Tag: Fine Dining

AmericanNew MexicoNew Mexico Culinary Treasures TrailRating: Very GoodSteak

Buckhorn Saloon – Pinos Altos, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:28 AM

In 1859, 49ers returning home from California discovered gold among the tall pines (Pinos Altos) north of Silver City. Word spread like wildfire.  In short order, there were more than 700 men prospecting in the area. As with other boom towns, rampant lawlessness made prospectors lives exciting to say the least.  Miners faced an anything goes attitude in the pursuit of gold punctuated by frequent raids by marauding Apaches.  In the “Apache War” of 1861, Cochise joined his father-in-law Mangas Coloradas (an Apache war leader who towered at 6’7″) and some 400 Apache warriors to drive away miners from their traditional homeland. In its early days Pinos Altos saw a veritable who’s who of fame and infamy.   In the 1860s, Old West legend Roy Bean operated a mercantile in Pinos Altos before moving to West Texas to gain fame as Judge Roy Bean “The Law West of the Pecos.” Henry McCarty (William Bonney was just an alias), the infamous Billy the Kid, began his life of crime in the area.  As the area’s gold began to deplete, families turned to ranching.  Some of the largest ranches in the country once were located just outside of town.  Evidence of ranching…

ArizonaDog FriendlyFine DiningMexicanRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Call Her Martina – Scottsdale, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

The cultural and culinary histories of Arizona and Mexico are interlocked, transcending  the geographical borders that separate them. In fact, until only 1822, what is now the state of Arizona was still a part of the Mexican state of Sonora. It stands to reason, therefore, that Arizona’s cuisine of would be largely (but by no means exclusively) influenced by the cuisine of its Sonora.  Those influences extend far beyond the common use  of chiles, beans, flour tortillas, grilled meats and tomato-based sauces.    Rooted in Sonoran cuisine with tendrils in the cuisine of other Mexican states and molded by the American palate, Arizona’s Mexican cuisine continues to evolve in diversity, sophistication and depth.  For that, I am most grateful.  During 18 years of business travel to the Phoenix area, I was convinced that the only thing worse than Arizona’s chile-influenced Mexican food was The View.  That impression was based primarily on well-intentioned colleagues believing New Mexicans would enjoy restaurants such as one we all called “Mocoso’s,” the Spanish word for a snot-filled person. A weeklong visit to Tucson in 2010 that included meals at two of Cultural Trip’s list of the 10 Best Mexican Restaurants in Arizona did nothing to…

AlbuquerqueBetter Call SaulBrunchDog FriendlyFine DiningRating: Very Good

Vintage 423 – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 PM

My friend Bill Resnik, a professional stand-up comedian for more than two decades, performs a bit in which he “translates” Spanish terms for linguistically challenged audiences.  “Paseo del Norte,” for example, translates to “Paseo of the Norte.” For Duke City residents, the “Northern Route” is no joke.  It’s the corridor from the Northeast Heights to Albuquerque’s burgeoning West side, ferrying nearly 100,000 vehicles a day.  Paseo del Norte is widely credited with the rapid development–from 30,000 residents in 1980 to more than 85,000 in 2006–of the city’s growth north of Interstate 40 and west of the Rio Grande.  What most city residents don’t realize is that the official Department of Transportation designation for the 25-mile passage is State Highway 423. It makes sense therefore that a restaurant in which people connections are made daily would incorporate into its name the highway designation for the bridge (figuratively and literally) between Albuquerque’s residents.  Because of its extensive wine offerings, the word “Vintage” (as in the year or place in which wine of high quality was produce) also makes sense, ergo Vintage Four Twenty-Three, a sophisticated and trendy milieu unlike any in the Duke City.  Launched in January, 2012, Vintage has since been…

Dog FriendlyFine DiningRating: N/R (Not Rated)United StatesUtah

Desert Bistro – Moab, Utah

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

My Kim didn’t buy my explanation that Moab is an acronym standing for “Mother Of All Buffets.”  She did find my legitimate explanation viable.  I explained that Moab means “a land just short of the Promised Land,” a name bestowed  because the Moab valley was a verdant oasis in the middle of a desert.  Moab first appears in the Old Testament book of Genesis and is situated in ancient Palestine just east of the Dead Sea where Jordan now lies.  Because of the physical similarities to the desert jewel of the Old Testament, the small Utah town founded by Mormon settlers in the 1800s was dubbed Moab. When we first visited the Moab area nearly three decades ago, its breath-taking topography and emerald skies called to mind a term synonymous with “a land just short of the Promised Land.”  Never mind the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River of John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads.”  Even more than West Virginia, the Moab area was “almost heaven.”  More spectacular than Sedona, more wondrous than Taos, more otherworldly than Abiquiu, the Moab area was quite simply an awe-inspiring idyll.    Because life…and mostly work, gets in the way, it took us…

ArizonaDog FriendlyItalianRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Fat Ox – Scottsdale, Arizona

Gil Garduno10:26 AM

In the Alpine village of Carrù in the Piedmont region of Italy stands the “Monumento al Bue Grasso” (monument to a fat ox).  Depicting two fat oxen under yoke, the monument celebrates the beast of burden so important to the region.  December’s ‘Fiera del Bue Grasso’ (festival of the fat ox) brings together tens of thousands of visitors who come to gaze at the oxen and eat copious amounts of deliciously warming tripe soup and boiled beef, washed down with a milled wine.   Farmers from throughout the region truck their oxen into town to show them off and vie for the chance to win the honored title of the “fattest ox.” Onlookers gather well before dawn to admire these enormous Piedmontese cattle. During our December, 2020 visit to the Phoenix area, we decided to celebrate another December holiday at a restaurant named for the Bue Grasso.  Indeed, Scottsdale’s Fat Ox is inspired by the rich culinary history of the Festival of the Fat Ox in Carrù.  An image of a fat ox precedes the restaurant’s name by the entrance to the spectacular edifice.  On Christmas night, the lavish dining room with its contemporary glass and wood appointments was dimly…