Chile Goes on Anything

Ask for the chile in Albuquerque and watch what happens. People get quiet for a second. Then they start talking low and specific, the way somebody talks about a thing they cannot quit. Red or green. Hot or not. Which week the roasters were running. Which field it came from.

It sounds like they are talking about something else. They are not. They are talking about lunch.

It goes on anything

A breakfast burrito is the obvious one. Eggs, potato, bacon, and enough green chile that the tortilla can barely hold it. That is Tuesday.

A cheeseburger. Not on the side. Smothered, so the cheese and the chile are the same bite.

Pizza. Yes. Green chile and roasted garlic, or red chile and sausage. Out-of-towners pause. Locals do not.

Fries, eggs, a hot dog, a bowl of stew, a cheese crisp, even a scoop of vanilla if someone in the kitchen is feeling brave.

Christmas means both. Red and green, on the same plate, no debate. If you say Christmas, the server already knows.

Red is not green

Green is the fresh pepper, fire-roasted, peeled, and chopped. Bright, grassy, and hot in a way that shows up late. Red is that same pepper, dried and turned into a sauce. Deeper, rounder, a little sweet under the heat. Hatch gets the fame. The whole state grows it. The question at the table is still the same: red or green?

The honest answer, if you have not decided, is both.

The best tasting chile in the world

Other places have heat. New Mexico has a flavor. Sun, altitude, and that dry wind do something to the pod that a hotter pepper from somewhere else does not. You can taste the field in it. That is why people get possessive. That is why a bag of frozen green chile in a suitcase is a normal souvenir.

It is not a drug. It just happens to be the thing New Mexicans will not shut up about, and the best tasting chile in the world.

If you want the plate and you do not want to drive after it, tell Desert Breeze the restaurant. Pay in full and the time goes on the calendar.