New Mexico Chow: Restaurants for the Rest of Us [Paperback]

Scott Sharot (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2004

With special emphasis on New Mexican cuisine, one of the nation's true cultural treasures, this witty, opinionated guide covers a wide range of cuisines, from exotic ethnic to Mom's home cooking.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

What is Chow?

In his seminal work, "American Fried," Calvin Trillin eloquently describes the agonies he suffered when traveling outside New York City, his own personal culinary Mecca. Whether he asked for a restaurant recommendation or was taken out to eat by well-meaning friends, the result was invariably the same. He’d end up at a faux-fancy restaurant with a name like "Maison de la Casa House — Continental Cuisine." Trillin surmised that the continent in question was Antarctica since everything tasted as if it had started out frozen.

What Trillin was looking for and what he knew must exist was an establishment serving up good, honest food. Food that reflected local tastes, regional specialties, or the personal vision of the chef, who more likely than not was also the founder and owner. Food that many have come to describe as "chow."

If an exact definition is hard to come by, some rules of thumb can be put forth with reasonable assurance:

- Chow is most often simple, straightforward and unpretentious. Linen tablecloths are the exception not the rule and some of the best chow can be found in restaurants so unassuming that chow hounds find it hard to get friends to patronize them.

- Chow frequently costs less than inferior fare at Maison de la Casa House, which is one of its great attractions. Chow hounds may miss some truly great restaurants, but they can afford to eat out more often.

- Chow tends to be local, showcasing ingredients and modes of preparation not easily found elsewhere. For the traveler, chow hounding means coming home with the feeling you really have been away.

- Chow is often ethnic, reflecting the unfiltered experience of recent immigrants. This tends to be an exception to the chow-is-local rule, since immigrants tend to spread out.

- Chow is most often prepared by cooks pursuing a personal vision, without worrying too much about what other cooks are up to. In other words, it tends to be more folk art than high art.

- Chow has staying power. Whereas foodie restaurants open and close all the time and star chefs flit from stove to stove, many restaurants serving up good chow seem to have been there forever, with ownership passing from generation to generation.

Above all, chow is fun. Let’s eat!

From the Author

As a freelance food writer here in New Mexico, I am often asked where I like to go out to eat. It began happening so frequently that I found myself making lists of my favorite eateries for friends. One day I realized that many of these recommendations were tiny, and often untidy, Mom and Pop type spots with just a few tables and great chow. Maybe these places are easy to miss even when you’re looking for them because they are located in nondescript storefronts with poor signage. Some regrettably are a flash in the pan because without large advertising budgets, many of these places go unnoticed and even after a valorous struggle, close down. Over 35 chow spots have closed or changed formats since I started researching this book! I wanted to do my part to help change all that. To that end I have set out to guide you to deliciousness. There is no contest in this guide for "Best of" or even a rating with stars or cute little chiles. Price, popularity, and ambiance are not part of the criteria for a listing, even though I mention all of the above in each profile. It’s all about the chow. Every restaurant in this book serves really good food.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: The Intrepid Traveler (March 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887140484
• ISBN-13: 978-1887140485
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 4.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Mexico Chow Restaurants for the rest of Us, June 14, 2004

By 

A B Jacard (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Mexico Chow: Restaurants for the Rest of Us (Paperback)

This was my first visit to New Mexico. I traveled extensively and I could not imagine being on the road without this book. It was just as essential to me as a highway map.
Unlike other Restaurant guides , this book gives unique comments by the author about each restaurant as well his top menu picks , they helped me make the restaurant selection process effortless.
The book is wery well written and gives critical information that helps you select where to eat . I have not found any other restaurant guide as easy and enjoyable to use . Typical information given includes items like: house specialties ,vegetarian options,ambiance,type of service ,credit cards , getting there and many many other pertinent information.The author detailed comments are invaluable and concisely written .
As a visitor to New Mexico I enjoyed great food thanks to this guide . You know what to expect before you walk in the restaurant .I highly recommend this Book

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Energetic reviews delivered with wit, wisdom, and humor, August 7, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Mexico Chow: Restaurants for the Rest of Us (Paperback)

New Mexico Chow: Restaurants For The Rest Of Us by Albuquerque-based food writer and chef Scott Sharot is a unique guide to a diversity of unique and sometime unexpected New Mexico dining establishments. While there are four-diamond restaurants with international reputations listed, there are also others which are Short's favorite and time-tested places that aren't really restaurants by traditional definition. Among them is a blue trailer that can be found (sometimes) parked on the side of the road near Santa Fe. Others are modest storefront establishments that double as ethnic food markets. Featuring almost one hundred restaurants (by what ever definition), New Mexico Chow showcases Sharot's short, succinct, energetic reviews delivered with wit, wisdom and humor. Sharot doesn't rate the different and differing restaurants other to guarantee that each and ever one of his selections offers "darn good chow" at a darn good price. If you are planning to eat out anywhere in New Mexico, then secure yourself a copy of Scott Sharot's New Mexico Chow!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent recommendations, April 9, 2007

By 

susan marie phillips "Stormie" (Lexington, Ky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Mexico Chow: Restaurants for the Rest of Us (Paperback)

We had bought a couple of other guide books and this was by far a life saver for us on eating in New Mexico. The other books led us to expensive restaurants that left us unimpressed. New Mexico Chow hit the "good New Mexico cookin". Some of the places were out of the way but certainly worth the drive. We threw the other guides away after a couple of days and used New Mexico Chow for the rest of our trip. We were not dissappointed. I just wish this guy had chow books out for more areas.