Chris Martinez and his family have sold the Albuquerque Tortilla Company’s production to Mission Foods, a massive company and subsidiary of Mexico-based GRUMA that removes ownership of one of the last wholly New Mexican tortilla companies.

Interestingly, Chris and Pete Martinez, under the new ownership, will start up a subsidiary company to sell salsa and BBQ sauce.  It will be called The Authentic New Mexican and is something they feel they can make money on, unlike tortillas which are suffering from high raw materials costs that have devastated many all across Mexico in the last few years, causing tortillerias to close en masse and families to feel the pinch.  If “the authentic New Mexican” is the kind of folk that adds their family-owned long term business into the sludge pile of a multinational conglomerate, then I suppose they are doing OK.

GRUMA also could have an influence on the high prices of corn that are sending all these little tortillerias out of business, as stated in the article,  “In 2009 GRUMA controlled an estimated 75 percent of the strategic corn flour market in Mexico”

Who’s left for the locally owned?  Just one, from what I know:  La Mexicana Tortilla Company.  They have a downtown restaurant and are some of the nicest people I’ve talked to in a long time.  Stop by and say hello, and have some fantastic chips and salsa.

Just a few tidbits for y’all.

Los Cuates, one of the stalwarts in our NM food scene, is expanding to a new location in Santa Fe – good for them!  They’ll be inside the newly renovated Santa Fe Lodge hotel with a grand opening scheduled for early May.  Another local opening will be at the Sunport, taking over the Garduno’s spot after winning the bid over El Pinto.  The “Twins” will soon be quadruplets!

Next month was the deadline for a bunch of local restaurants to install really crazy expensive new sprinkler systems, and no one is happy about it – not the restauranteurs nor the city officials who will have to enforce the law, so they granted another 90 day extension to the businesses.  I’ll be on the look out for closings over the summer due to small establishments not being able to pony up the $100K to update their systems.  Ouch.

Really good restaurants often do well, that’s what I love to see.  Here’s my quote of the week:  “Recession? What recession?” – Christophe Descarpentries, one of the owners of P’tit Louis Bistro, with one downtown location and another opening up in Nob Hill.  Well deserved, guys!

One of the heroes of my early days as a foodie here in Albuquerque is leaving town for family reasons – Chef Sam Etheridge, with a storied history in landmarks like Portabello, Bien Shur, Kanome, Ambrozia, and Nob Hill Bar & Grill had a decade to make you all happy with duck tacos, lobster corndogs, amazing Sunday brunches and the weirdest food innovations this town has seen in years, many of which are now standard menu items at your favorite restaurants.  He spent the last several years as a writer for the Local IQ, tending to his cooking and his family.  I wish him the best.

Yeah, yeah, I know you can already BUY chocolate and coffee in Albuquerque, but this is the first festival we’ve had to celebrate some of the two more important C words in all of English.  Heck, in all of my DIET, too.

It is called the Southwest Chocolate and Coffee FEST, and is going on at the Convention Center this weekend, April 16th and April 17th.  I am so crazy bummed because I will be out of town, and missing a potentially cool event.  It’s a who’s who of local chocolate and confectionary wizards, personal favorites to new folks I’d love to try out (later), including Chocolate Cartel, Theobroma, ChocolateSmith, Candy Lady, yum!

Here’s what else I am missing, just so you don’t have to:

ABQ Beer Week (ok, it ends on Saturday, so there’s still time!)

Jubilation’s Monthly Wine Tasting – Saturday at 2pm:  these are ALWAYS fun and even if I don’t plan to buy wine I usually do, which I suppose is the point.

APRIL is the month to eat cookies and save critters – Flying Star’s annual Animal Humane Center promotion gives a BUCK for every blob of sugary wafer (i.e., cookie) that you buy with the AHNM logo on it.  Mmm, sugar.