Tag: El Vado Motel

2025 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" SemifinalistAlbuquerqueCosta RicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Buen Provecho – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt The longest-serving first lady in United States history aptly expressed what could be the official lifestyle motto of Costa Rica.  Economizing on words, it’s a lifestyle Costa Ricans call “Pura Vida.”  This colloquial phrase translates to “pure life,” but means so much more. It’s a lifestyle in which you choose to live to the fullest, while nurturing the mind, body and soul.  You can hear the phrase “Pura Vida” echoing throughout Costa…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2021Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenJapaneseNew MexicoSushi

Ikigai ABQ – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

While ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy) may sound like what grade school girls called me many years ago, in Japanese the term ikigai is a Japanese concept combining the terms “iki,” meaning “alive” or “life,” and “gai,” meaning “benefit” or “worth.”  Though there is no direct English translation, when combined these terms embody “that which gives your life worth, meaning, or purpose.”  Essentially, ikigai is the reason why you get up in the morning. It makes a lot of sense therefore that the signage for Ikigai, a sushi restaurant ensconced in a Lilliputian pod within the El Vado Motel complex, would be…