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CaliforniaDiners Drive-Ins and DivesRating: N/R (Not Rated)SandwichUnited States

Norton’s Pastrami & Deli – Santa Barbara, California

Gil Garduno7:44 AM

“I flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami.” ~George Costanza January 14th has been designated “National Hot Pastrami Sandwich day.” The fact that a day has been designated to honor the greatness of the “most sensual of all the salted and cured meats” is wholly unnecessary for many of us. True pastrami paramours in the mold of Dagwood Bumstead, Shaggy Rogers, Joey Tribbiani and my friend Bill Resnik, don’t need a special reason or designated day to partake of pulchritudinous pastrami. To us, every day is pastrami sandwich day! Now, if your experiences with pastrami have been limited to the packaged Boar’s Head offering or worse, an occasional Subway pastrami sandwich, you’re probably wondering what the big deal is about pastrami. Offer Boar’s Head or Subway’s version of pastrami to a foodie from the East Coast or the West Coast, however, and you may as well be offering them snake tartare. If you’ve ever had pastrami from either Coast, you’ll understand why. Pastrami is deli food. It’s not meant to be extricated from a hermetically sealed package or consumed at a chain sandwich shop. Nor is it intended to be lean and trim. Pastrami is a rich…

AmericanCaliforniaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Opal Restaurant and Bar – Santa Barbara, California

Gil Garduno11:53 AM

We’re all familiar with premise of Iron Chef America in which accomplished chefs are pitted against the veritable pantheon of culinary giants who have earned the title of Iron Chef. Can you imagine if one of the vaunted Iron Chefs, or even one of the challengers for that matter, failed to present the judges a variety of ways in which the “secret ingredient” is used? How, for example, would the oft-haughty judges react if during “battle rice” Iron Chef Morimoto presented seven different sushi rolls? Though not led by Iron Chefs, there are a number of fusion restaurants across the fruited plain where you’d swear all the dishes served have a “one-note” flavor profile (usually cloying), the only significant difference being the plating. Conceptually the dishes sound fabulous, but their execution leaves a lot to be desired. Such fusion restaurants perform a tremendous disservice not only to their guests, but to the cuisines they are purporting to showcase in creative manners. Perhaps that’s why Santa Barbara, California resident and former Iron Chef Cat Cora loves Opal Restaurant and Bar so much. Opal actually lives up to the promise of culinary diversity and creativity with one of the most interesting and…

CaliforniaItalianRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Trattoria Mollie – Montecito, California

Gil Garduno8:22 AM

In its three best-selling editions–published in 2006, 2008 and 2012–National Geographic’s “Passport to the Best” has enthralled, excited and educated connoisseurs of matters of taste across the globe. With top ten lists in dozens of categories studded with savvy tips and inspiring imagery, this wayfarer’s bible invigorates investigative yearnings for exotic travel, if for nothing else to confirm or refute the opinion of the authors. Still, when the “Passport to the Best” recognized Trattoria Mollie in Montecito, California as “one of the “Ten Best Destination & Special Restaurants in the World,” the honor was probably lost on much of the popular culture demographic. Trattoria Mollie has instead garnered much more fame and acclaim courtesy of a rousing endorsement from media mogul Oprah Whitney than from any source. Oprah reportedly dined at the swank Montecito restaurant every day during the summer of 2006, most often–if not exclusively–enjoying an entree showcasing three turkey meatballs studded with raisins. It’s an entree she introduced to President Obama during his visit to Trattoria Mollie. So impressed was Oprah that she also introduced Chef Mollie Ahlstrand to the world on both her popular show and “O” magazine. As her annual “Oprah’s Favorite Things” episode consistently proved,…

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Friends of Gil (FOG) II Dinner: Great Food, Great Time, Great Friends

Gil Garduno11:50 AM

One of the delights of life is eating with friends, second to that is talking about eating. And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends. ~ Laurie Colwin On Thursday, 29 May 2014 at 7PM, nineteen of the Duke City’s most passionate gastronomes enjoyed a sumptuous repast and a terrific evening of convivial conversation and humor in the second Friends of Gil (FOG) dinner of 2014. There were no strangers at the event, only friends who hadn’t met in person. Guests included some of the most prolific commentators on Gil’s Thrilling (And Filling) blog. With comments such as “so, you’re Larry McGoldrick,” guests had an opportunity to put names to a faces. It was as if we’d all known one another for years. There was widespread speculation as to whether or not infamous commentator Suzie Queue was among us. Most agreed that Suzie Queue is a nom de plume and theories as to her true identity–ranging from Edward Sung to Sr. Plata and even Bob of the Village People–were advanced. In John Baldwin and his lovely bride Zee, Gil found kindred spirits equally passionate in their dislike of cumin. Attending his…

AlbuquerqueNew MexicanRating: Very Good

Leroy’s New Mexican Food – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:23 AM

As with any city of comparable size, many of Albuquerque’s most popular dining destinations are clustered in neighborhoods bustling with commerce and activity. You could say there’s a well-beaten–and well-eaten–path to these neighborhoods. Chain addicted diners know they can find their favorite Madison Avenue sanctified corporate megaliths on the frontage roads flanking I25 as well as in the Coors Bypass area. For a more vibrant and roguishly in-vogue dining experience, Duke City residents head for Nob Hill where swanky upscale restaurants and venerable cafes co-exist harmoniously on America’s Mother Road. Downtown Albuquerque purports to be the “economic, social and cultural center of New Mexico.” With more than 70 restaurants and cafes and a night life as hot as Hatch green chile, it has become a popular destination for more than dining. For culinary diversity, it’s hard to beat the University of New Mexico area in which restaurants with a broad socioeconomic appeal are congregated. Aside from academic enrichment, this area is nurturing a refreshing open-mindedness toward the cuisines of the world. Strewn throughout the Duke City’s vast expanses are also pockets of edible excellence–restaurants of all types which don’t necessarily fit the neighborhood template of “x” number of restaurants clustered…

AlbuquerqueBarbecueNew MexicoRating: Very GoodSanta Fe

Whole Hog Cafe – Santa Fe & Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:03 PM

While the etymology of the expression “whole hog” appears to be American, its progenitor is actually an English slang word. Americans in the new world employed the slang use of hog as a word for dime, intending the term to mean “spend the entire coin at once.” The word hog had been previously used in the Mother Country as slang for a shilling and came from the depiction of a hog on one side of the English coin. To barbecue fanatics, however, the term “whole hog” can only mean one thing–the whole hog category in Memphis in May, the annual world barbecue championships in Memphis, Tennessee, an event which has been called the “Superbowl of Swine.” If you win the whole hog category in Memphis, you have every right to call yourself the very best in the world. It means you’ve mastered ribs, pulled pork and sausage–virtually snout to tail. When we saw a restaurant on Cerrillos Road billing itself as the “Whole Hog Cafe,” we wondered if it was an audacious pretender to the pinnacle of pork or the real deal. The restaurant’s trademark image of a portly porker subtitled “World Championship BBQ” cued us in to the fact…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2024Gone But Not ForgottenJapaneseNew MexicoSushi

Gen Kai Japanese Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:50 PM

In Japan, ramen is so revered that diners line up, sometimes for hours, at ramen houses for homemade noodles tangled with such ingredients as dried fish, pork and chicken. Connoisseurs make pilgrimages to a popular ramen museum in Yokohama, not the only museum dedicated to ramen, by the way. If you’re wondering how the ramen noodle product you purchased as a collegiate at the rate of ten bricks for ten dollars warrants such reverence and respect, you’re in the right ballpark, but not in the right seat. Although extremely popular throughout Japan where you can find it even in vending machines, it’s not the ubiquitous low-brow instant ramen found in Styrofoam packages which warrants such adulation and enthusiasm. That adulation is reserved for ramen which is fresh and handmade with rich, creamy, opaque broths lovingly tended for hours, if not days. It is the consummate comfort food in the Land of the Rising Sun. In fact, comparing instant ramen to the ramen found in restaurants is akin to comparing the burger on a McDonald’s Happy Meal to a wagyu steak at a posh steakhouse. While the packaged ramen is ready in an instant, it’s teeming with sodium and suspect-sounding ingredients.…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2016Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoSandwich

Adieux Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno10:56 AM

For restaurants located in downtown Albuquerque’s Arts and Entertainment district, centered along Central Avenue and Gold Avenue west of First Street, downtown revitalization, a ten million dollar infusion of energy and creativity, has been both a dichotomy and a dilemma. Daylight hours bring a diverse swathe of white- and blue-collar diners to those restaurants, but after dusk, the downtown demographic is more of a “20-something” crowd, many of whom are more interested in the area’s bustling nightlife and youth-oriented clubs than they are in dining. While many downtown restaurants shutter their doors at dusk, others have embraced the youthful energy of the nocturnal crowd and their pursuit of bar-hopping, live music and social discourse. Among them is Adieux Cafe, a gastropub which opened its doors in June, 2013. Adjacent to the Effex nightclub, Adieux’s hours of operation–11AM to 2AM Monday through Friday and 5PM to 3AM on Saturdays–are convenient to the most energetic of party-goers and day workers as well. A shared door between Effex and Adieux allows revelers to access the gastropub when the munchies strike at unholy hours (at my age, that’s anything past 10:30). From street level, Adieux isn’t much to look at. In fact, you might…

JapaneseRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

Izanami – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno6:01 PM

“Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words.” ~Marcel Marceau When the Spaniards first gazed upon the setting sun as it hit the towering snow-capped mountains and appeared to bathe the slopes in a burst of red, they were so moved that the pious Conquistadors exclaimed “Sangre de Cristo,” blood of Christ. Whether bathed in the spectacular red alpenglow of sunset or in the “like yellow hair of a tigress brindled with pines” gold of autumn aspens as described by D.H. Lawrence, the Sangre de Cristos still move people deeply, stirring their very souls. The Sangre de Cristos are also spectacular when wispy amorphous clouds dance around the blanket of sky in all its magnificent gradations of blue. That’s the palette from which skies were painted on the day my friends and culinary kindred spirits Franzi Ortega and Nikko Harada joined me for an incredible dining experience at Izanami, the celebrated izakaya-style restaurant at the Ten Thousand Waves resort scant minutes from downtown Santa Fe. You don’t have to spend time at Ten Thousand Waves to fully appreciate Izanami, but if you don’t, you might feel you missed out on a very special place. The…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2021Gone But Not ForgottenMediterraneanRating: Excellent

Yanni’s Mediterranean Bar & Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno5:35 AM

The now defunct Albuquerque Monthly magazine titled a May, 1995 article “Yanni Come Lately,” heralding the arrival of a new Greek restaurant on Nob Hill. More than a decade has elapsed since that article and Yanni’s Mediterranean continues to more than live up to the lofty accolades it has earned over the years. Yanni’s has been recognized by other national, regional and local publications for its outstanding cuisine. It has also earned the unwavering devotion of teeming masses who patronize the city’s best Mediterranean restaurant. In 1998, Gourmet magazine named Yanni’s a restaurant of distinction in the Southwest. Southwest Airline’s Spirit magazine has also proclaimed it a great restaurant for Greek food. More recently, readers of the Alibi voted Yanni’s as the best Greek restaurant in Albuquerque as well as the city’s very best restaurant overall in 2009. Considering the vast improvements in the city’s restaurant landscape since Yanni’s launch a decade and a half ago as well as Albuquerque’s propensity for embracing the newest kids in the block, that’s a tremendous accomplishment for what is becoming one of the city’s venerable institutions. In that time, more than Yanni’s reputation has grown. The restaurant now occupies much of a city…

AlbuquerqueMexicanNew Mexico

El Sabor De Juarez – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:59 PM

Before it was embroiled in the grip of violence born of warring drug cartels vying for control of the drug traffic destined for the United States…before its shameful history of violence against women was uncovered…before it was accorded the dubious honor of being named the world’s most dangerous city, Cuidad Juarez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua was long known as a rite of passage destination for hormonal adolescent males. It was heralded for its shopping districts where everything from kitschy trinkets to high-quality jewelry and leather goods could be purchased after engaging in the sport of spirited haggling with enthusiastic merchants. Perhaps not as well known is that Juarez was, and perhaps still is, a great dining destination–and not just for authentic Mexican food (though several high-end and inexpensive Mexican restaurants were very highly regarded). A number of luxurious, steakhouses pampered guests with exceptional service and slabs of succulent beef. The very best Chinese restaurant (Shangri-La) in the El Paso-Cuidad Juarez metropolitan area warranted many a visit. As great as the culinary fare was, the familiar disclaimer “whatever you do, don’t drink the water” was always heeded. For those of us who fondly remember Cuidad Juarez when it was…