Category: New Mexico

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Cafe Bella – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno1:08 PM

Caffeine is my shepherd; I shall not doze. It maketh me to wake in green pastures: It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses. It restoreth my buzz: It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness for its name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of addiction, I will fear no Equal: For thou art with me; thy cream and thy sugar they comfort me. Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of The Starbucks: Thou anointest my day with pep; my mug runneth over. Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the House of Mochas forever. ~Author Unknown Among the many unflattering…

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Vong Sushi Thai & Laos Cuisine – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Grammatically any of the following is correct:  Laotian cuisine, Lao cuisine or the cuisine of Laos.  Just don’t ever call it “Laosy cuisine.”  That would not only be a malapropism, it would be wholly inaccurate.  The cuisine of Laos is among the most dynamic and delicious in Southeast Asia, if not the world.  One of the reasons Laotian cuisine doesn’t receive the accolades it deserves is because of its neighbors.  The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia bordered by Myanmar (formerly Burma), China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.  To some extent, these neighbors (at least China, Vietnam and Thailand) have surpassed Laos on the world’s culinary stage–not necessarily because their cuisine is superior, but because it’s…

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Best Lee’s – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:14 AM

When does confidence become audacity? Is there a point at which a claim becomes braggadocio? To what extent can you trust a review on a hometown magazine? These were all questions we sought to answer during our inaugural meal at a Rio Rancho Chinese restaurant with the quaint name “Best Lee’s.”Best Lee’s is ensconced in the Southern Plaza Shopping Center in the same suite that held Peking House, a Chinese restaurant so mediocre I chose not to write anything about it during our one and only visit. In truth, we thought Peking House was still happily torturing taste buds until reading the December-January 2007 edition of Rio Rancho magazine (now defunct). A published review practically gushed with effusiveness over a…

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Si Señor – Las Cruces, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Much as New Mexicans would like to think our sacrosanct red and green chile is resultant from God’s infinite grace, there’s more than divinity at work.  Would you believe science?  Even before it became known as New Mexico State University (NMSU), the state’s second largest university has played a crucial role in chile production by leading breeding programs for disease-resistant, higher-yielding varieties. It started with Fabian Garcia, a member of the first graduating class in 1894.  In 1898, Garcia became director of the agricultural experiment station. His research focused on helping farmers transition away from grain production. He became known for developing improved chile pepper varieties, a contribution that shaped New Mexico’s agricultural identity. The principal objective of NMSU’s Chile…

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Ramona’s Mexican Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.” ~Laurie Colwin, Novelist Watch virtually any episode of Kitchen Nightmares and you might just be convinced that families can’t possibly work together in a restaurant.  Kitchen Nightmares, one of Gordon Ramsay’s eight-hundred or so television shows, is rather formulaic–Ramsay spends a week with a failing restaurant in an attempt to revive the business.  Almost invariably, the failing restaurant is owned and operated by a family.  Almost invariably, the drama falls just short of Homer strangling Bart.  Arguments on Kitchen Nightmares are loud and intense.  Copious…

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Richie B’s – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:14 PM

If you’ve ever wondered why New Yorkers fold their pizza slices in half lengthwise (aka the “fold hold”) and if you’ve ever attributed that practice to Big Apple quirkiness, you owe it to yourself to visit Richie B’s, a New York-style pizzeria on Montgomery and Louisiana. Now, the Albuquerque metropolitan area has plenty of claimants to New York-style pizza, but can you name a single one in which you’ve actually HAD to utilize the fold hold to eat a slice? New Yorkers have mastered the fold hold because true New York-style pizza is thin-crusted and cut into wide slices (usually wider than your face) which taper down to a perfectly pointed (and invariably “floppy”) bottom. I’ve seen friends and colleagues…

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Aji Ramen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

If a television show was to be created about ramen (some pronounce it ray-men), it would probably be called “Everybody loves ramen.”  According to the World Noodles Association (yes, there is such an entity), Americans consume 5.15 billion servings of instant ramen every year.  If you think that’s a lot, the United States ranks as only the sixth-largest consumer globally, significantly far behind such Asian nations as China and Indonesia.  Still, the land of spacious skies and fruited plains ranks as the top ramen consumer outside of Asia.   The per person consumption rate among Americans is 15 servings of ramen per year.  Would you believe South Korea is ranked the world’s number one per capita in instant noodle consumption (72.8…

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No Competition Supercharged Bistro – Corrales, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In the 1978 movie Same Time Next Year, Ellen Burstyn’s character lamented that her husband considered his years in the Army the best years of his life. When Alan Alda’s character, her partner in a 26-year adulterous affair, commiserated that many men felt that way about their time in the military, Burstyn retorted, “but he spent two years as a prisoner of war.”   I can’t relate to being a prisoner of war, but can fully appreciate why so many men cherish their time in the military.  More than playing sports in high school, the military develops a camaraderie and esprit de corps  you will never experience anywhere else.  Even Hawkeye Pierce, they cynical anti-military doctor who served in Korea with the…

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Anatolia Mediterranean – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

As a bumpkinly but book-smart twenty-year-old away from home for the first time, I practically ached for adventure, something different… the antithesis of  my agrarian upbringing.  The Air Force accommodated me, sending me first to the cultural, culinary and cosmpolitan region around Boston, Massachusetts.  It was an illuminating experience which I thoroughly loved, but after two years my wandering soul wanted to experience even further away lands.  Though very open-minded, the only places not on my “dream sheet” of assignment preferences were Thule, Greenland; Shemya, Alaska; and the country of Turkey.  The latter was based on having seen Midnight Express (on a date, no less).  Though centered in a Turkish prison, the movie gave me a wholly inaccurate portrait of…

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East Asian Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Perhaps more than anyone I’ve ever met, my Singaporean friend Ming Lee (God rest his beautiful soul) regarded people by the content of their character, not by physical characteristics.  So, it surprised me to hear him joke “we all look alike.”  It was an unsolicited admission that even he couldn’t always discern the cultural genesis of Asian people he met.  He also joked “at least I can always tell where an Asian restaurant’s food comes from.”  Ming was a bona fide gastronome who introduced me to the cuisine of Singapore and Malaysia.  Like me, he disliked restaurants in which overt homogenization of Asian food was apparent.  Sure, different culinary cultures across Southeast Asia have borrowed from one another over the…

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Mick’s Chile Fix – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:55 AM

Addicts are all too familiar with the symptoms, especially the insatiable cravings that can only be quelled by a fix. There’s nothing like the high you get from the addictive mistress that is New Mexican chile. That’s why we willingly singe our tongues and scald our taste buds to get that fix. What gives chile its intense fire and creates the need for a fix is a chemical called capsaicin, a natural ingredient that stimulates the mouth’s nerve endings, causing a burning sensation. In response to this burning sensation, the brain releases endorphins, natural painkillers that may produce a temporary “high.” So, the more of a fiery chile you eat, the stronger the soothing effect. Even though chile isn’t medically…