Tag: Becky Mercuri

ArizonaDog FriendlyHot DogsMexicanRated 23SandwichUnited States

El Guero Canelo – Tucson, Arizona

Gil Garduno

If asked to participate in a word association exercise, any well-traveled foodie undergoing psychoanalysis would find it easy to name the first food that comes to mind when a city is mentioned: Philadelphia – the Philly cheesesteak sandwich; Boston – baked beans; Chicago – Italian beef sandwiches; San Francisco – sourdough bread; Milwaukee – butter burgers; San Antonio, New Mexico – green chile cheeseburgers.  You get the point.  Some foodies might not know that Philadelphia is the birthplace of liberty, but they know about Geno’s and Pat’s King of Steaks and their decades-long battle for Philly cheesesteak supremacy. You might find it strange that seemingly pedestrian foods would be the defining cuisine of burgeoning cosmopolitan cities, historically significant metropolises and…

ArizonaHot DogsSandwich

Ted’s Hot Dogs – Tempe, Arizona

Gil Garduno

Reading Becky Mercuri’s magnificent Great American Hot Dog Book had the same effect on me that Fifty Shades of Grey had on soccer moms throughout the country.   How can someone so food obsessed not delight in such beautiful prose as “Western New York is definitely hot dog country and the preferred method of cooking is charcoal grilled.”  Charcoal grilled!  There goes another foodgasm.  New Mexicans don’t have to travel all the way to Buffalo, New York to experience these magnificent charcoal grilled libido activators.  We only have to go to Tempe, Arizona to sate our hunger…or lust, in some cases. Ted’s Hot Dogs was a precursor to the modern food truck.  In 1927, Theodore “Ted” Spiro Liaros began operating…

Dog FriendlyItalianRated 25SandwichUtah

TONY CAPUTO’S MARKET & DELI – Salt Lake City, Utah

Gil Garduno

Most of us know someone like Lucy Van Pelt, the irascible, bossy, highly opinionated diva in the syndicated Peanuts comic strip.   Since her debut in 1952, Lucy has been the perpetrator of two long-running gags.  One involves her holding the football (ostensibly so that Charlie Brown can kick a field goal or extra point) and pulling the ball away because she doesn’t want Charlie Brown to get it dirty.  The second gag parodies the lemonade stand operated by many young children under spacious skies.  Instead of a lemonade stand, she operates a psychiatric booth where she offers advice and psychoanalysis for a nickel.  The “advice” is often worthless though on occasion, she actually dispenses a pearl of wisdom.  Lucy…

AlbuquerquePizzaSandwich

Pizza 9 – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

My first review of Pizza 9 was written after my inaugural visit in January, 2009 at its original location in Albuquerque’s International District.  Three years later, there are nine Pizza 9 restaurants strewn throughout Albuquerque and Rio Rancho with a Pizza 9 planned for Santa Fe and “sky’s the limit” growth planned beyond that.  Even before Pizza 9 became a ubiquitous Duke City presence, my review engendered a significant number of visits and comments.  Today, this review is the tenth most frequently launched from among nearly 700 reviews on this blog.  More than 20 comments–some favorable and some almost inflammatory in nature–seem to indicate Pizza 9 evokes passion. What’s in a name?  According to an English bard and playwright of…