Yes, I own this shirt. It’s amazing how many people it confuses at first blush – they read the “Meat is Murder” tag and fail to move on to the small subtext, thusly concluding I’m one of those tree-huggin’ types who eat tofu until it begins to peek out from aural orifices.

Would it suprise any of you to realize that showing compassion towards the animal proteins that you eat could be better for those animals’ lives than completely avoiding meat?

It certainly does not shock me, nor did it even phase Rachel Hutton of CityPages in the Twin Cities. She writes of a sheep farmer who takes animal husbandry to it noble end. Even if you can’t be a farmer, go see a slaughter of your favorite meat-producing critter. (If that’s pig, good luck. They are horrific when butchered, to hear Tony Bourdain speak of it.)

And then, at least buy GOOD meat, meat that was raised in known conditions, like on Keller’s farm in Colorado. Keller’s is one of my very favorite stores in town, for good reason – kick butt proteins.

An Albuquerquean by birthright, Francisco is currently a resident of the City Different, and so far I’m not holding it against him.

How can I, when he is taking up the torch to demonstrate to his city-dwellers that the Duke City has food worth eating and is not a cesspool of strip malls and freeways? Of course I can’t. He led a group this weekend to experience the comfort and panache of Gold Street Caffe, on the one day of the week they offer Southwestern Eggs Bennie, piquant with jalapenos and tasting of fine butter.

We talked about the great hole in the wall places around Albuquerque,  from tacos to burgers and everything in between, plotting to draw all Santa Feans down here for gustatory revelry.

He had not, however, been acquainted with Sophia’s Place, and that is what I present here, in photos as well as previous reviews by both myself and other food writers. Enjoy, my friend!

Gil Garduno’s write up

Duke City Fix column from 2006

ABQ Journal review (if the link is broken, I hope to have another copy of it available ASAP!)

Alibi (Jennifer Wohletz)

…and this news is delivered by none other than the comic Shoe.

Fascinating that taking photos of your food is now so normal, so accepted, and so commonplace that I could easily see my parents engaging in it (even if they don’t necessarily blog). When I came back from China two years ago, the primary complaint I heard was “you only took pictures of food!“. Well, yeah, of course. You expected something different, perhaps, from someone out to capture the critical scenery of a gorgeous country who happens to be a food nut?

Another Friday afternoon and I’m hammering away at work instead of joining the rest of the kiddos here at the office for the weekly happy hour, drinking beer you can see through and chattering about sports and work and stuff. Wait, did that sound fun? My idea of a happy hour includes a cracked open young coconut. Now that’s the “other white meat”.

The title is inspired by my weeks’ travel (also the reason this blog has been slow lately) in Newark to see friends/mentors who are Jimmy Buffett obsessed. How often do you attend a work event when the opening music is Margaritaville? Exactly.

Each and every day, the duo of Kenny & Brenna Aschbacher, also known as The Fishhuggers, craft their lives around providing their family and their local growers’ markets with amazing wild-caught fish, grassfed beef, and even the condiments to accompany the protein.

Kenny and Brenna spend their winters in Phoenix, but one of the sure signs of spring in Albuquerque is the start-up of the first couple growers’ markets and Brenna herself, toting a young one or two.

By this time, Kenny is preparing for his summer fishing season, so he’ll be around just for a short while. Catch them both this Saturday the 17th at the Los Ranchos Growers Market.

On the menu? Wild Salmon and NM Grassfed Beef along with local, in-season greens. Live music is a feature at the market, for those so enticed (me, not so much…). Market details as follows (click for a Google map):

Los Ranchos Growers Market
6718 Rio Grande Blvd NW, Los Ranchos NM
Sat. May 17, 7-11am