Tag: Gyros

AlbuquerqueDiners Drive-Ins and DivesFood Network Eats New MexicoNew MexicoPolishRating: Outstanding

Red Rock Deli – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:32 PM

America may be a multicultural melting pot, but thriving within its most populous metropolises are ethnic neighborhoods–pockets of diversity residing in two worlds, retaining many of the cultural and culinary traditions of their motherland while integrating into and pursuing the American dream. Cities such as Chicago have long realized that these ethnic enclaves offer a treasure trove of cultural and culinary experiences. Most of these neighborhoods welcome culinary tourism–the opportunity to showcase the cuisine of their homelands. One such example is the city of Chicago which boasts of the largest Polish population outside of Warsaw (as many as 183,000 by some estimates) in the world. Storefronts and restaurants in “Little Poland” on Chicago’s far Northwest side are bedecked in the white and red flag of Poland. Eateries offer everything from pierogies to kielbasa. Every Labor Day weekend Chicago celebrates its Polish heritage at the Taste of Polonia festival where Polish cuisine and culture are showcased. Obviously Albuquerque doesn’t have the population to support a “Chinatown” or a “Little Poland,” but the Duke City does offer multicultural dining diversity. Although several of the city’s ethnic restaurants are clustered throughout the International District, many others are strewn throughout the metropolitan area where…

MediterraneanNew MexicoRating: Very GoodRio Rancho

Al-quds Mediterranean Grill II – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

The penultimate day of the 2023 International Balloon Fiesta will be memorable for many reasons.  Foremost may be the 2023 annular eclipse whose path took it directly above the Balloon Fiesta Park, host of the world’s largest ballooning event.  That day will be imprinted on our minds for another reason–our inaugural visit to Al-quds Mediterranean Grill in Rio Rancho.   The second instantiation of perhaps Albuquerque’s most popular Middle Eastern restaurant is located on The Village on Rio Rancho, a timeworn shopping center that flourished in the early 1990s when Intel’s Fab 4 was fully operational. Neither owner Mohammad Abdeljalil or his son were in Rio Rancho during our inaugural visit.  Our server assured us that the menu at the original Al-qud’s is available.  That means Al-qud’s II assumed only the spot which previously housed Jerusalem: Taste of the Holy Land.  In all other respects it’s the Al-qud’s we’ve known and loved since discovering the original in November, 2018 when it was situated on the south side of San Pedro.  In subsequent visits, we were greeted by and well taken care of by Mohammed’s eldest son whose wife bakes all the magnificent pastries on display in a glass case. Al-Qud,…

AlbuquerqueGreekMediterraneanRating: Outstanding

Gyros Mediterranean – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:39 AM

It’s not easy being a gastronome about town when you make less than a thousand dollars a month and have a car payment, rent and a social life. Stationed at Kirtland in the early 1980s, my Air Force salary pretty much dictated that most of my meals were at the base’s chow hall (which thankfully was legions better than mystery meat meals at the Peñasco High School cafeteria). The little that was left of my meager monthly take-home pay meant social outings were pretty much of the cheap eats variety. The epicenter for many of my off-site meals seemed to be Cornell Drive where it was possible to find restaurants with a broad socioeconomic appeal–restaurants which nurtured a refreshing open-mindedness toward the cuisines of the world. Within easy walking distance of one another on Cornell, you could find battleship sized slices of pizza at Nunzio‘s (now Saggio’s), the very best lamb burger and green chile stew in the world at the long defunct Sheepherder’s Cafe, half a city block of full-contact eating at the Frontier Restaurant and a gourmand’s paradise of Greek food at Gyros Mediterranean. Though my first two years in the Air Force (happily served in the Boston…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastBreakfast BurritosBrunchDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Cinnamon Sugar and Spice Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:20 PM

Back in the dark ages when I grew up–long before America became the kinder, gentler Utopia it is today (seething with cynicism)–it would have been inconceivable that boys and girls would receive trophies just for “participating.” Back then, we were expected to be competitive about everything. The battle of the genders was waged at home every night with my brothers and I pitting our brawn and bulk against the brains and gumption of our sisters, two of whom would go on to graduate as valedictorians and all of them much smarter than the recalcitrant Garduño boys. It rankled us to no end when our sisters reminded us constantly that “boys are made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails‘” while they were made of “sugar and spice and everything nice” even as they smashed our toy machine guns (undoubtedly in retaliation for us having drawn mustaches on their Barbie dolls before decapitating them). We sure made it challenging for our parents to be as generous with their affection as Dr. Benjamin Spock (the pediatrician, not the Vulcan) had advocated. Espying the curiously named Cinnamon Sugar & Spice Cafe on Juan Tabo rekindled memories of the “What Are Little Boys…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastBreakfast BurritosDog FriendlyNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Hello Deli – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

HELLO DELI (to the tune of Hello Dolly) “Hello Deli, this is Joe, Deli would you please send up a nice corned beef on rye. A box of RITZ, Deli and some Schlitz, Deli Some chopped liver and a sliver of your, apple pie. Turkey Legs, Deli hard boiled eggs, Deli and a plate of those potatoes you french fry, oh Don’t be late, Deli I just can’t wait Deli, Deli without breakfast, I’d just die.” ~ Frank Jacobs (Writer for MAD Magazine) In 2016, BBC Travel lamented the imminent demise of the New York City deli.  “Not the corner markets or bodegas that appear on nearly every New York block,” but “the true New York City delicatessen: the brick and mortar expression of the American immigrant experience, the very culinary soul of the city. “Some 80 years ago, New York City was home to three or four thousand delis. Today, there are less than 24.”  That true New York City delicatessen of which BBC Travel wrote showcased “the food of the Eastern European peasantry – smoked sausages and cured meats, smoked cabbage and offal stews and dark bread, salted fish and boiled dumplings.”  The primary draw to the New York…

AmericanBreakfastBreakfast BurritosBurgersCoffeeNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Aly’s @ Sugar’s – Embudo, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:22 PM

The winding highway meandering along the murky Rio Grande through Embudo is among the most scenic in the Land of Enchantment, particularly in mid-autumn when leaves turn a vibrant shade of gold. For  nearly two decades, motorists drove slowly not only to take in the foliage, but to imbibe the hazy applewood smoke plumes emanating from Sugar’s BBQ & Burgers .  Enchanting aromas wafted into motorized conveyances like a sweet Texas smoke signal beckoning passers-by to try a combo platter or a brisket burrito.  In 2023, the drive alongside the Rio Grande became somewhat less captivating with the discernible absence of those fragrant aromas. From outward appearances, Sugar’s was a humble, ramshackle corrugated-tin shack.  Beyond that exterior facade, it was one of New Mexico’s most heralded eateries.  In 2005–a scant five years after its launch–Sugar’s was named one of the nation’s best best road-side eateries in the United States by Gourmet Magazine.  Local and national ccolades continued to pile up over the years.  In 2010, Sugar’s was designated “memorable” and “one of the best” by Roadfood.com.  In October, 2018, Sugar’s was named one of the ten best barbecue restaurants in New Mexico by James Beard award-winning author Cheryl Alters Jamison…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastBreakfast BurritosBurgersDog FriendlyGreekRating: Very Good

Vic’s Daily Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?” “What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?” “I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.” Unlike the great philosopher Winnie the Pooh, many Americans, it seems, don’t equate breakfast with excitement. Studies show that far too many of us fuel our bodies with a “gobble and go” mentality that typifies our frenetic lifestyles. In 2007, one food service industry research firm concluded that most Americans spend no more than three minutes shopping for breakfast (at such paragons of nutritional virtue as McDonald’s and Starbucks).  Too many of us it seems would just as soon wait for lunch, our hunger being reason enough to overindulge. A food and health survey of Americans showed that 92 percent of respondents consider breakfast the most important meal of the day, yet fewer than half (46 percent) of them actually ate breakfast seven days a week. The most frequently cited reasons for not eating breakfast every day include “not being hungry after waking up” (59 percent) and “not enough…

PizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)SandwichTexasUnited States

Little Deli & Pizzeria – Austin, Texas

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In the 1973 Woody Allen movie”Sleeper,” the neurotic comedian, writer, actor, and film director declaimed, “I believe there’s an intelligence to the universe, with the exception of certain parts of New Jersey.”  Comedian George Carlin pounced on New Jersey’s license plate, deriding the “Garden State” sobriquet, expressing that it should be “The Tollbooth State.”   In response to his son-in-law Michael “Meathead” Stivic’s “I hate Jersey” comment, Archie Bunker declared “Everybody hates Jersey! But somebody’s gotta live there.” New Jersey is the Rodney Dangerfield among the fifty states.  It gets no respect, especially when compared with its nextdoor neighbor New York.  Perceptions among some outsiders is that the population of New Jersey is replete with Italian-American Mafia types like Tony Soprano.  Others perceive as accurate the unwatchable MTV “reality” television series Jersey Shore which perpetuates Italian-American stereotypes of New Jerseyans.  Its gratuitous use of the ethnic slurs “guido” and “guidette” are an affront to every good and decent resident of the state. Admittedly I haven’t spent much time in New Jersey.  My first visit was just long enough to qualify on the M16 rifle before the Air Force sent me to RAF Upper Heyford, England.  Would you consider it boasting if…

AlbuquerqueGreekMediterraneanNew MexicoRating: Very Good

The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

As a precocious stripling growing up long before Star Wars, Back to the Future and the Marvel Universe, my heroes were the gods of Mount Olympus.  In Greek mythology, the gods were incredibly powerful beings who controlled the forces of nature and human beings.  Their whims–often childish and unpredictable–dictated whether or not empires and human beings thrived or led lives replete with strife and woe.   These puerile gods possessed supernatural powers such as the ability to control the weather (Zeus), make others pregnant or get pregnant herself (Hera) and manipulate travel, paths, and sports (Hermes).  While Spiderman may have understood that with great power comes great responsibility, the gods were prone to fits of pique.  In such moments, they were predisposed to chaotic and violent outbursts.  You wouldn’t want to anger these childlike gods. Food  and drink in Greek mythology largely revolved around sweet, hallucinogenic, or healing substances, most frequently in the form of liquids, or fruit.  Ambrosia and nectar were allegedly the main substances consumed by the gods with ambrosia signifying immortality.  Figs are also commonly consumed.  Figs are most commonly associated with Dionysius, the god of wine and drunkenness and with Priapus, the Ron Jeremy of Greek gods. …

AlbuquerqueBreakfast BurritosClosed in 2026Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Lavender Cocinita – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

According to Simply Beyond Herbs, “many people find lavender’s gentle fragrance helps center their thoughts and enhance cognitive abilities. It can provide a sense of mental freshness, enabling one to think and make decisions more clearly; this is particularly beneficial during intense work, studying, or when facing challenging tasks requiring heightened concentration.  Whether used as an essential oil, dried flowers, or as part of a relaxing environment, lavender’s influence on mental clarity is valued by many who seek improved focus and a clearer mind.” Hmm, sounds like something we all can use. If you’ve ever attended Los Ranchos De Albuquerque’s annual Lavender Festival, you can probably benefit from lavender’s calming effect as you vie for a parking spot up close and later when you try to exit the premises among catch-as-catch-can queues of impatient motorists.  Lavender in The Village is the largest lavender festival in the Southwest, attended by 10,000 guests in 2023.  Though the event showcases the myriad ways in which lavender can be used, we prefer smaller venues with fewer guests.  One such venue opened its doors in April, 2024 to far less fanfare than the festival.  That venue is Lavender Cocinita, a “little kitchen with big tastes.”…

AlbuquerqueMiddle EasternNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

El Chamo Arabe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:01 PM

According to the New York Post, the beleaguered South American nation of Venezuela may be the easiest place on Planet Earth in which to become a millionaire.  Of course, a million Bolivars in the inflation-ridden nation is worth only about fifty-three cents.  In 2018, Venezuela’s Central Bank actually began printing $1,000,000 bills.  Years of hyperinflation devours the income of Venezuelans, leaving them hungry and struggling to buy food and medicine.  Many Venezuelans scour through garbage to find food while millions of others fled the country to build new lives across South America and beyond.   You wouldn’t know life in Venezuela is so difficult if you speak with Maria Laura, a perpetually smiling server at El Chamo Arabe. Maria Laura has reason to smile.  She’s been in the United States for only a month.  She’d prefer to extol the virtues of her country and its beautiful people rather than focus on Nicolás Maduro, the autocrat and dictator who has ruled Venezuela since 2013.  Maria Laura’s cousin Paola Maried co-owns El Chamo Arabe along with Ibrahim Jamaleddin.  Both are also immigrants who escaped Venezuela six years ago to make a better life for themselves in the United States.  Paola’s background is…