Tag: Tortas

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Ramona’s Mexican Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

“No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.” ~Laurie Colwin, Novelist Watch virtually any episode of Kitchen Nightmares and you might just be convinced that families can’t possibly work together in a restaurant.  Kitchen Nightmares, one of Gordon Ramsay’s eight-hundred or so television shows, is rather formulaic–Ramsay spends a week with a failing restaurant in an attempt to revive the business.  Almost invariably, the failing restaurant is owned and operated by a family.  Almost invariably, the drama falls just short of Homer strangling Bart.  Arguments on Kitchen Nightmares are loud and intense.  Copious…

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Burger Bro’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Such advanced human traits as complex symbolic expression, art as an aesthetic visual form and elaborate cultural diversity emerged mainly during the past 100,000 years or so.  That’s more than four-million years after humans gained the ability to walk on two legs. By comparison, the ubiquitous All-American burger has evolved in the blink of time.  Most culinary historians believe the burger as we know it today was invented somewhere between 1885 and 1904. Even most of us who have lived three or more decades have seen significant changes in the burger.  Many of those changes have occurred during the 21st century–the last twenty years or so. Think about it.  For the most part, the predominant burger many “seasoned” eaters across the fruited plain…

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Los 6 Hermanos – Bernalillo, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Once upon a time (how many of you remember when seemingly all ancient fables and stories began with these four words?) there was a family of six Chinese brothers, each with a unique and amazing power. One of the brothers committed an infraction against Chinese law and was sentenced to death by the emperor. By asking for one last night at home the brothers were able to take each others place and thwart the king’s executioner’s attempt to kill them.  Eventually the executioner ran out of ways to run the execution and had to call it off. There are no cuentos or corridos, sagas or stories in Mexico involving six siblings imbued with exceptional abilities.  In fact, just about the…

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¡Ay Mi Mexico! – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

One syllable, one word, one simple expression…yet there probably is no more expressive interjection,  heart-rending cry or honest exclamation in the Spanish language than the simple word “Ay.” This–one of the most  diminutive among all words–can say and mean so much.  Depending on the context, “Ay” is used to express such emotions as: <happiness: think “¡Ay, Chihuahua” when Despicable Me patriarch Gru espies a black villain suit he covets; surprise: ¡Ay, Cabron! what are you doing home in the middle of the day?; exasperation: ¡Ay, Que Lastima! <pain or dismay: Bart Simpson’s ¡Ay, caramba!” when he saw his parents having sex. The versatility of “ay” is virtually unparalleled (though you can usually tell what meaning or mood a speaker is…

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No Te Rajes – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

As the eldest of six, I had the wonderful blessing of having spent more time with our dad than my siblings did.  Dad was the embodiment of the term “gentle man,” a patient mentor and nurturing exemplar of how to be a father and friend.  During our many outings, dad always had the radio tuned to KDCE, “The Station That’s All Heart” out of Espanola.  KDCE played the New Mexican and Mexican songs dad grew up with and loved.  Among his favorites (frequently on KDCE’s repertoire) was Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes by Jorge Negrete. It became one of my favorites, too. The song title made absolutely no sense to me because the term “rajes” comes from the verb “rajarse”…

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Birrieria Y Tacos Alex Tijuana Style – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

If you’ve noticed an almost inordinate number of recent visits on this blog to Mexican restaurants, credit much of that to Pati Jinich, ebullient host of the James Beard Award-winning and Emmy nominated PBS series Pati’s Mexican Table.   Although we record the Saturday airing of Pati’s Mexican Table, we don’t usually watch it until Sunday…right before lunchtime.  It’s no wonder, therefore, that what we’ve been craving for lunch is Mexican food. It’s nigh impossible not to be utterly charmed (if not outright besotted) by the lovely Pati Jinich.   Her huge likeability quotient is the byproduct of a genuine warmth and self-effacing humor which come across with her every thickly-accented utterance.  She’s down-to-Earth and genuine, taking absolute joy in  broadening…

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Los Olivos – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

For many New Mexicans, Durango, Colorado is much more familiar than Durango, Mexico.  In truth, however, Mexico’s Durango may actually have more historical significance and ties to the Land of Enchantment than its like-named resort town in Colorado.  That’s especially true for the Catholic Churches of New Mexico. Episcopal jurisdiction for the Catholic church in New Mexico was placed in 1797 under the stewardship of the Bishop of Durango. New Mexico remained part of the Diocese of Durango until 1850 when Pope Pius IX created the Vicariate Apostolic of New Mexico and appointed Father Jean Baptiste Lamy as its first Bishop.  Yes, that’s the same Father Jean Baptiste Lamy on whom Wila Cather’s Death Comes For the Archbishop is based.…

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Taqueria Los Amigos – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

“On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air” ~Hotel California, The Eagles in 1977, when the Eagles’ immortal rock anthem Hotel California was released as a single, most radio hits clocked in at about three minutes.  Three minutes is just about as long as Hotel California’s hauntingly compelling intro and the legendary guitar-duet-slash-duel-slash-musical-conversation between Don Felder’s double-necked Gibson EDS-1275 and Joe Walsh’s Fender Telecaster. The high voltage, era-defining song with its intensely intricate instrumental work, soaring harmonies and enthralling lyrics make Hotel California an iconic indictment of the dark underbelly of the American dream and its excesses. Hotel California’s allegorical, introspective lyrics alone make it one of the most…

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Ruby’s Tortilleria – Bernalillo, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

“A tortilla can be the, I would say, the most meaningful, the symbol of the Mexican cuisine, it’s the heart of the Mexican cuisine, the soul … the most recognizable element of the Mexican cuisine.” ~ Hugo Ortega James Beard Nominated Chef In 1519, when Hernan and his Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico, the indigenous people had never seen anyone like the bearded strangers attired in imposing armor made of iron.  These light-skinned strangers, some of whom had eyes of blue or green, arrived in “floating mountains” significantly larger than the canoes used by the natives.  The arrival of the strangers coincided with an Aztec prophecy, leading Montezuma, the Aztec ruler, to believe that perhaps Cortés was the Aztec god…

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Sazon Con Amor – Bernalillo, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

The Broadway musical Rent taught us that a year is comprised of “five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes.”   Instead of measuring the length of a year “in daylights, sunsets, midnights, cups of coffee, inches, miles, laughter or strife,” Rent encouraged us to measure a year in life in seasons of love.  Not surprisingly, Seasons of Love (a song from the musical from which the italicized lyrics originated) came immediately to mind when we espied Sazon Con Amor, a food truck (that’s mobile kitchen to you, Bob) parked on Highway 550 in Bernalillo.  Sazon Con Amor translates from Spanish to “Seasoning With Love,” but that was close enough to Rent’s definitive song to trigger a day-long earworm.  It also prompted…

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Taco Bus – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

Perhaps no mobile conveyance in the Land of Enchantment has ferried as many interesting people on as many colorful journeys as the “Road Hog,” the psychedelic bus which shuttled its passengers from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock to Llano Largo, New Mexico. The Road Hog’s 1969 arrival in Llano Largo heralded the start of the “summer of the hippie invasion” as The Taos News called it. There unwashed masses settled into a Utopian agrarian commune they called the Hog Farm. The Road Hog with its familiar duck hood ornament and Grateful Dead-style tie-dyed design became a common sight in Peñasco, my childhood home.   Everyone–from sanctimonious adults to horny teenagers–visited the Hog Farm.  The former feigned shock and outrage at the audacity of…