AlbuquerqueAsianFilipinoNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Barkada’s ABQ – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

As a self-confessed mama’s boy away from home for the first time, my transition to being on my own could have been much tougher.  Thankfully I was “adopted” by Air Force veterans and the spouses they had married during tours of Vietnam, Korea and The Philippines.  Those spouses were largely responsible for my introduction to Asian cuisine, none of which I had ever had as a sheltered bumpkin  growing up in secluded Peñasco.  I wanted to try it all.  In some cases, I would try foods (such as rancid kimchi and stomach-turning balut) my friends (some of whom had seen…

AlbuquerqueFine DiningGreekMediterraneanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Dorothea – Fine Greek: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“What you are is God’s gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.” ~Hans Urs von Balthasar, Prayer The appellation Dorothea literally means “gift of God.”   It’s a name derived from the words dōron (gift) and theos (god). While the name itself is ancient Greek, there is surprisingly  (especially considering the easily titillated denizens of Mount Olympus) no figure in pagan Greek mythology with the name Dorothea.  Instead, Dorothea is the name of a prominent Christian saint, one christened the patron saint of florists, gardeners, and brides.  She is often depicted with a basket of roses and fruit.   The…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyNew MexicanRating: Good

El Patron – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:13 PM

I was a strapping lad of fifteen when hired as a “box boy” at a country store in Peñasco. Now, being a box boy at a small village country store is to being a bagger at Smith’s or Albertson’s in Albuquerque what the red chile at Mary & Tito’s is to McCormick’s chili seasoning mix. The former is so much more than the latter. For one thing, my duties included bailing hay, rounding up cattle, stacking lumber, loading cement, operating a forklift and every once in a while actually bagging or boxing groceries. The job kept me in great physical…

AlbuquerqueItalianItalian IceNew Mexico

Pop Pop’s Italian Ice – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

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…

AlbuquerqueHot DogsMexicanNew MexicoRating: Very GoodSandwichTacos

Dogos VIP – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Thanks largely to a 1974 Chevrolet commercial and its catchy tune, the phrase “As American as baseball, hot dogs and apple pie” has purportedly defined what Americans hold most sacrosanct.  Never mind that hot dogs are derivative of European sausages, they’re inextricably part of the fabric of the fruited plain. The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (yes, there is such a thing) estimates that Americans eat seven billion hot dogs (so it’s not just me) during the unofficial summer season which runs from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. That’s 818 hot dogs per second and more than a…

AlbuquerqueAsianKoreanNew Mexico

I Grill Korean BBQ & Hotpot

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

You hear it very time a seismic event or devastating conflagration strikes California.  Doomsayers seem to come out from under the rocks to proclaim it “divine castigation.”  That’s also their argument when the Golden State’s elections don’t go as they would like.  These very same people don’t seem to like much about California.  Such negativity makes me wonder if these fatalists have ever spent much time in this fabled  land of opportunity and adventure.  There’s got to be a reason California is the most populous state in the union.  Surely the forty-million residents would be leaving in droves if it…

New MexicanNew MexicoNew Mexico Culinary Treasures TrailRating: Very Good

La Posta De Mesilla – Mesilla, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:27 AM

If only walls could talk, you’d want the adobe brick walls at La Posta (The Inn) to recount their impressions of the veritable “who’s who” of Western history who once sought shelter within its fortified walls.  You’d want those walls to reveal their thoughts of legendary outlaw Billy the Kid who hung out at La Posta on his road to notoriety.  You’d want those walls to tell you about the steely presence of General Douglas MacArthur, who commanded Allied forces in the Pacific Theater during World War II. You’d want those walls to share their account of Generalissimo Pancho Villa,…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastNational ChainRating: Good

The Cracker Barrel Old Country Store – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:12 PM

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. This really is Gil’s Thrilling (and Filling) Blog and you really are reading a review of  a (gasp) chain restaurant. It would be easy (a cop-out) to say my visit to the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store was the result of brow-beating, cajoling, bribery or even torture, but the truth is my Kim loves the Cracker Barrel.  She’s well aware of my chain-averse attitude, but was hoping the Cracker Barrel would win me over. With my every reference to the “Chancre Barrel” on the drive to the restaurant, she quickly realized it was a hopeless…

AlbuquerqueAsianNew MexicoRating: ExcellentThai

Eat My Thai – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In his inimitable style Anthony Bourdain described the first time he tasted Thai food: “It was like discovering a color I never knew existed before. A whole new crayon box full of colors.”  His words resonate true for those of us who don’t live in a monochromatic world of homogeneous meals lacking diversity, personality and flavor.  Similarly resonant is his characterization of Thailand’s spicy food: “That perfect balance of pain, and pleasure, and more pain. Brain flooding with endorphins and all is well with the world. Until tomorrow morning.”  Would that my words would flow with the profundity, veracity and…

AlbuquerqueMexicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Tacos

Arriba Shihuahua – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“How do they get away with using the name “Shihuahua” instead of Chihuahua,” I pondered, noting to myself that wokeism and cultural sensitivities have declared offensive virtually any term that  is perceived to diminish a culture or an individual (that perception usually being in the eye of the offended).  Surely, the National Mexican-American Anti-Defamation Committee would take umbrage at that name, much as it did more than fifty years ago when Frito Lay introduced the Frito Bandito.  For those of you not geriatrically advanced enough to remember the Frito Bandito, he was a cartoon mascot who spoke broken English and robbed…

AlbuquerqueNative AmericanNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Isleta Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

When the Spanish arrived in the late 1500s they named the village south of Albuquerque Isleta, a diminutive of “isla” which means “island.”  Fast forward 600 years, and may as well have been christened “desert island” as in short for “deserted island.”  Despite being one of the largest of New Mexico’s nineteen Pueblos, drivers may not have even known that Exit 215 off Interstate 25 will transport them to the home of some 3,000 inhabitants.   That is until the Isleta Resort & Casino began operating in 1986.  Calling itself “New Mexico’s Grandest Casino Resort,” the Isleta Casino Resort boasts of…