NevadaRating: N/R (Not Rated)SteakUnited States

Peter Luger’s Steakhouse – Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

As a 1995 episode of Seinfeld illustrated, steak is not just a guy thing anymore. When Jerry took a blind date to the Old Homestead Steakhouse in New York City, he admitted “I’m not really that much of a meat eater” to which his date replied “You don’t eat meat? Are you one of those…” Questions about his masculinity persisted when she ordered a porterhouse medium rare and Jerry had a salad.  Although I’ve never gone so far as to order a salad at a steakhouse, I’m “one of those“–men who don’t particularly like steak.  Give me a fully dressed baked potato any day. It’s not as though I’ve never had an outstanding steak (The Hamilton Chop House in Durango and David Burke’s Primehouse in Chicago come to mind).  Great steakhouses such as these are few and far in between…very far.  Sadly, most steak is severely overpriced and not nearly good enough to justify the cost.   My Kim isn’t nearly as persnickety as her fussbudget husband.  Steak is her favorite meal.  She wants a steak for every special occasion.  Though she grills a steak better than most restaurants, I remain steadfastly a steak and potatoes guy without the steak.  It works…

2010 James Beard Foundation - "Best Chef" - SouthwestNevadaRating: ExceptionalThaiUnited States

LOTUS OF SIAM – Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Garduno1:36 AM

In the August, 2000 issue of Gourmet Magazine, Jonathan Gold,  the only food critic to ever earn a Pulitzer Prize, called the Lotus of Siam restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada “the single best Thai restaurant in North America.”  Not a disparaging word was heard or a dissenting opinion offered among the cognoscenti save for those who argued that the word “Thai” should be removed from from Gold’s audacious proclamation.  Lotus of Siam is THAT good! In the decade plus since Gold’s assertion, every reputable critic from every credible publication has jumped on the bandwagon, essentially echoing or adding to to the validation of the greatness that is the Lotus of Siam.  The superlatives are similar on every review you’ll read of this vaunted restaurant; only the names of the scribes change.  In a media culture which delights in the “time to tear down” portion of Ecclesiastes 3:3, the absence of true criticism for Lotus of Siam speaks volumes.   Lotus of Siam is THAT good! First-time visitors approach Lotus of Siam with high expectations, return visitors with the type of reverence usually accorded only to shrines or holy places.  A visit to the original site of this anointed shrine to Thai…

Breakfast BurritosMexicanNew MexicoRating: Very GoodRio Rancho

El Agave Mexican Restaurant – Rio Rancho, New Mexican

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Even the teetotalers among us recognize the importance of agave in the production of tequila and mescal.   What most of us may not fully appreciate is  agave’s diverse cultural and culinary significance, particularly in Mexico.  For example, the drought-resistant succulent plant has been used in medicinal treatments such as treating wounds, digestive ailments, and even as a remedy for coughs and sore throats.  It’s a source of natural sweetener and a healthier alternative to refined sugars.  Restaurants in Mexico use it to prepare salsas, marinades, desserts and even some traditional dishes.  Agave even plays a prominent role in indigenous cultures where it’s revered and valued.  Many of us use it to xeriscape our yards throughout the Southwest. Since October, 2017, foodies in the City of Vision have recognized another type of agave for which to be grateful.  That would be El Agave, a delightful family-owned-and-operated Mexican restaurant.  If you haven’t seen El Agave during your own peregrinations in Rio Rancho, that’s because it’s recessed about a block from heavily trafficked Rio Rancho Blvd., the city’s main north-south drag.  Worse, it’s esconced in the Lujan Plaza, a timeworn shopping center that’s seen better days.  El Agave occupies a corner space diagonally…

AlbuquerqueAmericanBreakfastBreakfast BurritosDog FriendlyNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Hello Deli – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

HELLO DELI (to the tune of Hello Dolly) “Hello Deli, this is Joe, Deli would you please send up a nice corned beef on rye. A box of RITZ, Deli and some Schlitz, Deli Some chopped liver and a sliver of your, apple pie. Turkey Legs, Deli hard boiled eggs, Deli and a plate of those potatoes you french fry, oh Don’t be late, Deli I just can’t wait Deli, Deli without breakfast, I’d just die.” ~ Frank Jacobs (Writer for MAD Magazine) In 2016, BBC Travel lamented the imminent demise of the New York City deli.  “Not the corner markets or bodegas that appear on nearly every New York block,” but “the true New York City delicatessen: the brick and mortar expression of the American immigrant experience, the very culinary soul of the city. “Some 80 years ago, New York City was home to three or four thousand delis. Today, there are less than 24.”  That true New York City delicatessen of which BBC Travel wrote showcased “the food of the Eastern European peasantry – smoked sausages and cured meats, smoked cabbage and offal stews and dark bread, salted fish and boiled dumplings.”  The primary draw to the New York…

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…

AmericanBreakfastBreakfast BurritosDog FriendlyNew MexicoPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Trail Rider – Cedar Crest, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

During the prehistoric and dark ages when I went to school, we were taught a song called “The Bear Went Over The Mountain.”  When that wandering ursus got to the other side of the mountain, all he could see was the other side of the mountain.  Ostensibly, this song recalls a bear’s fruitless journey to see what lies beyond.  It symbolizes the endless nature of life’s constant undertakings, the continuous, sometimes futile, effort in life to find something beyond the current experience.  Now, that’s the allegorical meaning of the song.  In literal terms, a bear (or anyone of us) going over the Sandia Mountains won’t see the same sights or have the same experiences we have in the Albuquerque side of the mountain. I joked with Joe, the extraordinary baker at Trail Rider, that most of the people who live on the morning side of the mountain (eastern slope) are old hippies.  “Except for us,” he clarified, noting my recent Opie Taylor haircut and his own closely shorn coiffure.  Having grown up within easy walking distance of “The Hog Farm,” a hippie commune in Llano, New Mexico, I know a lot of old hippies.  It’s always amused me how many…

AlbuquerqueAmericanDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Sixty Six Acres – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno6:36 PM

My high school football coach Jesus Bautista used to call his team “chiquitos pero picosos,” a Spanish term meaning “small but piquant” (like New  Mexico’s chiles). At 6’1” and a svelte 175 pounds in full uniform, I was the biggest guy on the team.  That made me an enforcer of sorts when players on the other teams tried to bully my smaller teammates. For the most part, I was able to handle the biggest, meanest, roughest players we lined up against. The one exception was when we played Albuquerque Indian School. To keep us from touching their quarterback, the Braves positioned a steel wall in the backfield, an impenetrable barrier President Trump would envy. Disguised as a fullback, that human wall pummeled us mercilessly. We couldn’t go around him and we darn well couldn’t go through him…though I sure tried. I was sore for three days every time we played Albuquerque Indian School. To this day, every time we’re in the vicinity of the 12th Street acreage that formerly housed the Indian boarding school, memories still visit me of the felony-level atrocities “the wall” perpetrated upon me. Albuquerque Indian School is long gone. In its place, not far from the…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyNew MexicoPizzaRating: Outstanding

Gold Street Pizza – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Get Smart, a comedy television series which aired from 1965 to 1970 showcased the exploits of Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, a secret agent for CONTROL, a secret government counter-espionage organization. CONTROL’s nemesis was KAOS an international organization of evil bent on world domination.  The head of the Asian arm of KAOS was a man called “The Claw,” who had a large mechanical claw in place of a left hand.  The claw was magnetic, allowing him to pull phones, guns, and other metal objects toward him. Stereotypically, he couldn’t pronounce the letter L , which made Maxwell Smart think his name was “The Craw” and not the “The Claw.”  Every time Max makes this mistake, The Claw corrects him saying, “Not the Craw, the Craw!” During the second episode of the series, Smart was kidnapped by The Claw. In an attempt to communicate his whereabouts to the chief of CONTROL, Smart engaged a communication device on his watch.  The ensuing exchange was hilarious: Smart: “I suppose you think you’ve got me buried in this backroom in this building on Commonwealth and 8th Streets.” The Claw: “Not 8th Street, Mr. Smart, F Street.” Smart: “Oh yes, F Street.” The Claw: “And…

AlbuquerqueMexicanNew MexicoTacos

Rotiseria Y Taqueria Alcantara – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, grocery prices have vaulted up 29% since February 2020.  Indeed, an Associated Press survey conducted in 2025 revealed that “the cost of groceries has become a major source of stress for just over half of all Americans — outpacing rent, health care and student debt.”  Very, very few grocery items have proven themselves inflation-proof.  Among those rare items is Costco’s rotisserie chicken which has remained the same price for years.  That consistently low price is a major reason Costco sells  more than 100-million ready-to-eat chickens each year. The obvious question when you peruse the menu at Rotiseria Y Taqueria Alcantara is “can a rotisserie chicken at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant possibly be six times as good as a Costco chicken?.”  Do the math.  “Six times” is just about how much more a whole rotisserie chicken at this Mexican restaurant on Isleta costs.   For the $28, you’ll pay for one chicken, you can actually buy almost six rotisserie chickens at Costco.  You’re probably wondering if the $28 rotisserie chicken is gilded in golden plumage.  Or perhaps, you’re pondering whether that chicken was pampered with a carefully managed diet of nutrient-rich grains like kobi beef cattle…

BreakfastBreakfast BurritosFarmingtonNative AmericanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Juniper Coffee & Eatery – Farmington, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Before heading off for an overnight stay in Farmington back in February, 2023, I scoured the internet for suggestions on where to have breakfast.  My criteria was simple:  preferably a Navajo owned-and-operated eatery.  Restaurants who spell New Mexico’s official state vegetable “chili” wouldn’t be considered.  Yelp came through on its listing of the ten best restaurants for breakfast in Farmington.  At the very top of that list was Juniper Coffee and Eatery on College Blvd.  Little did I know how enthusiastically and overwhelmingly that choice would be endorsed later by people with whom I shared a dinner table and many laughs.  Serendipity certainly played a role in my breakfast venue of choice. Serendipity also played a role in that the address for the LorAmy’s Valentine’s Dining Experience presented by James Beard Award Finalist Justin Pioche and the address of Juniper Coffee and Eatery were one and the same.  Justin had borrowed the venue from his friends at Juniper for the exclusive one night Valentine’s Day extravaganza.  As the only unaccompanied diner at the event, I had the great privilege and blessing of being seated next to the great chef’s three aunts and one uncle.  When I asked them what Farmington restaurant…

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

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 Pioche family worked in such consonance.  After all, a traditional traditional Navajo (Diné) approach to family and communication is deeply rooted in the concept of K’é, a system of kinship and connectivity. This approach emphasizes respect and collective responsibility.  While Chef Justin Pioche is  the marquee name, he deflects praise and credits his sister Tia and mom Janice.  He’ll tell you he can’t operate without them and he’s not just being modest.  Like concordant instruments in an orchestra, each family member…