’s serving Mexican, Italian, Chinese. He’s all over the place.” Urban 360’s menu is similarly diverse, a melange of Asian, American and European dishes splayed temptingly onto three pages. That the menu is so “all over the place” makes great sense in that the term “360” itself represents a complete circle as in the shape of planet Earth itself. Okay, the Earth is actually an oblong spheroid, but that’s close to round. Unlike The Dream, Urban 360’s menu has a rhyme and reason, a cohesion. Moreover, Urban 360 succeeds a similarly named and similarly eclectic restaurant, the aptly named Eclectic Urban Pizzeria and Tap House, a magnificent shooting star which fizzled away much too quickly,…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2021Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenItalianNew MexicoPizzaRating: Outstanding

Poppy’s Pizzeria & Italian Eatery – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Chef-owner Mario D’Elia knew what he’d be in for when he named his new restaurant Poppy’s Pizzeria & Italian Eatery.  Legions of Seinfeld fans would undoubtedly joke  “Poppy’s a little sloppy,” a reference to Poppie, a restaurateur on the comedy Seinfeld who didn’t wash his hands after using the bathroom.  Sure enough,the jokes came…until the jokesters tasted the seriously outstanding authentic New York style pizza.  Poppy’s pizza is no joking matter.  So why would Mario subject himself to a spate of predictable and hackneyed jokes? Poppy, as you might know, is an affectionate nickname given to a father, grandfather or a male authority figure standing in a similar position.  Mario speaks with reverence and love about his poppy, the nurturing grandfather who encouraged and challenged him to always do his best.  Mario’s Poppy would be very proud of the man his grandson has become.  The precocious child who once giggled as he bounced on his grandfather’s knee has become not just quite a chef, not just quite a dad, but quite a good dude. Born and raised in the same Bronx neighborhood Joe Guzzardi of Joe’s Pasta House also called home, Mario started cooking at age 12.  Because culinary school…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2017Closed in 2022Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenItalianNew MexicoPizza

Rustico Italian Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

What does it say about a restaurant when it runs out of food?  Nine times out of ten, you’d probably say it’s either brand new and doesn’t yet have a feel for its traffic volume or their inventory management just isn’t very good.  Our inaugural visit to Rustico Italian Kitchen on a bright Sunday morning introduced us to another reason.  The restaurant was so busy the previous night that diners polished off everything on the menu save for pizza and salad.  For denizens of Albuquerque’s far northeast heights, that’s actually reason for celebration.  It means outstanding Italian food has finally made a triumphant return to this quadrant of the city. Not that many years ago, I lamented that with the exception of Paisano’s Italian Restaurant on Eubank and Joe’s Pasta House in Rio Rancho, there was a dearth of great Italian restaurants in the Duke City area. Then came Torinos at Home followed not long thereafter by the M’Tucci’s Italian restaurant dynasty.  Today Duke City area diners who want to mangia bene have a wealth of options.  In March, 2021, Rustico Italian Kitchen entered the fray.  With a dynamic chef at the helm, Rustico began generating enthusiasm even before it…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2023Ghost KitchenGone But Not ForgottenItalianNew MexicoRio Rancho

Urbano Pasta Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno11:14 AM

“To break bread together,” a phrase as old as the Bible, captures the power of a meal to forge relationships, bury anger, provoke laughter.” ~The Joy of Food From National Geographic Sharing a meal creates a unique sense of intimacy felt by all who sit together at the table.  It’s an act that can spark new friendships, solidify lifetime bonds and serve as the backdrop for new memories.   Dining together is the most communal and binding action humans can take–an act The Atlantic describes  as “a quintessential human experience.”  It’s a universal act that transcends cultures, borders and geopolitical divides and it’s been practiced since the dawn of time.   Or at least for 300,000 years  according to archaeologists who unearthed evidence of ancient meals where diners gathered to eat together at a cave near Tel Aviv. Professor Ayelet Fishbach published a study in the Journal of Consumer Psychology that showed colleagues who ate similar foods together experienced higher rates of trust and closeness than those who ate alone.   If you’ve ever worked in a team environment, you can relate to that finding.  It’s amazing just how many agreements are brokered and how many ideas are conceived when two…

ArizonaDog FriendlyItalianRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Fat Ox – Scottsdale, Arizona

Gil Garduno10:26 AM

In the Alpine village of Carrù in the Piedmont region of Italy stands the “Monumento al Bue Grasso” (monument to a fat ox).  Depicting two fat oxen under yoke, the monument celebrates the beast of burden so important to the region.  December’s ‘Fiera del Bue Grasso’ (festival of the fat ox) brings together tens of thousands of visitors who come to gaze at the oxen and eat copious amounts of deliciously warming tripe soup and boiled beef, washed down with a milled wine.   Farmers from throughout the region truck their oxen into town to show them off and vie for the chance to win the honored title of the “fattest ox.” Onlookers gather well before dawn to admire these enormous Piedmontese cattle. During our December, 2020 visit to the Phoenix area, we decided to celebrate another December holiday at a restaurant named for the Bue Grasso.  Indeed, Scottsdale’s Fat Ox is inspired by the rich culinary history of the Festival of the Fat Ox in Carrù.  An image of a fat ox precedes the restaurant’s name by the entrance to the spectacular edifice.  On Christmas night, the lavish dining room with its contemporary glass and wood appointments was dimly…

ArizonaDiners Drive-Ins and DivesDog FriendlyItalianPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

DeFalco’s Deli: Italian Eatery & Grocery – Scottsdale, Arizona

Gil Garduno5:27 PM

My Kim usually leaves the recitation of movie or television quotes to me (apparently it’s a guy thing), but every once in a while she’ll surprise me with an utterance or exclamation she could have picked up only from the big screen or idiot box.  When we strode into DeFalco’s Italian Eatery & Grocery, she approached an employee and–doing her best to channel New Jersey mobster Tony Soprano–asked “where’s da gabagool?”.  She had no intention of buying gabagool and doesn’t even like the stuff much.  The moment just seemed appropriate.   Here we were in an Italian grocery brimming with comestibles you’d find at the best East Coast Italian delis and my Kim followed up her question with “gabagool is nothing but fat and nitrates ,” a line uttered by Meadow Soprano.  The Dude and I were looking for a hole to crawl into.  Fortunately the employee was also a fan of The Sopranos and had undoubtedly been asked about gabagool before, albeit probably not with a slight Chicago accent trying to sound like a New Jersey mobster.    If you’re not a fan of The Sopranos or may have missed a 2009 episode of The Office in which Michael tried…

New MexicoPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Placitas Pizza – Placitas, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:02 PM

Back in the 1960s before the world was “woke” a catchy television jingle painted a pretty bleak picture: “Aunt Jemima pancakes without her syrup.  It’s like the spring without the fall.  There’s only one thing worse in the universe.  That’s no Aunt Jemima at all.”  Frankly, there’s one thing worse than Aunt Jemima pancakes without her syrup.  That would be a village with no pizza.  A Village With No Pizza.  Doesn’t that sound like a horror story about a dystopic place where residents are haunted by insatiable cravings for an essential food group?  In actuality, that horrific situation described the village of Placitas where, for generations, residents had to find pizza elsewhere. As in all clichéd horror movies, escape to an idyll that proffers pizza was fraught with obstacles.  Thankfully instead of axe wielding killers and cars that don’t start, those obstacles included having to drive to Pizza 9 in Bernalillo or Davido’s in Rio Rancho.  Only the Israelites wandering in the dessert for forty years seemed as long as driving through Bernalillo where perpetual construction of Highway 550 remains a twisting and turning, stop-and-go nightmare.  The alternative (and probably quicker than driving through Bernalillo) is driving to Albuquerque, some 25…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2022Gone But Not ForgottenHot DogsNew MexicoPizzaSandwich

AK Pizza – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:36 AM

“I hate it. I think it’s an abomination. There are so many awesome things here, I don’t know why that should be featured. It’s leading with your weakness. So much other great stuff.” ~Anthony Bourdain What could have rankled the ire of the world renowned celebrity chef, master raconteur and social activist?  Was it an injustice in dire need of exorcising?  Dystopian horrors in a faraway third-world country?  Devaluation of life?  Bringing to light those suffering in the dark?  No, my friends.  It wasn’t the broken world Bourdain railed against.  It was something much more apolitical…unless you’re talking about the politics of pizza, specifically between the warring factions of New York and Chicago.  What Bourdain found so appalling was Chicago’s deep-dish pizza. Chicago deep-dish pizza is the Rodney Dangerfield of pizza.  Outside the Windy City, it gets no respect.  Cynics malign it as “not a pizza.” Others, such as Bourdain and former “Daily Show,” host Jon Stewart simply love to hate it.  In a particularly vitriolic rant, Stewart called it everything from a “fricking casserole” to “an above-ground marinara swimming pool for rats” and worse, much worse.  He suggested it would be complete with canned onion rings on top.  Even…

Closed in 2022Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenItalianLas CrucesNew MexicoPizza

FORGHEDABOUDIT SOUTHWEST ITALIAN – Las Cruces, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:12 PM

Genius, it’s oft been said, is ninety-nine-percent perspiration and one-percent inspiration.  Apply that equation to Bob Yacone and you’d be selling him far short.  So would the cliche “giving one-hundred-percent.”  Add a few more hundred percents–for heart, intellect, intuition and confidence–and you’d be approaching what makes him one of the most talented chefs in the Southwest. Let’s break down just a few of the aspects of the totality that is über chef Bob Yacone. Let’s start with his intellect, both in strategic “big picture” thinking (such as pioneering the revolutionary Southwest Italian concept which we’ll discuss later) and in making day-to-day operational decisions.  Bob is blessed with eidetic memory.  He needs only to see a dish prepared or to taste it once and he’ll be able to prepare it himself.  As he’s watching the preparation or tasting a dish, he’s quickly formulating ways to improve it–an additional or alternative ingredient here, different preparation technique there…some nuanced minutia that may make the the difference in actualizing the dish.  One example is when he asked the chicken farm which sources his poultry and eggs to add red chile flakes to the chickens’ diet in order to modify the color of the carbonara…

Dog FriendlyNew MexicoPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Mamacita’s Pizza – Abiquiu, New Mexico

Gil Garduno10:58 AM

If you’re up north in the Abiquiu area perusing Yelp because you’re jonesing for New Mexican food, would you heed the recommendations–good or bad–of someone from Mississippi or Delaware or Texas?  No way!  You’d look at reviews written by savvy New Mexicans.  They’ll steer you right, probably to El Farolito in El Rito (15 miles away) or Angelina’s in Espanola (27 miles away). With all due apologies to my fellow New Mexicans, when we visited Abiquiu and were curious about a rather famous pizzeria, we didn’t put much stock in Yelp reviews written by denizens of the Land of Enchantment.  We were blown away by the sheer volume of reviews from out-of-staters (and not just Texans, Arizonans and Coloradans).  Mamacita’s Pizza has five star reviews from Toronto, Canada; Madison, Wisconsin; Brooklyn, New York; San Francisco, California and North Tonawanda, New York. The five-star review from North Tonawanda was especially significant because this western New York city is just a stone’s throw from the Buffalo home of Bocce Club Pizza, one of the very best pizzas I’ve ever had.  My dear friend Becky Mercuri had one shipped to me for my most recent 39th birthday.  It may have been the best…

New MexicoPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Cafe Rio Pizza – Ruidoso, New Mexico

Gil Garduno6:57 AM

You might think that a beautiful town whose very name translates from Spanish to “noisy” would be boisterous and braggadocious abut all there is to see and do in that town.  Not so according to writer Tania Casselle.  Penning a piece for New Mexico Magazine Tania contends that “Ruidoso flies under a lot of people’s radar, even though regular vacationers are intensely loyal—and probably don’t want too many people to know about it.” Whether or not it truly it truly flies under a lot of people’s radar, Ruidoso is indeed an idyllic location, an enchanted mountain oasis of incomparable beauty.  It’s an year-round mountain playground in which deer, elk, turkey, quail, bear and lots of Texans roam the golf courses and streets.  Those are the qualities for which Ruidoso is known…at least by vacationers who probably don’t want too many people to know about it.  What Ruidoso hasn’t been widely known for–at least until rather recently–is its culinary scene. Denizens of the Land of Enchantment know the best green chile cheeseburgers in the universe can only be found within our state’s borders. We esteem our green chile cheeseburgers with such high regard that our state’s Department of Tourism promotes a…