AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyNew MexicanRating: Very GoodVegetarian/Vegan

El Patio de Albuquerque – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:23 PM

For more than a quarter century, award-winning journalist Charles Kuralt had the type of job any aspiring sojourner would envy. He hit the road on a motor home, crisscrossing the fruited plains where waving fields of wheat passed in review and snow-capped mountains reached for cobalt colored skies. Observing that “thanks to the interstate highway system, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything,” Kuralt avoided the interstates, instead traversing America’s back roads and byways in search of real people with interesting stories to tell. Kuralt loved New Mexico, which he noted in his terrific tome America, is really a misnomer. In his estimation, New Mexico “should be called Precambria for the sea that crashed upon its shores for tens of millions of years, or Mastadonia, for the mammals that later roamed its plains..; or Sandia for the mountain where the camp of an ice age hunter, the earliest known American was found in a cave…New Mexico is old, stupendously old and dry and brown, and wind-worn by the ages.” Kuralt also loved the cuisine of the Land of Enchantment. In his book America, he declared the Owl Cafe in San Antonio, New Mexico “one…

BernalilloBreakfastMariscosMexicanNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Los 6 Hermanos – Bernalillo, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:12 AM

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 most remarkable fact about “seis hermanos” is the number of small villages in the Land of Montezuma with that name.  On 23 February 2019, 6 Hermanos Fresh Mexican Kitchen opened its doors on Camino Del Pueblo in Bernalillo.  Not surprisingly, the restaurant is named for a family of six brothers who share ownership and cooking duties.  It’s not just another Mexican restaurant.  There are more than six reasons it’s a special place. One of the more than six reasons this…

ItalianNew MexicoPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)Santa Fe

Piccolino Italian Restaurant – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

When I asked Gaby (our server Gabriela) what the Italian name “Piccolino” translates to, she didn’t have a clue.  She asked Olga Tarango-Jimenez, the restaurant’s co-owner who also seemed at a loss, but shared the restaurant’s very interesting history.  When my Kim Googled “Piccolino, she found it translates to “little one” and has such slang alternatives as “teeny weeny.”  Talk about a fitting name.  I joked with Gaby that if she ever called her diminutive in stature boss “teeny weeny” she’d probably find out her boss has a giant temper. Just how small is Piccolino?  Before its transmogrification into one of Santa Fe’s most popular Italian restaurants, its Liliputian digs housed a Church’s chicken and before that a gas station.  Piccolino is situated off the beaten just a few blocks north of heavily trafficked Cerrillos and a hair or two east of Siler.  Square footage not withstanding, Piccolino optimizes its space while still managing to provide better than personal space proximity.  Somehow it looks a whole lot larger when you marvel at all the “Best of Santa Fe” awards accorded by readers of The Santa Fe Reporter.  All but one of those certificates designate Piccolino as Santa Fe’s best Italian.…

AlbuquerqueBrazilianBuffetRating: Very Good

Tucanos Brazilian Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:20 AM

Many New Mexico born Hispanics of my generation grew up watching not only American “shoot ’em up” Westerns featuring rugged cowboys, rowdy rustlers, round-ups and home on the range, but the Mexican equivalent–movies featuring the exploits of charros, the traditional cowboys of central and northern Mexico. My friends and I could only dream about overcoming marauding Indians, desperate rustlers and flooding rivers as we drove our cattle to the stockyards in Abilene just like our white hat wearing heroes. It’s conceivable that in Brazil, cinematic exploits glamorized the equivalent to America’s cowboy–the gaucho, a South American cattle herder who tended his herds on the rich, verdant pampas. For generations the pampas is where the very best cattle herds in Brazil have been raised.  Like American cowboys, gauchos had their version of the chuckwagon of the old West in which horses pulled a mobile kitchen from which they were fed during roundups…and similar to cowboys, gauchos became adept at preparing meals over an open fire.  Gaucho rotisseries are renown for the delicious preparation of beef. The gaucho style of grilling, called churrasco (roughly the Portuguese equivalent of “barbecue”), is today celebrated from Rio de Janeiro to Albuquerque in Brazilian steakhouses called churrascarias. In…

AlbuquerqueAmericanDog FriendlyNew MexicoRating: Excellent

The Kosmos – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:22 AM

Even though New Mexico’s license plates have been graced with the sobriquet “Land of Enchantment” since 1941, it didn’t become the state’s official nickname until 1999. For much longer than that, the more derisive epithet “Land of Entrapment” has also been in use. In 1955, the New Mexico Motor Club began using it because state highway police were perceived as being overly “aggressive and deceptive” in ticketing motorists. That infamous Land of Entrapment nickname is sadly still in use, primarily by malcontents and miscreants who wouldn’t recognize enchantment if it gave them 280 days of sunshine a year. Those of us with unbridled state pride prefer to think that New Mexico enrapts you with its enchantment; it doesn’t entrap you. For us, New Mexico truly is the Land of Enraptment…er, Enchantment. No matter the length of time away, every time we set foot back in the Land of Enchantment, we just “get it” the same way we got it the first time we stepped onto its enchanted soil.  Perhaps more accurately, New Mexico gets to us. It weaves its preternatural spell and stirs something deeply in those of us open enough to its calling. English writer D. H. Lawrence said…

AlbuquerqueBuffetIndianNew Mexico

Naan & Dosa – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.” ~Mark Twain >Ever since Eve succumbed to the wiles of a serpent who moonlighted as a used car salesman, humankind has been easily led into temptation.  As playwright Oscar Wilde once jokingly remarked, “I can resist anything except temptation.” We can all relate. We all face temptations of one sort or the other.  Like the forbidden fruit of Eden, temptation can be very attractive and very difficult to resist.  Though technically sin–actions or offenses that are offensive to God–is a concept to which only Christianity and Judaism subscribe, most of the world’s religions do believe in the concept of right or wrong–as defined by the laws and rules set forth by their respective gods and as interpreted by religious leaders within the respective faith. Sometimes (or quite often as has recently been revealed) those religious leaders are also led astray.  One of the more benign examples involves a Brahmin, a member of the priestly class in Hindu society’s caste system.  Since alcohol was forbidden to Brahmins, one tried to ferment his own with rice.  When his efforts failed, he poured out the contents onto a pan and made…

AlbuquerqueChineseFusionKoreanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Hanmi Korean-Chinese Fusion – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Popular culture is defined as “commonly known information that briefly holds the public interest. It is typically discussed in various mass media, including TV and the Internet, and becomes a topic of everyday conversation (what used to be called a “water cooler conversation” before that term fell from popularity).  Apparently you’re out of touch with pop culture when you believe Game of Thrones is a video game and that Taylor Swift is a sprinter, the female equivalent of Usain Bolt. Approaching forty years of youth, I’d probably be completely out of touch with pop culture were it not for our interns at UNM Information Technology.  They do their best to educate this old fogey on what’s lit, cool, on fleek or whatever their generation’s version of groovy may be.  My lack of pop culture knowledge puts me in the same company as their parents and grandparents, all of whom are clueless as to what’s important.  While they might be less patient with their parents, they find my ignorance humorous.  For example, when I walked in on a conversation they were having and overheard the term K-Pop, I asked if it was a Korean dish similar to bibimbap.  I still haven’t…

BurgersDog FriendlyNew Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2009New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail: 2011Rating: ExcellentSanta Fe

Santa Fe Bite – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:29 PM

“This burger is a wonder. It’s thick, it’s perfectly cooked, juicy and covered in cheese… If eating a burger is a sin, this burger is like going to Vegas with a hooker who you kill, stuff in your trunk, and push off into a canyon.” —The Amateur Gourmet Glass-half-full nay-sayers will tell you it shouldn’t have worked. Housed in a ramshackle building some might describe as being “in the middle of nowhere,” it defied the number one rule for restaurant success: location, location, location. It was Lilliputian in size, incapable of accommodating everyone clamoring to get in. Long waits were common with only a small porch and limited eating as a “waiting area.” Seating was in personal space proximity. in winter and rare rainy seasons, the dirt and gravel parking lot could become rather messy. From a debits and credits perspective, these were the debits, the factors which worked against the Bobcat Bite ever becoming a success, much less a legendary dining destination. Fortunately the Bobcat Bite was frequented by diners with a glass is half full perspective, not by accountants and their ledgers. The Bobcat Bite was not beloved in spite of the aforementioned debits; it was beloved because…

AlbuquerqueBakeryDiners Drive-Ins and DivesDog FriendlyFood Network Eats New MexicoRating: Outstanding

Golden Crown Panaderia – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:34 PM

“Around the world while the city still sleeps, you begin.  Some of you because that’s what your parents did.  Others, you’re the first of your kind.  But all of you are one.  Siblings in an ancient tradition.  You take the time, temperature and love.  You bring them together to make something that brings people together.  You make more than just food.  You make friendships.  You make joy.  And for a hundred years, Dawn has been right there with you.  So this is for you, for bakers everywhere.  Thank you for letting us be part of your story.  Here’s to the next chapter together.  Here’s to bakers.” Albuquerque’s beloved Golden Crown Panaderia was one of five bakeries across the globe selected to be featured in a new spot for Dawn Foods. The advertisement, which showcases the work bakers do each morning, followed the father-son tandem of Pratt and Christopher Morales as they get Albuquerque ready for the day with the best baked goods in town.  It’s a touching tribute to true unsung heroes: Dawn 100 Years | Thank You Although we pride ourselves on keeping a pulse on the local dining scene, it took a nationally syndicated Food Network cable program called Food Finds…

DonutsNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Charlie’s Spic & Span – Las Vegas, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Time–and the woke movement–haven’t left Las Vegas, New Mexico behind.  It may seem that way when you hear locals–even Highlands University students–frequent usage of the term “the spic.”  They’re not using the term in a derogatory manner to refer to someone of Hispanic descent.  They’re using it as a term of endearment for Charlie’s Spic & Span, probably the most popular restaurant in Las Vegas.    Everywhere else “the spic” may be a derogatory term, but not in Las Vegas–at least when talking about Charlie’s Spic & Span, one of New Mexico’s most beloved and venerable restaurants. If you’ve never visited Charlie’s Spic & Span, you’re undoubtedly curious as to why it acquired its unusual name.  The “Charlie’s” name on the marquee is for owner Charlie Sandoval while “Spic & Span” refers to the fact that this building once housed a Laundromat.  Though Charlie is peripatetic presence at his eponymous restaurant, should he be away during your visit you could once see a chalk drawing of his countenance behind the counter (our server told us Charlie had it taken down because “he’s vain.”)  It’s just one of many intriguing points of interest in a restaurant frequented by every governor and…

Dog FriendlyFusionNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Tacos

The Skillet – Las Vegas, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

A man comes home after a long day.  His wife then hits him in the back of the head with a frying pan.  He clutches his head in pain asking her, “Honey why? Why did you do that?” She answers, “When I was doing your laundry I found a receipt in your pocket with a woman’s name on it.” He responds, “That’s why you hit me? Honey, Mary-Ann is a horse I bet on.  That’s the receipt for my bet.” She accepts that and apologizes and they make up.  Next week the same thing happens. He comes home and is struck in the back of his head with a frying pan. The husband asks, “AGAIN? You hit me in the head with a frying pan again, why?!”  The wife looks at him and says, “Your horse called.” Believe it or not, in the 50s and 60s (long before my time), wives bashing their husbands on their heads with frying pans passed for humor.  Banner Graphic confirms this gallows humor trend: “The image of an angry woman hitting her uncooperative husband over the head with a frying pan is usually a cartoonishly laughing matter.  After all, it’s a staple of comic…