FIRST, Farm and Table is now open if you hadn’t heard. They’re doing relatively straightforward gourmet food in a nice building and a farm out back that should be supplying good produce by summer. So far they’re good but once they have all those veg it will be a whole ‘nother ballgame. http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/print-edition/2012/03/30/farm-to-table-restaurants-open-and.html

NEXT, downtown lost a pretty fun nightclub that made a heckuva radicchio salad: Jazzbah missed some lease payments and they closed for good around the last week of March. http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2012/04/02/landlord-closes-jazzbah-over-missing.html

A cash mob group is ramping up on Facebook and will be targeting local businesses, including restaurants, with an influx of customers and cash. Neat idea. Get a few dozen people together and all descend upon the chosen establishment, giving a direct stimulus to that place’s bottom line. http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/business/cash-mob-hits-albuquerque-business

AND, Pizza 9 is expanding to Santa Fe. I’m not the biggest fan of their “not quite Chicago-style” pies, but it is always good news when local outlets do well enough to grow. http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2012/04/10/pizza-9-expands-to-santa-fe.html

Ok, now for the piggie news. Well, it’s enough to make a foodie wish they had to stay kosher: pork is generally not a nice thing to be eating. Now, I’ve known this for some time and of course there is a spectrum of ethics from killing innocent crustaceans all the way to veal calves and the like . . . but isn’t this a place that it would do good to at least REDUCE your consumption?

I am not in favor of completely renouncing animal products, far from it. But that does not mean that it is futile to have an impact by consuming less things that are the product of an unpleasant life. Like chicken? Go kill, pluck and dress one and roast it. If you’re still OK with eating poultry after that, find your local farmers and try to buy from them when and if possible.

And eat more beans, plants, and fruits. They’re quite immune from the bleeding and screaming when harvested.

Here’s what hit my radar recently. Chime in if you have more to offer or great restaurant news to share.

Restaurant marketing – so this is interesting and kind of cool. Two new companies based in Albuquerque hope to help restaurant clients make more money. One, Table Tents, works with their branding and social media strategy, and another, POSLavu offers iPad-based point-of-sale systems. The latter was even featured on the Gordon Ramsay “turn your restaurant around you f**king idiot” show.

New places opening up!

Vintage 423 – a high-falutin’ place that initially got mixed reviews, but maybe they’re coming around.

Zacatecas – in the Bumble Bees space. Same as Vintage 423 but with tacos. Hopefully service and execution are in line with the gourmet prices.

Farm and Table – ok, this one is watch-worthy. Fine casual dining in the North Valley with lots of fresh produce and not-crazy prices.

Other Press:

Enchiladas Loved by Canadians – found this cute round-up of local enchiladas in the Calgary newspaper. Those folks need some HEAT.

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!

For the show, local favorites El Pinto have created the WORLD’S HOTTEST SALSA. Even CNN got in on the reporting of this story.

Ha. We’ll see about that.

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.

Japanese Kitchen, I call you out!

Fix your strange snippet from your tracking company that shows up on the Google preview. Fix the obnoxious slideshows and unuseable menus. Give me succinct information about how to get there, when you’re open, and what kind of food you have.

Thank you,

Cranky Diner with an audience

“We got fresh Sullivan Street Bakery bread delivered to Hearth, and I couldn’t help myself. I must have a bread and butter sandwich with salt, which seriously might be my most favorite thing to eat on the planet. Bread and butter, or even better toasted bread with butter. I cannot tell you enough. My whole cooking career — I love nothing more than toasting a piece of bread, and putting butter on it, and a sprinkle of salt. I just fucking … I love it, I love it, I love it. I can’t get enough of it.”

http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/02/ny_diet_marco_canora.html

I like this place but don’t go a ton, but when I receive their emails for specials and new ideas, it always makes me happy they are doing well against the likes of really mediocre Chinese food and other less worthy options.

The owner and cook is Jay Wulf, and the place is Greenside Cafe.

On Valentine’s Day, Jay is offering a 4 course meal with wine pairings for $65 – yum!

Here’s the menu, to get you salivating enough to make reservations:

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.”

El Pinto gets vote as best New Mexican restaurant. That is, by New Mexico magazine. Pretty durn cool.

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?)

Andaluz (Lucia): February 10, 11 and 14. A four course chef’s menu. Seating times are from 5:30 p.m. – 10 p.m. Call 505-923-9080 to reserve, or via Open Table. Cost is $65 per person.

Nativo Lodge (Spirit Wind Cafe): February 10, 11 or 14, from 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. Featured items, plus a live guitar player on Valentine’s Day, if you like that kind of thing. Cost is $49 per person. Call 505-798-4300 to reserve.

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (Pueblo Harvest Cafe): February 14th from 4pm – close.  $45.95 per person or $100 per couple, including sparkling wine. To make reservations, please call 505.724.3510.

Sandia Resort and Casino: Options for special menus are two: The Council Room restaurant will have an a la carte menu as well as a special menu for couples. Cost is $70 per couple.
The Bien Shur rooftop restaurant features a five course dinner. Cost is $125 per couple. Reservations can be made by calling (505) 796-7500.

Savoy Bar & Grill: Prix Fixe menu February 10 – February 14. $65 per person with wine pairings. $39 without wine.

Seasons Rotisserie & Grill: February 10, 11, 12, and 14th. Seasons will offer a special tasting menu in addition to their regular menu. Four courses of food with matching wines. $100 per person, which includes tax and gratuity.

Sheraton Albuquerque Uptown: February 14th. A three-course meal with four different entree options. Prices range from $24.95 – 29.95. To make reservations, please call 505.349.2520.

St. James Tearoom: February 14th. Three-course meal in the full afternoon tea tradition, long-stemmed red roses in a vase, and boxed truffles – all for only $52 per person. 11am, 1:30pm, 4pm or 6:30pm.

Torinos’ @ Home: February 14th. A cooking class and dinner on Valentine’s Day. Make ravioli, eat amazing food, take home chocolate! $95 per guest, plus gratuity. Call 505.797.4491 to make your reservation.

Tucanos Brazilian Grill: February 10, 11, 13 and 14th. What could Tucanos do? Add more meat, of course. Oh, and put roses and linens on the table. Not a bad deal, really. Lunch is $17.95 and dinner is $25.95. Reservations are being accepted at (505) 246-9900.

Zinc Wine Bar & Bistro: Februrary 14th. Zinc has extensive specials from 5 to 10pm. The Cellar Bar at Zinc will be hosting two four course dinners. Wine pairings and live music, too, for $65 per person (tax & gratuity additional).

Consider a new Urbanspoon user. Why are they there? Often it is because they have signed up for an account in the heat of the moment – ANGER or ELATION about a restaurant. Many signup from mobile devices, even while they are at the restaurant, lobbing comments about the overall experience without the details that lead to their conclusion.

Based on observation rather than rigorous data collection, most wildly negative or wildly positive reviews are left by users that will never review again. But what builds credibility as a reviewer? EXPERIENCE. And not just general eating experience, but experience sharing one’s opinions with the world in appropriate detail. A review that simply says, “this is great” or “this sucks” is useless. In that case the “reviewer” should just mark the place as “I like” or “I don’t like” and be done with it.

Keep that in mind when you see things like this (one negative, one positive):

 
Then, do everyone a service and mark their review as “not helpful”. We all appreciate it and the quality and reliability of websites like Urbanspoon and Yelp can get better.

That’s all a long way of saying that less than six months after Casa Vieja closed, the main gastronomic mind behind the kitchen is now in a new kitchen at Desert Fish just east of Nob Hill. Given that Desert Fish has impressed me mightily, I have to check out what Josh Gerwin is going to do with the place. And of course, I’ll have to find out where or where the previous chef/owner went.  I can barely keep tabs on these folks!

Here’s the short scoop, over at Larry’s website: Josh Gerwin rises again!

The wine and cocktail mistress from Casa Vieja is also branching out – rumor has it that the talented Kate will be emerging into a new venture. When I know, you will, too!