I don’t like the usually burnt coffee. I whine a bit about increasing prices. Sometimes I find myself the recipient of sporadically inept hands in the kitchen.

BUT.

Flying Star, like Ari LeVaux said in his recent Alibi article, is the “friend you hang out with all the time, even though you sometimes complain about him”. And like an old friend, a heck of a lot of people would miss Flying Star if it were missing from the local dining landscape.

NINE, count ‘em, nine locations. Gorgeous interior design. Local roasting that has upsized several times. Over nearly 25 years, the operation has both grown and refined itself, finding solid ground in serving what most people want, most of the time, at prices that are perfectly fine (mostly).

Remember that organic costs more. Imported butter for great pastries costs more. Local chicken costs more. And in the middle of a recession, everybody hurts. Raw ingredient costs are up at least 25% for restaurants in the last 4 years, yet menu costs are up under 10%. That means that even though it sucks to pay more, the restaurants are sucking it up, too, and that includes Flying Star.

This is roundabout way of me congratulating Ari for his article. He appreciates what Flying Star does, even with a few grumbles thrown in.

Each is pdf’ed and most have website links for your ease of further research, and so far it’s just 2011 but that should give y’all a great start.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE – call first!  A few on the 2011 list are already out of business, and I’ll annotate them when I can but “let the eater beware”.

Andrea Lin’s Albuquerque Restaurant Reviews Archive

But I’m not here to argue one style vs. another – today it is all about New York.  The Daily Show used a segment about Sarah Palin visiting Donald Trump to showcase the latter’s inexcusable behavior towards all that is holy in Gotham – that is, PIZZA.

See below for the video, but let’s digress first, into the Albuquerque metro area. Who has the best New York style? Big slices, floppy and greasy, that must be folded to be consumed? I like a fair number of pizza joints in this town, particularly Venezia’s Pizzeria, as well as JC’s NYPD downtown. But I hear there is good NY style in Rio Rancho, too. Comment below and let me know your favorite, for they will soon get their 15 minutes in a Venue review, if they pass muster.

Meanwhile, enjoy the exuberance of Jon Stewart defending New Yorkers and their cuisine:

“Inspectors said they found raw shrimp on the buffet, chicken not kept hot enough, improper sanitizing and soiled and moist cloths on the kitchen counters.”

I’m a huge fan of raw food – WHEN it is from a clean source and meant to be served raw.  That’s a big difference from a place like a buffet where dozens or  hundreds of people are looking for inexpensive belly-filling sustenance.

AA Buffet also serves sushi and oysters on the half shell – something I’d be pretty wary of, not only because their sanitation is in doubt, but because the source of the (non-oyster) fish is probably factory farms and East Asian shrimperies.  It’s hard to avoid, true, but when I *know* I can avoid meat of questionable origin, I still will do my best.

Granted, Grand Junction does have some notables, beginning and almost abruptly ending with 626 on Rood. Rood is a peculiarly named street near a downtown brimming with art and sculpture, some of it donated, some of it for sale. You’ll find a bronze dude in a bathtub, a weird lady in the “frisk me, please” position, amongst some other finds.

Chowhound forumites are not overly enthused; when asked where to eat the response was, “three places: 626 on Rood, 626 on Rood, and 626 on Rood”.

True, they are damn good for either lunch or dinner. But there are more that deserve attention, and I hope, more to be discovered yet. Described with a backdrop of Duke City eats, I present:

Dream Cafe – like Slate Street or Chocolate Cafe, an oasis of power-lunching locals dead set on tucking into not just a fancy pants mimosa but also a pile of S’mores French Toast for an extra potent sugar rush to last the rest of the afternoon. Savories also please like crepes with chicken and roasted peppers or a French Dip on one of the best baguettes I’ve ever crunched down on.

Nepal Restaurant - a menu heavy on the Indian with just a few Himalayan specialties. The “momo” dumpling dinner is pretty darn tasty, but the lentil soup blander than a wet sock.

Enstrom – for all your toffee needs. If you don’t like toffee, you will.

Naggy McGee’s – Irish Pub on par with Two Fools, with a tiny bit of additional upscale flair. Not sure that it works completely with cool boxtys stuffed with smoked salmon, but overall the food is VERY good and the service rockin’. Don’t miss the Irish Coffee. Don’t miss the Irish Coffee.

I hear there’s good sushi. Working on that….

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!

Ok, I’m getting an education in RIBS.

Memphis, Carolina, St. Louis, Kansas City, Texas.

All in the Albuquerque area, and all gotta be better than “decent”.  Who’s up for some piggy rib hunting?

Yes, I’m serious.  andrea at andrea dash lin dot com

Holy.  Fudgin’.  Shite.

Yeah, it was the most expensive meal of my life.  But when you get all pragmatic about it, in terms of dollars per minute per molecule of enjoyment, it was a bloody bargain.

The French Laundry is a bargain.   Yes, yes it is.  It has been a bargain since it opened over a decade ago, it was all through those intervening  years with visits from foodies and aspiring gastronauts, and it still is.

Now, away from the pragmatism, I’ll give you a very brief degustation with as little gushing as possible.

Rose, salmon, gougeres, caviar, panna cotta, fois gras, endive, black bass, sea urchin, scallops, Shiraz, veal tongue, pork belly, lamb roast, camembert, carrot cake, passionfruit sorbet, peanut butter chocolate mousse, citrus sorbet w/ olive oil, almond tart, mignardeses.

Yowch.  I do not feel the pain of overindulgence, nor do I feel any pain of sticker shock.  All is appropriate, all is perfection. No less than two dozen people had a hand in making my meal divine, including about a dozen in the kitchen.  They all earned it, especially my server who recommended the perfect wines and even chatted with me graciously about running and his own marathon training plans.  Unlike at a standard chain restaurant, I never got his name, so I can only say, Good luck!!!

The other thing I can say to those who balk at a several-hundred-dollar meal is this:

How much did you spend the last time you got on a plane to visit relatives for the holidays, or see a friend, or (forbid) take a business trip?  Was *that* four hours of your life enjoyable?  And how many times per year or decade do you spend that kind of money on transportation?  I rest my case.

Eat well.  Be well.  Take care.