Month: May 2019

AlbuquerqueBreakfastDiners Drive-Ins and DivesFood Network Eats New MexicoNew MexicanRated 23Travel Channel Eats New Mexico

Cecilia’s Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Pasqual Baylon’s devotion to the Mass and the Holy Eucharist was so fervent that even when assigned kitchen duty, he remained so enraptured in adoration of the Eucharist that angels had to stir the pots to keep them from burning.  It’s deliciously ironic, therefore, that San Pasqual is the recognized patron saint of Mexican and New Mexican kitchens, a beloved saint whose smiling countenance graces many a kitchen, including the one in Cecilia’s Cafe, one of Albuquerque’s most authentic (and best) New Mexican restaurants. On the day Cecilia opened her cafe back in 1999, she found a small retablo (a painting with a religious theme) of San Pasqual on her restaurant’s stoop.  To this day, no one knows who left…

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El Pinto – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Over the years, perhaps no restaurant across the Land of Enchantment has garnered as much recognition from the national media as has El Pinto.  Rather than recap all its accolades across the years, let’s focus on just one year: 2015.   For almost any other restaurant in New Mexico (or anywhere else for that matter), 2015 would be considered a banner year, an auspicious annum, the type of year for which every restaurateur aspires. For Albuquerque’s El Pinto, however, 2015 could be considered just another year in which praise and recognition–local and national–seem to be heaped on in abundance. It’s probably safe to say El Pinto is the most heralded and acclaimed dining establishment in the Land of Enchantment. Terms…

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Southwest Savories Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

After years of toiling as a quality engineer in a pressure cooker environment in which the happiest time of day was usually 5PM,  Charlene McBain has truly found her happy place.  It’s a cozy little cafe named Southwest Savories which she founded in 2018.  She’s eager to share her happy place with guests.  Although most of us probably won’t even notice the placard on a wall which reads “Our Happy Place,” you’ll certainly feel the spirit of that aphorism. In fact, in a scant lunch hour, you just might find Southwest Savories is the temporary respite you’ve been looking for, a warm, welcoming place where you can–if only for just a brief time–forget the daily rigors of the rat race.…

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K’Lynn’s Cuisine – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Before permanent signage was mounted, a tethered banner in front of K’Lynn’s Southern & Cajun Fusion in Rio Rancho listed a few of the delicious treasures available in the tiny restaurant: “catfish, BBQ, gumbo, po boys, jerk chicken, carne adovada fries & more!” Yeah, we did a double-take, too. One of those items just seemed a bit out-of-place? If you’re thinking “carne adovada fries” don’t belong on the list because they’re not Soul food, you’d be wrong. Carne adovada fries definitely belong on the list. So does jerk chicken which, by most conventional definitions, isn’t soul food either. The one item we thought to be out-of-place was “& more.” I mean what more could you possibly want listed on the…

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Taj Mahal – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Don Shirley: “How is that?” Tony Lip: “Salty.” Don Shirley: “Have you ever considered becoming a food critic?” Tony Lip: “Nah, not really.  Why?  Is there money in it?” Don Shirley: “I’m just saying you have a marvelous way with words when describing food.  Salty.  So vivid one can almost taste it.” Tony Lip: “Hey, I’m just saying it’s salty.  Salt’s cheating.  Any cook can make food salty.  To make it taste good without the salt, with just the other flavors, that’s the trick.” ~ The Green Book, 2018 “Best Picture” Academy Award Winner In the hundreds of restaurant reviews to have crossed my path in my decades of restaurant appreciation, I’ve  seen many adjectives used to describe to Indian…