A few new tidbits have made my radar – stay with me and we’ll explore all of this new fun stuff together!
FIRST, do not forget that this weekend is the Fiery Foods Festival at the Sandia Resort & Casino. More Scoville units than you can shake a tall glass of milk at and all the outstanding vendors that make hot stuff!
Next, in the space formerly occupied by Delicia’s Diner (where I had some darn good tamales a few years ago), there will be Jamon’s Frybread Cabana – this sounds really interesting. Chef James Trujillo, formerly of the restaurant at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, is going to offer Frybread, of course, but also “Brasilian Street Food”. His heritage just couldn’t be contained any longer and I’ll tell ya, this is awesome news.
The children are our future…chefs! At the end of March (the 28th), the New Mexico Restaurant organization will be putting on a competition for high school culinary wizards where they compete for huge scholarships and the chance to compete nationally. The ProStart Invitational looks for excellence in cooking and restaurant management. Cooking skills = life skills, regardless your future career.
La Hacienda in Old Town is (“temporarily”) kaput. Pretty much every time I see temporarily on a close notice, it’s for good. Sorry.
Apparently we don’t grow enough of our own chile here…. that’s a shame. “The New Mexico Chile Association said countries like China are trying to corner some chile markets. Currently, imports account for 82 percent of the U.S. consumption of chile, officials said.”
And….. after a much hyped waiting period, the former Bumble Bee’s Baja Grill has been taken over by yet another set of Santa Feans and again as a Mexican joint with tacos and such. It’s owned by Mark Kiffin of The Compound. The Compound. That’s serious cred. I hope that Zacatecas Tacos & Tequila does ok, in the end. The talent is certainly there, but is the execution? (And that “Z” looks a little too much like the Getrude Zachary Z…. or is that just me?)
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
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.
I had mucho love for Frattelli’s Pizzeria. Shortly after I reviewed them they closed, which made me both unhappy and frustrated with the situation (landlord/tenant dispute). Not only that, I could no longer get the amazing NY Pizza that they churned out for legions of Rio Rancho fans.
This summer, another Pizzeria opened in the same space (near as I can tell from the address): Bambino’s Pizzeria.
No one has yet posted reviews, though one guy apparently loves it and has posted a tantalizing photo of some massive slices:
With more reviews and more feedback, time will tell if this place is decent or even (hope, hope) the same folks as Frattelli’s. So, has anyone been? Good stuff or just oversized triangles of aspiration?
Albuquerque Food News: February 2012
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.
