Salsa and Chips Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog

2024 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" Semifinalist Breakfast Burritos James Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & Winners New Mexican New Mexico New Mexico Culinary Treasures Trail Rating: Excellent

Chope’s – La Mesa, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMarch 9, 2025May 1, 20264:00 PM

During my Kim’s inaugural visit shortly after we retired from the Air Force in 1995, we ran into a former Las Cruces resident now living in the nation’s capital. His near teary-eyed testimony about how much he missed Chope’s was more powerful than a Sunday sermon. When he kissed the hallowed ground in front of Chope’s, we knew he meant it. An elderly gentleman recounted the time Chope’s salsa was so hot it made him hiccup for three days. A middle-aged woman from Las Cruces rhapsodized about Chope’s chile rellenos, her testimony practically eliciting involuntary salivation in the impromptu audience…

Albuquerque American Breakfast Burritos Rating: Excellent

Ironwood Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJanuary 9, 2025May 1, 202610:29 AM

I’m not sure Matt Moody could sell milk to the lactose intolerant or ice to an eskimo, but it would be hard to bet against him. The genial owner of the Ironwood Kitchen on Albuquerque’s sprawling far northwest, Matt has a rare enthusiasm for both his restaurant and his recipes. He won’t just describe a dish on the menu, he’ll tell you how it’s prepared and may even give you the genesis of its ingredients. That type of enthusiasm and confidence is infectious. Matt is also wise and experienced enough to understand the customer is always right…even if he doesn’t…

American Madrid New Mexico New Mexico Culinary Treasures Trail New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011 Rating: Excellent

The Mine Shaft Tavern – Madrid, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJuly 30, 2024April 5, 202612:01 AM

“You load sixteen tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. St. Peter, don’t you call me cause I can’t go. I owe my soul to the company store.” Those immortal lyrics, hauntingly performed by crooner Tennessee Ernie Ford describe with a poignant reality, the plight of the American miner even onto the 20th century. By payday, which came at month’s end, miners did indeed owe their souls to the company–for the company house in which they were living, for groceries to feed their families, for doctor bills and even for the tools they used…

Albuquerque Breakfast New Mexican Rating: Very Good

Monroe’s New Mexican Food – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJuly 19, 2024April 3, 20262:38 AM

If I’ve learned anything from dining at Monroe’s, it’s that I shouldn’t leave the restaurant with any regrets. Invariably what I end up regretting most often is that I didn’t have the green chile cheeseburger, one of the very best in town, if not the Land of Enchantment. It’s a green chile cheeseburger so good that I’ll order it during three consecutive visits before ordering anything else on the menu–and when I don’t order it, I lament not having had my ardor quelled by its utter deliciousness. Some may question how a restaurant with such an “Anglicized” appellation as Monroe’s…

Breakfast Burritos New Mexican New Mexico New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011 Rating: Excellent

Jerry’s Cafe – Gallup, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJuly 1, 2024May 1, 20262:31 AM

The Land of Enchantment is bisected north to south by the murky and mucky Rio Grande which meanders some 700 miles through the state. Throughout the millennia, the fourth longest river in America has been the often tenuous lifeline upon which New Mexico’s citizenry has relied for sustenance and for recreation. Its precious waters are multifarious in their use–from human and animal consumption to the sustainment of agricultural systems and so much more. Depleted over time by human dependence and a perpetual drought condition, it is nonetheless a linchpin for New Mexico’s future even as demand for its resources increases…

Albuquerque American Dog Friendly New Mexico Rating: Very Good

High Point Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoMarch 10, 2024April 5, 20265:27 PM

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Ask a physicist and you’ll get an earful about quantum theory, wave function, subatomic particles and rarefactions in the air. A philosopher might posit the plausible premise that when there is nobody around, the falling tree makes no sound at all–a premise achieved by interpreting the word “sound” to mean a human experience rather than a physical phenomenon. With well-practiced prattle and deft circumlocution, a politician would probably attribute culpability for the tree having fallen to “the other side of…

Albuquerque Breakfast New Mexican New Mexico Culinary Treasures Trail Rating: Excellent

Duran’s Central Pharmacy – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJanuary 16, 2024April 3, 20265:23 PM

In an early episode of the Andy Griffith Show, while contemplating a job offer in South America, Andy tried to assuage his son Opie’s concerns about leaving Mayberry. Instead, he wound up confusing Opie by explaining that people in South America ate something called tortillas. Opie wondered aloud why anyone would eat spiders (tarantulas). Had Opie ever tasted the delicious, piping hot, just off the comal 10-inch buttered orbs at Duran’s Central Pharmacy, it’s unlikely he would ever confuse those grilled spheres with any arachnid. That’s because Duran’s features some of the very best tortillas of any restaurant in New…

Albuquerque Cuban Dog Friendly Mexican New Mexico Tacos

CubaMex – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJuly 21, 2023November 12, 202312:01 AM

Because Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and a succession of Spanish explorers followed suit, you might expect that Spanish cuisine would have proliferated across the new world. Instead, Spanish discoveries included indigenous cooking techniques and ingredients that forever altered the way scions of Spain ate. At the time of conquest, the European diet was principally comprised of bread, olive oil, olives, “meat,” and wine. The “new world”–Mexico in particular–was rich, fecund, and replete with such crops such as beans, pumpkins, chilies, avocados, tomatoes, cocoa, cotton, tobacco, corn, and cassava, foods that could not be found in Mother…

Albuquerque Dog Friendly Mariscos Mexican New Mexico Rating: Very Good Tacos

El Molcajeton – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJuly 15, 2023April 3, 202612:01 AM

Molcajetes have become so commonplace on many a Mexican restaurant’s decor that we sometimes forget molcajetes are the traditional Mexican version of the mortar and pestle…that they have both form and function. As we gawk in admiration at the symmetry and fine craftsmanship of a well-made molcajete, we don’t always reflect on the fact that throughout Mexico and some parts of the Estados Unidos molcajetes are still used to crush and grind spices and to prepare guacamole, moles and salsas. In restaurants and homes in which molcajetes are used for their intended functional purpose, the guacamole, moles and salsas created…

Albuquerque Breakfast Closed in 2023 Gone But Not Forgotten New Mexican New Mexico

Tortilla Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil GardunoFebruary 24, 2023June 13, 202312:01 AM

A sure sign Spring has arrived In rural New Mexico is the annual ritual of cleaning the acequias, the community operated ditches used to irrigate fields, gardens and lawns. Early in the morning, property owners or their designated paid representatives would convene at appointed spots to begin the effort. Work crews typically consisted of grizzled veterans, most of whom acted as “mayordomos” (bosses) and young bucks like me with strong backs. Not surprisingly, distribution of work was…shall we say, quite inequitable. The old-timers would order us around, shouting out instructions like elderly drill sergeants. Most of us youngsters didn’t mind.…

Albuquerque Dog Friendly Mariscos Mexican New Mexico

Lindo Mexico Grill & Seafood – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil GardunoJanuary 30, 2023April 3, 202611:59 PM

In the entire world, there may not be a national anthem that inspires as much heart-felt pride among its citizenry as the Mexican ballad Mexico Lindo Y Querido. It is a hauntingly stirring proclamation of the balladeer’s profound love for his native land–a love so intense that even his guitar awakens in the morning inspired to sing with alacrity about that land he loves. The song speaks to the country’s volcanoes, prairies and flowers serving as talismans for the love of his loves, the country of Mexico itself. While the country of Mexico is indeed blessed with awe-inspiring wonders, its…

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