Well, the Groupon “thing” is firmly in place, like it or not. If you’re a small business, you might like it quite a bit – getting butts in seats and all that. How does it work? Who makes money? TechCrunch did a fantastic analysis a few months ago.

But if you are a small business and/or restaurant with an upscale target market and a really polished image, it might not be the best thing for you, especially if you’ve opened recently. Google for “groupon sucks” and the #1 hit you will see is a blog post from a spa marketing company talking about how discounting is not always the best way to attract new customers. It is certainly food for thought and a great post, but targeted at “luxury” goods like hundred-dollar treatments and the like.

What if your per-check average is well under $20? Is it such a bad idea to discount, then?

A friend just told me that they were hesitant to try a local restaurant because it always looks empty. I know for a fact that the restaurant’s food is quite good and told him so. They have a dining room too big for their needs and that hurts them with walk-by traffic, as my friend’s perception shows. This place might benefit from a quick-and-dirty campaign to get more people in the door. Or perhaps you can skip giving half the money to Groupon and just go to the restaurant. Do we have a deal? Good. Also try out another local place experimenting with Groupon – but just go instead of buying the coupon. Their sandwiches are amazing.

Every time you rise 1000′ in elevation it is normal to lose 5 degrees or more in temperature.  When it is blazing hot in Albuquerque, head east and just 10 minutes from town is the micro-community of Cedar Crest, home to one of the best homestyle and quirky cafes around:  Greenside Cafe.

This week there are some really amazing specials (like a Cantaloupe Bisque TODAY), so take a quick little drive and check out Jay’s cooking skills.  He’s open every single day with the latest hours on the mountain – that’s great news for you, even on a “school night”.

Greenside Cafe

Open weekdays at 7am, weekends at 8am, and open until 8pm weekdays, 9pm weekends.  Here are some other of the nifty specials this week (via Facebook):

Seabass Tacos:  Seared Pacific seabass, served with white corn tortillas, black beans, rice, fresh avocado and spicy grilled pineapple salsas

Buffalo Tortilla Burger: Grilled onions, pepper jack, all rolled up in a flour tortilla with a grilled 1/3 lb hamburger.

Watermelon Gazpacho

Beer poached bratwurst with saurkraut served OR Hebrew National Hot dog topped with homemade chile.

Oh, and don’t forget – Jay makes his own ice cream!!!

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!

Woot to Jennifer James and her eponymous Jennifer James 101.  She’s been toiling for years and years to local foodie accolade but yet only middling success.  This town “ain’t ready for her” is a big problem, but she is loyal to Albuquerque and for that I love her dedication.

A nominee for “Best Chef Southwest”, I was tipped to this by Chantal’s tweet, and had to do some digging to find good links – as for a stint of time yesterday, the James Beard site was pretty much down under the load of a bazillion foodies all wanting to see the nominations list, from regional chefs to restauranteurs to writers and everything in between.

But then, way up in Denver, my old pal Westword comes to the rescue:  List of  Nominees 2010

They even included a link to the pdf, which I’ll post (below) when I can download the darn thing.

[Congrats are in order, as well, to James Campbell Caruso of La Boca (IMO, best fig newton EVER), and Eric DiStephano of Coyote Cafe (IMO, best bacon bourbon cocktail, seriously)]

Here’s the original link to the James Beard site, and a direct link to the pdf file

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