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What does one of Albuquerque’s top chefs, a man who has owned and operated some of the city’s most notable restaurants, do for an encore?

He opens a neighborhood bar and grill.

Certainly, when Sam Etheridge closed Ambrozia last year, he could have done what his years of experience at Bien Shur, Kanome, Prairie Star, Portobello, et al, had trained him to do: open another fine dining restaurant.

But he and partner Matt Ludeman had something else in mind. After extensive research into which niche in the Albuquerque dining market had not yet been adequately filled, they opened the Nob Hill Bar

Sunday, June 1, 2008
by Rena Distasio and Dawn Allyn (Photographer) • localflavor magazine

You know the refrain, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way?” Well out here in the East Mountains, it’s more like, “Where there’s a need, there’s a way.”

Five years ago, Jay Wulf and his wife, Barb Hanlon Wulf, definitely had a need. A couple of them, in fact. As parents of two young boys, a move to a new neighborhood was now in order.

“We’d been coming up to the East Mountains for years to hike, bike, and ski,” says Jay. “So when we came to the point in our lives where we were looking at school districts and for someplace affordable with privacy and land, this was the perfect fit.”

Monday, June 9, 2008
by Rena Distasio • localflavor magazine

Forget for a moment the long stretch of cars outside on NM 528. Ignore Intel’s industrial bulk next door. Block out the vision of the Sandia Mountains looming to the east. Instead, when you walk into Venezia’s New York Style Pizzeria, close your eyes and inhale. You could be in the Bronx, or even Little Italy. Because that smell is New York style pizza at its finest.

Order a slice. See that crust, how it’s hand-tossed, puffy at the edges, and tapers to a thin, crisp middle? That’s how you make a pizza crust. The sauce is of course made fresh each day with nearly a dozen different spices,...

Saturday, March 1, 2008
by Rena Distasio and Joe Picard (Photographer) • localflavor magazine

What’s in a name? If you own a retail establishment, almost everything. Whether overtly descriptive, cutely whimsical, or a clever play on words, the name you choose can be a major clue to your identity.

So what, then, is up with Hey Jhonny, the name given to two of Albuquerque’s most spirited home accessory and furniture shops? Its meaning isn’t obvious and it can’t be puzzled out. You have to ask. But in asking, you get not only meaning, but also a great story. The name (their spelling) is an homage to co-owner Tom Ford’s late father, a man who spent his life serving the public as a Long...

Wednesday, March 1, 2006
by Rena Distasio • localflavor magazine

Darlene Yachik knows business. And, she knows food. But the two skills combined do not completely account for her staying power in an industry that is competitive and often fickle. From the beginning, Darlene knew to add another important ingredient to the mix. Indulgence.

She learned the importance of the word when she first started her catering enterprise in 1974, providing hand-crafted trays of food for private aircraft crews served by the family aviation business in Roswell. Today, Indulgence Café and Catering is still going strong. Relocated to Albuquerque in 1989 and a fixture at its...

Thursday, June 1, 2006
by Rena Distasio • localflavor magazine

To live in a city as stretched-thin as Albuquerque without succumbing to the effects of mental as well as physical sprawl, you need anchors. Places and people that carve out a strong sense of identity among the hodgepodge of streets and strip malls and big box stores. Without these anchors, we’d smudge out like the outline of the Sandia Mountains during a spring windstorm.

For the past nine years, Mykonos Café has served as one of these anchors. Established by Maria Constantine in April of 1997, Mykonos from the start was intended as a neighborhood restaurant.

Thursday, June 1, 2006
by Rena Distasio • localflavor magazine

Here’s one of those “what to take with you on a deserted island” questions. Supposing you could fish, hunt, and pick fruit, what one staple would you otherwise bring with you? Wine? Chocolate? Bread?

How about cheese? Think about it: there’s hardly a country today that doesn’t have a cheese making industry of some sort, and most of the product is darn good stuff.

Even the Brits, the butt of more culinary jokes than you can squirt a can of Cheez Whiz at, nonetheless produce some of the world’s all-time great cheeses. And who’d have thought that here in humidity-challenged New Mexico, a...

Saturday, April 1, 2006
by Rena Distasio • localflavor magazine

Aimee Tang is a woman with a plan. Well, perhaps not so much a plan as a lifelong mission.

The great granddaughter of Edward Gaw, founder of Fremont’s Fine Foods, Aimee is the third generation of her family to helm the establishment that has been an Albuquerque tradition since 1918. In fact, long before Bon Appetit magazine, Food Network, and Cuisinart invaded the average American household, Fremont’s was quietly introducing Albuquerqueans to culinary adventures beyond New Mexico’s borders.

Part of Aimee’s personal mission is to keep that tradition alive and well. With her easy warmth and...

Tuesday, November 1, 2005
by Rena Distasio • localflavor magazine

You couldn’t imagine a more perfect summer morning in Albuquerque’s North Valley: blue skies, a cool breeze ruffling the air, and a temperature not yet threatening in its heat, but rather, soothing and near-restorative, like a short tenure in the sauna after a day spent shivering in air-conditioned interiors.

And you couldn’t imagine a more perfect North Valley location: Casa Rondeña Winery, with its elegant architecture, lush lawns, and sparkling ponds and fountains.

At the helm, John Calvin, North Valley born and raised, internationally educated, and culturally reflective. Calvin has...

Monday, August 1, 2005
by Rena Distasio • localflavor magazine

I once lived next door to a dog who every morning would charge out his front door to retrieve the morning newspaper. Head held high, his quarry firmly grasped in jaw, the plucky little mutt would then trot swiftly back inside to deposit the paper at his master’s feet. Although his elderly owner rarely walked him, the dog had one invaluable outlet: he had a job.

While scientists aren’t exactly certain when human beings first recognized the helpful qualities of canis lupus, eventually domesticating it into canis lupus familiaris, they have a pretty good idea why. Because of their social and...

Friday, July 1, 2005
by Rena Distasio • localflavor magazine