Coda Bakery – Albuquerque, New Mexico

JP, my former boss at Intel used to pride himself on consistently working “half days.” If you’re thinking you’d like a job where you work only four hours a day, you’ve misinterpreted his definition of “half days.” To him, half days is a literal term meaning twelve hours a day. When most of us are done for after only nine or ten hours, he was just starting what he called his “second shift.” Very few of us have the stamina, initiative and especially the passion for what we do to work “half days.” I know restaurateurs for whom half days (or longer) are standard six or seven days a week. Because they spend so much time in their restaurants tending…

Sergio’s Bakery & Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

In Italy, the oft-used idiom “Senza il pane tutto diventa orfano” translates to “without bread everyone is an orphan.” That’s how important bread  is in Italian culture.  Is it any wonder bread consumption in Italy is higher than in any other European country, even France. Many loaves are made by artisan bakers operating out of family-owned and operated bakeries.  Most work on a small scale and are heavily influenced by family recipes and regional traditions.  Those secrets and techniques have been handed down from baker-to-baker over the years. Family is essential to retaining the continuity of bread-making excellence in Italy.  Whether baking bread for home or operating a panetteria  and (or) a panificio, traditions are passed on from one generation…

Horizon Bagels & Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

The furthest thing you can see when you stare out into the sky––the line where the sky meets the earth––is called the horizon.  Now, contemplate the faraway rainbow when it appears on the horizon.  The rainbow is one of the most inspiring displays in nature–the spectacular, high-arching display of colors that stretches across the horizon at the tail end of a rainstorm. This prototypical display of  the colors of the ultraviolet spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, violet) is brought on by sunlight refracting, reflecting, and dispersing as it passes through raindrops.  It’s magical!  No wonder fortune –a pot of gold–and good luck are often attributed to the mysterious arching rainbow. Now study the bagel.  If you slice it in…

Johnny O’s Spudnuts – Farmington, New Mexico

When we tell fellow New Mexicans we lived in Mississippi for eight years, they look at us like we’ve lived in Mars.  Mississippi is not a dichotomy to many people in that they can’t think about anything good about it.  Most dredge up the Magnolia State’s ignominious past or they bring up stereotypes about the state’s literacy and education (despite Missisissipi’s public schools ranking higher than New Mexico’s).   We often feel we have to defend all that is good and wonderful about Mississippi…and there is a lot to love.  Foremost are the people.  We befriended and have remained friends with so many people along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  Most of them are God loving, God fearing people who love…

Diane’s Bakery & Deli – Silver City, New Mexico

In 2011, New Mexico Magazine recruited several local food writers and asked us to introduce readers to ten of “New Mexico’s Best Eats” in several categories:  Best Green Chile Cheeseburger, Best New Mexican Soul Food, Best Fine Dining, Best Enchiladas, Bet Vegetarian New Mexican Food, Best Road Food, Beste Local Seasonal Ingredients, Best Contemporary Native American Food, Best Chocolate and Best Carne Adovada.   For the most part, writers waxed eloquent about “the usual suspects” in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. The most noteable exception was Lesley S. King, a distinguished writer who graced New Mexico Magazine’s as the “King of the Road” for years.  Lesley declared The Land of Enchantment’s “Best Road Food” to be the Hatch Benedict from Diane’s…

Saratori’s Italian Bakery – Albuquerque, New Mexico

In 2007 serendipity had a hand in one of the most delicious additions to the Tully’s deli fortunes, an addition that had nothing to do with sandwiches, meats, pastas or other deli deliciousness. Rather than find a new tenant for the recently vacated shop in the same strip mall, Tully’s Deli & Italian Meats owner Johnny Carmuglia converted it into an Italian Pastry Shop which he named by combining the names of his two daughters Sara and Tori. Thus was born Saratori di Tully (since renamed to Saratori Italian Bakery).  In 2023, the Carmuglia family obtained even more space in the strip mall and connected all their operations: The Italian Market, The Italian Bakery, Catering and the Italian Deli.  It’s…

Tully’s Italian Deli & Meats – Albuquerque, New Mexico

The sense of smell, more than any of our other senses, influences our ability to recall past events and experience. From among the five senses, fragrance is considered the most potent medium for conjuring up memories. True enough, some of the most enduring sensory memories of my years in the Boston area are reawakened thanks to the amazing aromas that greet me each time I visit Tully’s Italian Deli & Meats on San Mateo. It is with increased rarity that you find an authentic Italian deli which greets you at the door with the incomparable aroma of pastas, meatballs or sausages simmering in a perfect marriage of tomato sauce, garlic, basil and oregano. It’s also rare to find an Italian…

Kaufman’s Coffee & Bagels – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Seinfeld: “What is that smell?” Kramer “That’s East River.” Seinfeld: You’re swimming in the East River? The most heavily trafficked, overly contaminated waterway on the eastern seaboard?” Kramer: Technically Norfolk has more gross tonnage.” When I lived in the Boston area for two years immediately following high school, those of us in the Bay State (even temporary residents) refused to acknowledge New York City was better than Boston at anything.  We were devastated when the hated Yankees bested our beloved Red Sox in the 1978 American League East tie-breaker.  For that we’ll never forgive Bucky Dent.  Before my first visit to the dreaded Big Big Apple (Bucky Dent is the worm in that apple), friends told me in private and…

Burque Bakehouse – Albuquerque, New Mexico

In 2023 Psychology Today profiled an Albuquerque baker who knows the mind-body connection very well.  Pratt Morales, long-time co-owner (with his son Chris) of the Golden Crown Panaderia believes he’ll live to be 130 years young.  You’ll believe it, too, after reading the profile.  Mr. Morales is an 85-year-old going on 22 who’s as spry and fit mentally as he is physically.  At an age when our couch potato lifestyles will mean an early grave for many of us, he can perform one or two hand cartwheels.  The secret of his longevity, he says is a focus on flexibility exercises and watching his diet. Chinese philosopher Confucius  is credited with an idiom that defines Mr. Morales: ““Choose a job you love and…

Dolina – Santa Fe, New Mexico

For my dad, a professional educator for thirty years, it wasn’t enough that his children learned how to spell cat, dog and all the other traditional first words kids learn to spell in school.  He taught us how to spell Czechoslovakia, rhinoceros, aesthetic and other multisyllabic words.  He also taught us what those words meant.  Being kids, we giggled when he taught us about Lake Titicaca in the Andes of Bolivia, but marveled at its size and altitude.  Because of his teaching, one of my sisters could (at age seven) recite the alphabet backwards as quickly as most people can recite it forward.  Two of my sisters were double-promoted and both finished high school as valedictorians. My dad didn’t teach…

Dulce River Bakery & Coffee – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

“Siblings in an ancient tradition Who take time, temperature and love And bring them together To make something that brings people together. You make more than just food You make friendships. You make joy.” ~Thank You Bakers According to legend, the city of Vienna, Austria has bakers to thank for its existence.  Those legends have it that in 1683, Vienna was under siege by over a hundred thousand Ottoman Turks. After months of trying to starve the city into submission, the Turks attempted to tunnel underneath the walls of the city. Fortunately for the “City o Dreams,” some bakers hard at work in the middle of the night heard the sounds of the Turks digging and alerted the city’s defenders.…