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AlbuquerqueNew Mexican

El Charritos – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:19 PM

Many New Mexico born Hispanics of my generation grew up watching not only American “shoot ’em up” Westerns featuring rugged cowboys, rowdy rustlers, round-ups and home on the range, but the Mexican equivalent–movies featuring the exploits of charros, the traditional cowboys of central and northern Mexico. Despite my admiration for the charros of the cinema, it took more than 20 years before my first visit to a restaurant named for the dashing Mexican horsemen who were equally adept with a lasso as they were with a gun. I had driven past the Central Avenue location of El Charritos for years,…

FrenchNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

315 Restaurant & Wine Bar – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:15 PM

>Compared to the extraordinarily perceptive 19th-century detective Sherlock Holmes, his best friend and confidante Dr. John H. Watson was an ordinary man, a perfect “foil” for the brilliant Holmes. Though lacking his friend’s deductive abilities and almost prescient ability to solve problems, Dr. Watson was, however, prone to occasional observations of brilliance and statements of profound eloquence. For example, in the 2004 novel Sherlock Holmes and the Hapsburg Tiara, Dr. Watson describes a three-hour French meal: “Each dish was more fantastical than the last. One can only conclude that it is the special purpose of French cookery to dissolve the…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2009Gone But Not ForgottenMariscosMexican

Villa del Mar – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:46 AM

Who hasn’t dreamt of a luxurious Mexican Villa overlooking pristine sandy beaches and translucent blue waters–a distinguished gate, thriving gardens and a capacious floor plan with earth-toned terracotta and ochre floors and walls festooned in vibrant colors? Think of it–your own personal chef preparing the briny delicacies of the sea for your every meal, the soulful voice of a Mexican singer plumbing the depths of your emotions, a fresh Pacific breeze negating the balmy climate.  It would be an idyllic life. The Villa del Mar restaurant on Albuquerque’s Central Avenue won’t make all these dreams a reality, but it will…

Closed in 2008CubanGone But Not ForgottenMadridNew Mexico

Tocororo Cafe – Madrid, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno3:14 PM

New Mexico is a dichotomous land, a land which welcomes contrast and diversity, where the state-of-the-art trappings of modern society are juxtaposed against ancient cultures with traditions that have gone largely unchanged for centuries. It’s a land in which the sophisticated and the rustic are equally at home. It’s a land in which the best New Mexican cuisine might just be found in Cuba (that would be El Bruno and the best Cuban food could well be the one served in Madrid’s Tocororo Cafe. Cuban food in Madrid, you ask. Many people assume (incorrectly) that there are only two restaurants…

Closed in 2008Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew MexicoSanta Fe

Cafe San Estevan – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno9:40 AM

In 1598, don Juan de Oñate led an expedition of Spanish colonists–including eight Franciscan friars–to the east bank of the Rio Grande near its confluence with the Chama River. There they founded San Gabriel, New Mexico’s first capital at a site close to present day Okay Owingeh, one of New Mexico’s great Tewa speaking Northern New Mexico Pueblos. Nine years later Don Pedro de Peralta, established as New Mexico’s capital, “La Villa Real de Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asisi,” or “The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi.” Spanish explorers and the sandal-shod sons…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBakeryBreakfastClosed in 2009Gone But Not Forgotten

Painted Horse Coffeehouse – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:10 PM

In the summer of 2000, prominent artists throughout the Southwest resoundingly answered the call to submit their design ideas for painting on an unconventional medium–a horse cast in a durable resin blend. This particular canvas was chosen to commemorate the introduction to North America of the horse. More than five centuries ago, Spanish Conquistadores explored New Mexico astride the noble beast. The painted ponies were intended to promote artistic excellence and for about a year, the “trail of painted ponies” led art aficionados to various galleries throughout the state where the equine masterpieces were on display. In the fall of…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2008FrenchGone But Not Forgotten

Cafe Voila – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:16 AM

Mon ami Francophile who spends months vacationing in France likes to talk about his dining experiences in the land of haute cuisine and haughty waiters, regaling anyone who will listen with tales of surliness, scorn and condescension the likes of which Americans are unused to. His favorite tales of woe involve a churlish waiter at a sidewalk cafe in Paris adept at ignoring customers to the full extent of their patience then tossing menus at them. When taking their order, he will roll his eyes and tap his pencil on the menu as if aggravated that his valuable time is…

Closed in 2012Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoPizza

Sandia Crust Pizza Company – Cedar Crest, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno3:16 AM

Deadheads and pizza have been inextricably tied since 1993 when (legend has it) an audacious pizza delivery boy absconded with several cassette tapes from Jerry Garcia’s kitchen counter.  It didn’t take long before late-night Grateful Dead radio programs around the country were playing second- and third-generation “dubs” of the rough mixes that have come to be known as “The Pizza Tapes.” The Pizza tapes featured the collaboration of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, mandolinist David Grisman and guitarist Tony Rice, all legendary figures in the music world.  The 12-song improvisation gives every indication that the session was warm, intimate and…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2008Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoThai

Tawan Thai Cuisine – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:14 AM

Note: This review was written about a Tawan Thai Cuisine location in Rio Rancho that no longer exists. The original Tawan Thai at 200 Wyoming Blvd, S.E., also closed in late 2008. For Rio Rancho’s Thai cuisine aficionados the sky was bleak only briefly. The despair they felt after the closure of Hong Thai was replaced scant weeks later by elation at the August, 2007 launch of Tawan Thai Cuisine. With that launch, the sun began shining brightly as City of Vision residents could once again Thai one on. Tawan, the Thai word for sun, is quickly becoming a shining…

AmericanArizonaBreakfastRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

El Tovar – Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Gil Garduno9:57 PM

When Spanish explorer García López de Cárdenas first laid eyes on the Grand Canyon, surely his reaction wasn’t “it’s just a great big hole in the ground.” That was the reaction of a friend of mine, who much like other modern Americans is so caught up in the trappings of pop culture and “technolust” that he’s lost the ability to be impressed by what it has taken nature millions of years to produce. It took some six million years for the Colorado River to create the multi-hued, steep-sided gorge that is today considered one of the natural wonders of the…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2008Gone But Not ForgottenItalianNew MexicoSandwich

Deli Mart West – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno10:45 AM

The human capacity for developing attachments can be a bit of a conundrum. Although my very being is eternally rooted in New Mexico, returning to America in 1987 after three years in England made me feel as if I had left my home behind. Similarly after two years in Massachusetts, I returned in 1979 to my beloved New Mexico with a huge hole in my heart, pining for so many things about my first home as an adult. One of the things I missed most about the Bay State was the tremendously creative things that could be generously crammed inside…