Opening NEXT WEEK in Rio Rancho is the new spot opened by a Seattleite (they know coffee, don’t they?): Cafe Bella Coffee

According to their website and press info, Cafe Bella will feature locally-roasted beans (from where? I’ll find out!). But that’s not what interests me.  What interests me is that the owner, Michael Gonzales, will be pulling shots on a crazy expensive Italian espresso machine, and also that he was trained by the Italian World Cup champion barista while they both lived in Seattle.

Will Guiseppe’s be feeling some competition? I hope so. This metro area is far large enough to support several excellent espresso shops.
The cafe side of things will be featuring as much locally grown produce as possible, working with farms and small businesses to get the kitchen’s raw ingredients.

So, it all sounds good – I’ll haul myself up the hill and check the place out, and probably post photos to Twitter, too: @dukecityfood

Café Bella Coffee

2115 Golf Course Road S.E. #102 in Rio Rancho

http://www.cafebellacoffee.com

….. but I do.  Let’s round up some of the latest restaurant gossip, shall we?

Firstly, I did not know that former co-founder of Relish was Chef de Cuisine at Artichoke Cafe. Go, Tony Nethery!

Next, Nob Hill is abuzz with openings, closings, and speculation. A new spot should be coming in where Bumble Bee’s was – called Z, and owned by the Street Food Asia folks. And, Andre’s quietly closed. Did anyone even eat there, aside from the one horrible Urbanspoon review?

And mentions do pop up about people that eat here and love it, like this one about Perea’s.

And, STAY to the management and kitchen staff as they transition over to the Italian theme of Gregorio’s under the helm of Matt DiGregory.  It’s the same people as Rodeo Grill, which are the same people as The Range, and the same as Standard Diner.

Here’s my issue:  They’ve been open ONE WEEK.  Urbanspoon already has 4 reviews both great and bad.  Give it some time, folks . . . even experienced restauranteurs need time to get things flowing.  Go visit, take notes, wait, go back, think about it…. and then post a review.

Thanks.

P.S. I’m not saying that Gregorio’s is getting any different treatment than most new and hyped joints in town, but this one happened so quickly that I wanted to object in public to the general practice of lobbing critique at brand new restaurants.

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

The woefully empty building at Carlisle and Central might actually be opening up for a new business – the newest offshoot of Chow’s Asian Cuisine called Fan Tang.  Fresh food, tried and true recipes from Chow’s, and reasonable prices are the goal, says the owner.

The open date was set for early July, but no word yet on the status.  Even the website is an empty shell with no real information.

So, what’s up?  Anyone have some additional details on this new competition for StreetFood Asia?