Ahh All Out Sushi

What is Ahh All Out Sushi (AAOS)? Was my first question when I heard the radio ad for this place. Then I heard that this place was offering gift certificates for 1/2 price. I felt that I couldn't go wrong with half priced sushi. When we arrived it was a Tuesday and the place was packed with one server. We were in no hurry and the staff was very accommodating. They got us into a table as quickly as they could and we were seated at much more table than we needed. The beer and sake selection at AAOS was pretty on par for a sushi bar. Our server was having a rough night and one of the owners Ahh recognized this. He helped out as much as he could and apologized to us, but like I mentioned before we were in no hurry. When things died down we did get a chance to talk to Ahh, so Ahh is one of the owners name and All Out Sushi was just one of those kind of names. His idea was to have a sports sushi bar. I thought this was pretty novel. The sushi was reasonably priced for quality sushi and portions. He did have some cool tricks and had sushi served with flair or flares as pictured to the right. We ordered a few rolls and drinks. The tab was fairly comparable to other good sushi bars.

Overall Ahh All Out Sushi is good, but not great. I would give Ahh All Out Sushi three out of five stars. It's a fun atmosphere that is different from your average sushi joint with good sushi.



http://www.ahhalloutsushi.com/

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Can we have a hamburger joint in New Mexico without green chile? We're going to see if Five Guys can pull it off. Five Guys is a hamburger chain that started out in Virgina in 1986 and has expanded to 750 locations in 40 states.

When I arrived at Five Guys it seemed very standardized and clean, like a well managed location for a chain. At first, I thought it was odd that a burger joint offer it's guest peanuts before reaching the counter, but free peanuts are always pretty good. I reached the counter and noticed eight different burgers I could order first separated by size normal and small. Then with different options hamburger, cheese burger, bacon burger and bacon cheese burger. Then the other toppings are free. Some cool complementary toppings are grilled onions and mushrooms. I thought the simple menu was pretty cool. I was warned by a friend not to order the large fries for myself. From how he described it, it was death by fries. I asked the counter staff for a larger order of 1/2 Cajun and 1/2 regular fries. The picture to the left is my order immediately after it was placed on the counter. I was trying to show how greasy the food is at Five Guys. The fries are cooked in peanut oil which I've heard is great for frying but not so great for your health, but I'm not a nutritionist. My burger was smaller than I thought it was going to be, but I'm trying to eat less and run more. When I opened the foil wrapped burger I almost returned by burger because I ordered one with out pickles, but upon further inspection this was just a tag along, not actually in the burger. I got over it pretty quick. It truly was death by fries, I couldn't finish or shouldn't finish an order of fries of any size from Five Guys. The fries were pretty tasty. I enjoyed the Cajun fries a bit more. The burger's patty was pretty fatty, but had a great flavor for ground beef. Overall a good burger. Five guys was just OK. I would give Five Guys two out of five stars.

fiveguys.com

California Pastrami

Pastrami seems to be very popular in certain parts of the country mostly on the East Coast to the best of my knowledge. We recently got a place on the west side called California pastrami that opened where an Indian restaraunt used to be. So I am unsure if California is known for their pastrami, but I'm willing to suspend enough reality to eat a sandwich. As I've seen, heard, and read making pastrami is pretty difficult. It's a brisket that is cured in a salt type of solution so it a brisket that is made into corned beef with the curing, then packed with spices on the outside and then it is smoked. This process is labor intensive and takes about a week to do properly. I have not attempted to make pastrami, but making good pastrami seems to be a challenge. California Pastrami's decor is nothing spectacuatlar, but it is a small business with two locations, one in Santa Fe and one in Albuquerque. The best explination of California Pastrami is that it it a lunch counter that sort of specializes in selling pastrami sandwiches.

Pictured to the right is an order of the chili cheese fries. The chili cheese fries were good, but with that being said how the good fries covered in cheese and chili be bad. The fries were good. They were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. My friends and I ordered several items with seemed to provide a good sampling of what California Pastrami had to offer. Below and to the right is a Pastami hot sandwich.

Three out of five stars.

http://www.californiapastrami.com/

Stop-N-Go - Burgers and Wings

The Stop-N-Go establishment occupies an old Popeye's Chicken location. It seems that Popeye's was too ambitious for the Albuquerque market and has closed a few locations. My visit to Stop-N-Go was unplanned, but it happened and I was not impressed. I had heard that Albuquerque recently had a In-N-Out Burger imitation and this was it. I ordered the blazin hot wings. It was $3.99 for six wings blazin flavor and no blue cheese was sold at this establishment. I was floored. How do you sell hot wings and not offer blue cheese dressing? It's like selling french fries and not offering ketchup. The blazin wings were not spicy and the wings were cooked in oil that was not hot enough. This resulted in wings that were soggy with grease and did not have a good crispy crust.

The decor is of a former Popeye's Chicken and it was relatively clean. The staff was not impressive by any means; they were not very knowledgeable about the limited menu or very attentive for fast food. I thought this was awkward, but I had to be let into the restroom by one of the staff members due to it being under lock and key. Don't eat at Stop-N-Go. It was not a good experience at all. I would give Stop-N-Go a rating of one out of five stars.

Lumpy's Burgers‎

A few months ago, I decided to make the trip down to old Coors and Central to try a burger that I've heard was killer, the Lumpy's Burger. When my friends and I arrived, I was surprised by how the restaurant was set up. It was an old style kind of drive in, but not very well organized. There is an order window and a few mismatched table under a roof. I asked the girl at the counter if I could use the restroom, but there is not one for customers. I was really surprised by this and that's why I ended up visiting Stop & Go across the street from Lumpy's.

I missed the introduction of how to order at Lumpy's due to my visit to Stop & Go. When you want to order at Lumpy's you pick up a brown paper bag that has been stamped with menu selections. You mark what you want with a Sharpie Marker and review the order with one of the employees. I like how you got to pick your potato to make fries. They have a few different cuts of fries like screwy and potato chips. I opted for the screwy fries. For my burger, I ordered the Wimpy burger with green chile and cheese. When I got my bag it was covered in grease from the contents inside the bag. The combination of things was pretty good: the melted cheese, the texture of the plain bun, and the fatty burger patty. Lumpy's was a good burger, but an experience that was nothing notable. I would give Lumpy's two and a half stars out of five.

5420 Central Avenue Southwest, Albuquerque, NM 87105-1856

Slate Street Café

There is a hidden gem near the metro court house tucked away near the houses that have been converted into law offices. This culinary gem is Slate Street Café. I've heard about this place for a few years, but never made it to try their food. Slate street is very well decorated inside and out, but the parking lot is small. The website describes the restaurant as "a sleek, contemporary eatery that combines big city ambiance with inspired, modern cuisine." I would agree with this statement. When our large party arrived, I was concerned that we would not be seated for quite awhile and the restaurant was fairly busy, but I was pleasantly surprised when they seated us within minutes of arriving. They seated us in the back corner of the restaurant that seemed like it was normally used for larger groups like ours.

Our server took a bit to make her way over to us. She was very knowledgeable and courteous, but the service was not quick. For beverages, I began brunch with a coffee and water. The coffee was very good. We inquired what brand it was, but I cannot recall what it was.

The group ordered several different dishes and I was able to try a few of them. In the pictures from top to bottom of the blog we have the lamb scrambler, strawberry ricotta stuffed brioche french toast, and sausage sliders. The lamb scrambler is like a gyro with scrambled egg and served in pieces. I normally don't like eggs, but the taste I had of this was great. It was like a breakfast gyro with egg. The french toast was great too. The textures of all the parts made something very excellent. The ricotta cheese gave the dish a rich, smooth flavor. The strawberries were not over cooked or too sweet. The dish that I ordered were the turkey sausage sliders with chipolte gravy. The hash browns served with this dish were flavorful, but not quite the crunchy texture that I prefer for hash browns. The gravy was very good, but I was unable to taste the chipolte.

The creativity of the menu at Slate Street was excellent, they take familiar dishes and dress them up quite a bit. A good way to describe this is that biscuits, gravy, and sausage clean up pretty good. All of the dishes had great presentation and a combination of flavors. Atmosphere really nice well done restaurant, but the parking was bad. The prices of the dishes was reasonable; the lamb scrambler was $12. The portions here are not too large, but is that such a bad thing if the food is amazing? I would give Slate Street Café a rating of three and a half out of five stars.

http://www.slatestreetcafe.com/

Old Town Pizza Parlor

Old Town in Albuquerque has a lot of really quaint restaurants. Old Town Pizza Parlor fits the mold well. The front of the restaurant faces Rio Grande and is on the corner with Central to the south, so it's a great location. A group of friends and I decided to eat area because we spent some time that day at the Bio Park and Aquarium. Old Town is not a part of town that I frequent too often, but enjoy about 97% of the time, but only 97% of the time. The parking is atrocious down there, but such is life when you have a historic/tourist site that was built a few hundred years ago.

When you walk in the layout of the restaurant is a retro fitted house turn restaurant. There are a few small rooms that make up the two dining areas and the kitchen/counter area. The service here is good for counter service. The staff is quick and friendly. The beer selection here is good for a beer snob, such as myself. They carry Marble Brewing Company beer, which is great to see a local business support or carry the products of another local business. They also carry some of the Brewing Ommegang beers. Ommegang is a brewery that makes Belgian style beers that is located in Cooperstown, NY. The beers made by this company are pretty good. We begin the meal with some beers while we wait for our appetizer which was the Cheesey Garlic Fingers. This was pretty tasty and served with marinara sauce. With this being said how can you go wrong with a five cheese blend, butter, and garlic?

For pizza we ordered two of the specialty pizzas: the Ring of Fire and the Pizza Blanca. The Ring Of Fire did not burn, burn, burn but it was a pretty good combination of spicy things, such as green chile, chile flakes, and jalapenos. The various ingredients all blend together pretty well. The protein on this dish is spicy Italian sausage. A few of the ingredients on the the Pizza Blanca has a white sauce, chicken, and roasted garlic cloves. The roasted garlic cloves were soft and very flavorful. The toppings on the pizza were pretty good, but the crust is nothing spectacular. It's pretty average for flavor and texture, so Marginal crust. It's about the toppings and sauce at Old Town Pizza Parlor. I would give Old Town Pizza Parlor a rating of two and a half out of five stars.

http://www.oldtownpizzaparlor.com