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BernalilloClosed in 2013Gone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

La Casita Cafe – Bernalillo, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:13 AM

Is there still a place in the American restaurant scene for hometown mom and pop institutions? According to the Nation’s Restaurant News, a respected trade magazine, almost fifty percent of the 100 largest chains saw flat or declining growth rates in sales in 2006.  Those rates are largely attributed to the sheer volume of restaurant concepts (chains) cluttering the landscape. I like to think that another reason for the decline of the ubiquitous chains that blight American streets is the increasing realization among the dining public that better food, value and service can be found in mom and pop dining establishments.  La Casita Cafe in Bernalillo is one restaurant validating that contention as evidenced by the overflowing throngs that consider it a favorite dining destination. La Casita is a local institution, beloved by Bernalillo residents and Albuquerque diners who don’t mind driving a few miles for generous portions of good New Mexican food at reasonable prices. Family owned and operated since 1982 by Bernalillo residents Donna and John Montoya, La Casita was destroyed by fire in July, 2005.  It took nearly two years before it would open again. The restaurant’s re-launch in June, 2007 was a day for celebration for…

AmericanArizonaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Cafe Cornucopia – Bisbee, Arizona

Gil Garduno7:46 AM

The Hollywood stereotype of restaurant critics paints them rather unflatteringly as condescending misanthropes to be feared. Those stereotypes would have you believe restaurant critics are eager to pounce on and expose the slightest imperfection.  Armed with pedantic palates and polysyllabic vocabularies overflowing with unfavorable adjectives, critics are painted as joyless beings whose quest it is to impart their misery on the restaurants they evaluate.  To the critic, the exemplar is French cuisine and everything else is so much schlock to be disdained. Consider the 1988 movie Mystic Pizza in which a snobbish restaurant critic renown for his “make or break” reviews deigned to visit a pizza parlor of all places.  With a stern countenance and belittling attitude, he based his entire review on having sampled little more than one bite.  Ostensibly his palate was sophisticated enough to render a verdict on the pizza after a minuscule sample. Even the restaurant critics on animated features tend to be snotty. The aptly named Anton Ego from the delightful 2007 Pixar movie Ratatouille may have summed it up best: “In many ways, the work of a critic is easy.  We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work…

ArizonaClosed in 2020Fine DiningGone But Not ForgottenMexicanUnited States

Cafe Poca Cosa – Tucson, Arizona (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:48 PM

Stereotypes would have you believe English food and Mexican food are at the opposite end of the spectrum from one another…as different as day and night.  Those stereotypes paint English food as bland and unimaginative while Mexican food is depicted as spirited and exciting.  That makes it deliciously ironic that perhaps the foremost authority on Mexican food is an adventurous English woman named Diana Kennedy.  In 1957, she moved to Mexico and has spent most of her life since researching and documenting the culinary history of Mexican cuisine. For her inestimable contributions to the documentation of regional Mexican cuisine, the government of Mexico awarded her the “Order of the Aztec Eagle” award, the Mexican equivalent of knighthood while Queen Elizabeth herself dubbed her “Member of the British Empire,” an award of similar distinction.  Once described in The Seattle Times as “the diva of doing it right,” Diana Kennedy champions authenticity in technique and ingredients and she’s a stickler for precision. The late Craig Claiborne, pioneering food critic for the New York Times, once described Mexican cuisine as “peasant food raised to the level of high and sophisticated art,” an apt description of how Diana Kennedy elevated the cuisine of her adopted…

ArizonaHot DogsMexicanRating: N/R (Not Rated)SandwichUnited States

BK Carne Asada & Hot Dogs – Tucson, Arizona

Gil Garduno9:48 PM

Every region across the fruited plain seems to have its iconic foods–incomparable dishes that define the area because they’re prepared better in that region than anywhere else.  Though there may be many capable practitioners in the preparation of these beloved and celebrated regional favorites, invariably there are restaurants with legitimate claims to superiority–stand-outs which, by virtue of consistent excellence over time, have earned acclaim from savvy locals and pundits. When these paragons of mastery in the iconic cuisine are in close proximity to one another, spirited disputes generally ensue among locals as to which restaurant’s rendition truly reigns above all others.  The City of Brotherly Love, for example, becomes a dysfunctional family when proponents of its eponymous Philly Cheesesteak sandwich get together to debate the supremacy of either Pat’s King of Steaks or Geno’s.   To a lesser and certainly more civil extent, New Mexicans will dispute who makes the better green chile cheeseburger–the venerable Owl Cafe or the relative upstart, Manny’s Buckhorn Tavern. The premise of the Travel Channel’s Food Wars program is to settle rivalries among those most celebrated of local favorites, pitting “the nation’s most famous culinary rivals against one another for a final showdown, where a blind…

AlbuquerqueJapaneseKoreanRating: GoodSushi

Sakura Sushi & Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:08 AM

In describing “food porn,” The New Yorker once wrote, “The point is to get very close to what you are filming, so close that you can see an ingredient’s “pores” which then triggers some kind of Neanderthal reflex.  If you’re flicking from channel to channel and come upon food that has been shot in this way, you will be hardwired as a human being to stop, look, and bring it back to your cave.” Madison Avenue, which is virtually synonymous with advertising, recognizes the impact food porn has on the American consumer.  That’s why we’re bombarded with television commercials and magazine ads depicting spectacular displays of visually stimulating, sleek and sexy, glorious deliciousness–food not only as edible art, but as a medium that elicits a carnal response. Perhaps no modern medium utilizes food porn more effectively than the Food Network whose programming seems tailored to arouse a salivatory response and a lascivious desire to eat.  Its veritable pantheon of celebrity chefs recognizes that the appeal to viewers (who obviously can’t smell or taste their creations) is in the way food looks on a plate–its colors, symmetry and design patterns. Perhaps the most visually appealing moment on any Food Network program…

AlbuquerqueAmericanClosed in 2012Gone But Not Forgotten

Chef’s Bistro – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:47 PM

It’s been called the “Harvard of cooking schools” and has been credited with having “changed the way Americans eat” by no less than the James Beard Foundation. World-reknowned French chef Paul Bocuse calls it “the best culinary school in the world.” It has trained more than forty-thousand culinary professionals and counts among its distinguished alumni such Food Network luminaries as Tony Bourdain, Anne Burrell, Cat Cora, Sara Moulton and Todd English. In the culinary world, the Central Intelligence Agency is known as “the other CIA.” The CIA is the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), a not-for-profit culinary school which confers Associate of Occupational Studies (A.O.S.) degrees in either Culinary Arts or Baking and Pastry Arts. Students don’t just receive hands-on training, they spend over 1,300 hours in the kitchen or bakeshop. At its Hyde Park campus, the CIA operates five public restaurants in which students acquire experience in both back-of-the-house kitchen and front-of-the-house management skills. A degree from the CIA doesn’t just open doors to exciting possibilities, it confers upon its graduates credentials that are universally respected throughout the vast culinary community. The CIA also offers a three-tiered American Culinary Federation (ACF) certification entitled Pro Chef, each tier recognizing skills…

AmericanBreakfastBrunchClosed in 2012Gone But Not Forgotten

Cafe Green – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:45 PM

Brunch is the best of two worlds–not quite breakfast and not quite lunch, but the best of both. It’s a leisurely weekend repast which makes you feel you’re getting away with something, as if you’re defying your mom’s mandate not to have dessert before the main entree. The feeling that you’re getting away with something delightfully illicit is reenforced as you lap up mimosas and Bloody Marys as fast as the wait staff can bring them to you. Brunch even allows you to get away with laziness at least once a year when you have the excuse to drag mom to a restaurant where she and countless other moms can be pampered on their special day. Americans have loved brunch since the 1930s when, according to culinary historians, passengers on transcontinental train rides would disembark in Chicago for a late morning meal in between trains. It wasn’t until after the second war to end all wars that brunch became popular on Sundays. Apparently the promises made in foxholes (where there are no atheists) were quickly forgotten because after World War II, there was a precipitous decline in the number of churchgoers across the fruited plain. Instead, Americans began to sleep…

AlbuquerqueAmericanClosed in 2010New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009

Independence Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno10:30 AM

NOTE: The Independence Grill became another casualty of the economy, shuttering its doors on Sunday, March 14th, 2010. Below this review is a photo retrospective of some of the many things which will be missed about this terrific restaurant. On January 6, 1941 as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt closed his state of the union address to Congress, he described his vision for a better way of life through what he considered the four essential human freedoms: freedom to worship, freedom from fear, freedom from want and freedom of speech. Those four freedoms, now widely considered the central tenets of modern American liberalism, inspired a set of Four Freedoms paintings by Norman Rockwell, the most famous and successful commercial artist of the time. The Four Freedoms are depicted on framed Rockwell prints in the foyer at Independence Grill. In an age in which the patriotism of candidates for political office is called to question by opposing candidates, there is no question as to where Jerry Wright stands on the matter of loving his country. Jerry is the proprietor of the Independence Grill which he launched on Monday, November 16th, 2008, several months after closing the Great American Steakhouse, my favorite Albuquerque…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2012ContinentalGone But Not ForgottenRating: Excellent

Barry’s Oasis – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:24 AM

I don’t know if there’s any veracity to the adage “don’t trust a skinny chef,” but one thing is for certain. Albuquerque has been trusting a very grumpy chef to prepare excellent meals for more than a quarter century. That grumpy chef is the irascible Barry Schuster, serving great cuisine in Albuquerque since 1979. One of the first things you see when you walk into the restaurant is a caricature of a somewhat younger Barry. Scrawled below his countenance are the words “grumpy chef.” Barry cultivates the image of a surly curmudgeon, but underneath that gruff exterior lies a heart of gold, a hospitality professional who wanders from the kitchen to check in on his guests and engage them in discourse. He continues to come to work day-after-day instead of enjoying a well-deserved retirement. Okay, maybe he’s not exactly an avuncular fellow, but he really does care that his patrons enjoy their dining experiences at his eponymous restaurant. He’s got a great sense of humor and his witty repartee will enhance your experience. The banter between Barry and his nearly as churlish waiter Richard Lopez is particularly entertaining. Richard has been with Barry for more than a decade. The two…

Closed in 2011Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoPizzaRio Rancho

Frattellis – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:24 AM

In New York City, pizza by the slice is as ubiquitous as towering skyscrapers. Many of the city’s nearly 3,000 pizzerias serve pizza by the slice. Most have been doing so since the end of WWII when recently returned American veterans who served in Italy craved the sliced pizza they had enjoyed during their service. Heck, in the Big Apple, you can even find pizza by the slice proffered by sidewalk vendors. At about two bucks a slice, it’s usually pretty decent thin-sliced pizza blanketed with cheese. A widespread presence doesn’t mean the practice is universally approved of. The other school of thought snubs its nose at the thought of serving by the slice, the triangle-shaped, tomato sauced pie Americans consume at the rate of 100 acres a day. Many traditionalists, particularly artisan Pizzaiolis with coal-burning oven pedigrees disdain the practice of pizza by the slice, scoffing that the practitioners of this sacrilege have reduced the art of pizza making to a fast-food assembly-line pretense. While several pizzerias in the Albuquerque metropolitan area serve pizza by the slice, the lack of historical ties to the genesis of America’s pizza might be the reason you don’t hear the slice versus no…

BrunchFine DiningFood Network Eats New MexicoRating: ExcellentSanta Fe

La Casa Sena – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:55 AM

He was an academic prodigy, one of the first two persons admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the Territory of New Mexico. He had a distinguished military career in the Union Army before being mustered out with the rank of Major. He served as sheriff of Santa Fe county for more than ten years and was a political power broker for both the Republican and Independent parties. Despite such an impressive pedigree, Civil War-hero Major Jose Sena might have been forgotten by the annals of history had it not been for his fabulous Territorial-style adobe house a block east of the Santa Fe Plaza. A prime example of a Spanish hacienda, the stately home has 33 ground-level rooms arranged as a square around a garden patio with towering shade trees and a gurgling fountain. Today Casa Sena is owned by prominent Santa Fe gallery owner Gerald Peters who has transformed what was once called home by Major Sena into a veritable art gallery with museum-quality landscapes on the walls, spectacular watercolor paintings in the outer rooms and hand-crafted Taos-style furniture throughout. Casa Sena abounds in ambience, exemplifying “old Santa Fe” style. Replete with shops, offices and one…