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Cafe Phenix – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoFebruary 14, 2010July 7, 201810:02 PM

“A mythical bird that never dies, the Phoenix flies far ahead to the front, always scanning the landscape and distant space. It represents our capacity for vision, for collecting sensory information about our environment and the events unfolding within it. The Phoenix, with its great beauty, creates intense excitement and deathless inspiration.” – Feng Shui Master Lam Kam Shuen, The Feng Shui Handbook It’s only appropriate that a cozy little restaurant named Cafe Phenix would be part and parcel of a neighborhood revitalization effort being spearheaded by a close-knit community of artists. Much like the advent of Soho, a New…

Albuquerque Better Call Saul Closed in 2015 Gone But Not Forgotten Steak

Paul’s Monterey Inn – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoFebruary 13, 2010July 17, 20222:02 AM

The year was 1971. Albuquerque’s population had reached a quarter of a million. The San Juan-Chama project, a system of diversion structures and tunnels for trans-mountain movement of water from the San Juan River Basin to the Rio Grande Basin, was completed. The area’s three military installations: Kirtland, Manzano and Sandia Bases merged under Air Force jurisdiction. Civil unrest was in the air in pastoral Roosevelt Park where a riot ensued that saw more than 130 arrested and more than 2,000 armed men called in to quell the situation. Albuquerque ballooning pioneer Sid Cutter took his first balloon flight. Paul’s…

American Closed in 2010 Gone But Not Forgotten New Mexico Rio Rancho

The Black Olive Wine Bar & Grill – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoFebruary 9, 2010September 1, 20189:42 AM

Perhaps in time, the Albuquerque-Rio Rancho metropolitan statistical area will be thought of in much the same vein as America’s two most famous “twin city” metroplexes–Dallas-Fort Worth and Minneapolis-Saint Paul. Don’t be surprised if Rio Rancho winds up being the Dallas to Albuquerque’s Fort Worth, the Minneapolis to Albuquerque’s Saint Paul. People have been selling Rio Rancho short for a long time, but that’s starting to change. By 1980, the end of its first decade in existence, the fledgling city which in 1970 didn’t even have a measurable population by U.S. Census standards had more than 10,000 residents. Ten years…

Albuquerque American Breakfast Brunch Closed in 2017 Dog Friendly Gone But Not Forgotten

Gold Street Caffe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoFebruary 6, 2010July 7, 20185:51 PM

When you’re alone and life is making you lonely You can always go – downtown When you’ve got worries, all the noise and the hurry Seems to help, I know – downtown Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty How can you lose? The lights are much brighter there You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares So go downtown, things’ll be great when you’re Downtown – no finer place, for sure Downtown – everything’s waiting for you. Just a few years ago, the…

Announcements

Cecilia’s Cafe Featured on Travel Channel’s Chow Down Countdown

Gil GardunoFebruary 4, 2010July 7, 20186:28 PM

In January, 2010, the Travel Channel traveled from coast to coast to uncover the 101 tastiest places to chow down–“joints serving some of the biggest and best dishes of deliciousness around.” Calling it the “most definitive and appetizing countdown food fanatics have ever seen,” the show featured five one-hour specials that transported viewers “on a non-stop, coast-to-coast, mouthwatering tour of the 101 absolute best places to get your grub on in the country.” The list was “certified by the people who know best — the locals!” Only one New Mexico restaurant made the list, but it’s a great one worthy…

Albuquerque Announcements New Mexican

Mary & Tito’s Recognized as an American Classic

Gil GardunoJanuary 18, 2010July 7, 20187:01 AM

The pinnacle of achievement in the culinary world. That’s what a James Beard Foundation award signifies. Deemed “the Oscars of the food world,” by Time magazine, The James Beard Foundation Awards are the country’s most coveted honor for chefs; food and beverage professionals; broadcast media, journalists, and authors working on food; and restaurant architects and designers. Considered the “Dean of American Cookery,” Beard established a legacy of culinary excellence and became a household name to generations of home cooks and professional chefs. Today, the James Beard Foundation, a national not-for-profit organization is dedicated to celebrating, preserving, and nurturing America’s culinary…

Albuquerque Closed in 2010 Gone But Not Forgotten Steak

Duke’s Steakhouse – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoDecember 31, 2009July 7, 20189:36 PM

“Did you ever see the customers in health-food stores? They are pale, skinny people who look half dead. In a steak house, you see robust, ruddy people. They’re dying, of course, but they look terrific.” -Bill Cosby Bill Cosby probably didn’t have actor Robert Mitchum in mind when describing the type of people who visit steak houses. Heralded by movie critic Roger Ebert as “one of the greatest actors of all time,” the masculine Mitchum was certainly robust (evincing strength and vigorous health) and ruddy (inclined to a healthy reddish color often associated with outdoor life), but he wasn’t the…

Albuquerque Closed in 2010 Gone But Not Forgotten Thai

Lotus Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoDecember 19, 2009July 7, 20185:15 PM

Balance. The Diné, or Navajo, of America’s Four Corners Region have a word for it: “hózhó.” The word embodies the idea of striving for balance and harmony along with beauty and order. Every aspect of Diné life–whether spiritual or secular–is connected to hózhó, maintaining balance between the individual and the universe and living in harmony with nature and the Creator. Balance. America’s favorite everyman philosopher Homer J. Simpson might define it as “a donut in each hand.” Obviously politicians discussing the budget should definite it as something unachievable, an ephemeral concept, a meaningless and baseless promise uttered simply to mollify…

American Food Network Eats New Mexico Rating: Good Santa Fe The Best Thing I Ever Ate

The Pink Adobe – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil GardunoDecember 6, 2009April 5, 20269:31 PM

Culinary historians credit the advent of the modern Santa Fe fine dining scene to a painter who moved to Santa Fe shortly after World War II to join the burgeoning art community. Having to support herself and a young daughter, Rosalea Murphy turned to something else at which she excelled–the culinary arts. As with most rags to riches success stories, Rosalea did not immediately set the Santa Fe dining scene on its ear, but then this wasn’t the “City Different” now widely recognized as a tourist Mecca. Good things take time. Great things take longer. When she first launched the…

Bernalillo Closed in 2011 Gone But Not Forgotten New Mexican New Mexico

Coronado Grill – Bernalillo, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoDecember 5, 2009July 21, 20183:06 AM

In 1540 while searching for the fabled seven Cities of Gold, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado camped with his soldiers near the ancient Pueblo of Kuaua on the western banks of the Rio Grande where the city of Bernalillo exists today. Coronado never did locate the mythical Cities, finding instead a thriving agricultural village inhabited since 1300. Only the partially reconstructed ruins of Kuaua (a Tiwa word for “evergreen”) remain today, but the “City of Coronado” still celebrates the Spanish explorer whose legacy has been somewhat tarnished by revisionist history. The conquistador’s namesake restaurant is situated just south of the ruins…

Announcements Burgers New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009

Introducing the New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail

Gil GardunoDecember 3, 2009July 21, 201810:25 PM

To New Mexicans, there is nothing as thoroughly soul-satisfying and utterly delicious as our ubiquitous green chile cheeseburger. We have a fierce pride in that most simplistic, but explosive, flavor-blessed union of a thick, juicy beef patty grilled over an open flame or sizzled on a griddle then blanketed in cheese and topped with taste bud awakening, tongue tingling, olfactory arousing green chile. New Mexicans throughout the Land of Enchantment’s 33 counties celebrated July 22nd, 2009 with the gusto normally reserved for a Lobo or Aggie victory. We basked in the glory of one of our own upstanding citizens vanquishing…