After a quick talk with the owners of El Bruno’s Restaurante y Cantina in Cuba it is revealed that the original location of Garduno’s on 4th Street in Albuquerque will be the second location for the beloved El Bruno’s.

For years El Bruno’s has been a welcome stop for all who travel the 550 (formerly the 44) between Bernalillo and Chaco Canyon, Durango, and Farmington. The chile is pleasantly hot, the food FAST, and the atmosphere relaxing like the rest stop it should be. No, it is not the absolute killer best New Mexican I have ever had, but it is really really good and better than anyone could hope for on that stretch.

It will be interesting to see if having the restaurant so close by will make Cuba not as interesting, or if the food will change, or even if I will finally visit one of the forgotten restaurants in Cuba that are probably pretty good and horribly neglected all these years.

Interestingly I’d been driving past the Fastino’s sign for months, thinking it was some weird chainy like restaurant that served noodles. Such is the power of a logo. Not that I want to delve into the ins and outs of logo/branding and design and how to entice your potential customers . . .

Anyway, at some point I found out that it is essentially a second location of Saggio’s, with some tweaks and minor menu changes. This is pretty neato since I like Saggio’s yet never seem to haul my butt over there. Perhaps I am frightened by the looming dessert case, or put off by the insane noise levels in there.

But I will have to investigate Fastino’s and let everyone else know they don’t just serve noodles. They even took it upon themselves to add a note to their sign that says, “Saggio’s!!!”

Seriously, I think thyme is an underrated herb.  But anyway, I’m excited about the slew of restaurants that are brazenly opening up as we try to shake off this recession.

On my radar slash hit list in recent weeks and upcoming months:

Torinos @ Home

P’Tit Louis Bistro

Noah’s Ark

La Oja (new chef)

Amici

Slate at the Museum

The Oasis

What else?  New stuff I haven’t yet spotted?  Lay it on me!

So, hotel restaurants.  Good?  Bad?  ”Meh”?

Regardless, they’re opening left and right here in Albuquerque.  Al Bilotti’s Lucia in the Hotel Andaluz (more about *that* later), and now in the Doubletree, home to fresh baked cookies at check-in, we have a New Mexican-Californian restaurant called La Oja.

No word on menu specifics.  I hope it will be decent combinations of our own local treasures with some of the stereotypical California touches – goat cheese enchiladas?

Good luck to Chef Alberto Mendez – let’s see what ya got!

http://albuquerque.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2009/11/09/daily31.html

In a development that I can only describe as surprising yet good, Albuquerque will soon be home to a new restaurant whose concept is. . .  salads.

Salad Bowl, a small franchise with only 5 locations so far across Texas and Colorado, has set their sights on many locations right here in New Mexico, with the first to be on San Mateo & Academy (is this the old Sweet Tomatoes location?  Nope, looks like a former massage therapist.)

Whoa.  In this economy, with food prices at record highs and dining options getting tighter?  I hope they do well, but in the “more is more” eating mantra I fear that many diners will check them out a few times, then retreat to Sweet Tomatoes or Souper Salad for volume.

Best of luck to Salad Bowl – I’ll be there checking out the variety!

Salad Bowl Business Information