AlbuquerqueAmericanBetter Call SaulBreakfastDog FriendlyRating: Excellent

The Grove Cafe & Market – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:57 PM

Voracious readers*, avid aficionados of art and those aflame with a musical ardor know that great books, art and music are imbued with the power to transport them to another time and place. A recent influx of contemporary restaurants in Albuquerque also has that power. If you think about it, having a meal at most Duke City restaurants–transcendent though some may be–is just so…Albuquerque. There’s an almost boring consistency and sameness about many local restaurants. Their sole distinctiveness comes from the foods they serve. It’s very difficult, for example, to picture yourself on the beaches at Cabo San Lucas while sipping on a margarita at Garduño‘s. Noshing on mussels at the Indigo Crow just doesn’t feel like a leisurely repast…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBurgersRating: Very Good

Spinn’s Burger & Beer – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:04 AM

Like him or not, few would disagree that former New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici was one of the most effective legislators on either side of the aisle. Since his election to the United States Senate in 1972, “Saint Pete” as he is known by admirers and critics alike effectively directed the appropriation of significant federal largesse upon the Land of Enchantment. For many native New Mexicans, one of his shining moments came in 1983. During a debate about the spelling of the word (chili or chile), Domenici clarified for the Congressional record that “chili” is “that inedible mixture of watery tomato soup, dried gristle, half-cooked kidney beans, and a myriad of silly ingredients that is passed off as food in…

AlbuquerqueAsianChineseNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Seafood

ABC Cajun Seafood & Noodle House – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Although popular myth attributes the introduction of pasta in Italy to Marco Polo, pasta’s origins in Lo Stivale can be traced back as far as the 4th century B.C.  That’s when the Etruscan civilization-which existed in the Tuscany region from the 8th to the 3rd century BCE–began the centuries old love affair between Italians and pasta.  Culinary historians agree that pasta’s earliest roots begin in China, during the Shang Dynasty (1700-1100 BC), where some form of pasta was made with either wheat or rice flour. Pasta also appears to have been part of the ancient Greek diet in the first millennium B.C.  Africa also had its own form of pasta (made with the kamut crop). Despite being first to create…

2024 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistBakeryJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa FeSlovak

Dolina – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

For my dad, a professional educator for thirty years, it wasn’t enough that his children learned how to spell cat, dog and all the other traditional first words kids learn to spell in school.  He taught us how to spell Czechoslovakia, rhinoceros, aesthetic and other multisyllabic words.  He also taught us what those words meant.  Being kids, we giggled when he taught us about Lake Titicaca in the Andes of Bolivia, but marveled at its size and altitude.  Because of his teaching, one of my sisters could (at age seven) recite the alphabet backwards as quickly as most people can recite it forward.  Two of my sisters were double-promoted and both finished high school as valedictorians. My dad didn’t teach…

AmericanBreakfastNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: ExcellentRio Rancho

Lily & Liam Bistro – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:25 PM

Family owned restaurants have been called the heartbeat of a community, its pulse and its roots.  Beyond the tintinnabulation of silver spoons on ceramic coffee mugs and over the hum of conversation, restaurants become living links to the past and storehouses of memories.  They’re are a respite from the strife and stress of our daily vicissitudes.  They help us unwind, relax and catch up with friends and family.  In a sense, these beacons of comfort and repose often become family. Not all restaurants achieve this distinction, of course, and if they do, it usually doesn’t happen quickly.  Restaurants have to prove themselves over time with a combination of memorable food, a homey look and feel and mostly personable, attentive service. …

AlbuquerqueAsianNew MexicoRating: Very GoodThai

Thai Heritage & Vegan – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Who among us hasn’t learned at least one thing about Thai culinary heritage from The Big Bang Theory? In a 2011 episode, for example, we learned that according to Thai tradition the last morsel of food, the greng jie, goes to the most important person in the room. At least that’s what Sheldon tells Penny when she reaches for the last remaining dumpling. Thanking everyone for the honor, she devours the dumpling. Sheldon’s retort: “I’ve seen pictures of your mother. Keep eating.” Some of us learned that Thai food is meant to be eaten with forks not chop sticks though in Thailand, they don’t put the fork in their mouth. It’s simply a tool to put the food on a…

AlbuquerqueCajunClosed in 2024Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoSouthern

Bama’s 1865 – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

When we tell people we lived in Mississippi for eight years their typical reaction is something akin to “OMG, that must have been terrible.”  Lumping Alabama and Louisiana into their diatribes, they typically perceive we lived in a poorly educated, mostly rural and unabashedly racist region.  It surprises them to learn that New Mexico ranks below those three states among the least educated states in the country (only West Virgina ranked lower).  We lived in Ocean Springs on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, an almost contiguous metropolitan area from New Orleans to Mobile.  It’s as modern as you can get.   In terms of racism, the Deep South has made significant strides and isn’t as racist as the Boston area was…

AlbuquerqueBarbecueClosed in 2026Gone But Not ForgottenMexicanNew Mexico

La Sirenita – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Our friends, John Martin and Lynn Garner and I couldn’t help but laugh. There before our very eyes was the depiction of a meme come to life. In the dining room of la Sirenita was a papier Mâché reproduction of the bottom half of a mermaid. It reminded us of a meme we recently shared.  That meme depicted a grizzled sailor marooned on a desert island.  On the first panel of the meme the sailor smiled lasciviously as a beautiful and buxom mermaid approached the island.  The second panel shows the sailor cooking the bottom half of the mermaid on a rotisserie.  Yeah, it’s gruesome, but come on, it’s funny, too. The bottom half of a mermaid wasn’t the only…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastNew MexicanNew Mexico Culinary Treasures TrailRating: Excellent

Duran’s Central Pharmacy – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:23 PM

In an early episode of the Andy Griffith Show, while contemplating a job offer in South America, Andy tried to assuage his son Opie’s concerns about leaving Mayberry. Instead, he wound up confusing Opie by explaining that people in South America ate something called tortillas. Opie wondered aloud why anyone would eat spiders (tarantulas). Had Opie ever tasted the delicious, piping hot, just off the comal 10-inch buttered orbs at Duran’s Central Pharmacy, it’s unlikely he would ever confuse those grilled spheres with any arachnid. That’s because Duran’s features some of the very best tortillas of any restaurant in New Mexico. These are not the flavorless, paper-thin, production-line, machine-fashioned orbs you find at some restaurants (can you say Frontier Restaurant).…

Closed in 2024FusionGone But Not ForgottenMexicanNew MexicoRio RanchoSeafood

Poké Serrano Asian-Latin Fusion – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Ask most people what comes to mind when they think about Hawaiian food and the likely answer is Spam®.  No matter how much the Aloha State’s tourism department does to showcase the state’s diverse and exciting culinary culture, the stereotype that Hawaiians eat Spam® for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in between meals is engrained in many of us.  Because Hawaiians do consume seven-million cans of  Spam® per year (with a population of 1.42 million residents in the Islands), it begs the question “Is it really a stereotype if facts bear out the fact that Spam® is so immensely popular in Hawaii.” Not everyone who spends time on the sandy beaches is as svelte as portrayed by media.  Widespread obesity…

Dog FriendlyLas CrucesNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

La Nueva Casita – Las Cruces, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Heading east on I-10 from Deming, we espied several billboards touting Las Cruces as “The Real New Mexico.”  Yeah, it’s a branding effort designed to attract more visitors to the City of Crosses, but there’s a lot of truth to the city’s official new slogan.  New Mexico’s second most populous city does have A LOT going for it.  For culture, weather, history, beauty and cuisine, it’s easy to build a case that Las Cruces may well be the real New Mexico.  That may especially be true about New Mexican food.  Every time we dine at a restaurant in the Las Cruces area, I extol the deliciousness, piquancy and authenticity of the food and lament the “dumbing down” of New Mexican…