Tag: Panna Cotta

2023 James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef - Southwest" FinalistFarmingtonFine DiningJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersNative AmericanNew Mexico

PIOCHE FOOD GROUP – Fruitland, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

As my friend and retired restaurateur Tom Hamilton and I watched the Pioche family prepare a meal for some twelve guests, we both marveled at the quiet efficiency of the kitchen.  A veteran of decades leading highly-regarded kitchens, Tom related that most kitchens are a loud and frenetic hive of activity amped up to high volume.  Communication among kitchen staff is an absolute must to ensure synchronicity, especially when multiple courses are being prepared.  Instead of the characteristic chaotic din of most restaurant kitchens, the Pioche family worked in harmony, focusing on the quiet, efficient, and harmonious execution of the multitudinous tasks involved in the preparation of  a nine-course meal. It probably shouldn’t have surprised us so much that the…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyFrenchNew Mexico

Salt and Board – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:00 PM

“Five years ago, everyone was making beer in their bathtubs, and now everyone’s making charcuterie in their garage!” ~Brian Malarkey, Chef When my friend Carlos, a punctilious polyglot conversant in four languages, asked what my Kim and I ate over the weekend, my poorly-pronounced beginner’s French response was “une assisette de charcuterie et de fromages.” “Oh, you had cold-cuts and cheese,” he responded. “No, we had charcuterie!” I emphasized, slowly pronouncing each syllable of the term: “char-cu-te-rie.” “Only the French,” he retorted “could convince you a plate of bologna and slices of cheese is a gourmet dish worth thirty dollars.” Carlos was only kidding, of course, but beyond his flippancy was a veiled challenge. He wanted me to figure out…