Tag: Cinnamon Roll

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Vick’s Vittles Country Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:17 PM

Possum shanks; pickled hog jowls; goat tripe; stewed squirrel; ham hocks and turnip greens; gizzards smothered in gristle; smoked crawdads. “Ewwww Doggies!,” now that’s eatin’. ~The Beverly Hillbillies Guests at the Clampett residence always seemed to recite a litany of excuses as to why they couldn’t stay for dinner when Granny announced the mess of vittles she’d fixed up. Not even the opportunity to dine at the fancy eatin’ table (billiards table) and use the fancy pot passers (pool cues) under the visage of the mounted billy-yard (rhinoceros) was enough to entice the sophisticated city slickers to stay for dinner with America’s favorite hillbillies. For the generation who grew up watching The Beverly Hillbillies, the notion of eating vittles elicits a broad smile and a warm heart. Those sentiments were rekindled when we drove east on Central Avenue just past Wyoming and espied a new restaurant named Vick’s Vittles Country Kitchen. Not only did it conjure memories of “heaping helpings of hospitality” from Jed and all his kin, the name “Vick’s Vittles” seemed so familiar and comfortable. That’s because several years ago a restaurant named “‘Country Vittles” plied its chicken-fried specialties for about an year on Central Avenue where Middle…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastBreakfast BurritosDog FriendlyNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Hello Deli – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

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 mortar expression of the American immigrant experience, the very culinary soul of the city. “Some 80 years ago, New York City was home to three or four thousand delis. Today, there are less than 24.”  That true New York City delicatessen of which BBC Travel wrote showcased “the food of the Eastern European peasantry – smoked sausages and cured meats, smoked cabbage and offal stews and dark bread, salted fish and boiled dumplings.”  The primary draw to the New York…

ArizonaDonutsRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Randy’s Donuts – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

There’s a scene in Iron Man 2 where billionaire playboy Tony Stark decided to treat a hangover with coffee and a box of donuts from Randy’s Donuts in Inglewood, California.  Instead of enjoying his bounty inside the restaurant like most of us earth-bound “hundredaires,”  he flew up onto the gigantic 32’6″ donut atop the building and ate his donuts there.  My first visage of Randy’s Donuts came from a more altitudinous vantage point than Stark’s.  I first espied the iconic donut on approach to the Los Angeles International Airport.  Had a parachute been available, I might have been tempted to drop down for a donut or ten. My first actual taste of donuts from Randy’s was courtesy of the generosity of my dear friend Bruce “Sr Plata” Silver who grew up not far from the fabled donut shop.  On one of his visits home, he brought back a half dozen donuts for me.  In my 39 years of devouring dozens of donuts, I’ve never had donuts that good.  Randy’s has been making believers of superheroes and ordinary Joes like me since 1953.  That’s seventy plus years of people and palate pleasing.  Iron Man 2 is far from being the only…

AlbuquerqueNew MexicoRating: ExcellentSandwich

Cheese & Coffee (Uptown) – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Imagine canoodling in a hot tub with your sweetheart while enjoying a brilliant symphony of light courtesy of the aurora borealis as you both sip on hot coffee in which reindeer cheese bobs luxuriously.  It’s likely you find that romantic scenario very appealing save perhaps for seeing reindeer cheese floating atop your hot coffee.  While that scenario may sound unreal…maybe even surreal to most of us, it’s a reality in Finland where cheese is a favorite addition to a type of coffee called kaffeost.  Not just any cheese can make the cut, however. Finnish folks only use a particular type of cheese called leipäjuusto which translates loosely to “bread cheese.”  Despite that translation, “bread cheese” is one-hundred percent cheese.  There’s absolutely no bread in it.  The sobriquet “bread cheese” comes from the cheese’s absorbent qualities.  This cheese soaks up the coffee. You don’t need to be a barista to make kaffeost.  It’s as simple as adding the cheese to your coffee and letting it soak for a few minutes before fishing it out and  eating it separately.  First-timers and aficionados praise the flavor of the cheese which inherits the roasted flavors of the coffee.  The softened chunks also warrant high…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastBrunchClosed in 2025Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoSandwich

The Farmacy – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In this age of “fake news,” biased media slants and unabashed tell-alls, the one recent headline which has pleased me most comes from Bloomberg. Splashed in bold typeface was the eye-catching lead “Mom-and-Pop Joints Are Trouncing America’s Big Restaurant Chains.” Elaborating on this contention, the first paragraph reads: “Americans are rejecting the consistency of national restaurant chains after decades of dominance in favor of the authenticity of locally owned eateries, with their daily specials and Mom’s watercolors decorating the walls.” The numbers bear this out–“annual revenue for independents will grow about 5 percent through 2020, while the growth for chains will be about 3 percent.” Fittingly, I read this article during my inaugural visit to The Farmacy, a Lilliputian lair of luscious food then located on the southeast corner of the Mountain Road-Eighth Street intersection. If big restaurant chains and their well-heeled operations are the proverbial muscle-bound beach bullies who kick sand in the face of scrawny kids, The Farmacy embodies the small underdog who fights back with the only weapons at its disposal: great food and friendly service at an affordable price. The Farmacy is David to the Philistine’s Goliath, the plodding tortoise to the overly confident hare, unknown…