Author: Gil Garduno

Since 2008, the tagline on Gil’s Thrilling (And Filling) Blog has invited you to “Follow the Culinary Ruminations of New Mexico’s Sesquipedalian Sybarite.” To date, more than six million visitors have trusted (or at least visited) my recommendations on more than 1,300 restaurant reviews. Please take a few minutes to tell me what you think. Whether you agree or disagree with me, I'd love to hear about it.
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Jinja Bar & Bistro – Santa Fe & Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Fusion cuisine.  The term often makes the most stodgy of purists cringe.  Even those among us with the most liberal of palates have been known to cower at its mention.  All too often, fusion cuisine is a loosely defined excuse for restaurateurs to unleash any number of unnatural flavor combinations upon the chaste, unsuspecting taste buds of diners seeking a memorable meal.  Like a shotgun culinary marriage, felonious acts have been perpetrated in the name of fusion, with disparate exotic ingredients forced together by the imagination of sadistic chefs. It would be impossible, however, to dismiss fusion cuisine entirely.  In one respect or another, much of the food we eat is a product of fusion.  There is no one national…

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Dave’s High Desert Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

It’s easier, by far, to define and describe Japanese and Chinese cuisines than the melting pot (literally and figuratively) that is American cuisine.  It’s the same with French cuisine and Italian cuisine.  Virtually every cultural culinary tradition had been influenced by the traditions of neighboring countries while managing to retain elements that are unique to that particular cuisine.  American cuisine, on-the-other-hand is pretty much a mishmash of every other cuisine, near or far.  To say American cuisine consists of the cooking style and traditional dishes prepared in the United States is to sell that cuisine short.  Immigrants, in particular, have created a diverse cuisine that often varies by region. As if American cuisine sounds like a catch-all term, a phalanx…

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Hello Deli – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

HELLO DELI (to the tune of Hello Dolly) “Hello Deli, this is Joe, Deli would you please send up a nice corned beef on rye. A box of RITZ, Deli and some Schlitz, Deli Some chopped liver and a sliver of your, apple pie. Turkey Legs, Deli hard boiled eggs, Deli and a plate of those potatoes you french fry, oh Don’t be late, Deli I just can’t wait Deli, Deli without breakfast, I’d just die.” ~ Frank Jacobs (Writer for MAD Magazine) In 2016, BBC Travel lamented the imminent demise of the New York City deli.  “Not the corner markets or bodegas that appear on nearly every New York block,” but “the true New York City delicatessen: the brick and…

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A Bite of Belgium – Las Cruces, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Jerry: “Don’t you know what it means to become an orgy guy? It changes everything. I’d have to dress different. I’d have to act different. I’d have to grow a mustache and get all kinds of robes and lotions and I’d need a new bedspread and new curtains I’d have to get thick carpeting and weirdo lighting. I’d have to get new friends. I’d have to get orgy friends. … Naw, I’m not ready for it.” ~Seinfeld In the sixth season of Seinfeld, Jerry is dating Sandy, a “non-laugher” who seems unamused by his jokes. When Jerry goes to Sandy’s apartment he meets Laura, her roommate, who laughs at his jokes.  Almost as important to the superficial Jerry, she’s very…

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La Posta De Mesilla – Mesilla, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

If only walls could talk, you’d want the adobe brick walls at La Posta (The Inn) to recount their impressions of the veritable “who’s who” of Western history who once sought shelter within its fortified walls.  You’d want those walls to reveal their thoughts of legendary outlaw Billy the Kid who hung out at La Posta on his road to notoriety.  You’d want those walls to tell you about the steely presence of General Douglas MacArthur, who commanded Allied forces in the Pacific Theater during World War II. You’d want those walls to share their account of Generalissimo Pancho Villa, another sojourner who sought shelter at La Posta.  Certainly no raconteur could provide the details known only to the walls…

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Adobe Deli – Deming, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

In 2009  I had the great privilege of helping compile the inaugural New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail along with the scintillating, four-time James Beard award-winning author Cheryl Alters Jamison; the brilliant Kate Manchester, founding publisher of Edible Santa Fe; and one of New Mexico’s finest ambassadors, Martin Leger, then advertising manager for the New Mexico Department of Tourism.  We discussed dozens of potential candidates for inclusion into the inaugural Trail.    Narrowing down those “most worthy” was like selecting the best and brightest stars on a clear, cold New Mexico winter night. Between the four of us, we had (over the years, not in one seating) voraciously consumed green chile cheeseburgers at an almost embarrassing number of restaurants, drive-ins, diners,…

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Tranquil Buzz Coffee Shop – Silver City, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Where have all the hippies gone?  Long time passing.  Where have all the hippies gone?  Long time ago.  Where have all the hippies gone?  Would you believe they’ve all gone to Tranquil Buzz, a coffee shop with perhaps the best coffee shop vibe in the country.  Boasting of the “best coffee in the cosmos,” Tranquil Buzz lives the motto “Love lives here.”  We practically lived there, too.  Well, at least for the first two hours of our day during the three days we spent in Silver City.  Fortunately the AirBnB at which we stayed was directly across the street from what has become a community meeting place with regular events such as poetry readings, open mic music and written word,…

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Diane’s Bakery & Deli – Silver City, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

In 2011, New Mexico Magazine recruited several local food writers and asked us to introduce readers to ten of “New Mexico’s Best Eats” in several categories:  Best Green Chile Cheeseburger, Best New Mexican Soul Food, Best Fine Dining, Best Enchiladas, Bet Vegetarian New Mexican Food, Best Road Food, Beste Local Seasonal Ingredients, Best Contemporary Native American Food, Best Chocolate and Best Carne Adovada.   For the most part, writers waxed eloquent about “the usual suspects” in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. The most noteable exception was Lesley S. King, a distinguished writer who graced New Mexico Magazine’s as the “King of the Road” for years.  Lesley declared The Land of Enchantment’s “Best Road Food” to be the Hatch Benedict from Diane’s…

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Buckhorn Saloon – Pinos Altos, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

In 1859, 49ers returning home from California discovered gold among the tall pines (Pinos Altos) north of Silver City. Word spread like wildfire.  In short order, there were more than 700 men prospecting in the area. As with other boom towns, rampant lawlessness made prospectors lives exciting to say the least.  Miners faced an anything goes attitude in the pursuit of gold punctuated by frequent raids by marauding Apaches.  In the “Apache War” of 1861, Cochise joined his father-in-law Mangas Coloradas (an Apache war leader who towered at 6’7″) and some 400 Apache warriors to drive away miners from their traditional homeland. In its early days Pinos Altos saw a veritable who’s who of fame and infamy.   In the…

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La Vie Est Un Bistro – Silver City, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

In 2013, the New York Times published an article titled “Looking for Big Flavors in a Small Town.”  The article extolled the dining scene in “Silver City, an old mining town in the southwestern corner of the state, which has “seen its creative spirit extend to the local food scene.”   Leave it to your roving gastronome to arrive in Silver City ten eleven years too late.  When the New York Times visited, Silver City was home to the Curious Komquat, where Chef Rob Connoley earned  James Beard semi-finalist honors for Best Chef – Southwest.  Chef Connoley, by the way, moved to St. Louis where he garnered another semifinalist nomination in 2022, this time for Best Chef: Midwest.  He repeated that…

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Giovanni’s Pizza & Subs – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Frequent and lengthy business trips to California in 1997 nearly ruined me forever for a food that belongs on America’s food pyramid (never mind the government’s nutritional aspects)–pizza. Despite an open mind and willingness to try anything, the heretical toppings adorning Golden State pizzas quelled and quashed what I had thought to be an everlasting love. Even today, I’m traumatized by nightmares of pesto impregnated crust desecrated with sushi grade sashimi, artichoke and the designer vegetable de jour. Returning to the Land of Enchantment with the taste of pizza parodies fresh on my mind, it was weeks before I could bring myself to even contemplate partaking of the pie Italians (and those who wish they were) consider sacred. Then we…