James Beard Foundation "Best Chef - Southwest" Semifinalist - 2024 Archives - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog

Ex Novo Brewing Co. – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 06:01:30 +0000

“What if this is the new luxury food?” That’s the rhetorical question Chef Marc Quiñones posed to diners at New York City’s legendary James Beard House as he introduced his revolutionary New Mexican ranch-inspired menu during a dinner service on September 28, 2024. He elaborated the goal of his new restaurant gig at Ex Novo Brewing Company in Albuquerque is to make wonderful food approachable, something everyone can enjoy. Having worked at high-end, fine-dining establishments for nearly two decades, Chef Quiñones is a virtuoso in the art of fine-dining. Instead of another exorbitantly priced menu beyond the reach of many diners, he created a superb menu centered around the highest quality food at a price point for everyone–served in a…

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Level 5 Rooftop Restaurant – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 06:01:42 +0000

For a nearly four-hundred year period, the Anasazi civilization which preceded New Mexico’s Pueblo cultures achieved the pinnacle of its technological and cultural advancement at a magnificent, deep gorge called Chaco Canyon. Within the walls of Chaco Canyon, construction of multi-level buildings sprung up, some structures accommodating as many as 800 rooms. Not surprisingly, lower walls had to be made massive in order to support heavy stone walls up to five floors high. It took remarkable planning to locate doors, passageways, kivas and other architectural features. At five stories high, Pueblo Bonito was the largest structure and the inspiration for Hotel Chaco’s spectacular restaurant Level 5 in Albuquerque’s Sawmill District. In 2017, local developer Heritage Hotels launched Hotel Chaco on…

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Dolina – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gil Garduno — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 06:02:32 +0000

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…

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