Monica’s El Portal – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“It feels so true when I’m with you I’m free A place I go that feels like home to me It feels so true It’s time well spent when I’m with you.” ~Feels Like Home …
Read More 
Frank’s Famous Chicken & Waffles – Albuquerque, New Mexico
If one measure of success is having the wherewithal to pursue those things you love most, Frank Willis has led a very successful life. A towering skyscraper of a man, Frank has had four great …
Read More
P’Tit Louis Bistro – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” –Ernest …
Read More
Bocadillos Slow Roasted: A Sandwich Shop – Albuquerque, New Mexico
The Food Network’s television cameras just love Chef Marie Yniguez who’s been showcased on not one, not two, not even three, but four of its prime-time programs. Aficionados of her cooking will tell you that …
Read More
Sixty Six Acres – Albuquerque, New Mexico
My high school football coach used to call his team “chiquitos pero picosos,” a Spanish term meaning “small but piquant” (like New Mexico’s chiles). At 6’1” and a svelte 175 pounds in full uniform, I …
Read More
Modern General – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“I went to a general store but they wouldn’t let me buy anything specific.” ~Steven Wright While nay-sayers may regard New Mexico as an anachronism–stuck in a time warp somewhere between Victorian times and the …
Read More
Albuquerque City Limits – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“It’s when I reach the city limits that my sense of security ends and my sense of adventure begins.” ~Anthony T. Hincks Author: Verbs in Storyland Why is it the term “city limits” conjures the same type …
Read More
The Feel Good – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Whoa! I feel good, I knew that I would, now I feel good, I knew that I would So good, so good, ’cause I got you So good, so good, ’cause I got you So …
Read More
Vara Winery & Distillery – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In 1620, King Philip III of Spain issued a royal decree mandating that each of the 19 recognized New Mexican Pueblos elect by popular vote, a governor, lieutenant governor and other officers as might be …
Read More
Punchy’s Wood-Fired Pizza – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In the parlance of the pugilist, “punchy” is synonymous with punch-drunk, the result of having been battered violently by an opponent. You know, like Rocky Balboa after a few rounds with Apollo Creed. Don’t ever …
Read More
Sophia’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Exterior signage for Dennis Apodaca’s new restaurant venture sports the name of the previous tenant, a short-lived eatery named MIXX. In a February blurb announcing Dennis’s return, the Albuquerque Journal called his new venture “REMIXX.” …
Read More
It Dim Sum – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Shortly after “moving on up to the east side, to a deluxe apartment in the sky,” George Jefferson was uncharacteristically late returning home. Knowing George had gone to a Chinese restaurant after work, his dutiful …
Read More
Burque’s Burgers & Dawgs – Albuquerque, New Mexico
A 2016 quality of life survey conducted by the city of Albuquerque revealed that denizens of the Duke City are split pretty much down the middle when it comes to the nickname “Burque” (which, by …
Read More
Albuquerque / Food Network Eats New Mexico / New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009 / New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011 / Steak
Monte Carlo Steakhouse – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Last night I broke the seal on a Jim Beam decanter That looks like Elvis.” ~George Jones Having spent much of his career in an inebriated state, Country music icon George Jones actually lived the …
Read More
Indigo Crow Cafe – Corrales, New Mexico
Now I lay myself down to sleep I pray oh lord my soul to keep Cause if I should die before I wake I hope up in Heaven they’ve got lobster and steak It’s a …
Read More
Ponderosa Family Restaurant & Grill- Tijeras, New Mexico
The teeth, tail and eye of the tiger caused quite an uproar in the Sandia National Forest near Tijeras, New Mexico back in 2015 and it made the national news. A mountain biker took a …
Read More
Two Cranes Bistro and Brew – Albuquerque, New Mexico
As we wended our way along meandering Rio Grande Boulevard, I commented to my Kim, “I sure miss Ichabod and Katrina.” “Colleagues of yours at UNM?,” she asked. “No, not colleagues,” I replied pointing to …
Read More
Rusty Taco – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In 2015, food critic Mike Sutter embarked on a quest Don Quixote would envy when he ate at a different taco joint in Austin, Texas every day for an entire year. During his 365-day adventure, …
Read More
Albuquerque / Breakfast / Food Network Eats New Mexico / New Mexican / Rated 23 / Travel Channel Eats New Mexico
Cecilia’s Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Pasqual Baylon’s devotion to the Mass and the Holy Eucharist was so fervent that even when assigned kitchen duty, he remained so enraptured in adoration of the Eucharist that angels had to stir the pots …
Read More
Albuquerque / Dog Friendly / Food Network Eats New Mexico / New Mexican / New Mexico Culinary Treasures Trail / The Secret Life Of / Travel Channel Eats New Mexico
El Pinto – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Over the years, perhaps no restaurant across the Land of Enchantment has garnered as much recognition from the national media as has El Pinto. Rather than recap all its accolades across the years, let’s focus …
Read More
Saigon Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico
According to some stereotypes, when you eat Chinese food, you’ll be hungry an hour later. That stereotype is known as the “Chinese food paradox.” One of the culprits behind that stereotype is rice, a …
Read More
Hannah & Nate’s – Albuquerque & Corrales, New Mexico
There are just some restaurants at which the stereotypical Ralph Cramden hungry man shouldn’t dine. Hannah & Nate’s might be one of them. It’s not that the food isn’t good. That’s certainly not the case. …
Read More
Southwest Savories Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico
After years of toiling as a quality engineer in a pressure cooker environment in which the happiest time of day was usually 5PM, Charlene McBain has truly found her happy place. It’s a cozy little …
Read More
The Shop Breakfast & Lunch – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In the 60s and early 70s, movies and television programs would have you believe all spies were hard-drinking, fast-driving, woman-chasing playboys as good with their fists as they were with a gun. They were worldly, …
Read More
Albuquerque / American / Breakfast / New Mexico Culinary Treasures Trail / Travel Channel Eats New Mexico
K&I Diner – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In 1960, Albuquerque’s population reached 201,189, more than doubling the city’s tally from the 1950 census. The start of a new decade began an era of expansion, a construction boom in which the burgeoning city …
Read More
Bosque North Brewery & Taproom – Bernalillo, New Mexico
“Are you going to explain how to pronounce “bosque?,” my Kim asked when she espied me working on this review. Though her Spanish vocabulary is rather limited, she pronounces the five or six hundred Spanish …
Read More
K’Lynn’s Cuisine – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
Before permanent signage was mounted, a tethered banner in front of K’Lynn’s Southern & Cajun Fusion in Rio Rancho listed a few of the delicious treasures available in the tiny restaurant: “catfish, BBQ, gumbo, po …
Read More
Taj Mahal – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Don Shirley: “How is that?” Tony Lip: “Salty.” Don Shirley: “Have you ever considered becoming a food critic?” Tony Lip: “Nah, not really. Why? Is there money in it?” Don Shirley: “I’m just saying you …
Read More
Pollito Con Papas and Pollito Con Papas II – Albuquerque, New Mexico
I think a rotisserie is like a really morbid ferris wheel for chickens. It’s a strange piece of machinery. We will take the chicken, kill it, impale it and then rotate it. And I’ll be …
Read More
Nexus Blue Smokehouse – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Tim “The Toolman” Taylor just didn’t get the concept of “low-and-slow.” During barbecue week on Taylor’s “Tool Time” television show, his buddies from NASA told him the secret to quickly igniting a grill was to …
Read More
Restoration Pizza – Albuquerque, New Mexico
My dad taught me very early on that all people have inherent worth and dignity and are deserving of respect and kindness. A lifelong educator, he had a knack for reaching students deemed incorrigible or …
Read More
Pho 505 – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)
“Eating slowly is good for the stomach; plowing deeply is good for the fields.” ~Vietnamese Proverb Imagine if the village of Hatch was granted a trademark that awarded it exclusive rights to the name “chile.” …
Read More
Albuquerque / American / Breakfast / Burgers / Dog Friendly / New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009 / New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011
The Owl Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Shortly before 6AM. on July 16, 1945, some of the world’s most brilliant minds ushered in the nuclear age with the detonation of the first atomic bomb, an occasion which later prompted Los Alamos Laboratory …
Read More
The Kosmos – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Even though New Mexico’s license plates have been graced with the sobriquet “Land of Enchantment” since 1941, it didn’t become the state’s official nickname until 1999. For much longer than that, the more derisive epithet …
Read More
Papa Nacho’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico
“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.” …
Read More
Thai Heritage & Vegan – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Who among us hasn’t learned at least one thing about Thai culinary heritage from The Big Bang Theory? In a 2011 episode, for example, we learned that according to Thai tradition the last morsel of …
Read More