BreakfastCajunClosed in 2022CorralesDog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

C3’s Bistro – Corrales, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

FROM 3C’s BISTRO’S FACEBOOK PAGE: We regret to announce our final closing. We fought hard and we appreciate all of you who came alongside us. February 5th will be our last day serving from 9am-6pm. A case could be made that “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” the name of a 1977 hit by Santa Esmeralda, could well be a lament about New Mexican cuisine (in addition to being the background music during the classic sword fight between Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu in Kill Bill I).  As frequently chronicled on Red or Green: New Mexico’s Food Scene is on Fire, national print, online and onscreen media continue to refer to the Land of Enchantment’s sacrosanct cuisine as “Mexican food.”  The…

2023 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAlbuquerqueFood TruckIndianJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Tikka Spice – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno6:51 PM

“Fly once more like you did before, Sing a new song chicken tikka!” ~Chiquitita Misheard Lyrics You might think by virtue of my name and then gangling gait, school mates at St. Anthony’s in Penasco would have tagged me with the nickname “Gilligan.”  Instead, because I was considered a bit of a brainiac prone to sesquipedalian lexicon, my nickname was “The Professor.”  It was a sobriquet worn like a badge of honor.  Professor Roy Hinkley was my hero, a brilliant scientist marooned on an uncharted desert isle with six other stranded castaways.  The Professor built such cool gadgets as a Geiger counter, lie detector, battery charger and much more…usually with coconut shells, wire and papaya seeds.   The Professor, in…

BreakfastMexicanNew MexicoRating: GoodRio Rancho

Federico’s Mexican Food – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno7:09 PM

in February, 2020, Chef’s Pencil crunched the numbers of Google searches  for ethnic cuisines to determine the most popular ethnic cuisines in America. The two most popular ethnic cuisines were deemed to be Mexican and Chinese. Denizens of the East preferred Chinese cuisine while the West went for Mexican food. Google data showed that Mexican cuisine is the most popular ethnic cuisine in 27 states–including New Mexico. Unfortunately, the data didn’t distinguish between Mexican and New Mexican or even between Mexican and Tex Mex. In reporting Google’s findings, KRQE interviewed several New Mexicans, some of whom were rather expressive about Google’s search results not recognizing  New Mexican cuisine as a unique culinary offering.  They need not be. Google’s search algorithm…

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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…

BurgersDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Arrey Cafe – Arrey, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:42 PM

About halfway between Truth or Consequences and Hatch on I-25, you may have espied a billboard audaciously proclaiming “world’s finest green chile cheeseburger.”  That billboard has always piqued my curiosity and prompted such questions as “where the heck is Arrey?”  Though signage directs motorists to Exit 59, all there is to see beyond the exit are verdant fields to the right and more high desert expanse to the left.  Then, of course, there’s the obvious question “if it’s so darn good, why isn’t it on the New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail?” As one of the quadrumvirate–along with the scintillating James Beard award-winning author Cheryl Jamison;  Kate Manchester, founder of Edible Santa Fe; and former New Mexico Tourism Department Advertising…

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Cazuela’s Mexican Grill – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno1:23 AM

Here’s an interesting bit of Jeopardy level trivia which you might contemplate the next time you dine at this Rio Rancho spot: In the Spanish golden age, a “cazuela” was the gallery located above the tavern in the back wall of a theater–the area in which women were segregated. Today “cazuela” is a Mexican word for casserole meal. Cazuela’s restaurant is a friendly, family-owned operation, which in 2007 saw significant change, precipitated in part by a motorist crashing through the diminutive dwelling which had been the restaurant’s home for several years. That original site was a tiny, time-worn building imbued with charm and warmth that belied its Lilliputian size. Cazuela’s new location is an expansive edifice which once housed Rio…

DonutsRating: ExcellentSanta Fe

Whoo’s Donuts – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:01 PM

When my corporate group had its employees, a high-performing contingent of information technology professionals, take a strengths assessment, the results were contrary to the stereotypes often painted about techno-geeks. None of us, for example, were profiled as Megadeath tee-shirt-wearing introverts who live in our mother’s basement and play World of Warcraft online against disembodied “friends.” Most of us were correctly pegged as being high achievers with healthy interpersonal skills and altruistic inclinations. The employee who defied the IT stereotype most was my friend and fellow Peñasquero Antonette whom the assessment categorized as a “Woo” for her naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling or behavior. Even though Antonette was a cheerleader in high school, Woo in this case, is not a…

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URBAN COCINA – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:28 PM

if you believe the idea for delivery food started with Domino’s Pizza and its promise of 30-minute delivery or free, you’d be sadly mistaken.  Nor did take-out originate with Chinese restaurants in California and their wire-handled white paper buckets. Both delivery and take-out food predate the fruited plain by several centuries. Take-out had its genesis back in ancient Rome with the creation of the thermopolium, essentially a street kitchen.  The thermopolium provided the only opportunity to purchase ready-to-eat food for citizens who couldn’t afford a kitchen of their own.  Hot food was stored in big clay pots inserted in a counter and likely served in a manner similar to modern fast foods. On the other side of the globe and…

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Changos – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:13 PM

Darn that Google! Even though I used very specific Boolean operands to target my search for “Changos” in “Albuquerque,” Google returned results for Changos in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. It wasn’t until studying the photos for Changos that it dawned on me “this can’t possibly be South Broadway in Albuquerque.” The Changos in Puerto Peñasco has a thatched roof, a swimming pool bar you can swim up to and features a menu replete with fresh mariscos plucked out of the Sea of Cortez.  South Broadway is a heavily industrial area replete with as many salvage yards and junked cars as you might see in an episode of Breaking Bad. When we turned south off Rio Bravo and began wending our way…

Food TruckNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Stuffed Lust Sopaipilla Company – Bernalillo, New Mexico

Gil Garduno10:07 AM

“Of the seven deadly sins, lust is definitely the pick of the litter.” ~Tom Robbins, Skinny Legs and All “Why,” my Kim wondered aloud “would a food truck call itself Sopaipilla Lust.” Obviously reflecting on one of Father Simeon’s fiery sermons on the seven deadly sins, my naive bride was serious.  It got me thinking…also out loud.  “Sopaipilla Gluttony would conjure images of buffet-goers gorging themselves from a trough.  Sopaipilla Greed calls to mind diners hoarding more sopaipillas than they could possibly eat.  You can’t call it Sopaipilla Anger because, well, who could possibly be angry when eating sopaipillas.  Sopaipilla Sloth?  Nah, no one would be too lazy to work for their daily bread…er, sopaipilla.“ “Sopaipilla Envy?  Well, maybe that…

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Bosque North Brewery & Taproom – Bernalillo, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno10:32 AM

“Are you going to explain how to pronounce “bosque?,” my Kim asked when she espied me working on this review.  Though her Spanish vocabulary is rather limited, she pronounces the five or six hundred Spanish words she knows like a native speaker. For that she credits legendary Associated Press sportswriter Pete Herrera with whom she worked for years.  Explaining that correct pronunciation is part of being respectful of other languages, Pete patiently taught her the nuances and fine points of Spanish.   Today it rankles her ire to hear television talking heads on the local news–especially those with Spanish surnames–mispronouncing rudimentary Spanish words such as bosque.  “Why is it not one single television reporter can pronounce bosque?” my Kim often laments. …