….. 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.

Well, Jerry was ahead of the Times, literally: New York Times loves Pig Wings. Apparently “shank” is not a dining public friendly word, so pig wings was the appointed moniker to pair with ranch dressing and/or barbeque sauces.  I also learned that Chili’s riblets (or are those the infamous “baby back ribs”???) are actually the transverse process of the vertebrae. That’s pretty nifty, and means that Baby Back Ribs is actually a correct term.  Who woulda thunk it?

Too bad the recession nailed us all when it did – or maybe the grass-roots campaign should begin now to bring back Jerry, the fried pickles, and those luscious pig wings.

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.

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?

Wha….?

No more info was given, and a “thanks for your patronage” closing made me very, very worried.

Noda’s is one of those restaurants I talk up quite a bit and visit far less often than I’d like. I hope that my inaction is not a contributor to their current woes. Or that this is all just worrying in vain and they have a huge shiny new space on the ready to welcome old and new eaters alike.

Despite the acclaim from its fame as the best green chile cheeseburger in the state, a visit to Badlands Burgers in Grants today showed nothing but an empty dining room, piled up mail, and a disconnected phone number.

Badlands Crowned Green Chile King (Gallup Independent)

Badlands Urbanspoon Page

Bummer.

….today (and tomorrow?) are the days to get your (American) Kobe burger fix at Independence Grill.

Jerry Wright, as friendly a restauranteur as I could hope for, is closing the doors to this restaurant which has WON best burger in all of Albuquerque for his Caprese Burger, marrying juicy beef to mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil.  Albuquerque the Magazine crowned Jerry’s burger the winner over a year ago, but it was not enough to keep him going.

If you’ve never had one, stop in.  A restaurant’s closing is never good reason to just stop going – often the owner is already in debt and if you enjoy the food giving them one last vote of confidence and dollars is good for everyone.

Don’t forget his “pig wings”, one of the best porky appetizers in all the land.

As of yesterday, three of five locations are closed for good, and the corporation is filing for Chapter 11.

I reported on this news previously, and wondered how they could recover in their fight against the state, which now looks like it is a fight against a former employee.  They’re having a hard time tracking him down???  Don’t records exist with social security numbers, etc – especially if it was an employee there long enough to be able to steal over a million dollars.  That seems bizarre to me.

In any case, if you actually do appreciate their food and festive atmosphere, do go enjoy it while it lasts.