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.

Yes again, as the strangely re-rising star of Neil Patrick Harris hits headlines due to the Emmys last weekend, his parent’s restaurant in Albuquerque’s North Valley – Perennials – is getting more mentions than most mom & pop cafes could ever dream of.

I ate at Perennials a while ago and it was fine.  That’s about all I have to say, sorry Harrises!

But any locally owned establishment that isn’t serving bad food is a good place to support and give your love and money to – the Chili’s and Outbacks of the world will do just fine.  Or not.  And that wouldn’t be horrible, either.

One of our local news outlets – KASA – is sponsoring a giveaway for a $50 gift card to Calico Cafe.

Calico Cafe is tucked up in the near north valley and offer some amazing comfort food and killer brownies, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Give it a whirl, and do your best to stay off KASA’s email spam list after that.  Heh heh.

Who let September happen?  I definitely do not like this whole “time just keeps speeding up” thing.  Can someone call Hawking or fish Einstein out of his jar and do something?

Today I left the Los Ranchos farmers market with $200 worth of fishies – salmons of all kinds, from coho to silver to sockeye and some bellies thrown in for extra fatty goodness.  Brenna of the Fishhugger team is my hero and I have to admit that I do feel a little guilty each year when I come by and buy last year’s stuff at a seriously killer discount instead of pumping up her profits with fresh catch.

However, I did get about 2 pounds of fresh sockeye which will be used for sashimi – perfect texture and not too fatty for good mouthfeel.  A little bit of the sliced up bellies and all of the rest of the 23# or so is silver salmon from 2007, frozen rock-hard.

Brenna also handles dry ice with her bare hands, another hero-worthy behavior I’m not planning to emulate.

Not necessarily “pudding” as in Jell-O brand, but Pudding as in the British word for dessert.

Desserts?  Now we’re talking!  Tonight, as it occurs monthly, is the PUDDING CLUB event at The Old House at Casa Vieja.  I can’t think of many more reasons to embrace your inner sugar fiend and cruise on up the scenic path to the North Valley and have some amazing sweets.

Here are the details – please call ahead!

(If you miss tonight, July’s event is set to be an all chocolate theme.)