AlbuquerqueBetter Call SaulBreakfastNew MexicanRating: Very Good

Loyola’s Family Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:56 AM

You might think that the etymology of the name Loyola has always been tied to the quality of being loyal and faithful. Instead, the name has its genesis in a Basque term meaning “mud” and only over time did the name come to represent the honorable qualities of loyalty and faithfulness. When it comes to Loyola’s Family Restaurant on Central Avenue in Albuquerque, an association with those qualities just makes sense. Not only are Duke City diners loyal to this expansive restaurant on the eastern fringes of Nob Hill, that loyalty is reciprocated by the restaurant’s staff and ownership. A framed placard on one wall proclaims “Mi restaurante es su casa” (my restaurant is your home) and the staff will do its darnedest to make you feel that way. Loyola’s Family Restaurant is an anachronism, a throw-back to the days when Route 66 (now Central Avenue) bisected Albuquerque, then a more intimate, close-knit city. In some ways Loyola’s is a relic because its genuinely friendly service and wholesome food truly elicits return visits and the type of patron loyalty that has all but evaporated with the onslaught of corporate chains. Loyola’s is the type of restaurant where your coffee (Farmer…

AlbuquerqueNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

New Mexico Beef Jerky Company – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:28 AM

The internet is replete with compilations abounding in truth and humor entitled “You Know You’re From New Mexico When…” Perhaps most resonating in factuality are the items which depict just how much New Mexicans value their culinary traditions. For example, you know you’re from New Mexico when: your favorite breakfast meat is sliced fried bologna; you buy green chile by the bushel and red chile by the gallon; most restaurants you go to begin with ‘El’ or ‘Los’; you have an extra freezer just for green chile; you think Sadie’s was better when it was in a bowling alley; and you can order your Big Mac with green chile. Even if you’ve lived in the Land of Enchantment for only a short time, several items on that short list will ring with veracity for you. If you’re a lifelong resident, however, the list may get your dander up a bit because, conspicuous by their absence, are sacrosanct New Mexican foods and culinary traditions we treasure. We would add to the list, you know you’re from New Mexico when: your trail mix consists of pinon and carne seca and instead of popcorn, your home movie nights consist of eating chicharrones in…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2022Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoSandwich

Tuerta – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:39 AM

“In the land of the blind, the man with one eye is King.” What would you name a one-eyed cat?  One immediately obvious option is Cyclops for the one-eyed giant of Greek mythology.  If you prefer Norse mythology, you could opt for the name Odin, the god of wisdom, poetry, death, divination, and magic.  Or you could go with one-eyed movie characters such as Rooster Cogburn (True Grit), Snake Plissken (Escape from New York) or Big Dan Teague (O Brother Where Art Thou).   A cuter option is Nick Furry, a play on the name of the director of SHIELD, the military counter-terrorism and intelligence agency of Marvel Comics lore.  Sadly, aside from Leela, the one-eyed captain of the Planet Express Ship on Futurama and Elle Driver, the one-eyed assassin on Kill Bill there appear to be far fewer one-eyed characters for which you can name a female cat. When Liam Kimball visited the animal welfare department to open his heart and home to a new four-legged fur baby, he didn’t seek out the most aesthetically-pleasing exemplar of health and beauty.  He fell in love with and adopted an energetic one-eyed cat. Eschewing the names of mythological and movie characters…

AlbuquerqueBurgersRating: Very Good

The Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:16 PM

“I’m not telling you, ‘Never eat a hamburger.’ Just eat the good ones with real beef, you know, like the ones from that mom-and-pop diner down the street, … And it’s so good that when you take a bite out of that burger, you just know somewhere in the world a vegan is crying.” – Homer Simpson America’s favorite everyman philosopher may have had The Grill in mind when uttering that pithy pearl. What, after all, is a burger if not the celebration of meat, a pulchritudinous beef patty sandwiched between glorious golden orbs and festooned with ingredients intended to bring out flavor combinations that dance on your taste buds? Made properly–personalized for taste to your exacting degree of doneness and with your unique choice of ingredients–a burger can elicit tears of rapturous joy among burgerphiles. Though the corporate chains offer convenience and consistency (a boring sameness), few would argue that their copycat burgers could elicit raw delirium when bitten into. Cynics, like me, would argue that chain burgers aren’t even made with real meat, USDA definitions for meat be damned. No, my friends, it’s solely the bounteous burgers at your local mom-and-pop diners down the street that elicit the…

AlbuquerquePizzaRating: Very Good

Saggios – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno4:11 AM

Where in New Mexico can you go to see his eminence Pope John Paul, II pontificate to Zorba the Greek, Anthony Quinn? Where can you go to see nattily attired cowboy John Wayne cavorting in a cerulean swimming pool with the material girl herself? Where can you find Beetlejuice perched on a saguaro, looking on as other luminaries (including the Beatles and the Supremes) enjoy the pristine waters by the intersection of Central and Cornell Avenues? Only on the imaginative tromp-l’oeil murals which festoon the walls at Saggios can you engage in such fantasy. The fantasy world begins on the restaurant’s Cornell Avenue frontage. Approaching from the south, you might not even know you’re approaching Saggios because the name on the brick and mortar facade is “Lupo Rosso” which translates from Italian to “red wolf,” undoubtedly a tribute to the University of New Mexico Lobos whose uniform colors are cherry and silver. Where you might expect windows, instead you’ll see a montage of sports images: Lobo legend Brian Urlacher hoisting the George Halas trophy overhead, Mia Hamm celebrating the United States gold medal win in soccer and Cassius Clay standing defiant over a vanquished Sonny Liston. A life-sized ceramic status…

AlbuquerqueNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Santiago’s New Mexican Grill – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:49 PM

In Act II, Scene II of Romeo and Juliet, the immortal soliloquy “what’s in a name” is uttered for the first time. In business, the power of a name in branding a company is everything. A name can either attract or repel customers. Ralph Liftshitz, for example, didn’t think his birth name had enough panache to succeed in business so he changed his name to Ralph Lauren. Today, the Ralph Lauren brand is synonymous with providing quality products and creating vibrant lifestyles. The power of a name in branding a restaurant can make all the difference in the world, especially in ascribing the quality of authenticity. A Middle Eastern restaurant named “Bob’s Kebabs” would certainly not fare as well as a similar restaurant named “Anatolia Doner Kebab House.” Similarly “Jim’s New Mexican Grill” would probably not be perceived as as authentic as “Santiago’s New Mexican Grill.” Perhaps understanding the perception that authenticity is ascribed to names, Jim Madrid chose to brand his restaurant “Santiago’s New Mexican Grill” instead of “Jim’s…” Santiago, by the way, is a Spanish name which translates in English to James or Jim, hence Jim Madrid is actually using his given name and not making one up…

AlbuquerqueMariscosMexicanRating: Good

Bandido Hideout – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:04 AM

Lucha libre, a Spanish phrase loosely translated into English as “free-style fighting,” is not just a genre of professional wrestling, it is the poor man’s theater in Mexico.  For a mere pittance, the common man can treat his entire family to an incredible world in which classic battles of good versus evil are waged by stalwart heroes (los technicos) and compelling villains (los rudos). Throngs of frenetic fans suspend their disbelief as muscular luchadores perform spectacular high-flying moves and execute joint-wrenching holds in the squared circle.  Lucha libre’s theatrics are enhanced by the presence of wrestlers whose identities are protected by colorful masks designed to evoke archetypal images of animals, heroes and gods.  The luchadores take on the persona represented by their masks. On any given day, on a Central Avenue median between the Bandido Hideout restaurant and the University of New Mexico, you can spot a masked luchador sporting a sandwich board advertising “1/2 Rotisserie Chicken.”  You’ve got to wonder what persona his mask represents–El Taco Technico,  Guacamole Guapo, Señor Salsa…  The staff at Bandido Hideout confirms that like the mail carrier, neither rain, nor sleet nor Albuquerque’s winds will stay this luchador from the entertaining completion of his…

AlbuquerqueJapaneseNew MexicoRamenRating: Excellent

O Ramen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno7:30 PM

“Food, like a loving touch or a glimpse of divine power, has that ability to comfort.” ~Norman Kolpas According to most online definitions, the term “soul food” defines the cuisine associated with African-American culture in the southern United States. In wide use since the 1960s, the term originated and came into heavy use with the rise of the civil rights and black nationalism movements. Though still most widely associated with the African-American culture, over the years “soul food” has become synonymous with basic, down-home cooking, especially of comfort foods…and as Cracked magazine puts it, soul food is “the real reason why white people like Cracker Barrel.” While the term “soul food” has, by definition, been culturally limiting and exclusive, in recent years the term has been broadened to include other cultures, albeit with a prefixed qualifier. In 2011, for example, New Mexico Magazine’s celebration of the Land of Enchantment’s “best eats” included the category “New Mexican soul food.” It was a declaration that New Mexican cuisine can also feed and nurture the soul. When my friend and culinary kindred spirit Nikko Harada used the term “Japanese soul food” to describe the food at O Ramen, it brought a broad smile…

AlbuquerqueBrewery-PubClosed in 2023Dog FriendlyGone But Not ForgottenItalianNew MexicoPizza

Lava Rock Brewing Company – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno6:28 PM

NOTE:  The Lava Rock Brewing Company is no longer affiliated with M’Tucci’s.  The review below remains online for your reading pleasure, but please don’t use it as a guide to the restaurant’s menu. Mark Twain, who quit school at age twelve after having completed the sixth grade, would go on to be widely acknowledged as the father of American literature.  Despite being largely self-taught–valedictorian of the school of hard knocks and salutatorian of street smarts–Twain acknowledged in his posthumously published essay “Taming the Bicycle” that the self-taught man “seldom knows anything accurately” and “does not know a tenth of as much as he could have known if he had worked under teachers.”   That would have been especially true if Twain had a teacher like my dad. An educator for three decades and still the wisest person I’ve ever known, my dad had the unenviable challenge of raising a brash and cocky know-it-all who believed everything I needed to know I learned by sixth grade, I delighted in pointing out all the educational untruths–misinformation, myths and sometimes lies–school systems were propagating.  Such falsehoods as Columbus having discovered America, George Washington wore wooden dentures and that humans use only ten percent…

AnnouncementsRed or Green - New Mexico Food Scene is on Fire

Red or Green–New Mexico’s Food Scene Was on Fire in 2019

Gil Garduno9:05 AM

In 2017, legendary Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold declared “food blogs are dead. There are still some people doing them, and there are still a bunch of cookery blogs where people are wrestling with cupcakes, but Instagram has so totally and thoroughly usurped whatever blogs used to do.” Much as I respect and admire the only restaurant critic to ever earn a Pulitzer Prize, there’s at least one blog that’s not quite dead. It’s not even on life support. In 2019, Gil’s Thrilling… actually experienced an upsurge in visits. For that I thank you. 2019 was another banner year for Gil’s Thrilling (and Filling) Blog as several milestones were achieved. Most significant to your roving gastronome was evidence of a continued dialogue among readers. On April 7th, the blog achieved its 10,000th comment when Tom Molitor shared online ordering secrets with Becky Mercuri. Tom and Becky were among the most prolific commenters in 2019, but for sheer volume, my publicist Bob of the Village of Los Ranchos (BOTVR) continues to reign supreme. On December 8th, Bob submitted his 1,000th comment to Gil’s Thrilling. There are now 10,775 reader comments on 1140 reviews, an increase of 1004 comments and…

AnnouncementsGil's Best of the Best

Gil’s “Best of the Best” for 2019

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

With a puff of white smoke emanating from the chimney of the Garduño residence and to the cheers of legions of loyal Gil’s thrilling readers, your friendly neighborhood blogger has finally named the very best of the best for 2019.  These are the dishes I enjoyed most across the Land of Enchantment in 2019, the dozen dishes most indelibly imprinted on my memory engrams…the first dishes that come to mind when I close my eyes and reflect on the past year in eating. As with previous yearly compilations, every item on this list was heretofore unknown to my palate before 2019. Every dish was a delicious discovery from within New Mexico’s sacred borders. In chronological order, my “best of the best” are: Comedian Rita Rudner once joked that “most turkeys taste better the day after; my mother’s tasted better the day before.” Obviously she had no idea what Chef Nestor Lopez can do with a turkey. His El Chumpe sandwich (Salvadoran pulled turkey in a tomato mole, sliced cucumber and radish, slaw, mango-pineapple-habanero salsa and watercress on a toasted bolillo) is one of several items on the Gobble This menu which could have made this list. Twice named purveyors of…