Category: New Mexico

Closed in 2016Gone But Not ForgottenHot DogsIce CreamRio Rancho

Ice Cream Palace and Hot Dog World – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

Nay-sayers, those nattering nabobs of negativism, have always had it in for hot dogs. First they plied us with horror stories and urban myths about what hot dogs are made of. Essentially, they decried, hot dogs are made of everything from pigs snouts and chicken feet to snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails. Then they ratcheted up our shock and awe by telling us how hot dogs are loaded with artery-clogging, cancer-causing saturated fats, not to mention those nasty nitrates and nefarious nitrites. They’ve even disparaged hot dogs as processed pink slime in a bun. Despite all the brouhaha and rigmarole, hot dogs continue to thrive across the fruited plain as aficionados of the tantalizing tubular treats snub their…

AlbuquerqueChineseRated 23

Chopstix – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

And I find chopsticks frankly distressing. Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back 3,000 years haven’t yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food? ~Bill Bryson The precise date in which chopsticks were first used has been lost in time. Archaeological evidence found in burial plots indicates they are at least 3,200 years old though some scholars believe they’ve been around even longer than that. Even the evolution of chopsticks is in debate. Some surmise that chopsticks evolved from the practice of using wooden sticks to stir food…

AlbuquerqueNew Mexican

Taco Shel – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Having left New Mexico in the mid 1980s, the pangs of pining for New Mexico’s incomparable, capsaicin-rich cuisine have left Brian Riordan sleepless in Seattle. I can certainly commiserate, having spent much of 18 years away from the “Land of Enchilement,” (an appropriate sobriquet courtesy of the erstwhile Albuquerque Journal restaurant critic Andrea Lin. After discovering this Web site, Brian e-Mailed me to share his musings on and memories of the Duke City dining scene, many of which we shared in common. We both recall fondly when Taco Sal served some of the best New Mexican cuisine in the city. For Brian, it was the #11, beef burrito plate, that captured his heart to the tune of nearly a visit…

AlbuquerqueAsianClosed in 2019Gone But Not Forgotten

Asian Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

In “My Fair Ernest T. Bass,” one of the most hilarious episodes ever of the 1960s television classic, The Andy Griffith Show, Sheriff Andy Taylor tried to pass off Ernest T. as a cultured gentleman. By teaching him manners, Andy hoped Ernest T., a bumpkinly, rock-throwing, havoc-wreaking hillbilly, would find a girl and learn to behave in polite society. The expectations Andy had for the slovenly Ernest T. were an example of the Pygmalion Effect, a phenomenon positing that the greater the expectations placed upon people, the better they will perform. It’s a form of self-fulfilling prophecy. Could this phenomenon have been in play when Albuquerque city councilor Ray Garduño (no relation) and other civic leaders came up with a…

AlbuquerqueNew MexicoRated 23

Frost Gelato – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

“I believe gelato is meant to be treated as medicine and taken daily as a prescription.” ~Author: Betsy Brandt If you’ve never associated such words as searing, stifling, sweltering, sultry, sticky and sizzling with Italy, you probably haven’t been there during a summer heat wave. During the day, cobbled streets heat up like a pizza oven, radiating heat even through the night. Worse, in much of Italy air conditioning is a rare luxury, especially by American standards. Even at five-star luxury accommodations you probably won’t be able to drop the temperature down to the cool 70-degrees you enjoy at home. Summer’s heat in Italy is probably why Andrew Zimmern, host of the Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods Delicious Destinations program described…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBar & GrillClosed in 2017Gone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

The Library – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

Although my Kim has now lived in New Mexico for more than twenty years, her functional Spanish hasn’t improved much (sadly this places her in the company of many native New Mexicans). She sings Spanish hymns like a songbird in church, perfectly enunciating each nuanced word, even when she has to roll her “R’s.” On rare but well-deserved occasions she can direct a slew of choice Spanish expletives at moronic motorists. She can also order all her favorite dishes at Mexican and New Mexican restaurants with fluency. What she can’t do is carry on or even understand a coherent conversation in Spanish. During her first visit to the Land of Enchantment, my Kim inventoried her vocabulary of Spanish words and…

AlbuquerqueThai

Thai Tip – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Although short in stature, gregarious Tippewan “Tip” Sherrod, for whom Thai Tip is named, is as dynamic and passionate a restaurateur as you’ll meet in Albuquerque. If she’s not inundated with hungry patrons, she might take time out to recount her background as a midwife in her native Thailand as she extols the healthy qualities of Thai food. While she takes your order she might just tell you about the curative and healthful properties of your particular choice. 30 April 2005: The Thom Kha Kai (a traditional Thai soup based on coconut milk with the sweet scented spicing that comes from lemon grass and galganal, (a root similar to ginger), for example, is good for high-blood pressure. It’s also good…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBurgersNew Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009

300 Club Bar & Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

300! In the parlance of the bowler, it signifies absolute perfection, twelve consecutive strikes. According to some trusted foodies, the 300 Club Bar & Grill in Albuquerque’s Skidmore’s Holiday Bowl on Lomas just east of San Pedro serves a mean green chile cheeseburger, a 12-strike masterpiece, a perfect 300. This is a burger so good, it was one of the twenty contestants for the inaugural Governor’s Green Chile Cheeseburger Challenge in 2009. We all know the stereotypes about bowling alley food. When it comes to food, most bowling alleys strike out. Ardent keglers are subjected to such catastrophic “cuisine” as perpetually rotating hot dogs seared to a leathery sheen under a heat lamp inferno, soppy messes of nachos bathed in…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastClosed in 2015Gone But Not ForgottenNew Mexico

Gravy – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

“Gravy is the simplest, tastiest, most memory-laden dish I know how to make: a little flour, salt and pepper, crispy bits of whatever meat anchored the meal, a couple of cups of water or milk and slow stirring to break up lumps.” ~Dorothy Allison, American writer Some would say that the discovery (invention?) of gravy is one of mankind’s crowning achievements. Others would deride it as the work of the devil, likening gravy to a beguiling temptress which bends the will to its bidding. Dolly Parton acknowledges that “every single diet I ever fell off of was because of potatoes and gravy of some sort.” It’s no surprise that similar to many of the world’s best tasting foods, gravy is…

AlbuquerqueBarbecueBreakfastClosed in 2017Gone But Not ForgottenNew Mexican

Sandia Chile Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

If perspiration is (as the proverbial “they” have declared) the mother of invention, Mickey and Clinton Coker may just be two of the most glistening guys in the Duke City. Since 2004, the Cokers have “reinvented” their restaurant four times. If you’re thinking, they’re just try, try, trying again until they get it right, you couldn’t be more wrong. Mickey Coker, the entrepreneur behind the four make-overs, started with a culinary concept that was so wildly successful, it prompted almost immediate growth. His second effort, a brick-and-mortar operation, also achieved significant acclaim. Some might have considered the third Coker transition strictly a sideline…until it started garnering one award after the other. The fourth step in the evolution of the Sandia…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastBrunchDog FriendlyNew Mexico

Cinnamon Sugar and Spice Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Back in the dark ages when I grew up–long before America became the kinder, gentler Utopia it is today–it would have been inconceivable that boys and girls would receive trophies just for “participating.” Back then, we were expected to be competitive about everything. The battle of the sexes was waged at home every night with my brothers and I pitting our brawn and bulk against the brains and gumption of our sisters, two of whom would go on to graduate as valedictorians and all of them much smarter than the recalcitrant Garduño boys. It rankled us to no end when our sisters reminded us constantly that “boys are made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails’” while they were…