Follow the Culinary Ruminations of New Mexico's Sesquipedalian Sybarite. 1240 Restaurant Reviews, More Than 12,300 Visitor Comments…And Counting!
A-Team leader “Hannibal” Smith (George Peppard) used to say, “I love it when a plan comes together.” We learned during our trip to Salt Lake City that sometimes baking in a little flexibility into a well thought-out plan can produce results even better than expected. Such was the case with our trip to Salt Lake City. Capably assisted by
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The best lobster in the world? In Salt Lake City? That’s as improbable as the Detroit Lions winning a Super Bowl, as unlikely as drivers in New Mexico developing the motor skills to use turn signals, as far-fetched as a conservative NRA member driving a Subaru in Santa Fe. As a landlocked state some two-thousand miles from the cold New
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Park City consistently ranks as Utah’s most expensive place to live with a $1.4 million median home price (as of July, 2021). Not bad for an old mining settlement which was in danger of becoming a ghost town until a group of miners pitched the idea of a ski resort in an effort to save their town. That was
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Television would have you believe Mars and Venus have different ideas as to what constitutes the proper way to eat a burger. Representing Venus (women), as depicted in a Wendy’s commercial from the 1980s, is a geriatrically advanced woman who takes a small bite of her juicy burger then daintily wipes off the detritis with a napkin. Representing Mars (men)
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About fifteen years ago, Becky Mercuri, a highly-regarded food writer from upstate New York contacted me about a book she was working on to recognize the best breakfasts in every state. I was already a huge fan of Becky’s writing so when she asked for my input on the best breakfast in New Mexico, I considered it a huge honor.
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In 2008, Natchez, Mississippi, was officially named the Biscuit Capital of the World, a process which took three years of research by Chef Regina Charboneau. Just our luck, the Natchez native and French-trained chef began serving her famous biscuits at her Twin Oaks Bed & Breakfast in Natchez a decade after our last visit to the “Antebellum Capital of the World.”
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My Kim didn’t buy my explanation that Moab is an acronym standing for “Mother Of All Buffets.” She did find my legitimate explanation viable. I explained that Moab means “a land just short of the Promised Land,” a name bestowed because the Moab valley was a verdant oasis in the middle of a desert. Moab first appears in the Old
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Because of the mulicultural melting pot that is America, it’s impossible to name the one food that defines us as Americans, the one food universally loved by us all. Hot dogs and apple pie? Contrary to the aphorism “as American as hot dogs and apple pie,” even hot dogs and apple pie have their detractors. Ditto for burgers, mashed potatoes,
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“Toasting makes me uncomfortable, but toast I love. Never start the day without a good piece of toast. In fact, let’s toast to toast.” ~George Costanza You might think that only a short, stocky, slow witted bald man would live a life so mundane as to even consider making a toast to a good piece of toast. That may have
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The cynosure of Tikka Hut, an Indian Fusion restaurant on First Street, is a colorful mural that pays tribute to the extraordinary and constantly evolving history of Mexican cuisine. The mural depicts the mesmerizing countenance of a beautiful indigenous maiden, maybe even the infamous Malinche herself. Immediately below the maiden is a Muslim Dhow sailing the azure waters of
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The Broadway musical Rent taught us that a year is comprised of “five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes.” Instead of measuring the length of a year “in daylights, sunsets, midnights, cups of coffee, inches, miles, laughter or strife,” Rent encouraged us to measure a year in life in seasons of love. Not surprisingly, Seasons of Love (a song
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As you’ve read on the tagline for Gil’s Thrilling (And Filling) Blog, your humble blogger fancies himself somewhat of a sesquipedalian (a person who tends to use big words). My logophilia (the love of vocabulary) is a lifelong affliction, both in English and in Spanish. Despite my “affair” with words, one word-related term which just doesn’t describe me is neologist
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It’s oft been said that “you taste first with your eyes.” Certainly sight figures in to the enjoyment of food and sets expectations, but the first sensory receptors to engage in taste is the sense of smell. If you’ve ever experienced a pleasant aroma wafting toward you as you approach a restaurant, you’ll agree. The Siam Cafe is quite possibly the
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Thanks largely to a 1974 Chevrolet commercial and its catchy tune, the phrase “As American as baseball, hot dogs and apple pie” has purportedly defined what Americans hold most sacrosanct. Never mind that hot dogs are derivative of European sausages, they’re inextricably part of the fabric of the fruited plain. The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (yes, there is
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Babu: Our specials are tacos, moussaka and franks and beans. Jerry: Well, what do you recommend my good fellow? Babu:Oh, the turkey. ~”The Cafe, Seinfeld, Season 3, Episode 7 While perusing the menu at Urban 360 Pizza, Grill and Tap House, my ever-witty friend Ryan “Break the Chain” Scott commented that the menu reminded him of The Dream, the very
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“The winner is the chef who takes the same ingredients as everyone else and produces the best results.” ~Edward De Bono The Land of Enchantment boasts of some 3,500 restaurants, more than 1,000 of which are members of the New Mexico Restaurant Association (NMRA). Keen competition from among hundreds of outstanding chefs throughout the Land of Enchantment makes being named
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