Duke City Food » Uncategorized

Blue Cactus Grill – Sopaipilla Cupcake Heaven

Andrea Lin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 02:39:28 +0000

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.

Saffron Cafe is Now Open: Persian Persuasion

Andrea Lin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:39:43 +0000

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.

Chile Rojo? Please don’t go!

Andrea Lin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:00:29 +0000

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.

At Least We Still Keep Cheesecake Factory Away . . .

Andrea Lin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:34:09 +0000

Albuquerque (ok, technically the greater metropolitan area) is dispensing with the name at Isleta Casino, a place with enormous venues, several restaurants (at least one of which is supposedly good), and of course tons of gambling.

What’s going there? Hard Rock Cafe (Casino). Yowzers.

Will the existing restaurants go away completely? Hard to say, but hopefully I’ll find out and keep ya’ll informed.

Biggest Tab Ever At Flying Star

Andrea Lin — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:06:31 +0000

Was it the group I just saw, checking out with about 11 raggedly looking upper-class snowboarder types all milling around the registers with clearly nothing better to do like take a seat and get generally out of the way of all of the other transactions that are on the cusp of occuring if only their warm bodies would cease to obstruct the flow of foot traffic?

Possibly.

What to snack on when chilly

Andrea Lin — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:01:25 +0000

Something sweet, a little bit cold, but still with a buck and kick like a mule and just a little bit of warmth (at least in the beginning, anyway):

Affogato at Berry Ocean, holiday tree already set up and sparkling in the background:

…. and then, approximately 60 seconds later:

When Dry Means Tsunami-Wet

Andrea Lin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:06:49 +0000

I just had a small, double-shot, extra dry cappucino from Saxby’s coffee in the NE Heights (near Trader Joe’s), and it was served in a 16oz mug with at least 8oz of milk.

Come ON now, baristas!

Double shot means 2oz (50ml) of espresso max, plus a combined volume of 150-200ml foamed milk – THAT’S a proper cappucino ratio, not even dry.

How specific do my instructions need to be to actually get a decent cappucino? This is like going to get a Blizzard at Dairy Queen and they blend together a little scoop of ice cream into some milk so the consistency is like, well, milk. You’d throw it back at them, because it’s not right! Or like ordering a pizza and receiving one piece of pepperoni and a square inch of cheese on the middle of the pie.

Gold Street can do it, Ecco can do it (though they can’t seem to make decent gelato) . . . why not anyone else?

Saxby’s goes on my permanent “only if nowhere else is open” list for espresso drinks.

Bob Loves Chili

Andrea Lin — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:33:11 +0000

On a hot Saturday I load up with relleno burrito and bowl of green from The Chili Stop, and set off for home with Bob Dylan slinking his sounds over the stereo. All is bliss.

Except for the broken A/C, that is. Still…..

Fwah What?

Andrea Lin — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:04:57 +0000

The next time you’re partaking of the lovely creations by Ms. James, make sure you whisper to your waiter,

“…pssst! How about some foie gras?”

It is not front and center on the menu, but they have it, and oh does she know how to cook it. I’m getting a craving just writing this – too bad she’s not open for another 19 hours. Start the countdown!

Wastin’ Away Again in Sans-Margaritaville

Andrea Lin — Fri, 23 May 2008 23:35:04 +0000

Another Friday afternoon and I’m hammering away at work instead of joining the rest of the kiddos here at the office for the weekly happy hour, drinking beer you can see through and chattering about sports and work and stuff. Wait, did that sound fun? My idea of a happy hour includes a cracked open young coconut. Now that’s the “other white meat”.

The title is inspired by my weeks’ travel (also the reason this blog has been slow lately) in Newark to see friends/mentors who are Jimmy Buffett obsessed. How often do you attend a work event when the opening music is Margaritaville? Exactly.