AlbuquerqueClosed in 2011Gone But Not Forgotten

Cafe Choroni – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno9:53 PM

In the late 1970s before political correctness taught us how racist we all are, it seems every man born to the last name Gonzalez, whether or not they liked it, sported the nickname “Speedy.”  Speedy was, of course, the “fastest mouse in all of Mexico” in the popular Looney Tunes animated series.  The premise of the cartoon was that Sylvester, a tuxedo cat with an exaggerated lisp, terrorized a horde of mice trying to abscond with cheese from the cheese factory under his charge.  Only the intrepid Speedy, a sombrero wearing machismo mouse on perpetual hyper-drive could deter the “gringo pussy gato.”  Amid cries of “¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!” (colloquial Mexican Spanish for Come on! Hurry up!), the excessively energetic Speedy usually gave Sylvester a painful comeuppance. My Air Force buddy Vladamir Gonzalez wasn’t spared the sobriquet of Speedy, never mind that he was Puerto Rican and lived life as if conserving energy.  A gregarious, self-deprecating madcap, Speedy good-naturedly took liberties with his cartoon namesake’s trademark cry.  In his version, it was “¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arepa! ¡Arepa!”  My friend, a man of many appetites loved the culinary standards of his beloved Puerto Rico: sofrito, black beans, yuca, plantains and especially arepas, fried rounds of…

Closed in 2010Gone But Not ForgottenJapaneseNew MexicoRating: OutstandingRio RanchoSushi

Noda’s Japanese Cuisine – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:47 PM

Note: On December 16, 2010, Noda’s Japanese Cuisine, a Rio Rancho institution for a dozen years, closed its doors.  Owners Masayasu and Setsuko Noda have retired and will be relocating back to Japan.  It was initially announced that their son, an accomplished chef, would be looking for a new home for the restaurant many consider the very best Japanese restaurant in the state. Nearly five years later, we’re still waiting. Noda’s may very well be the very best Japanese restaurant in New Mexico, an off-the-beaten-path treasure whose unassuming facade belies sophisticated and wonderful cuisine.  Tucked away in Trinity Plaza, a nondescript shopping center, that facade is quickly dispelled when you walk in to a dimly lit dining room whose subtle, but romantic ambience and attentive, but not hovering wait service portend something special. Noda’s has become so popular, in fact, that in 2006 it expanded and now occupies the entire building in which it has been housed from its humble beginnings. At one time, Noda’s shared space with other tenants. Cherry blossoms, soft lights, hanging Japanese lanterns and subtle blue toned walls provide a tranquil environment ameliorated by the faint tintinnabulation of the dozens of wind chimes given to the…

Diners Drive-Ins and DivesFood Network Eats New MexicoMexicanRating: Very GoodTaos County

Antonio’s: A Taste of Mexico – Taos, New Mexico

Gil Garduno10:16 PM

A traditional corrido from the Mexican coastal state of Veracruz recounts the story of a smiling woman with magic hands.  The kitchen is the world of Maria Chuchena and the intoxicating aromas and incomparable flavors she concocts in that world are utterly unforgettable.  With her cooking, Maria fills the world with surprises.  If corridos have sequels and characters in folk songs bear offspring, Maria Chuchena’s progeny might well be Antonio Matus, chef and owner of the eponymous Antonio’s: A Taste of Mexico in Taos, New Mexico.  Like the corrido, Antonio is from Veracruz and like Maria Chuchena, the kitchen is his world.  It is where he has been filling Taos with utterly unforgettable surprises for more than a decade. After working in several dining establishments in the Taos area, Antonio launched his self-titled restaurant at the historic El Torreon Hacienda in El Prado, just north of Taos.  The hacienda which dates back to 1847 sits on acreage given to the Valdez family by the famous and infamous Padre Antonio José Martínez, the ecclesiastical leader of northern New Mexico whose unique style of Catholicism was in direct opposition to Archbishop Lamy, the French archbishop who reorganized the Catholic Church in the Southwest. In 2005, Antonio’s…

Closed in 2015Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew MexicoRio Rancho

Seferino’s – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno3:32 AM

One of the first things you notice when you step into Seferino’s New Mexican Restaurant is the large portrait hanging just above the hostess station of an avuncular bearded gentleman with an air of dignity and class.  Though he’s been gone for about a decade and a half and the restaurant which bears his name is in a new location, you can almost feel the comforting presence of Seferino Perea looming like a charming host bidding you welcome to his restaurant. Seferino’s daughter Cathy sports the same snowy white halo as her father, dignified argentine locks everyone should be fortunate enough to age into.  Cathy, who along with her husband Joe Guitierrez own Seferino’s is a frequent presence at the Rio Rancho restaurant her father helped start. The family patriarch, Seferino managed Perea’s restaurant with his son in Albuquerque before helping Cathy start up the restaurant named for him.  For nine years, Seferino’s was located on Rio Rancho’s main north-south thoroughfare, Highway 528.  A move to Southern Boulevard placed them in another heavily trafficked area and in an edifice nearly twice as large (4300 square feet) as their previous location (2400 square feet). Those comfortable confines served Seferino’s very well for years,…

Closed in 2022Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: ExcellentSanta Fe

Roque’s Carnitas – Santa Fe, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno11:04 PM

In more cosmopolitan metropolises it isn’t uncommon to see sidewalk vendors plying their trade over chuck wagon stands and proffering high quality fast food such as hot dogs, tacos, gyros and sundry quick meal items. Some of the best food in cities such as Portland, Oregon can be found near city parks where enterprising street vendors concoct culinary magic on portable kitchens and what we typically deride as “roach coaches.” Roque Garcia has made such a business an art form–a very successful one. In fact, Roque claims carnitas paid for his home outside Puerto Vallarta in Mexico and for the Mercedes Benz automobiles he likes to drive. Roque’s cart is stationed on the southeast corner of the Santa Fe plaza where the irresistibly smoky aroma of sizzling, marinated beef draws repeat customers and tourists like a siren’s call. Despite posting a sign explaining what carnitas are, Roque is unfailingly patient with tourists who don’t necessarily know what it is they’re ordering; they only know they can’t resist the intoxicating aromas wafting from the strange cart. During the past decade or so, national publications including the New York Times, Gourmet Magazine, National Geographic, Roadfood and others have waxed poetic about Roque’s…

Food Network Eats New MexicoJames Beard Foundation Americas Classic Award WinnerNew MexicanNew MexicoNew Mexico Culinary Treasures TrailRating: OutstandingSanta Fe

The Shed – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:50 PM

In the culinary world, the name James Beard is revered perhaps above all others. Considered the “Dean of American Cookery,” Beard established a legacy of culinary excellence and became a household name to generations of home cooks and professional chefs. The cookbooks he authored between 1940 and 1983 are considered “a slice of American history” because those tomes span America’s culinary regions and served as a premonition of the global epicurean expanse to come. Today, the James Beard Foundation, a national not-for-profit organization is dedicated to celebrating, preserving, and nurturing America’s culinary heritage and diversity in order to elevate the appreciation of our culinary excellence. Earning a James Beard award signifies the pinnacle of achievement in the culinary world. It’s the restaurant world’s equivalent of the Academy Award. In 2003, The Shed restaurant earned the Foundation’s “America’s Classics Award,” a prestigious accolade honoring locally owned and operated regional restaurants that have withstood the test of time and are beloved in their communities. The Foundation’s Web site describes The Shed as “A restaurant begun in a burro shed on a dusty alley in a then-sleepy little town might not sound as if it would be – 50 years later – hailed…

ArizonaBurgersClosed in 2020Gone But Not ForgottenUnited States

Delux Burger – Phoenix, Arizona (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno5:07 PM

“I ordered a cheeseburger at lunch the other day. I had never eaten at this particular restaurant before, and whenever I am unsure about the quality of the food at a place, I always order a cheeseburger. How many ways can you foul up something as simple as a cheeseburger? The bread can be too hard, or the meat might not be cooked to your liking, but that can be fixed quite easily. After I ordered my cheeseburger – medium well with a soft bun – the waiter asked me, “Do you want a plain cheeseburger or one of our specialties?” There is such a thing as a specialty cheeseburger? A cheeseburger is a piece of hamburger meat with some cheese on top of it served on a hamburger bun.” Leave it to humorist Lewis Grizzard to succinctly sum up the truth to which “purists” across the fruited plains hold fast about their beloved burgers–that it’s all about the beef with “some” cheese.  Alas the burger in which the sacrosanct flavor of beef is the focus rarely earns accolades for its solid, if unspectacular and unadorned qualities.  Invariably when you read about a burger earning acclaim as “best in town,”  that burger is crowned…

AmericanArizonaClosed in 2014Gone But Not ForgottenRating: OutstandingUnited States

Orange Table – Scottsdale, Arizona (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno2:22 AM

There are several scenes in the delightfully heartwarming animated Disney movie Ratatouille that resonate with all gastronomes who delight in the sensual pleasures of the dining experience–those for whom food is an enchanting adventure in the discernment and love of its subtle nuances and overt fragrances, tastes, textures and colors. France’s preeminent chef Anton Gasteau, a pivotal character in the movie, describes this sensual adventure best: “Good food is like music you can taste, color you can smell. There is excellence all around you. You need only be aware to stop and savor it.” The scene which may resonate best with this gastronome is when Remy (a provincial rat with a heightened sense of smell and with aspirations of becoming a great chef) places a morsel of cheese in his mouth and closes his eyes as the fabulous flavors of the fetid fromage envelop him. His mind’s eye is awash in vivid shapes and colors as his taste buds truly savor the experience. In combination with other ingredients, those vivid shapes and colors become a complex and brilliant kaleidoscope of beautiful symmetry. This symmetry is reality for those who learn to live to eat–those for whom food is so much…

AlbuquerqueChineseClosed in 2018Gone But Not Forgotten

Best Lee’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno8:01 AM

When John Lucas, Elizabeth Eisner Reding and Mike Reding, three trusted gastronomes who frequent this blog, heartily recommended I try Best Lee’s, my initial reaction was, “they’ve got to be kidding.”  Our sole visit to Best Lee’s in Rio Rancho exemplified the mediocrity and boring “sameness” that plagues many of New Mexico’s Chinese restaurants–a homogeneity my discerning friend Bill Resnik refers to as “copycat menus full of candied, fried and breaded mystery meats that all taste the same.” It’s a good thing Chinese Restaurant News (CRN) doesn’t read my blog.  CRN, a highly respected monthly trade publication serving the more than 43,100 Chinese restaurants across America, selected Best Lee’s as one of America’s best Chinese restaurants for 2008.  In fact, during the “year of the mouse,” Best Lee’s earned distinction as one the top 100 Chinese restaurants in the categories of “Top 100 Local Favorites” and “Top 100 Overall Excellence.”  The latter is the publication’s highest honor. The “Local Favorites” award is presented to restaurants which have “proven their success over many years and through difficult circumstances.”  Such honorees must also “maintain an important community presence and have a significant and devoted customer base.”  The award for “Overall Excellence” is accorded to restaurants…

BernalilloMexican

La Bamba Grill – Bernalillo, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno5:42 PM

In its April, 2009 edition Saveur magazine feted “12 restaurants that matter,” profiling a dozen restaurants that “represent the best of dining in America today.”  Although that title may at first browse sound a bit condescending, the premise of the article was that restaurants are special places.  “Everybody has to eat, but going out to eat is a choice.” Americans certainly exercise that freedom of choice with their wallets and purses.  According to the National Restaurant Association, forty-five percent of adults surveyed indicate restaurants are an integral part of their lifestyle and one in three say they’re not eating out as often as they would like.  The Association reports that nearly half of Americans’ food budget in 2009 will be spent in restaurants, accounting for a total economic impact of $1.5 trillion.  New Mexico’s restaurants are forecast to post the fourth highest restaurant sales growth in the country during 2009 with a 3.3 percent increase (amounting to $2.7 billion). Given her choice, fellow gastronome Barbara Trembath will choose, like me, to spend much of her disposable income at mom-and-pop restaurants.  With tastes very similar to mine, she often  eschews the “anointed” restaurants everyone visits and combs through off-the-beaten-path neighborhoods for culinary…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2009New Mexican

Sabroso’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno9:37 AM

From the moment they first set foot in the Land of Enchantment, some people just “get it” or perhaps more precisely, New Mexico gets to them.  It weaves its preternatural spell and stirs something deeply in those open enough to its calling.  D. H. Lawrence said it best, “In the magnificent fierce morning of New Mexico one sprang awake, a new part of the soul woke up suddenly, and the old world gave way to a new.” Other people don’t get it–and maybe they never will.  In the early 1980s while attending the University of New Mexico, I encountered several “dormitory rats” who whined incessantly that “there’s nothing to do or see in New Mexico.”  I befriended some of them, determined to help them discover the Land of Enchantment they were perhaps too close-minded to see.  That usually entailed a day trip or two to the north-central mountains of New Mexico, but not to tourist laden Taos or Santa Fe. Northern New Mexico is a spectacular canvass on which God painted perhaps the most awe-inspiring scenery in the state.  Two break-taking drives, the High Road to Taos and the Enchanted Circle–are well known, but an even more wondrous peregrination starts…