AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyFood TruckNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Street Food Institute – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:43 PM

“The more street food we have, the more it’s embraced by every income strata, the better world we have.” ~Anthony Bourdain Jonathan Gold, the first restaurant critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for criticism, called food trucks “the new incubators of culinary innovation.” Indeed, chefs and entrepreneurs who ply their talents in food trucks and express themselves through  distinctively creative cuisine aren’t just fostering culinary trends.  They’re doing so at a rate at which their brick-and-mortar counterparts couldn’t conceive, much less execute. Food trucks are exposing consumers to unorthodox flavor combinations and ingredient fusions, creating a growing demand for more novelty and culinary diversity. Add fast and inexpensive to the mix and you’ve got a trifecta of reasons food trucks…

AlbuquerqueBreakfastMexicanRating: Very Good

Acapulco Tacos & Burritos – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:09 PM

Acapulco–just the name evokes images of pristine sandy beaches, translucent blue waters, a comfortable climate, luxury hotels, and world-class gourmet cuisine. There are many reasons Acapulco has earned its nickname of the “Mexican Riviera,” after the famous French resort area. It’s unlikely Albuquerque’s three Acapulco Tacos & Burritos restaurant will ever be mistaken for one of Acapulco’s pricey and sometimes pretentious three- and four-star restaurants. There’s absolutely nothing pretentious about Acapulco Tacos & Burritos. To the contrary, this humble denizen of deliciousness seem to symbolize the wonderful simplicity of Mexican food in the finest and most complimentary sense of the term. Okay, maybe the crossed palm trees and bright sun painted on the restaurant’s colorful facade might be a bit…

AmericanBar & GrillBrunchClosed in 2018Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoRio Rancho

The Point Grill – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno11:18 AM

“Get to the point!” Archie Bunker, the irascible curmudgeon on the 70’s sitcom All in the Family frequently chided his doting wife Edith with the epithet “Get to the Point, Edith!” One of the series occasional and most memorable bits depicted Archie’s pantomime suicides, carried out while Edith rambled on and on in her nasal high-pitched voice, wholly oblivious to his dramatic gestures. In one episode Archie did himself in by tying a noose and hanging himself as Edith prattled on incessantly. Archie also play-acted suicide by Russian roulette, overdosing on pills and slashing his wrist. His facial expressions at the moment of death were priceless, often portraying him with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Some visitors to…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2020Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoPopcornSpecialty

Walker’s Popcorn Company – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno5:14 PM

Who doesn’t love popcorn? Along with hot dogs, apple pie, hamburgers and barbecue, it’s been an American favorite–or should I say tradition–for generations. A humble treat, popcorn can grow in other parts of the world where other corn can’t. It was grown in the Americas, China, Mexico and India long before Columbus journeyed to America. According to urban myth, it was brought to the “first” Thanksgiving” (at least the one taught about in history books) by the Iroquois and since then, a tradition has existed of bringing popcorn to peace negotiations as a token of good will. Today Americans consume over seven billion quarts of popcorn every year. For generations, throngs of Chicago residents have stood in long lines to…

AlbuquerqueAsianClosed in 2020FusionGone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

Plum Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno7:52 PM

“The branches of the aspen plum To and fro they sway How can I not think of her? But home is far away,” – Confucius According to Urban Farm Online, “plums were domesticated in China more than 2,000 years ago and have figured in written documents since 479 B.C. These fruits were the plums Confucius praised in his writings and the ancestors of today’s Asian plums.” In China, plums symbolize good fortune while the blossom of the plum tree is considered a symbol of winter and harbinger of spring. The Taiwanese consider the plum blossom a symbol for resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity during the harsh winter. In both Korea and Japan, the plum blossom also symbolize…

Dog FriendlyFine DiningNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

Terra – Tesuque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno10:46 AM

Several years ago, I asked my grandmother if she might consider aromatherapy as a treatment for the nagging aches and pains she suffered daily.  Aromatherapy, I explained was being hailed by New Age devotees in Santa Fe and Taos as a holistic healing treatment used to promote health and well-being. “Mi hijito,” she said gently, “In Northern New Mexico we are always surrounded by aromatherapy. We experience it when we bake bread in our hornos and roast chile in our comals. Aromatherapy is the petrichor of wet earth after the first rain. It’s the piñon-scented air we breathe every day.” As usual my grandmother was right. In her own way, she was telling me to let others seek a trendy…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2019Dog FriendlyFusionGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoVietnamese

Cafe Nom Nom – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:12 PM

“Nom nom.” It sounds innocent enough. Parents–yes, including parents of four-legged fur babies–utter it in baby talk intonations to get our children to eat something, especially when that something is “good for them” but doesn’t actually look or taste good. Nom nom was, of course, the favorite expression of Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster (Hi Darren) as he ravenously devoured a plate or six of cookies, a fusillade of crumbs flying from his chewing mouth.  Grade school teachers use nom nom as an example of an onomatopoeia, a word that imitates a sound.  My friend Michael Gonzales, the dynamic owner of Rio Rancho’s Cafe Bella uses it to describe great new restaurant finds. English majors recognize it as an expression used…

BreakfastDog FriendlyNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

Tortilla Flats – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:29 PM

“Beans are a warm cloak against economic cold.” ~John Steinbeck, Tortilla Flat In his 1935 novel Tortilla Flat, John Steinbeck introduced the literary world to the downtrodden denizens of Tortilla Flat, an impoverished barrio on the shabby hillside just outside the respectable city of Monterey, California. The quirky inhabitants of the ramshackle community were a dichotomous lot–hedonistic drunks, adulterers and thieves on one hand; on the other, paisanos with surprisingly kind-hearts who asked nothing more from life than loyal friends and a little wine. Unlike their stodgy, orthodox counterparts in Monterey, the men of Tortilla Flat defied social mores, conventions and expectations. They rebuffed the notion of holding down steady employment or paying rent. They had no qualms about cadging…

AlbuquerqueMediterraneanMiddle EasternNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Chello Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:38 PM

Persian cuisine has been described as “poetry on a plate” and “a pretext to break into verse.” Persian history is replete with a large repertoire of literary quotes about food and drink. Even when the subject of a poem wasn’t about food, a poet’s appreciation for Persian cuisine often inspired the inclusion of culinary terms. Take for example fifteenth-century Persian poet Bu-Isaq of Shiraz who described his beloved as: “lithe as a fish, eyes like almonds, lips like sugar, a chin like an orange, breasts like pomegranates, a mouth like a pistachio” and so forth.” “Surely,” I thought, “contemporary poets can also be inspired to put to verse and song their sentiments about the loves of their lives using food…

AlbuquerqueRating: ExcellentVietnamese

Pho Linh Vietnamese Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:33 AM

You always remember your first time…and if it’s good, it may set the standard by which you’ll forever measure every other time. I was a lanky lad of nineteen, away from home for the first time when “it” happened. As a precocious yet naive child growing up in bucolic Peñasco, New Mexico, I had been sheltered from the wiles and ways of the world and felt silly and embarrassed about being so inexperienced. All my new friends in Massachusetts seemed so sophisticated in comparison. Luckily I had a very patient and understanding teacher who taught me all its nuances and variations–how to appreciate its fragrant bouquet, taste the subtleties of its unique flavors and use my fingers as if lightly…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyNew MexicanNew Mexico

Little Anita’s New Mexican Food – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:11 PM

My friend Scott Pacheco may never forgive me for dining at Little Anita’s New Mexican Food in Old Town. Scott hates Little Anita’s, but not because of its food, ambiance or service.  He hates Little Anita’s for what he considers a traitorous act on the scale of Benedict Arnold and Judas Iscariot. To understand why Scott hates Little Anita’s so much, it might help if you know that there are two things in life he’s passionate about–the Denver Broncos and New Mexican green chile. If this isn’t making sense yet, recall that on February 2, 2014, the Seattle Seahawks demolished the Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII. Not only was this the largest margin of victory for an underdog, it…