At that point I need to use my Google-Fu and start digging for information. You know that often gossip is inaccurate, so how can we find good information? I have a few tips on how to find what you want. Here we go:

1. Urbanspoon’s “new restaurants” list. This is a hidden search on Urbanspoon’s page, but handy if you only want to see what has been added to their database lately. Here’s how to find it: in urbanspoon.com, you’ll be on the main page where it shows you the hip/hot/featured restaurants for your city. This is the address of that page: http://www.urbanspoon.com/c/60/Albuquerque-restaurants.html

Scroll down until you see the stuff in the left-most column come to an end. You’ll see a tiny link that looks like this:

…and it’s URL is this: http://www.urbanspoon.com/lb/60/best-restaurants-Albuquerque?sort=date

To make sure you can always get back to this page, just bookmark it! Done.

2. foodloversnm.com – this is a tumblr site with lots of drool-worthy photos of New Mexico food. However, there are also links to a list of recent restaurant closures, as well as a way to buy the book called “Food Lovers’ Guide to Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Taos” – a brand-new compendium of over 300 food spots all over from restaurants to stores to breweries. Yes, I’m biased. But YES it is an amazing resource and you should have one in your glove box.

3. Email me! Need a tip? Just get in contact using my easy-peasy email address. It’s my name AT andrea <dash> lin <dot> com. Translate that into an email and you’re all set. Or send an email to that chick over at item #2. We have strikingly similar knowledge sets.

First, the best little salad restaurant that could has opened a second location, right here in Albuquerque. It’s convenient to downtowners and those with easy access to the freeway, right in Old Town: Vinaigrette. I only hope that Erin Wade can keep the same amazing high standards for her food as she has been doing in Santa Fe. And, is the Duke City ready for a $17 salad? I hope so, but don’t forget she also makes some of the best pies I’ve tasted.

Hounds of the alcohol variety, know that we are also getting a new chain liquor store: Total Wine. Two of them are set to open by the end of the year, one near each major mall in town (Coronado and Cottonwood). Myself? I like Jubilation and that won’t change anytime soon.

If you love deep spice and curries, you might have dined at Raaga in Santa Fe. The chef and owner, Paddy Rawal, has also come to Albuquerque with his new spot called OM Fine Indian Dining. It is located in a former Annapurna spot, so if you were already visiting Annapurna regularly you won’t be too thrown off to find OM in its place. His specialties are basically just making kick-ass Indian food. That’s all. And that’s enough.

(cover image by Sergio Salvador)

The book, Food Lovers’ Guide to Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Taos is now out from Globe Pequot Press and it is a soft cover handheld treasure trove of where to eat, where to buy groceries, where to get schnozzled and which road trips to take for culinary bliss, all over New Mexico.

Sold yet? The book’s website has an updated “closure list” so you’ll know where not to go, and a tantalizing selection of foods from the restaurants featured in the book.

The author would recommend that you buy from a local bookseller, like Bookworks or Collected Works or Page One, but if you must, it is also available at Amazon, right here: Food Lovers’ Guide to Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Taos.

This weekend in downtown Albuquerque, you can enjoy the Taste of New Mexico in the downtown plaza, both Saturday and Sunday starting at noon. This event is a showcase of local restaurants, whose culinary skills you can taste for just a few bucks worth of tickets. I’m excited that Zs&Ts new shop is represented, as well as favorites like Cecilia’s and Cool Water Fusion. Apparently one of the bands lined up is called “the Noms” – wonder if their theme is edibles?

Get the scoop and even more details here: http://thetasteofnm.com/

I suggest hitting the Taste of New Mexico on Saturday so you can use Sunday for the very anticipated Local Food Festival and Field Day down in the South Valley. This one will be a blowout event with sponsorship from great folks like Edible Magazine and Bookworks and La Montanita Coop.

It’s fall again, time to fire up the Baklava and the Lamb gyros at the Grecian Festival. It starts Friday, October 5th and goes through Sunday with tons of treats and cultural events all weekend. More info here and maps and all that good stuff:
http://abqgreekfest.com

According to KRQE, the vendor prices for food during the Balloon Fiesta 2012 will be up quite a bit, thanks to a change in the vendors’ contracts. Instead of a fixed rate to allow them to serve food, each vendor must now pay 30% of profits as their fee. Ouch.

That means that an average food item cost could be up about $1.50 – that already kind of crazy hot dog for $7.50? That’s now $9.

But with 18 new vendors, at least you won’t go hungry. If you don’t get skinny in the waist, you might get skinnier in the wallet.My recommendation? Don’t eat at anything you recognize to be a chain. Eat Sadie’s. Eat Road Runner Foods. But don’t eat

Don’t forget to read the VENUE in the Friday Albuquerque Journal to find other options for your dining experience once you leave the Balloon Fiesta Park.

1. It’s right next to the Balloon Fiesta, easy strolling distance to start preemptively working off those chocolate calories.

2. It is cheap: $10 for tons of chocolate samples and mingling with other sugaraholics.

3. C’mon! The name is AWESOME. Chocolate Big Top!

Here’s their own description of what’s happening:

There will be pie. And judgement.

There will be bicycles making the trip to the site at the Hubbell House.

There will be kids’ entertainment like cooking, sack racing and planting. I hope there are farmy kids that are entertained by that.

There will be cooking demos by tried-and-true guys like Jason Greene of The Grove, and “new talent” like Cherie Austin of Farm & Table.

There’s even a fermentation demonstration. Woooo to fermented food!

According to the story in the Alamogordo Daily News, the local BZ Rockin’ Burgers is all but four months old and using a ground chuck preparation to keep customers happy with juicy beefiness. The owners are thrilled, both for the culinary honor, and for the potential local impact, “It kind of puts Alamogordo on the map,” the owner said.

Adding to the spectacle of all those fancy Santa Fe and Albuquerque spots losing to this small town wonder, the trophy spelled the word Chile as Chili. Oh, the humanity! An uproar started, as you’d imagine, and the cutout trophy will be adjusted. Who’s to blame? Why, spell check, of course.

But now I’m back and have all the latest news and gossip that my ears and googlers have turned up. First up, minimum wage hits a stall? Looks like a new minimum wage act might either be stalled by restaurant owners who are reluctant to have someone else dictating when they give raises to staff, or it could be stalled by something as simple as a typo. Not just any typo, mind you – a typo that says that restaurant owners have to pay themselves more but not necessarily their employees. Weird. Here’s the story from HuffPo and referencing an Albuquerque Journal article (if you have access): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/06/albuquerque-minimum-wage-typo_n_1862240.html

Next, great news for foo-foo salad lovers – You’d better veg out, you’d better not cry. You’d be foolish to pout – I’m tellin’ you why: Vinaigrette is coming to town! It’s like Santa Claus but with lettuce and beets, nearby in Old Town. I’m excited and hope that the quality is the same as in Santa Fe, regardless the price point Erin needs to hit to make a go of it here in the Duke City. Read the scoop on the NM Business Weekly: http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2012/09/06/vinaigrette-restaurant-to-open-near.html

Want to know which restaurants did OK on their inspections and which ones had complaints? The city is making things even more transparent (though not by going to a letter grading system like many cities use) by putting all historical inspection data online. It is not pretty, yet, but the full spreadsheet of data is yours to download, right here (look for restaurant inspections): http://www.cabq.gov/abq-data

Finally, your local restaurant association is holding a hospitality banquet to honor those that kick ass in their field of providing excellent service and giving back to the community. On September 24th, the event takes place in Old Town at the Hotel Albuquerque. It’s not cheap but is a chance to meet and greet the players in the local food scene. https://m360.nmrestaurants.org/event.aspx?eventID=54120&instance=0