Month: June 2012

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2017Gone But Not ForgottenSteak

Marcello’s Chophouse – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

Steak–even the word conjures stereotypes of power brokers in suits and ties. There’s just something about sizzling, flame-kissed beef that seems to appeal to the wheelers and dealers and movers and shakers among us. Steak may just be the ultimate power food!  That power is also wielded in the ultimate thumbing of the nose at vegetarians when carnivores emphasize that they didn’t claw their way to the top of the food ladder only to eat vegetables. Vegetarians may retort that steak is antithetical to a healthful lifestyle. To carnivores, however, it’s not as important that steak may not be good for you as it is that steak is oh so good. Meat lovers emphasize that there is nothing like a…

AmericanBrunchClosed in 2013Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoRio Rancho

Timbuctu Bistro – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

Growing up in bucolic Peñasco back when fires were still started by rubbing two sticks together and mastodons roamed the Earth, I distinctly remember hearing playmates uttering the term “going all the way to Timbuktu.”  Considering we all thought Albuquerque was a million miles away, we couldn’t imagine just how far away Timbuktu must be.  Some of us reasoned it  existed only as a figment of the imagination similar to Oz, Neverland and Atlantis (Hogwarts, Narnia and Jurassic Park for you Generation Yers).  Even adult teachers whom we asked dismissed it as a distant land in deepest, darkest Africa though it was obvious they weren’t quite sure where it actually was…or if it existed at all. Though seemingly synonymous with…

AmericanClosed in 2015Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoTruth or Consequences

Happy Belly Deli – Truth or Consequences, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

One of the inevitable truths about life is that the sins of our youth will revisit us in our middle age and beyond. We feel it especially in the morning when every bone in our bodies aches as we struggle to get out of bed. That’s also when we’re most reminded that what doesn’t hurt no longer works, that the spring in our step has been replaced by a creak in our knees and that our backs go out more often than we do. It’s then that we regret our youthful impetuousness and perceived immortality. My friend Larry McGoldrick, the professor with the perspicacious palate and the most energetic septuagenarian I know, gave me this advice: “go south, young man.”…

AmericanNew Mexico

Hillsboro General Store – Hillsboro, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

On a journey by train to San Francisco, New Mexico’s legendary award-winning author Tony Hillerman shared an observation car with businessmen from the East.  As the multi-hued Zuni Buttes, majestic Mount Taylor, breathtaking mesas and skies resplendent with monsoon thunderclouds passed in review, his heart was lifted and his worries dissipated.  He then overheard one of the Easterners remark to the other, “My God, why would anybody live out here?”  Hillerman’s immediate (though unspoken) thought was, “My God, why wouldn’t everyone want to live out here?” As Hillerman’s experience clearly illustrates, one person’s “middle of nowhere” is another person’s idyllic paradise.  Similarly, what some consider “nothing to do here” is the pace of life others spend their life pursuing.  It’s…

AlbuquerqueAmerican

Cafe Bleu – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Today Huyen Wylie might smile a little when she describes herself as having been one of the Vietnamese “boat people,” but it’s not because she finds anything evenly mildly amusing about the term.  She was but ten years old when her family braved the choppy waters of the South China Sea in their quest for freedom.  It was their third attempt.  As with many families, fleeing their homeland was an act of desperation undertaken by people persecuted by an oppressive communist government.  It was a perilous journey fraught with uncertainty and danger.  Still, risking death on the open seas was preferable to the certain imprisonment or execution many citizens  faced at the hands of a retaliatory government.  Many of the…

Food Network Eats New MexicoJames Beard Award (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersNew MexicanNew MexicoNew Mexico Culinary Treasures TrailRated 23The Secret Life Of

Restaurante Rancho De Chimayo – Chimayo, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

The humble Northern New Mexico village of Chimayo has a reputation far and wide as a place in which miracles occur. Because of the healing and restorative nature of those miracles, it has even been called the “Lourdes of America.” During Holy Week of 1813, a devout Penitente named Bernardo Abeyta was performing his penances on a hillside when he looked up and saw a bright light emanating from the ground near the river. Abeyta ran to the spot, knelt and began digging with his bare hands toward the light’s source. Within minutes he uncovered a large and wondrous crucifix bearing the image of Nuestro Senor de Esquipulas. The crucifix was processed to the church in Santa Cruz where it…