My inbox is stuffed full of tidbits about things happening in the food biz here in Albuquerque. I’m leaving out Santa Fe and thereabouts, but of course many things happen up there as well. Celebrity chefs come and go, cafes open, burger joints close, everything is in flux. But that is normal.

Here’s what is going on around Albuquerque in the next few weeks:

FIRST, GO TO THIS: Albuquerque Food Cash Mob! Basically the premise is that a bunch of folks agree that business X should get an influx of customers, all at once, to entice new clients and generate some publicity. Ryan Scott of the former radio interview show has organized one for the Food Truck rally that shows up at the Talin parking lot.

Where: Talin parking lot, Louisiana & Central

When: Wednesday, June 27th, Noon!

Why/How: bring cash and a hungry belly, possibly a smartphone for tweeting some photos! Ryan will buy lunch up to $10 for the first 40 people. Whoa!

RESTAURANT NEWS:

Growth for gluten-free: Annapurna Chai House just keeps on truckin’. They’ve expanded to North 4th in Los Ranchos. Good for them, and good for all your Ayurvedic noshing needs.

Chile Changes: Sadie’s opened a third location in the Santa Ana Star Casino. Awesome.

Chik-fil-A is expanding. Eat More Kale.

Oak Tree Cafe, a spot I find perfectly fine but not amazing, is expanding to the West Side. I love when locally owned spots get big enough to grow like this, regardless my wild enthusiasm (or lack thereof) for their offerings.

OTHER EPHEMERA:

Dude throws rock through window of KFC, is unable to “put your hands up!”. Because, no hands.

That’s all. Have a great week!!!

Albuquerque now has at least three locations that serve what they describe as frozen yogurt.  What frozen yogurt is, exactly, can vary based on how closely you’ve ever been associated with the crazy health obsession of the Western US in the past decade.  The tart, lean, light “true” frozen yogurt will actually still have living creatures still thrashing about and ready to help out your gut.

Also required – minimal amounts of sugar and only hints – if any – of added fat are the ideal way to make perfect Frozen Yogurt.  But there are issues – what makes ice cream creamy?  High sugar content is the main factor, but secondary is fats and other additives to keep the texture smooth.  So, that generally means that frozen yogurt cannot and will not be as dreamy as ice cream.  And in this case, “stabilizers” are often our friends – most of them are recognizably natural anyway, like gelatin or corn starch.

As long as you understand you are comparing something as different as chicken breasts to a rib-eye steak, we’ll do OK.

Tasting notes will coalesce into an article, based on my own visits of each location. Who will the contenders be?

DeliBerry (Juan Tabo)
Yo Yo Bliss (ABQ Uptown)
LOVE Frozen Yogurt Bar
Olo Yogurt Studio (Nob Hill)
Ellie’s Yoberri Park (closed?)

Are there more?  Please do let me know….

Despite some rumors that have been flying around, Blue Cactus Grill on Coors is indeed still slinging meals through their kitchen doors, and have even recently expanded to do catering and baking.

They made an appearance at today’s Chef Knockout at the Albuquerque Convention Center, serving up not savory items but an assortment of teeny cupcakes in pretty good flavors like lemon and mocha. But the variety that caught my ear and then my tastebuds was the Sopaipilla Cupcake – a mellow white cake with just a hint of whatever flavor it is that you get when you deep fry bread dough. The kicker is a buttery honey frosting and a drizzle of extra honey right over the top.

Brilliant.

The old standard dim sum on Lead has disappeared – Amerasia is now near the court buildings.  But the cute little building couldn’t not have a restaurant – the space is perfect and the traffic is ideal.

In comes Saffron Cafe, a new Persian restaurant hotly anticipated for many weeks.  Unfortunately for them, the excitement was high enough to cause them to run out of many of their specials during opening weekend, but give them some time as the early reports of the food quality is very promising.

This may be the last days of Garduno’s.

Tomorrow is a hearing that could shut them down completely.  They have bounced a bunch of paychecks and are stating publicly that those have all been rectified and dealt with, but this is just more bad news…

Does that mean I should go have the delicious Chile Rojo and tableside Guacamole one last time, or does it mean that the employees will be so pissy that everything will suck?

Hmph.