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Albuquerque New Mexico Rating: Good Southwestern Truth or Consequences

Casa Taco – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMarch 19, 2026April 3, 202611:20 PM

Nowadays, hoy en día, with our world full of war and violence and lack of love, a world full of greed A world of domination, grasping power, venal stupidity, real evil. Don’t get me started. It’s good to know that a conversation about tacos will always engender a sense of comfort and happiness. If only we could sit down at a big round world table and eat tacos in a spirit of love we might begin to work on world peace!” ~Denise Chavez New Mexican Author Not even the beloved taco was excluded from the divisiveness of 2016’s contentious presidential campaign. Marco Gutierrez, founder of the group Latinos for Trump warned MSNBC that without tighter immigration policies…”you’re going to have…

Albuquerque Asian Japanese New Mexico Ramen Rating: Outstanding

Oni Noodles – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMarch 14, 2026March 31, 20262:06 PM

In retrospect, the monsters and bogeymen who frightened impressionable children of my generation were pretty lame. Perhaps the most lame of them all was Frankenstein, a lumbering behemoth who walked around with his arms outstretched like a sleepwalking Shaquille O’Neal. Frankenstein snarled and growled a lot, probably because Gene Hackman poured hot soup on his lap. Then there was that pasty-faced vampire Dracula who could be repelled with garlic (which explains his aversion for Italian food). Dracula couldn’t even enjoy New Mexico’s 310 days of sunshine without sizzling and hissing like a strip of bacon. In comparison Japan’s monsters are pretty badass. Godzilla, a foul-tempered prehistoric sea monster prone to tantrums destroyed Tokyo several times and was pretty much impervious…

Albuquerque Asian Chinese New Mexico Rating: N/R (Not Rated)

Fei’s Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMarch 12, 2026April 6, 202612:12 AM

Some say the map of China looks like a chicken. The province of Sichuan in Southwest China would be right in the stomach of that chicken. That’s fitting because the cuisine of Sichuan is internationally renowned for its liberal use of spice. What characterizes Sichuan from the other regions of China is its use of Sichuan peppercorn, chilies, and the ability to take even the most mundane of ingredients to create fabulous dishes. There’s a term for the flavor profile associated with Sichuan cuisine. It’s the word “mala” which translates to “numbing spice.” The “ma” portion of that term comes from the use of Sichuan Peppercorns (which are actually in the same botanical family as citrus, not chilies). Sichuan peppercorns…

Albuquerque Breakfast Breakfast Burritos Mexican Rating: Excellent

Delicias Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMarch 8, 2026May 1, 202611:59 PM

There’s no denying the ever-increasing popularity of Mexican food across America, but it may surprise you to learn that in the estimation of some sources, it has supplanted Italian food as the favorite ethnic cuisine in the land. Marketplace, a nationally syndicated business oriented radio program with more than nine-million listeners a week, says there’s no bones about it, calling Mexican food “the most popular ethnic food in the U.S., bigger than Italian or Chinese.” Askmen.com confirms only that “Mexican has become one of the three most popular cuisines in the U.S., with nearly 90% of the total population having tasted it.” According to Marketplace, there are some 90,000 or so Mexican restaurants across the fruited plain. The loose categorization…

Albuquerque Asian New Mexico Rating: Outstanding Vietnamese

SAIGON CITY – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMarch 3, 2026March 31, 202612:02 AM

NOTE: Saigon City shuttered its doors on 31 October 2025 to allow the owners to take a much-needed vacation. It reopened on 12 January 2026. During the time away, Shawn negotiated an extension to the lease which will keep Saigon City at its familiar location. For that, regulars at this outstanding Vietnamese restaurant are elated. My brother in blogging Ryan Cook describes his first day in Vietnam: “So, my first stop in Vietnam was the capital, Hanoi. My honest first impressions… what the hell have I let myself in for. Seriously…The roads are chaos! The ride from the airport to the hostel was basically 40 minutes of holding my breath and cringing. How someone wasn’t killed in front of my…

African Albuquerque Ethiopian New Mexico Rating: N/R (Not Rated)

Clay Pot Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMarch 1, 2026April 6, 202612:01 AM

“This stuffing of food in your fellow diners’ face is called gursha, and that’s what you do to show your affection and respect. Try this at the Waffle House some time and prepare for awkwardness.” ~Anthony Bourdain, Season 6 of Parts Unknown Eating Ethiopian cuisine involves eating with your hands. That can also be said about eating pizza, sandwiches, tacos, gyros and a number of other foods common to the American palate. But what about being fed from someone else’s hand? In Ethiopia, that practice is called gursha. Gursha is a term for the Ethiopian tradition of hand-feeding a bite of food, wrapped in injera, to someone else as a gesture of love, friendship, and respect. It signifies hospitality, often extended to…

Corrales Dog Friendly New Mexican New Mexico Rating: Very Good

Perea’s Tijuana Bar & Restaurant – Corrales, New Mexico

Gil GardunoFebruary 27, 2026April 5, 202612:36 PM

The curious appellation “Tijuana Bar” dates back to the 1920s when the 18th amendment to the Constitution established Prohibition in the United States during the period 1920 to 1933. Because Prohibition forbade the sale of alcoholic beverages, many Americans got their alcohol illegally or they went to Mexico. Tijuana was a popular vacation and honeymoon destination and it happens to be where Teofilo C. Perea, Sr. and his bride honeymooned in the 1920s. The newlyweds visited a bar called the “Tijuana Bar” and decided then and there to use that name should they ever open a bar. Bureaucracy being what it is, once a license to dispense alcohol is issued, it’s very difficult to change the name on the license–hence…

Albuquerque New Mexico Rating: N/R (Not Rated)Sandwich

Kaufman’s New York – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoFebruary 24, 2026April 6, 202612:01 AM

“I’ll have what she’s having.” Can it really be 35 years since Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal created their famous fake orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally? The scene was filmed at New York City’s Katz’s Delicatessen where sumptuous sandwiches are skyscraper tall and absolutely delicious (my sole visit was in 1978). Unlike Meg’s character, most of us wouldn’t have to fake our “excitement” with one gander of the sheer size of Katz’s pastrami sandwich. A Katz’s, the world-famous pastrami sandwich is enormous, featuring about one pound (12–16 ounces) of hand-carved meat stacked between rye bread. The sandwich stands roughly five-inches tall and is often considered large enough for two people to share. Obviously that doesn’t include me; I wouldn’t…

Albuquerque Breakfast Breakfast Burritos New Mexican Rating: Good

Twisters Burgers & Burritos – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoFebruary 23, 2026May 1, 202612:00 AM

One of the sure signs of spring and summer in New Mexico is the presence of dust devils, those haphazardly whirling, dirty, dusty dervishes which seem to whip up out of nowhere to vacuum up all surface detritus on their unpredictable paths. Tumbleweeds, trash and soil spin skyward to heights of up to 100 feet only to be deposited–torn, tattered and worse for wear– sometimes great distances from their points of origin. Normally lasting no longer than a few seconds, dust devils are nature’s hot wind temper tantrum, capable of wreaking havoc quickly and with tremendous force. At their worse, they can rip siding off buildings, snap power lines, overturn lawn furniture, send trash cans careening down the street and…

Albuquerque Mediterranean New Mexico Rating: Outstanding

Anatolia Mediterranean – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoFebruary 22, 2026March 31, 202612:01 AM

As a bumpkinly but book-smart twenty-year-old away from home for the first time, I practically ached for adventure, something different… the antithesis of my agrarian upbringing. The Air Force accommodated me, sending me first to the cultural, culinary and cosmpolitan region around Boston, Massachusetts. It was an illuminating experience which I thoroughly loved, but after two years my wandering soul wanted to experience even further away lands. Though very open-minded, the only places not on my “dream sheet” of assignment preferences were Thule, Greenland; Shemya, Alaska; and the country of Turkey. The latter was based on having seen Midnight Express (on a date, no less). Though centered in a Turkish prison, the movie gave me a wholly inaccurate portrait of…

Breakfast Breakfast Burritos Mexican New Mexican New Mexico Rating: Outstanding

Ramona’s Mexican Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoFebruary 20, 2026May 1, 202612:01 AM

“No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.” ~Laurie Colwin, Novelist Watch virtually any episode of Kitchen Nightmares and you might just be convinced that families can’t possibly work together in a restaurant. Kitchen Nightmares, one of Gordon Ramsay’s eight-hundred or so television shows, is rather formulaic–Ramsay spends a week with a failing restaurant in an attempt to revive the business. Almost invariably, the failing restaurant is owned and operated by a family. Almost invariably, the drama falls just short of Homer strangling Bart. Arguments on Kitchen Nightmares are loud and intense. Copious…