I have a long history of defending Flying Star. I respect what Jean and Mark Bernstein do with local ingredients. I appreciate their ridiculously long hours, day after day (6 a.m. – 11 p.m. in most locations, most days). I am thankful for magazines I can browse while drinking refills of coffee.

I don’t like the usually burnt coffee. I whine a bit about increasing prices. Sometimes I find myself the recipient of sporadically inept hands in the kitchen.

BUT.

Flying Star, like Ari LeVaux said in his recent Alibi article, is the “friend you hang out with all the time, even though you sometimes complain about him”. And like an old friend, a heck of a lot of people would miss Flying Star if it were missing from the local dining landscape.

NINE, count ‘em, nine locations. Gorgeous interior design. Local roasting that has upsized several times. Over nearly 25 years, the operation has both grown and refined itself, finding solid ground in serving what most people want, most of the time, at prices that are perfectly fine (mostly).

Remember that organic costs more. Imported butter for great pastries costs more. Local chicken costs more. And in the middle of a recession, everybody hurts. Raw ingredient costs are up at least 25% for restaurants in the last 4 years, yet menu costs are up under 10%. That means that even though it sucks to pay more, the restaurants are sucking it up, too, and that includes Flying Star.

This is roundabout way of me congratulating Ari for his article. He appreciates what Flying Star does, even with a few grumbles thrown in.

On one day next weekend (September 25th), bRgR will donate 10% of all sales to Creative Albuquerque, a group fostering the growth of creative types all over town.  In short, they want urban “enlightenment”, and bRgR is just the sort of place to help out, what with that so-bizarre-its-cool wallpaper and chandeliers.

Here’s what Creative Albuquerque says about themselves, “Creative Albuquerque’s mission is to grow the creative economy to ensure a more dynamic and prosperous city.”

Here’s what I say about bRgR:  ”. . . you could imagine yourself at an eatery in Denver until you spot the Chile Bliss burger ($6), accented with smoked cheddar for extra punch . . .”

I keep tabs on news that filters up about new spots, chef departures, developing concepts and try to bring them in one non-paywalled placed, because I love you.  Actually, I really like gossip, so let’s see what I have this week:

Pizza 9 will be moving in to the former frozen-dessert spot behind the Century Downtown theater.  They say they’re Chicago, I say not-so.  Good pizza, but it’s thick crust, plain and simple.

McGrath’s in the Hyatt.  Ever eat there?  Yeah, maybe once and you didn’t choose to.  What did you eat?  Who knows.  It was fine.  Finally the uninteresting is shoved out and a new contender steps in.  It’s called Forque and whether or not they intend to compete with Lucia, it is always a good sign when new places open, especially in a down economy.  Looks like steak . . . and stuff.  Duck, ok, and some South American influences like chimichurri (one of the greatest condiments ever).

More hotel renovations:  the downtown Hilton, home of the Rancher’s Club, is now rebranded as Crowne Plaza.  Rancher’s Club stays, but the casual restaurant will be reopened as “innovative New Mexican” and called Stonestreet Restaurant.

East Mountain diners have one less spot to have drinks with dinner – the Backside Alehouse has been fighting for a liquor license but recently lost their legal fight, and as a result they will close down completely.  Big bummer for the 10,000+ residents out there.

Hot dogs and burgers are recession food, so they say. Personally it seems more reasonable to me that true recession food would be beans and rice, or stew, or casseroles, or beans and beans and beans. Or maybe that’s depression food. Anyway . . .

If you have been missing Bob’s Fish n’ Chips near downtown, you still won’t be able to get the old school divey experience at 700 Central SE because it is now owned by a couple of chefs with experience at high-end joints in Santa Fe. What are they doing to the old place? Making burgers out of grass-fed beef, that’s what. Owner Chris Medina is calling the place “Holy Cow” and hopes to compete with the likes of BrGr, Standard Diner, and a host of others.

This is obviously a trend, whether or not it has anything to do with the recession. I applaud the increasing use of grass-fed beef, especially for “fatty” applications like burgers where you want the moisture but not all the icky hormonal junk that usually tags along in factory-farmed cattle meat. True grass-fed AND grass-finished beef’s fat is as good for you as salmon fat. Neato, eh? While Holy Cow’s grass-fed is probably grain-finished, it’s still a good start.

Open daily lunch through late with weekend breakfasts (maybe); 505-242-2991

No matter how much of a food snob you think I am (and I probably am that, too), I love veggies.  Raw veggies, cooked veggies, big honkin’ piles of them.  I used to adore The Salad Bowl up on San Mateo but they didn’t last.

One of my other favorite lunches in the UNM/EDo/Downtown area was Souper Salad near University on Central.  The same folks worked there for years, only a few managers came and went, and generally it was a reliable place to chow down on the healthier components of my daily consumption.

Alas, a customer recently reported to the health department that they found a blade in one of the food bins – likely from a peeler, one of those little guys – and it took about 24 hours for the place to be practically boarded up.  THAT sounds fishy to me.  Yes that is no small offense, BUT in the grand scheme of things a single blade in the shredded carrots is frankly far less of the public health risk than other easily overlooked things like employees not washing their hands or not keeping food at the correct temperatures.  At least a blade is right out there saying, “hello!  I don’t belong here!”.  Bacteria don’t do that.  But in this case that blade allowed the inspectors to find those other violations I mentioned above – so perhaps the blade did some good.

Anyway, I still kind of wonder if anything else was going on – were there financial troubles?  Managerial woes?  It seems that a “for rent” sign up the next day is a bit extreme.  Anyone know?