Tag: Tabouli

MediterraneanNew MexicoRating: Very GoodRio Rancho

Al-quds Mediterranean Grill II – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

The penultimate day of the 2023 International Balloon Fiesta will be memorable for many reasons.  Foremost may be the 2023 annular eclipse whose path took it directly above the Balloon Fiesta Park, host of the world’s largest ballooning event.  That day will be imprinted on our minds for another reason–our inaugural visit to Al-quds Mediterranean Grill in Rio Rancho.   The second instantiation of perhaps Albuquerque’s most popular Middle Eastern restaurant is located on The Village on Rio Rancho, a timeworn shopping center that flourished in the early 1990s when Intel’s Fab 4 was fully operational. Neither owner Mohammad Abdeljalil or his son were in Rio Rancho during our inaugural visit.  Our server assured us that the menu at the original Al-qud’s is available.  That means Al-qud’s II assumed only the spot which previously housed Jerusalem: Taste of the Holy Land.  In all other respects it’s the Al-qud’s we’ve known and loved since discovering the original in November, 2018 when it was situated on the south side of San Pedro.  In subsequent visits, we were greeted by and well taken care of by Mohammed’s eldest son whose wife bakes all the magnificent pastries on display in a glass case. Al-Qud,…

AlbuquerqueMiddle EasternNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Nora’s Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

As a precocious sprout growing up in an agrarian hamlet in Northern New Mexico, I dreamt of travel and adventure.  My voracious reading habits included hours immersed in world book encyclopedias, world atlases and National Geographic magazines.   By my eighth birthday, I was creating maps of the world free-hand and knew more about history and our planet than most of my teachers.  I longed to visit and plunge myself in wonders and cultures that existed for me only in books.  My longing to experience the world outside of Peñasco was, in fact, the primary reason I joined the Air Force days out of high school.  While my service career did broaden my experiences, my desire to see and do even more has never waned.   Alas, now that my Kim and I have the financial means to travel virtually anywhere, health issues have left us more homebound than we would like. Thankfully, I can still travel vicariously through my brothers and sisters, all of whom have traveled the globe.  In 2024, my brother Mario and his better half Diana visited Petra in Jordan, one of the sites I first read about in preadolescence.  I don’t have a jealous bone in my…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2024Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenMiddle EasternNew Mexico

Habibi House – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Before Al Gore invented the internet, it wasn’t easy for logophiles (lovers of words) like me to figure out what some words meant.  “Lover of words,” in my case was an understatement.  I was obsessed about learning every new word–its etymology (origin, definition and context, even what it used to mean) I came across.  It’s a wonder my parents (both educators) didn’t put this precocious, pedantic child up for adoption. Dictionaries were of little help as their content was mostly limited to English words.  The Velazquez dictionary was helpful when I wanted to learn a new Spanish word, but that, too, was limiting.  Alas, no comprehensive resource seemed to exist to sate my curiosity. Here’s an example of my dilemma.  The popular 60’s television show I Dream of Jeanie was replete with Arabic words.  For most people being entertained was enough, but not for me.  When a new word was used, I wanted to know what it meant–even if it was a proper name.  Jeanie’s master (played by the altitudinous Ted Cassidy) was named Habib.  No source or person of my acquaintance had any idea what “Habib” meant.  Surely, when Jeanie’s master’s parents named their son Habib, it was because the…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2022Dog FriendlyFood TruckGone But Not ForgottenMediterraneanMiddle EasternNew Mexico

Mediterranean Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

A few years ago if you told some of us we should follow a Mediterranean diet, we probably would have salivated at the prospect of having pizza and wine every day though we would have wondered how we could possibly lose weight on such an indulgent diet.  Today, the Mediterranean diet is widely recognized by dieticians as one of the most heart-healthy ways to eat.  Moreover, studies consistently show that a diet adhering to the principles of the traditional Mediterranean diet is one associated with longevity. In truth there is no one standard Mediterranean diet.  In fact, the term is rather generic and is based on the traditional eating habits of the sixteen or so countries which border the Mediterranean Sea.  Because of differences in culture, agricultural production, ethnic background, religion, economy and geography, eating styles vary among those countries and even among regions within each country.  There are, however, some commonalities. A Mediterranean-style diet typically includes olive oil as the primary source of fat; fruits, vegetables, bread and other grains, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds in abundance; and only moderate amounts of dairy products, eggs, fish and poultry.  There is very little red meat in this diet and plant-based…