Dog FriendlyItalianPolishRating: N/R (Not Rated)United StatesWyoming

Miazga’s – Jackson, Wyoming

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

The Jackson Hole Valley is so breathtaking that in the 1970s when the US launched Voyager II into space, scientists attached an Ansel Adams photograph of the valley as a representation of life on Earth in the event aliens discovered the vessel.  Spanning two spectacular mountain ranges (the Grand Tetons and Grand Ventres), Jackson Hole just may be the most picturesque valley on the planet.  It’s an Eden with winter.  It’s also among the most expensive and desirable havens in the universe.  Space aliens captivated by the Ansel Adams photograph and wanting to visit had better up the credit limits on their credit cards.  They might also have to lower their expectations as to  intelligent life on Earth.  The valley is home away from home to Kanye West and Kim Kardashian among other glitterati.  Well-heeled aliens will find luxurious amenities throughout the valley.  Four- and five-star resorts and hotels offer world-class services, dining options and spas sure to spoil any extraterrestrial.  So will concierge services that lead to the very best of the Valley.  It won’t be longe before our sojourning aliens are getting fitted for tuxes and gowns so they can attend film, music and art events.  Soon they’ll…

AmericanBreakfastDog FriendlyIdahoRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Bigwood Bread Cafe – Ketchum, Idaho

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Ernest Hemingway spent much of the roaring twenties in Paris, a city whose own liberal attitudes attracted poets, painters and writers from throughout the world. Paris was a vibrant city which drew many expats from the so-called “lost generation” of cynical young people disillusioned with the materialism and individualism prevalent in society at the time.  As a young writer penning “A Moveable Feast,” Hemingway observed: “You got very hungry when you did not eat enough in Paris,” because all the bakery shops had such good things in the windows and people ate outside at tables on the sidewalk so that you saw and smelled the food.” An avid outdoorsman, Ernest Hemingway, was a Sun Valley habitué even before establishing a permanent residence in Ketchum two years before his death in 1961.  One of Hemingway’s favorite watering holes was The Sawtooth Club, a decidedly masculine appointed establishment where he would have been right at home.  While enjoying breakfast at Bigwood Bread about a mile north of The Sawtooth Club, I wondered to myself if Hemingway would have enjoyed that bread.  Surely after having experienced Paris and its incomparable boulangeries, he would have become addicted to bread.   Alas, Bigwood Bread, the…

AmericanIdahoRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

The Sawtooth Club – Ketchum, Idaho

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Our server Kara (who resembles Maggie Gyllenhaal but much more attractive) reasons that The Sawtooth Club is the number one restaurant in the country.  That was news to me so I asked how she arrived at that conclusion.  Her reasoning is that the Sawtooth Club has been the highest rated restaurant in the Sun Valley for five consecutive years.  The Sun Valley is currently rated the number one ski resort in the country.  Ergo, one highest rated restaurant plus one highest rated ski resort equals the best restaurant in the country.  That’s akin to fuzzy math, but Kara is so cute I was almost inclined to agree with her. From the balcony of our rental in Ketchum, Idaho we could almost make out the steep, grassy slopes which weeks before had been covered in snow.  What we couldn’t see at all was the craggy Sawtooth Mountains which backdrop the village of Ketchum and the fabled Sun Valley.  Most of the valley was shrouded in pea soup-thick soup with a persistent rain falling throughout much of our two day stay.  The Sawtooth Mountains hold a special place in my imagination as well as Hollywood’s.  Movies such as the visually stunning Jeremiah…

2024 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Mountain" SemifinalistBasqueDog FriendlyIdahoJames Beard Foundation (JBF) Award Nominees & WinnersRating: N/R (Not Rated)SpanishUnited States

Ansots Basque Cuisine – Boise, Idaho

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Historian Jan Morris wrote “Basque is one of the world’s more alarming languages. Only a handful of adult foreigners, they say, have ever managed to learn it. The Devil tried once and mastered only three words – profanities, I assume.”  Ellie Ansotegui, co-owner (along with her father Dan) of Ansots Basque Cuisine in Boise, Idaho lived in Basque Country for a year where she studied the language, enhancing the intermediate proficiency she had acquired growing up in a Basque family.  Alas, she returned to her Boise hometown and without practicing it faithfully, quickly lost the additional mastery she acquired in Spain. Ellie has advanced writing, reading, listening, and speaking proficiency in Spanish.  For fear of not being understood, I didn’t speak my New Mexican Spanish to her or her father.  It’s the “two nations separated by a common language” axiom that occurs literally anywhere you meet someone from “somewhere else.”  There is one universal language Ellie shares with guests at her family’s restaurant.  That’s the language of food. In a world in which there are is over 7,000 estimated languages, the language of food is universal!  Ellie spoke food very well with me, my Kim and my dear friend Dr.…

Diners Drive-Ins and DivesDog FriendlyIdahoRating: N/R (Not Rated)RussianUnited States

Alyonka Russian Cuisine – Boise, Idaho

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In the 1970s when most people still had a sense of humor and society wasn’t offended by virtually everything, Wendy’s ran a commercial humorously depicting a Soviet fashion show.  This fashion show portrayed a heavyset (calorically challenged if you insist on political correctness) Russian woman modeling day wear, evening wear and swim wear.  In each case, the attire was exactly the same–a drab wool sack with matching hat.  Only her accessories were different: a beach ball for swim wear and a flashlight for evening wear.  A Soviet ambassador appeared on television to condemn the depiction of Russian womanhood.  Before the show, he agreed to watch the commercial and reportedly fell over laughing (as did the KGB agents standing guard).  Just as his segment came on the air, he managed to regain his composure in time to put on a scowl and condemn Wendy’s depravity.   Perhaps because of the Cold War and lack of information coming out from behind the Iron Curtain, stereotypes about life in the Soviet Union continue to persist.  The fun and interesting Russian Life blog lists seven myths about Russian cuisine: (1) It’s just meat and potatoes. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact,…

AmericanCoffeeDog FriendlyFarm to TableIdahoRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Yellow Brick Cafe – Twin Falls, Idaho

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In the Air Force, when you’re stationed at a base overseas, service members receive an orientation on how to comport ourselves (behave) in that country.  We’re cautioned about cultural do’s and don’ts.  We’re introduced to American terminology and conduct our host country members might find offensive.  Above all, it’s emphasized that we are ambassadors for the United States, that our behavior reflects on our country.  We’re admonished not to perpetrate the “ugly American” stereotype that some countries have about the fruited plain.  If you’re not familiar with the term, here’s how Wikipedia defines it: “Ugly American” is a stereotype depicting American citizens as exhibiting loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless, ignorant, and ethnocentric behavior mainly abroad, but also at home. When my Kim and I travel under spacious skies, we see ourselves as ambassadors for the great state of New Mexico.  We’re kind to wait staff and other diners at every restaurant we frequent.  We engage “local indigenous personnel” (a term from MASH) in friendly conversation and express genuine interest when we ask questions about them, their restaurants and their cities.  Invariably not only do we get great service, but they reciprocate our interest.  Lately, however, it’s become more difficult to act…

AsianDog FriendlyIdahoRating: N/R (Not Rated)ThaiUnited States

Jasmine Thai Cuisine – Twin Falls, Idaho

Gil Garduno10:09 AM

My sister and I joke that our hometown of Peñasco is the only place in the entire country that doesn’t have a McDonald’s or a Thai restaurant.  Thanks to our neighbors in the Picuris Pueblo, there’s a Subway just a few miles west of our home.  The McDonald’s closest to Peñasco is 25 miles away in Taos which also boasts of three Thai restaurants.  Driving twenty-five miles in the high mountain country is very different from driving 25 miles in Albuquerque where you might still be in the Duke City when driving that distance.  Driving from Peñasco to Taos involves precipitous curves, steep climbs and sometimes weather conditions that render the streets unsafe. Just how pervasive are Thai restaurants? There are some 20,000 Thai restaurants outside of Thailand, about half of them being in the United States and Canada. A humorous YouTube video actually purports to answer “Why Almost Every Town in America Has a Thai Restaurant, and goes on to declare “Thai restaurants: they’re as American as apple pie.”  You’ll have to watch the video for yourself to learn more about the ubiquity of Thai restaurants.  Suffice to say, Peñasco may be the last place under spacious skies to…

ChickenClosed in 2023Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenUnited StatesUtah

The Crack Shack – Salt Lake City, Utah (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

NOTE: In November, 2023, it was announced that all Utah Locations of The Crack Shack would be closing and transitioning to a new concep. tOnly culinary historians would call 2020 the “year of the fried chicken sandwich.”  Most of the rest of us would call 2020 the “year of the Cabrona virus” or the “year the world shut down.”  During that annus horribilis, some 50 chains introduced either brand new premium chicken sandwiches or upgraded former versions.  The instigator of the “chicken sandwich wars” was Chick-fil-A whose slogan boasts “we didn’t invent the chicken, just the chicken sandwich.”  In response Popeyes Louisiana Chicken debuted its own crispy fried chicken sandwich and posted a mean tweet disparaging Chick-fil-A’s claim.   So why did comfort seeking consumers flock to chicken chains in 2020?  The answer to that question is in the question itself.  During the Cabrona virus, consumers turned to comfort food to feel safe and in control.  Lesley Rennis of the City University of New York’s Health Education Department declared “Comfort foods not only taste good, they actually lessen the impact of stress hormones. ”Eating sweet and starchy food helps our bodies make serotonin which makes us feel calmer, and decrease…

Dog FriendlyItalianRating: OutstandingSandwichUnited StatesUtah

TONY CAPUTO’S MARKET & DELI – Salt Lake City, Utah

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

Most of us know someone like Lucy Van Pelt, the irascible, bossy, highly opinionated diva in the syndicated Peanuts comic strip.   Since her debut in 1952, Lucy has been the perpetrator of two long-running gags.  One involves her holding the football (ostensibly so that Charlie Brown can kick a field goal or extra point) and pulling the ball away because she doesn’t want Charlie Brown to get it dirty.  The second gag parodies the lemonade stand operated by many young children under spacious skies.  Instead of a lemonade stand, she operates a psychiatric booth where she offers advice and psychoanalysis for a nickel.  The “advice” is often worthless though on occasion, she actually dispenses a pearl of wisdom.  Lucy Van Pelt has nothing on Tony Caputo and his friends in Salt Lake City.  Every Saturday morning for years, Tony and his friends, seven sagacious septuagenarians, would meet at Tony’s eponymous deli where they’d solve all the world’s ills.  To amp up excitement in their lives, they decided to share their wisdom with people in dire need.   Caputo got a booth at the nearby farmers market where the seven could dispense their counsel.  He put up a large banner…

BakeryDonutsRating: ExcellentUnited StatesUtah

Banbury Cross Donuts – Salt Lake City, Utah

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“Ride a cockhorse to Banbury Cross, To see a fine lady upon a white horse; Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, She shall have music wherever she goes.” ~The Dorling Kindersley Book of Nursery Rhymes While planning our culinary exploration of the Salt Lake City restaurant scene, there were a number of restaurants we categorized as “must visit.”  Among those in that rarefied air were restaurants with a national profile such as Tony Caputo’s Market & Deli and Freshie’s Lobster Co.  Another made our must visit solely on the basis of its name.  The name Banbury Cross probably doesn’t resonate with you if you’re not a bona fide Anglophile or if haven’t lived in the Cotswolds.  Having lived in the Cotswolds for three years, My Kim and I are passionate Anglophiles (but not necessarily royalists).  We were thrilled at the prospect of visiting with the proprietors whom we assumed were from Banbury, a scant 24 miles from our English home in Little Rissington. Alas, for the second time in two days we were to learn that the education system in Utah may be lacking, at least in the area of geography.  Yesterday a clerk at a shop…

BarbecueDog FriendlyRating: ExcellentUnited StatesUtah

Blu Pig BBQ & Blues – Moab, Utah

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

For many of us barbecue is a noun as in “a social gathering at which barbecued food is eaten.”   For others it’s a verb (to roast or smoke food over wood using smoke at low temperatures over a long cooking time).  For the most passionate and devoted, barbecue is a way of life…even a religion.  That religion is practiced by large and small congregations in both outdoor and indoor temples throughout a portion of U.S. Highway 61.  The hymns wailed and warbled by choruses of angelic voices are the reason that portion of U.S. Highway 61 is known as the “Blues Highway.”  Rivaling Route 66 as the most famous road in American music lore, the portion of U.S. Highway 61 known as the legendary “Blues Highway” runs north from Vicksburg, Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee.  So common is the paring of barbecue and blues along this stretch that U.S. Highway 61 could rightfully be called the “Barbecue and Blues Highway.”  Visit the iconic Beale Street in the heart of Memphis and you’ll understand why Bon Appetit declared “Blues and barbecue, smoke and sauce. In Memphis, they all meld beautifully. Just like heaven.” We didn’t wear blue suede shoes during our visit…