Tag: Bakery

AlbuquerqueBakeryCoffeeNew MexicoRating: ExcellentSandwichVietnamese

Banh Me & You – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:47 AM

According to The Tanner Food Group, a a food consultancy focused on international trade, industry preparedness and regulatory activities, there are now nearly 8,000 Vietnamese restaurants stateside.  Food Scientist Michael Murdy, founder of robustkitchen.com attributes the  popularity of Vietnamese food to the “wide range of flavors and textures associated,” specifying that “the combination of sour, sweet, savory, and spicy flavors, as well as the use of fresh herbs and vegetables, makes Vietnamese food particularly attractive to people.” From among the nearly 8,000 Vietnamese restaurants on this side of the pond, it’s a good bet many of their menus are graced with banh mi, the sandwich melding French and Vietnamese flavors and techniques.  I first encountered the banh mi during one of many trips to the Santa Clara-San Jose area courtesy of Intel.  With a significant Vietnamese population, the area was teeming with restaurants, most generally serving pho and other wondrous delights from Vietnam.  At the time (mid 1990s), the San Jose area was starting to see Vietnamese bakeries opening up mostly in areas frequented by Asian populations.  Among them was Lee’s Sandwiches, maybe the first to showcase the banh mi. Lee’s Sandwiches has suffixed its corporate name with “International” and…

BakeryBreakfastNew MexicoRating: ExcellentRio Rancho

Dulce River Bakery & Coffee – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 PM

“Siblings in an ancient tradition Who take time, temperature and love And bring them together To make something that brings people together. You make more than just food You make friendships. You make joy.” ~Thank You Bakers According to legend, the city of Vienna, Austria has bakers to thank for its existence.  Those legends have it that in 1683, Vienna was under siege by over a hundred thousand Ottoman Turks. After months of trying to starve the city into submission, the Turks attempted to tunnel underneath the walls of the city. Fortunately for the “City o Dreams,” some bakers hard at work in the middle of the night heard the sounds of the Turks digging and alerted the city’s defenders. This advance warning gave the defenders enough time to do something about the tunnel before it was completed. Just in time, King John III of Poland arrived at the head of an army that defeated the Turks and forced them to retreat. To celebrate the end of the siege and the part they had in repelling the Turks, several bakers in Vienna made a pastry in the shape of the crescents they had seen on the battle standards of the…

2024 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistBakeryJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa FeSlovak

Dolina – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

For my dad, a professional educator for thirty years, it wasn’t enough that his children learned how to spell cat, dog and all the other traditional first words kids learn to spell in school.  He taught us how to spell Czechoslovakia, rhinoceros, aesthetic and other multisyllabic words.  He also taught us what those words meant.  Being kids, we giggled when he taught us about Lake Titicaca in the Andes of Bolivia, but marveled at its size and altitude.  Because of his teaching, one of my sisters could (at age seven) recite the alphabet backwards as quickly as most people can recite it forward.  Two of my sisters were double-promoted and both finished high school as valedictorians. My dad didn’t teach his precocious brood so we could show off in school, but to inculcate a love of learning.  It’s served the six of us very well.  Every one of my brothers and sisters has been highly successful in their chosen professions and in life (I’m the family dunce).   You might think learning about Czechoslovakia didn’t have any value, but it gave me a lifetime of curiosity about other nations and cultures.  It’s a curiosity that extends to the cuisine of exotic…

AlbuquerqueBakeryBrunchClosed in 2025DonutsGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoVegetarian/Vegan

Knead Dough Bar & Eatery – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“I don’t talk about politics, religion or sports, because all three will divide people. That’s why I talk about food, because food brings people together. That’s right! Unless you’re vegan!” ~Gabriel Iglesias Not even glass half full optimists can disagree that America has accelerated into a warp speed devolution from George H. W. Bush’s vision of a “kinder, gentler nation.”    Replace kinder and gentler with snarky and sniping and you’ve got a more accurate picture.  Not only are there widening schisms between political ideologies, there are deep fissures between values of all types (as comedian Gabriel Iglesias astutely pointed out).  It’s not enough to disagree any more.  In modern America, we don’t tolerate differences of opinion.   We take them personally and go on the offensive.  Take Chef Gordon Ramsay’s proclamation: “If the kids ever came up to me and said, ‘Dad, I’m a vegetarian,’ then I would sit them on the fence and electrocute them.”    There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. Or so I pondered when my Kim and I made our way to Knead Dough Bar & Eatery, a plant-forward cafe on Gold Avenue.   From among my friends and my acquaintances, only my…

AmericanBreakfastDog FriendlyIdahoRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Bigwood Bread Cafe – Ketchum, Idaho

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Ernest Hemingway spent much of the roaring twenties in Paris, a city whose own liberal attitudes attracted poets, painters and writers from throughout the world. Paris was a vibrant city which drew many expats from the so-called “lost generation” of cynical young people disillusioned with the materialism and individualism prevalent in society at the time.  As a young writer penning “A Moveable Feast,” Hemingway observed: “You got very hungry when you did not eat enough in Paris,” because all the bakery shops had such good things in the windows and people ate outside at tables on the sidewalk so that you saw and smelled the food.” An avid outdoorsman, Ernest Hemingway, was a Sun Valley habitué even before establishing a permanent residence in Ketchum two years before his death in 1961.  One of Hemingway’s favorite watering holes was The Sawtooth Club, a decidedly masculine appointed establishment where he would have been right at home.  While enjoying breakfast at Bigwood Bread about a mile north of The Sawtooth Club, I wondered to myself if Hemingway would have enjoyed that bread.  Surely after having experienced Paris and its incomparable boulangeries, he would have become addicted to bread.   Alas, Bigwood Bread, the…

BakeryRating: Very GoodSandwich

Roma Bakery & Deli – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

Galdamez and Albertine. If you saw those names on a building, you might expect to see them appended with “Attorneys at Law.” That’s especially true if the building is in the area immediately north of Albuquerque’s burgeoning downtown district, an area teeming with lawyers’ offices and bail bondsmen (is bondspeople the politically correct term?). Instead, the building in which Oscar Galdamez and Bruce Albertine ply their own noble trade houses a diminutive and charming dining establishment, Roma Bakery and Deli. You won’t see their named displayed in any officious self-aggrandizement manner, but it’s a good bet you’ll get to know their names soon enough. That’s because frequent return visits are imminent, especially for hungry patrons lucky enough to live or work close to the restaurant. The Roma Bakery and Deli launched in the summer of 2006 and despite seating for only about 40 patrons, this comfy, cozy diner has established itself as a very popular dining destination. Visit during the lunch hour and you’ll find yourself standing in a line that extends from the entrance to the counter at which you place your order. There is no menu overhead, but most of the patrons don’t seem to need it. That…

AlbuquerqueBakeryBreakfastClosed in 2023Gone But Not ForgottenGuatemalanNew Mexico

Panaderia Guatemalteca Eterna Primavera – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

To truly understand the cuisine of Guatemala, it helps to understand why this Central American paradise is known as the “Land of Eternal Spring.”  With nineteen diverse ecosystems, Guatemala boasts of jungles, forests, beaches, volcanoes and an expanse of natural resources.  Thick, lush vegetation enrobes seemingly never-ending mountain landscapes in verdant hues.  Magnificent pristine waterfalls cascade over those mountains, feeding the rivers that nourish fecund lands.  A belt of fire formed by active volcanoes is often shrouded by clouds just as ominous.  Bordered at its west by the Pacific and by the Atlantic at its east, Guatemala is graced by a diversity of climates and elevations. Relatively mild year-round, the climate is tropical and sub-tropical but varies greatly in relation to altitude.  Topographical diversity ranges from sea level to mountains that climb to more than 13,000 feet.  Precipitation in excess of 150-inches per year prevail at higher elevations while near-desert conditions persist elsewhere.  In addition to its well-deserved sobriquet “Land of Eternal Spring,” Guatemala is fittingly known as “the heart of the Mayan world.”    Pride in the culture and history of one of world’s greatest civilizations and their formidable accomplishments is understandably deep.  For more than a thousand years,…

BakeryClosed in 2022Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenUnited StatesUtah

Les Madeleine’s Patisserie Cafe – Salt Lake City, Utah (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

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.  It didn’t take very long before Becky and I began a daily dialogue not only on food, but on virtually every topic under the son.  The more we shared with each other, the more our kindred interests revealed themselves.  We discovered so many mutual interests that it called to mind something Greek philosopher and polymath Aristotle once said: “A friend is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.” During our fifteen year relationship, we’ve commiserated over the loss of beloved pets, shared humor others might find irreverent, debated culinary intelligence, pondered family drama and lambasted politicians (a lot of that, especially now). Becky has been my sounding board, confidant, uncredited editor and sometimes my conscience.  We don’t agree on everything, but can disagree with one another without regarding our difference of opinion as a personal affront.  For example, she loves…