Earl’s Family Restaurant – Gallup, New Mexico

Two years after the end of the “second war to end all wars,”  a hamburger joint in Gallup first opened its doors.  What started out as a small burger place with scant seating (four stools and a couple of booths) has grown over the years to accommodate legions of loyal guests, some of whom have been frequenting Earl’s Family Restaurant practically since its inception.  Today, the seating capacity at Earl’s approximates 300.   That’s just barely enough to accommodate crowds during peak hours  Earl’s is open seven days a week fror breakfast, lunch and dinner. At nearly eighty years of serving Gallup residents and travelers along historic Route 66, Earl’s shows no signs of surcease. As you amble through the canopied walkway to the restaurant’s entrance, you’ll pass by several tables lining the walkway.  Stationed at those tables are several intrepid Native Americans hawking their wares, braving rain, snow and gloom of night to do so.   This is among the many charming aspects of dining at Earl’s.  You’ll enjoy occasional visits to your table by local artisans from the Native American community.  They’re never intrusive nor will they ever push you to purchase their wares (like some of annoying door-to-door vacuum…

Pop Pop’s Italian Ice – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Legend has it that Roman Emperor Nero played the lyre or fiddle while the city of Rome was engulfed in flames.  From among a succession of emporers renowned for their erratic, cruel, or even psychotic behavior, Nero may have been the worst.  Notoriously cruel and  profligate, he arrested and tortured all the Christians in Rome, before executing them with lavish publicity. Some were crucified, some were thrown to wild animals and others were burned alive as living torches.  Nero didn’t even like his family, murdering his stepbrother, his wife, and his mother. Perhaps his most (maybe only) beneficient act was in popularizing a version of ice cream in the first century AD. According to another legend (Nero had a great publicist), the cruel emporer would send runners to the mountains to collect snow and ice which were then flavored with fruits and honey. This luxurious treat was served at his extravagant banquets.  Hmm, flavored snow and ice.  Doesn’t that sound like the progenitor of so many frozen treats enjoyed around the world over the millennia. Culinary history has it that one of those frozen treats, albeit one that’s misnamed, has its genesis in New Jersey.  That treat is Italian ice…