NEW MEXICO'S COOKIN'

by Natalie Johnson

This article appeared in the Winter 1996 issue of New Mexico Resources.

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At the Chat 'N Chew in Shiprock, locals and tourists chomp on chile burgers. Albuquerque's El Pinto serves up satisfying baby back ribs. The Pecos Rose Tea Room in Roswell tempts patrons with raspberry-topped cheesecake. Lorenzo's in Mesilla makes hungry mouths water with eggplant parmigiana.

From down-home fare to gourmet dishes, New Mexico's cooking is surely flavoring the state's growing, nearly $2 billion restaurant industry. Eating and drinking places number more than 3,000 in the state.

"Restaurants are very important to New Mexico's economy with 53,000 people employed in the industry," says John Garcia, New Mexico's tourism secretary.

That makes the industry the state's largest private employer, says Richard Buratti, executive vice president of the New Mexico Restaurant Association. Jobs include not only the obvious restaurant managers, cooks, and waitstaff, but also others who make the industry possible like accountants, lawyers, and construction workers.

New Mexico is part of a seven-state mountain region that is expected to see the greatest nationwide increase in annual eating-place sales this year, according to the National Restaurant Association's Foodservice Industry Forecast.

New Mexico's restaurant industry is expected to increase 6.9 percent in 1996 to $1.92 billion in eating-place sales.

"We like to say New Mexico is hot, and it is, especially in the southern part of the state," Garcia says. "In Las Cruces, new restaurants are popping up all over. Restaurant chain owners also are looking at the community."

Buratti says New Mexico mirrors national trends. Fast food restaurants offering value and convenience are capturing a growing share of salenationwide, increasing from 29 percent in 1970 to nearly half in 1996. Full-service restaurants should come in a close second, while commercial cafeterias, social caterers, and ice cream stands split the final 5 percent share.

Buratti is quick to point out that food service contracts for universities, hospitals, hotels, and businesses also make up a big part of the industry. Lately, he's noticed that more restaurants are going into partnerships with convenience and grocery stores.

With their famous cherry limeades, Tater Tots, extra-long Coney dogs, made-to-order burgers, and individually breaded onion rings, the nation's top drive-in, Sonic, is one fast food chain that does a good bit of business in New Mexico and throughout the Southwest.

"We like to say we're 'quick service restaurants,'" says Barbara Stammer, president of the Merritt Group, a Sonic franchisee headquartered in Las Cruces.

With 90 drive-ins in New Mexico, West Texas, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada, Stammer says success comes from Sonic's appeal of not having to wait in drive-through lines. "We have 24 drive-through windows at each restaurant, and our competitors only have one." For tourists from metropolitan areas where rollerskating servers are a thing of the past, nostalgia also may be part of the drive-in's appeal.

Whether their customers drive through, drive in, or sit down, New Mexico's diverse restaurants serve as tasty side dishes to the state's booming tourism industry.

"We know the customers come for the big package - for the history, the arts, the culture, the scenic beauty," Garcia says. "The cuisine is always just a complement, and then the tourists are blown away when they get here because they have this wonderful experience and they taste the cuisine."

Not everyone's stomach is prepared for New Mexico's hot dishes, though. "Some visitors need Rolaids and all kinds of other products to help them get through our cuisine, and we're kind of proud of that," Garcia says with a grin.

Selling a Little Sizzle

The appeal of New Mexico's food lies in its unique ingredients, says Gordon Heiss, president of Santa Fe Dining Inc. "It's a natural cuisine for this era, because people are more conscious of fat and cholesterol," he says. "You can make a marvelous meal using chiles without using a lot of fat and high-cholesterol foods."

No one can deny the power of the pepper. "The chile is the key," says Sunny Conley, southern New Mexico restaurant reviewer and author of Cafe Hopping in the Southwest.

Conley's pronouncement comes from her experience traveling around New Mexico to research her book that details "100 charming places to eat." She found that chile is the key to the sassy salsa found at Jalisco Cafe in Silver City, the super smothered burrito at Lucy's Mexicali Restaurant in Carlsbad, the homebrewed chile beer at Embudo Station in Embudo, and the enchilada pizza at Bear Paw Pizza in Peñasco.

"No one does chile like we do," Buratti says. "Where else do you find a McDonald's that has a green chile hamburger?"

Heiss theorizes that it's how New Mexicans pick chile varieties that matters. "Generally, the fact that we choose chiles for their flavor, not for their heat, makes a difference," he says. "Some people don't realize that the longer a chile is on the plant, the hotter and tastier it gets. So although we might choose a lot of hot chiles, it's because of the flavor - not that we're trying to torture ourselves."

Customers perceive chile as the anchor to the cuisine, Garcia adds. "There's a lot to our cuisine, but it's anchored by the chile products, and that's good actually to have something you can tie yourself into."

Ringing in the Customers

That tie is attracting chefs to New Mexico. For example, Mark Miller of Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe, came from the Fourth Street Grill in Berkeley. "He has taken this cuisine and really kind of spun off a little bit on some interesting and different products," Garcia says.

Chefs like Miller may rub chile on a filet of beef, fill empanadas with chile and cilantro, or accent a ham and turkey sandwich with black bean and red chile spread.

But chile isn't the whole enchilada, so to speak.

Conley says New Mexican food also is built on tortillas, black beans, and chorizo. "The spiced sausage gives a whole new meaning to the word meat," she says.

Garcia says tortillas and sopaipillas make the difference. Blue corn is integral, say Heiss and Eddie Smithson, a New Mexico restauranteur.

Buratti notes that the influence of the Native American cultures helps diversify the cuisine. Adela Amador, who writes a food column for New Mexico Magazine, agrees and adds piñon nuts and squash to the industry's shopping list.

"The New Mexico style Mexican-American cooking today contains dishes seldom, if ever, found in other parts of the Southwest. Each state has its own version of how it should be, but it doesn't compare with what we have here," Amador wrote in a recent column.

"I have always thought of New Mexican food as a combination of all the different ingredients which the people who have come here brought with them. It is still changing, because people are still coming."

Some say regional differences in ingredients and preparation methods are what make the cuisine and, in turn, the restaurant industry in the state, unique. "The interesting thing is the taste will be different in Deming than it is in Carlsbad, Santa Fe, or Chimayo," Smithson says.

While restaurants have a huge impact in New Mexico with jobs, revenue, and income, Garcia says what's even more significant is the incredible push for New Mexico-type cuisine all around the country.

Hospitable Heiss

The cuisine is firing up grills and cafes thousands of miles away, as the appeal of New Mexican food goes national. There's even a Las Cruces Restaurant in Washington, D.C., a Santa Fe Cafe in Arlington, Va., and a Los Portales in Murrary, Ky.

"You cannot get our cuisine in a lot of places," Garcia says. "So there's a great opportunity for anybody wanting to be an entrepreneur and take this cuisine somewhere else because it is unique and people love it."

One such entrepreneur is Miller, who today is chef and owner of four well-known, award-winning American restaurants: three Coyote Cafes in Santa Fe; Las Vegas, Nev.; and Austin, Texas; and the Red Sage in Washington, D.C.

Red Sage's theme, from the metal lizard door handles to the adobe-colored walls and decor accented with barbed wire and bullets, is Southwestern through and through. Make no mistake, Red Sage is not a hole-in-the-wall, mom-and-pop joint - it took $5.5 million to renovate and decorate the restaurant. The multi-level restaurant does $6.5 million in sales annually.

Enjoying a choice location at 605 Fourteenth Street NW, just a few blocks from the White House, the Washington Monument, and the Smithsonian, Red Sage attracts celebrities and dignitaries including President Bill Clinton and former President George Bush.

"You can see, feel, and taste the flavors of the Southwest here," says Thomas Girard, the restaurant's dining room manager. "We serve a broad-based border food. It's Southwestern food taken to a high level of fine dining."

In the restaurant's Chili Bar (note the outside-New Mexico spelling of chile), diners munch on chicken quesadillas laced with mango and jalapeño jack cheese. There are also salsas galore, tortilla soup, and smokey beef burritos with green chile rice. The poblano chicken enchiladas are served with Hatch green chile sauce.

In the main dining room, guests relish more expensive dishes such as red chili-pecan crusted chicken with shoestring potatoes and green bean casserole, and sauteed Virginia trout and Chesapeake Bay blue crab cakes with dried chili-sage sauce.

The interesting menu has helped Red Sage garner much attention and critical acclaim since it opened in January 1992. It was named Esquire magazine's "Restaurant of the Year" in November of that year.

A Capital Idea

Some five miles away in Arlington, Washingtonians hankering for chile can get a fix at Kip Laramie's Santa Fe Cafe - a family-oriented neighborhood spot that seats 100.

"I'm cautious about saying it's authentic, because I know northern New Mexican food is different from southern New Mexican, and it's very regionalized," Laramie says.

Although he says he serves a "more generic" New Mexican, Laramie seems to have the ingredients right. He uses Hatch chile, chorizo, piñon nuts, and refried and black beans. He's also known to top a layered enchilada with a fried egg.

New Mexico plays prominently in Laramie's menu. His biggest combination plate is called the "Truth or Consequences," which includes chile relleno, a large chicken burrito, beef enchiladas, rice, and refried beans, as well as tostada chips with chile con queso and guacamole. All for just $10.95.

The draw to his restaurant, Laramie thinks, is simply that people like spicy food.

He says the trend began in the 1970s with a clamor for Szechu an and Hunan cuisine. That was followed by national cravings for hot Thai food. Next, American regional cuisines like Louisiana's Cajun and Creole foods became popular, followed by Mexican.

"Now, we're adding New Mexican to the list," Laramie says.

Once people are exposed to the fiery fare, they get hooked, Laramie says. And he knows what he's talking about.

"Green chile and pork stew used to be a special," he says. "Now, if I don't offer it all the time, I get abuse from customers! They call me up to make sure I'm serving it."