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BarbecueClosed in 2016Gone But Not ForgottenRio Rancho

Rub-N-Wood BBQ – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno7:01 AM

“Beam me up Scotty. There is no good barbecue on this planet.” ~James T. Kirk Captain James Tiberius Kirk of the United Starship Enterprise never actually uttered those words, but had he visited Rio Rancho between June 22nd and August 2nd, 2013, he would have found NO barbecue–good or bad–in Rio Rancho. No barbecue in the City of Barbecue…er, Vision, is akin to no Subarus in Santa Fe. Rio Rancho, after all, is home to the annual Pork & Brew, the state barbecue championship sanctioned by the prestigious Kansas City Barbecue Society. Rio Rancho has also been the home–for nearly…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2016Fine DiningGone But Not ForgottenRating: Outstanding

JENNIFER JAMES 101 – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:06 AM

The number 101 has some very interesting connotations. If you grew up in the 60s, you might remember the Benson & Hedges cigarette jingle, “One, oh, one, one, oh, one, a silly little millimeter longer one, oh, one, a silly millimeter longer.” Talk about ear wax. That jingle was like It’s A Small World and the Gilligan’s Island theme. Once you got it into your head, you couldn’t get rid of it. My brainiac mathematician friend Bill Resnik appreciates that 101 is the 26th prime number. He points out that it’s also a palindromic number (a sequence that reads the…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2016Gone But Not ForgottenSandwich

Prime – Los Ranchos De Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno2:20 AM

What kind of foods and food-related activities do white people like? According to New York Times best-selling author Christian Lander, white people like picking their own fruit, sea salt, hummus, dinner parties, bottles of water, kitchen gadgets, Whole Foods and grocery co-ops, Asian fusion food, sushi, breakfast places, vegan or vegetarianism, wine, micro-breweries, tea, organic food, farmer’s markets, coffee and expensive sandwiches. Lander compiled a list, wrote a book and created a blog listing 134 things (and not just food) white people like. So, what constitutes an expensive sandwich? According to Lander, the expensive sandwiches liked by white people start…

Announcements

Friends of Gil (FOG) Dinner: A Great Time Had By All

Gil Garduno12:41 PM

If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him… the people who give you their food give you their heart. ~ Cesar Chavez “There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.” For the fifteen foodies who gathered at Joe’s Pasta House on Saturday evening, February 22nd, the inaugural “Friends of Gil” dinner started off as a foodie summit, but would up as a celebration among new friends. it was a night of rich laughter, convivial gaiety and great food. It was a night we ended long after the restaurant’s closing…

AlbuquerqueAsianRating: Good

Asian Noodle Bar – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:43 AM

In the United States, as in many western cultures, the art of slurping one’s food in public has long been an etiquette taboo. In terms of culinary faux pas, slurping falls somewhere between talking with your mouth open and belching loudly. Conversely, in Japan and other Asian countries, slurping noodles at restaurants is not only perfectly acceptable, it’s often considered a sign of appreciation being conveyed to the chef. Visit a traditional noodle bar in Japan and you’ll be surrounded by an asynchronous symphony of slurping, the audible inhalation of noodles being heartily enjoyed. If slurping noodles was an Olympic…

Announcements

Taste of Rio Rancho Showcases City of Vision’s Best

Gil Garduno11:14 PM

Great things are happening in New Mexico’s third most populous city. Rio Rancho has developed an impressive culinary culture, boasting a number of bona fide award-winning destination restaurants. Not only are more and more of the City of Vision’s citizens frequenting restaurants in their hometown, discerning Duke City diners are making the trek “up the hill” to dine in Rio Rancho restaurants. So are residents of Placitas, Corrales, Bernalillo and beyond. Credit the increased popularity and success of Rio Rancho’s restaurants to the city’s many dedicated restaurateurs and their staffs who go the extra mile to keep their guests coming…

AlbuquerqueFine DiningRating: Excellent

Farm & Table – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

For the past quarter century or so, American chefs and the dining public have increasingly embraced the concept of farm-to- table cooking. It makes great sense from an environmental and an economical standpoint and as the Smithsonian Magazine wrote, “the farm-to-table movement is at once hip and historic.” Its historical aspects are especially relevant in agrarian New Mexican villages where farm-to-table hasn’t always been a “movement,” “concept” or “trend.” It’s been a way of life, especially in the state’s frontier days when food wasn’t nearly as plentiful as it is today. Enchanting as it may be, New Mexico is a…

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Ahh! Sushi – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED: 2015)

Gil Garduno6:08 PM

The year was 1997. Recently thawed from a thirty year cryogenic state, Dr. Evil addressed the United Nations about his diabolical scheme to hold the world ransom: “ In a little while you’ll notice that the Kreplachistani warhead has gone missing. If you want it back, you’re going to have to pay me…one million dollars.” After the United Nations officials erupted in laughter, Dr. Evil quickly corrected himself “sorry…one hundred billion dollars.” When our mere pittance of a bill arrived after my friends Paul, Bill, Fred and I had polished off a boatload of all-you-can-eat sushi at Ahh! Sushi, the…

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Hartford Square – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:29 PM

“The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a star.” ~ Anthelme Brillat-Savarin Dante Alighieri’s 14th century poem Divine Comedy postulated the existence of nine circles of Hell, each circle appropriate to the sins of the damned. The fourth circle, for example, is reserved for hoarders and wasters whose punishment is to spend eternal life rolling giant boulders at one another. While gastronomy is a virtue and not a sin, were there to have been a circle in Hell for gastronomes, there’s no doubt it would have been to spend eternity eating in…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2022Gone But Not ForgottenPizza

Brickyard Pizza – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno10:46 PM

“The Brickyard” is the commonly used nickname for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indy 500. A Duke City pizzeria with the sobriquet Brickyard Pizza launched near the University of New Mexico in August, 2004, but has absolutely nothing to do with the famous race. It isn’t even affiliated with Albuquerque’s famous racing family, the Unsers, several of whom have won motor racing’s crown jewel. Brickyard Pizza occupies the Brick Light District area edifice which previously housed Rebar, an eclectic Asian inspired restaurant which just wasn’t an economic or conceptual fit for the collegiate demographic. Cash-strapped students who subsist…

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Clancy’s Pub – Farmington, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:42 PM

Characterized by writer Tom Wolfe as the “Me Decade” and derided by cynics as the “Disco Era,” the 1970s witnessed an explosion of copycat fast food chain restaurants and the birth of innovative fusion cuisine in many contemporary restaurants. Fusion cuisine is the inventive combination of diverse, sometimes disparate culinary traditions, techniques and ingredients to form an entirely new genre. In large metropolitan areas, particularly throughout California, the fusion of different cuisines became commonplace. Restaurants featuring the melding of French and Chinese cuisine were especially popular. Still other restaurants had their own ideas as to what constituted fusion cuisine. Instead…