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

The list of entrants was long, many of them relative unknowns to the locals of Albuquerque, but in the end, the state fair’s Green Chile Cheeseburger competition went to….

Grants.  A little burger joint wins favor with 2/3 lb slabs of beef topped with not only chile and cheese, but also bacon and guacamole.  Is that necessary?

Hmm.  Its only 60 miles away, not far at all, and certainly less hectic driving-wise than a trip to Santa Fe, especially the gorgeous view from 9 Mile Hill on your return trip.

Badlands Burger in Grants, NM will be featured in the upcoming Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail, along with its other competitors in the first annual Governor’s challenge.

Garduno’s is fighting to stay alive after it was revealed to the restaurant and then to the public that the local restaurant chain owes $750,000 in state taxes and $143,000 to the city in rent at its Balloon Fiesta Park location, more than a year’s worth.

Although they’re under wraps on discussing just what the heck happened, general comments indicate the blame is being directed at a former executive who said they were doing things correctly but apparently were not.  If that’s at all the case, we have yet to find out.

This institution has been around for over 40 years and fed, entertained, and margarita’ed you and your family and your visiting out of town friends many times over.  If you still love their food and the crazy atmosphere, pay a visit and show your support by keeping the green flowing in while they try to stay on top of their debts.

My personal favorite has always been the Chile Rojo, a huge bowl of red with sirloin tips and a half dozen other garnishes.  Red meat + red chile = happy me.

Not one of their workers has yet to be laid off, despite an obvious cash problem.  Kudos to Gardunos for that.

Restaurants in Albuquerque are either PASS or they are FAIL. Pretty simple.

Go to any other large city and you’ll see lots of restaurants with big “A”s or “B”s in their windows. Sometimes you’ll see a “C”. In fact, many chowhounds will insist that an ethnic restaurant graded “A” can’t really be all that good or authentic – its the B and C ones worth seeking out.

To bring the Duke City in line with all of these other progressive urban areas, it has been proposed that we, too, use the ABC method. And let the battle begin!

Its the New Mexico Restaurant Association vs. City of Albuquerque and city councilor Trudy Jones!

Each has their own talking points, arguments, and rebuttals. Here they are in a nutshell:

City of Albuquerque: “The old rules are outdated and behind the times and we must change them.”
NMRA: “The new rules embrace new technology but badge restaurants for six months based on inspection results that were likely fixed on the spot.”

I’m still reading everything and forming an opinion; since this is my blog I’ll be spouting it soon, don’t worry.