9 posts tagged “restaurant”
Just in time for some post-holiday noshing, the new menu from Chef du Jour and the team of Jennifer James, Kelly Burton, and Nellie Bauer is ready for your viewing and noshing pleasure. It features some old classics (like deviled eggs, the best in town!) to celebrate Jennifer's birthday month.
See the info on the hours and location here: Chef du Jour
Enjoy!
Last night I had a huge craving for enormous bowls of hot soup as well as slightly sweet coconut juice to sip, so I headed to Cafe Trang, one of my favorite Viet places in Albuquerque.
I was successful in slurping my spicy beef noodle soup, but they were OUT of coconuts - the horror! My inclination was to tell them to run across the parking lot to TaLin and just buy some more, but I was nice.
So I'll squelch the craving for now, and wait for my next chance to have coconut to drink and coconut meat for dessert, all for the bargain price of about $3.
Jay Wulf, one of the original founders of The Range Cafe and Standard Diner, has opened a new restaurant in his neighborhood of Cedar Crest: The Greenside Cafe.
Today (I know, short notice!) he is featuring some specially flown-in fresh oysters, and believe me, if I weren't in a business meeting this evening I would be ALL. OVER. THAT. Yum!
Here are the details - call for the latest scoop:
....well, Jennifer James' newest gig, anyway:
How could you not, given a comfortable and laid-back atmosphere such as this photo, with Jennifer and Nellie in full swing, cranking out plates for the eager small group of patrons just feet away:
I just received the new monthly menu and am including it here for your salivation... enjoy!
A friend of mine today made a comment that made me think that Milton's had closed up shop. I panicked and thought of all of the true diner experiences I had there, and their wonderful pancakes.
Then I took a breath and called them. A person sounding 'normal' answered the phone, and I shakily asked how long they were open that day. They replied, 11pm. I said, "are you going to close? for good?", and he replied, "no! come down and visit us!".
I smiled and hung up. Now, Milton's IS for sale, so it is just a matter of time before the creeping behemoth of EDo swallows it up, so please swing by and have a rare meal in urban areas nowadays - the old-school diner occasion.
I visited Cafe O on their last day of operation and they were unfortunately going out not with a whimper, but just as expediously as they could possibly muster up.
By that I mean the service was polite but not happy, the rolls good but not as big as I've had before, the atmosphere... well, it was just kind of eerie.
I almost wished I hadn't gone; to hold the little oasis of fresh and healthy fast food in my thoughts when there was always the promise of one more trip back in the future might have been a better decision... like the dream Tommy has in Rescue Me, seeing his dead friends and being wrestled to the ground away from the scene by someone who tells him, "you're NOT going to remember them that way."
But I still went, held aloft the little plastic cups of secret-recipe O Sauce as a solitary toast, and I had me one last Crab Avocado roll.
Cafe O, I miss ya already.
It begins like this,
"Albuquerque, NM, August 27—Back from a nearly a year-long sabbatical, Jennifer James returns to the Albuquerque culinary scene! "
Then, for a whole page, it talks about travels, family experiences, and Jennifer's own local history before finally alluding to a new collaboration with her old mentors at Chef du Jour.
Beginning September 6th with a pre-fixe menu, the cooking gets started. But how long does it last? Is she in the kitchen for good? Is she buying the place? These questions are not answered easily by reading the press release, and frankly, I hope for more from Jennifer in the local business scene, but perhaps this is just the start. Once I get Kelly on the phone I hope to clear some of this up, but for now you can just drool over the menu and call for your reservations.....
UPDATE: I got Jennifer on the phone and found out some excellent details - the trio of Kelly Burton, Nellie Bauer, and Jennifer James is entering a partnership with the owners of Chef du Jour (Buddy Murzyn, Ralph Garcia, and Heather Caine) to bring the experience of Graze and Restaurant Jennifer James back to the lovely exibition kitchen at Old Town's "most neglected" restaurant. The old sous-chef, Deb, is leaving but everyone else is still on board, and I think it will be a fanstastic revision. Not that I didn't love Deb - I wonder where she is going!?
Chef du Jour
247-8998
Pre-fixe menu for the grand unveiling weekend is $60, including wine but not including tax or tip.
The loss of Taste of Haven on Albuquerque's West Side (technically in Rio Rancho, ok, ok) means that to get chile so hot it can even affect me in drastic GI ways, I must now go back to Santa Fe to the original location.
For shame....
How else is there to gossip about the Albuquerque restaurant scene?
There exists a tiny "blog" on the Alibi, as well as on the Tribune, but those are such low traffic and infrequent posts that I think this void needs to be filled.
Let the scooping begin, Albuquerque!
Love,
Andrea Lin
