Craft Republic – Albuquerque, New Mexico

For several months every four years, Americans are subjected to a seemingly interminable number of television commercials, radio ads and social media postings advocating for candidates running for political office.  Opposing idealogies would have you believe the “other guy or gal” was of dubious character with “extreme” points of view.  One-minute snippets pandering primarily to “undecided” voters may have unintentionally created even more cynics and malcontents among eligible voters.  Some of us wished the sadistic “mean season” was as simple and decisive as selecting the winner of the annual New Mexico State Fair Green Chile Cheeseburger Challenge. While the New Mexico State Fair hosts a number of food related competitions, none garner as much attention as the green chile cheeseburger…

Sobremesa Restaurant & Brewery – Albuquerque, New Mexico

In June, 2021, Eater.com published a list of “the 21 Essential Restaurants in Albuquerque.” Unlike so many “clickbait” articles from national publications purporting to tell New Mexicans which restaurants across the Land of Enchantment serve the “best this” and the “best that,” the Eater feature was penned by Justin De La Rosa who actually knows this state very well.  In fact, in 2015 Justin earned a “Local Hero Award” from Edible New Mexico as “best food writer.” If you’re wondering what constitutes an “Essential Restaurant,” Eater’s erstwhile national critic Bill Addison defined the term to mean “indispensable to their neighborhoods, and eventually to their towns and whole regions,” to “ultimately become vital to how we understand ourselves, and others, at…

Tikka Spice South Asian Street Food – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED*)

*NOTE:  Only the brick and mortar version of Tikka Spice has closed.  Tikka Spice still operates out of a food truck. In baseball it’s called the “Triple Crown,”an incredibly rare achievement in which a player leads the league in average, home runs, and runs batted in.  To win the triple crown, a player must tremendous power to hit for distance as well as a very keen eye to hit baseballs thrown at nearly 100 miles per hour and place them on the field in positions that result in driving in runs.  In horse racing, the term Triple Crown represents a series of horse races for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.  To win all three of…