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Albuquerque Barbecue Food Truck Rating: N/R (Not Rated)

Dudley’s Barbecue – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMay 27, 2012April 6, 20269:07 PM

The United States Department of Agriculture defines barbecue as “any meat cooked by the direct action of heat resulting from the burning of hardwood or the hot coals therefrom for a sufficient period to assume the usual characteristics” including the formation of a brown crust and a weight loss of at least thirty percent.” To the citizens of the great state of North Carolina, that definition is heresy, an example of government ineptitude and maybe even reason enough to secede from the union. Everyone in the Tar Heel state knows barbecue is all about pork. In fact, the words “barbecue”…

Albuquerque Closed in 2012 Gone But Not Forgotten Mexican

Mamba’s Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMay 25, 2012July 17, 20189:18 AM

When my friend Ryan “Break the Chain” Scott and I first visited Mamba’s Kitchen, we deliberated the genesis of the restaurant’s name. The possibilities were intriguing. The restaurant must be named for the black mamba, one of the world’s most venomous snakes, I thought. Ryan surmised then quickly dismissed the notion that the restaurant’s name honors Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers star who calls himself the “Mamba” because he wants to have the type of basketball precision the snake has (it can strike with 99 percent accuracy at maximum speed, in rapid succession). Could it share the Mamba sobriquet…

Albuquerque Brazilian Closed in 2014 Gone But Not Forgotten

Jamon’s Frybread Cabana – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMay 25, 2012July 17, 20181:04 AM

Several years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth, multi-player gaming meant sitting at a table and playing board and card games with friends actually sitting across the table from you as opposed to the disembodied online kind of ‘friends.” My compadre Brad and I had been trounced several times by our pop culture savvy spouses at Trivial Pursuit, a primitive game contemporaneous with throwing rocks at mastodons. After four games, we finally had a chance to win one, but it came down to the toughest question Kim and Vicki could muster in a pop culture category which had been our…

Arizona Closed in 2019 Gone But Not Forgotten Rating: Excellent Thai United States

Mint Thai – Gilbert, Arizona (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMay 15, 2012March 31, 20268:41 AM

You might assume that because of my unabashed online promotion of culinary adventures, I would be the classic prostheletizer seeking to convert to the joys of more adventurous dining all lost and wayward souls who frequent chain restaurants. Alas, when traveling with colleagues who are either pedestrian about their dining preferences (they eat to live) or are wholly resistant to trying anything new or different, I tend to defer to their lifestyle choices. It beats listening to comments such as “yech, how can you possibly eat that?” and “that’s not in any of the food groups I know.” The offshoot is…

Albuquerque Bakery Closed in 2012 Gone But Not Forgotten

Just A Bite! – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMay 9, 2012July 17, 20187:25 PM

An April, 2009 article in the Taos News reveals just how much cultural attitudes have changed in the county in which I grew up toward men in the kitchen. The article profiled a Taos High School culinary arts team–comprised of three boys and one young lady–which triumphed over 16 other New Mexico schools in a state-wide cooking competition to earn a berth on the national stage. In the dark ages when I attended high school, any male student deigning to admit to enjoy cooking would have been dismissed as a (select your own pejorative) and might even have incurred physical harm. When I enrolled…

Breakfast New Mexican New Mexico Rating: Excellent Santa Fe

Cafe Castro – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMay 6, 2012April 5, 20267:13 PM

The rich folklore of the Hispanic culture of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado is preserved largely through cuentos and dichos passed down from one generation to the next. Cuentos are stories, legends and myths, the type for which Aesop is renown. Dichos are pithy folk sayings or proverbs much in the style of Confucius. Both cuentos and dichos are replete with the wisdom of the ages expressed in simplistic terms even a child can easily comprehend. They offer words to live by. One of my favorite dichos goes, “A la primera cocinera se le va un chile entero,” which…

Albuquerque Closed in 2020 Gone But Not Forgotten Mariscos Mexican

El Sarape – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMay 5, 2012November 28, 20237:12 AM

Before the advent of political correctness, the unchecked use of controversial stereotypes was rampant throughout America. Starting in the 1930s, for example, ethnic caricatures in the guise of tchotchkes (salt shakers, cookie jars, plant pots and the like) could be seen in households throughout the fruited plain. Neon-spangled roadside five-and-tens dotting the motorways and byways were primary culprits in the sale of kitschy, tacky knickknacks propagating such stereotypes as mammies, cigar-store Indians and the Mexican peasant taking a siesta while reclining against a saguaro. The sleeping Mexican, often called Pancho, was particularly prominent throughout the Southwest. Generally attired in huaraches,…

Albuquerque Bakery Breakfast Closed in 2014 German Gone But Not Forgotten New Mexico Rating: Excellent

Dagmar’s Restaurant & Strudel Haus – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoApril 2, 2012March 31, 20261:18 AM

According to the 2000 United States Census, there are 47 million Americans of German ancestry, making them the largest self-reporting ethnic group in the country. German Americans represent 16 percent of the total U.S. population. With such a large ancestry group, you might wonder why German cuisine isn’t as popular as the cuisine of its European neighbors Italy and France. It’s a question which also seems to baffle the National Restaurant Association which posits that Americans characterize German food as “rich, indulgent foods; good, hearty portions; and irresistible desserts.” With reasons like those, you might expect that there would be…

American Closed in 2016 Gone But Not Forgotten New Mexican New Mexico

La Risa Cafe – Ribera, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMarch 31, 2012August 5, 202010:01 PM

“La Risa es el mejor remedio.” (Laughter is the best medicine.) Laughter is a mystery. Scientists don’t know why among all creatures throughout the Earth, only humans are hard-wired to be able to laugh. Not even the hyena has this capability. What scientists do know is that laughter has a variety of benefits to the human mind and body. Laughter: boosts the immune system, oxygenates blood and reduces stress. Laughter may also reduce pain and it certainly elevates mood. When Ashley Wegele, a regular reader of this blog, told me about the La Risa Cafe in rural Ribera, New…

Albuquerque Asian Chinese Closed in 2015 Gone But Not Forgotten Thai

Sengdao Bar-B-Q Asian Cuisine – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoMarch 28, 2012July 17, 20189:34 PM

Despite my (then) near eidetic memory and a sesquipedalian lexicon, it was my bumpkinly naivete my friends in Boston found most surprising (and amusing) about me. By having absorbed Encyclopedia Britannica (before the internet and Wikipedia were a twinkle in Al Gore’s eyes), I had as much or more “book knowledge” about Boston as any of them did, but became wide-eyed and mesmerized at seeing all those sights and cultures which heretofore existed for me only on the printed page. My friends delighted in introducing me to things you’d just never see in bucolic Peñasco, New Mexico. They also did…

Albuquerque Mariscos Mexican Rating: Very Good

Mariscos Altamar – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMarch 23, 2012April 3, 20262:32 PM

“Forget what you thought you knew about Mexican food!” That should be a cardinal rule for unacculturated diners when traveling to Mexico–or visiting Mariscos Altamar–for the first time. Many of the dishes some Americans commonly believe typify Mexican cooking are either not Mexican at all (chimichangas and fajitas, for example), or are prepared using inauthentic techniques and ingredients (such as “nachos” crafted from melted Velveeta heaped over a dish of corn chips, a recipe I’ve actually seen on a cookbook published by a charity for which I almost withdrew support based on such recipes). Because Mexico spans several climatic zones…