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The Farm at South Mountain – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:05 AM

There are two indulgences we miss when we visit Tempe: New Mexico’s incomparable cuisine and the coffee we wake up to every morning.  My sister Anita assures us there are now several restaurants in the Valley of the Sun which serve New Mexican cuisine that is more than passable though we have yet to visit any of them.  While our landlords graciously provide a coffee pot, we don’t ever seem to remember to pack our beloved Douwe Egberts coffee from the Netherlands.  Okay, maybe that’s just an excuse to visit Black Rock Coffee in Tempe which serves a very good Mexican mocha. Aside from the coffee, what we enjoy most about Black Rock is being able to sit out on the patio–even in January–to enjoy that coffee.  It was during one such visit to Black Rock that we met Pastor Shelly Smith who leads the Full Gospel Deliverance Tabernacle.   Pastor Smith is a bear of a man with a heart of gold.  His ministry’s mission is to “reach those that need help“–not only spiritually, but in helping them meet basic needs.  We’ve enjoyed coffee time with the great Pastor several times, usually at about 9:30AM.  By that time he’s…

ArizonaDog FriendlyItalianRating: ExcellentUnited States

Italian Daughter – Scottsdale, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:03 AM

“I am my father’s daughter, the Italian daughter” proclaims restaurateur Melissa Maggiore-Meyer on the Italian Daughter’s website.  As the daughter of famed Phoenix chef and restaurant impressario Tomaso Maggiore, it seems almost predestined that she would follow in her father’s Sasquatch-like footsteps.  At an early age, Melissa’s father taught her the beauty and joy a great meal can bring to one’s life.  She cherishes the memories of gathering around the table with family and friends, sharing stories, laughter, wine, and of course, a great dish of pasta.  Her love for the cuisine of her Italian heritage was cemented by extensive travel to Italy with her father. Melissa’s passion  for food, wine, and hospitality supplanted her pursuit of a Journalism  degree from Arizona State University.  She relocated to San Diego where she launched a number of Italian restaurants throughout southern California.  One of those restaurants–Tommy V’s Urban Kitchen in Carlsbad, California–was the subject of Food Network primetime series, Family Style.  In 2018 Melissa and her husband Kevin returned to Scottsdale to be closer to family. In April 2021 Melissa opened The Italian Daughter to pay homage to her late father and continue the legacy he left behind. Chef Tomaso Maggiore was…

ArizonaMexicanRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Chilte – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“Me Vale Madre.”  If you grew up speaking Spanish–or maybe just being around Spanish-speaking people–you probably know it’s a derrogatory term.  Essentially, even though the phrase inludes the Spanish term “madre” which means “mother,”  it’s telling someone you don’t give a fu…fudge.  “Me Vale Madre” is Chilte’s mantra.  It’s the restaurant staff basically saying “we don’t care that we don’t meet your conceptions of what Mexican food should be.  We’re going to do it our way.”  How can you not love that?  I asked our server to explain to my Kim what that mantra means and he gave us a polite, G-rated version that was as far from the truth as a political promise. Chilte’s website makes no bones about what it is and aspires to be: “Me vale is our mantra.  Representing unapologetic authenticity to ourselves and our mission.  Join us as we strive to inspire a new culture in the culinary industry by sourcing locally, cooking from the hert, mentoring one another and building a community through food.”  The website also waxes nostalgic about Chilte’s humble beginnings: “Two kids, a grill and a tortilla press walk into a farmers market….Chilte!  Starting in a  10X10 pop-up tent, we have…

ArizonaDonutsRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Randy’s Donuts – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

There’s a scene in Iron Man 2 where billionaire playboy Tony Stark decided to treat a hangover with coffee and a box of donuts from Randy’s Donuts in Inglewood, California.  Instead of enjoying his bounty inside the restaurant like most of us earth-bound “hundredaires,”  he flew up onto the gigantic 32’6″ donut atop the building and ate his donuts there.  My first visage of Randy’s Donuts came from a more altitudinous vantage point than Stark’s.  I first espied the iconic donut on approach to the Los Angeles International Airport.  Had a parachute been available, I might have been tempted to drop down for a donut or ten. My first actual taste of donuts from Randy’s was courtesy of the generosity of my dear friend Bruce “Sr Plata” Silver who grew up not far from the fabled donut shop.  On one of his visits home, he brought back a half dozen donuts for me.  In my 39 years of devouring dozens of donuts, I’ve never had donuts that good.  Randy’s has been making believers of superheroes and ordinary Joes like me since 1953.  That’s seventy plus years of people and palate pleasing.  Iron Man 2 is far from being the only…

ArizonaAsianRating: N/R (Not Rated)ThaiUnited States

Glai Baan – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“We are a “Very Thai” kitchen, focusing on street food and snacks that you would commonly find while visiting Thailand. Most of our dishes are best shared and many dishes are from the Isan region (northeastern), where they like their food spicy. We source our produce and meat locally when possible, and we do not use MSG.”  When I read that introductory statement on Glai Bann’s website and menu, I nearly danced with joy.  Over the years I’ve become increasingly frustrated with Thai restaurants in that the balance of flavors–sweet, sour, salty, bitter, spicy–has skewed overwhelmingly toward sweet.  The culinary journey at many Thai restaurants is incomplete for those of us who don’t particularly like entrees as sweet as desserts. Much of the credit (or blame) for my intolerance of “perfectly fine, acceptable to most” Thai restaurants is because I’ve experienced THE best.  That would be Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas, Nevada.  No less than Pulitzer Prize award-winning writer Jonathan Gold called Lotus of Siam “the single best Thai restaurant in North America.”  In 2010, Chef-owner Saipin Chutima was accorded with “Best Chef: Southwest” honors by the James Beard Foundation.   Her specialty is Issan-style Thai food, its genesis being…

ArizonaGelatoItalianPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Romanelli’s Italian Deli – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

It didn’t dawn on me until after our visit that how fitting it is that Romanelli’s Italian Deli is located on Dunlap Avenue.  Visit Romanelli’s with any degree of regularity and you’re bound to be afflicted with Dunlap’s Disease.  Dan “The Tire Man” Marsh describes it as “Done lapped over the belt” disease.  The symptoms include “a sudden need to unbutton your pants after a meal (a classic blowout!), an inexplicable gravitational pull towards comfy sweatpants and the inexplicable disappearance of your feet when looking down.  Among the causes of Dunlap’s Disease are visiting Romanelli’s frequently. In naming Romanelli’s 2023’s “Best of Phoenix” winner in the Italian Deli category, The Phoenix New Times may have said it best: “Walking into Romanelli’s Italian Deli is like gliding into an olfactory orgy. As soon as the smells of freshly baked bread, zesty spices, piquant peppers, tangy cheeses and cured meats hit your nostrils, your mouth starts watering, and your eyes start wandering.”  Though the Phoenix New Times cites only olactory and visual senses, Romanelli’s doesn’t exclude your other senses.  Probably the most prevalent is sense of taste, when you finally get to bite down on an incomparably delicious meal and follow it…

ArizonaDiners Drive-Ins and DivesFine DiningFood Network Eats New MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Hush Public House – Scottsdale, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

During a February, 2024 episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, host Guy Fieri asked Chef Dom Ruggiero what type of cuisine her served at his North Scottsdale restaurant Hush Public House.  Chef Ruggiero explained Hush features “New American,”  a term which basically “let’s me do whatever I want.”  Chef Ruggiero could have said “Martian” and it’s unlikely he would have received any argument from the periphrastic  host.  In part that’s because Chef Ruggiero is a former United States Marine.  With tatooed guns nearly the size of Hulk Hogan’s, he still looks like he could take on a regiment of terrorists single-handedly.  Despite the chef’s enviable musculature, Fieri observed a culinary technique he described as “such a big hand doing it so daintily.” You might wonder how a former Marine became one of the Valley’s most highly regarded chefs.  After leaving the service, Chef Ruggiero worked in an office in which Cordon Bleu occupied the third floor.  The chef related that he “saw all these guys with tatoos playing with knives and fire.”  His instant reaction was “sign me up.”   Originally from Scottsdale, Chef Ruggiero has been in the culinary arena for nearly fifteen years.  He launched Hush Public House in 2019…

ArizonaDog FriendlyItalianPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Fabio on Fire – Peoria, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In the early ’90s, a mesomorphic V-shaped woman’s man with the mononymous name Fabio garnered worldwide recognition for his appearance on the covers of hundreds of romance novels.  With his flowing mane, chiseled physique and aquiline nose, Fabio Lanzoni was lusted after and admired–at least by readers of romance lovers.   The idyllic man perceptions were reinforced when Fabio revealed that he cooks (albeit with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, a product he’s been hawking on television for more than a decade). When I told my Kim, we were headed to the western enclave of Peoria, Arizona to dine at a restaurant called Fabio on Fire, her immediate reaction was “you mean that hot guy on all those book covers has a restaurant.”  As a not-so-hot guy perpetually waging war against a middle-age spread, I certainly fall short in any comparisons to the hunky Fabio (thankfully my Kim hasn’t resorted to calling me “Flabbio”).   I did console my Kim with the assurance that “there are several “hot” guys at Fabio.”  I didn’t tell her they’re hot because of proximity to stoves and ovens (and the 82-degree Phoenix heat on a late December day). Though somewhat ambivalent about the hot guy…

BakeryBreakfast BurritosGermanNew MexicoRating: ExcellentRio Rancho

Dagmar’s Specialties – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:34 PM

In her last Facebook post, Dagmar Gertrude Ingeborg Schulze Marshall Mondragon remained optimistic about making a full recovery from the most recent of the many recent health woes that plagued her otherwise rich and wonderful life. Dagmar refused to be defined by those health woes. Instead, we’ll remember her as not only an extraordinary chef and baker, but as one of the kindest, most loving and optimistic souls to ever grace our Earthly plane. Dagmar was devoted to her customers.  She passed away on  25 February 2023.  You can read more about the amzing Dagmar below. Michael Almanzar, a long time friend of Dagmar’s who is affectionately known as Dagmar’s “Brother from another Mother” is the new Owner/Operator of Dagmar’s!   Dagmar’s reopened on August 25, 2023.  We’re happy to report that under Michael’s stewardship, this outstanding German bakery hasn’t skipped a beat.  Though we miss the beautiful baker, we’re gladdened that her delicious legacy lives on.  One of the improvements Michael has made is in expanding the Dagmar’s space.  The restaurant now has a dining room with a handful of tables in which diners can enjoy their German fare in comfort.  If you prefer al fresco dining, it’s available,…

2022 James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAlbuquerqueBreakfastBreakfast BurritosJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Outstanding

My Moms – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:01 PM

“God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” —Rudyard Kipling Should you have the pleasure of getting to know Chef Marie Yniguez, even a little, you’ll come away with three absolute certainties.  First, Albuquerque’s arguably most famous celebrity chef is unabashedly herself.  The happy, loving, gregarious person you’ve seen on numerous Food Network culinary competitions doesn’t have a pretentious bone in her body.  She is as genuine and sincere as they come.  Though she left the hardscrabble mining town of Hurley, New Mexico a lifetime ago, she remains a country girl at heart. And even though she was as a semi-finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef – Southwest” honor in 2022, she remains as humble as if she was starting out again at the very bottom of the competitive chef pyramid. Second, it’s an absolute certainty that you’re going to like the effusive chef.  She makes it a point to greet guests to her restaurant and traffic permitting, will visit with them to ensure they’re enjoying their experience (not just their meals).  Marie is a warm soul with a disarming sense of humor and ability to make everyone feel like a good friend.  She has a…

AlbuquerqueChickenDog FriendlyFusionNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Happy Chickenzz – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:02 AM

“And believe me, a good piece of chicken can make anybody believe in the existence of God.” ~Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Two things came to mind when my friend Nader and I approached Happy Chickenzz during our inaugural visit in September, 2019. First, I mused, “if happy cows come from California (a 2002 marketing campaign for California cheese), where do happy chickenzz come from.” My second rumination was to wonder if the ‘zz’ at the end of the word chicken is an indication that the chicken is so boring, it’ll put your taste buds to sleep. You know, zzzzz. As we were quick to learn, it’s not only the chickenzz who are happy here.  So are diners.  Endorphin-rush happy! Fully sated and blissfully happy! As for putting taste buds to sleep, these chickenzz have so much personality, so much depth of flavor, so much  that they’ll wake up the most staid of taste buds and delight even the most pedantic of palates. Happy Chickenzz started off as one of six original food pods at the pristine El Vado multi-use complex on Central Avenue just east of the Rio Grande.  In October, 2024, Happy Chickenzz…