Red or green?
I wasn’t sure which chile pepper to pick when a waiter asked what sauce I wanted with my heaping, hot plate of enchiladas in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
I had to ask what the difference was — a dead giveaway that I was a tourist.
That’s because chile is the backbone of New Mexican culture and cuisine — a flavorful fusion of Spanish, Mediterranean, Mexican, Pueblo, Native American and a little bit Cowboy. The state’s most abundant crop — which is similar to Anaheim peppers, but hotter — has an influence over this lively Southwestern city that’s palpable beyond the dinner table.
Bright red chiles were the first things that caught my eye in New Mexico’s capital. But its architecture and landscape really stand out. The majestic Sangre de Cristo mountains serve as a backdrop and red-orange adobe-style homes and retail shops dominate, some made from simply mud and straw.
Ristras (bundles of dried chile) hang outside pink Pueblo-style homes with adobe walls and flat roofs. They serve as decor, but this is also a drying method to preserve chile pods for future cooking. Every fall, after the chile harvest is over, ristras hang all over New Mexico like wreaths during Christmas.
Both chile varieties start out green, and those that are not harvested turn red and dry as they ripen. Green peppers are roasted and chopped, and typically cooked with onions that are pureed into a chunky sauce. They range from mild to hotter than jalapenos. Red peppers are more piquant than green and can be roasted too, but they’re typically ground into a chile powder.
I wanted to eat chile like a local, so I headed to Tomasita’s (500 S. Guadalupe St.), a 40-year-old family-owned spot with authentic Northern New Mexican food. I ordered the enchilada, oozing with cheese, red chile and an egg over-easy on top, served with rice and beans.
If you prefer to go green, opt for a green chile stew with potatoes and beef or pork. And you can’t go wrong with a classic green chile cheeseburger.
“You would never order red chile on the burger because it would drip all over the side,” says George Gundrey, owner of Tomasita’s.
If you can’t decide when someone asks you: “Red or green?,” simply say “Christmas” and you’ll get a mix of both with your dish.
You can learn how to make your own chile at Santa Fe School of Cooking,which offers green and red chile workshops ($78 per person), teaching students how to prepare flour tortillas, and sauces made from New Mexican chile powder. Or sharpen your Southwestern cooking skills with a tamale making class ($98 for three hours).
While Spanish and Mexican influence can be seen throughout this city in art and architecture, it’s blended with American culture in the kitchen. At the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, the U.S. won New Mexico from Mexico. The result is breakfast burritos, carne asada (roasted or boiled marinated steak) and huevos rancheros (eggs poached in chile).
Then there’s the Frito pie. Some of the best are found at a snack bar tucked in the back of the Five & Dime General Store (58 E. San Francisco St.), where you can also pick up kitschy trinkets. The Tex-Mex staple consists of pinto beans, red chile sauce and shredded cheddar cheese served over the corn chips.
To truly get a taste of this walkable city, sign up for a walking restaurant tour with Santa Fe School of Cooking. You’ll stop at four restaurants, including Sazon (221 Sheelby St.), just two blocks from Santa Fe Plaza, a National Historic Landmark downtown. Sazon is known for its extensive mezcal and tequila list. Start off with an agave flight, three half-ounce pours of aged tequilas and smoky mezcal. On the menu, you’ll find authentic eats like baby grasshopper taquitos with avocado and sour cream; and more refined bites like black pepper crusted aged angus beef tenderloin with snow peas and red cabbage.
If darker spirits are more your thing, head to Santa Fe Spirits (308 Read St.), a whiskey distillery. Try the Atapino liqueur, made from whiskey and dubbed “Santa Fe in a bottle.” It’s made from roasted pinon nuts soaked in single malt white whiskey for two months.
You’ll want to burn off a few calories after all that food, so tour the Canyon Road art district ($30 for two hour tour).Home to more than 80 art galleries, there are sculptures, paintings, funky jewelry and pottery for show and sale.
Along the way, you’ll run into historic old churches. Take a peek inside San Miguel Mission (401 Old Santa Fe Trail), the country’s oldest church built by Tlaxcala Indians between 1610, when Santa Fe was founded, and 1628.
Another is the Loretto Chapel (207 Old Santa Fe Trail); built in the 1870s and modeled after the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. It’s said to be the first Gothic structure west of the Mississippi River, but there was one flaw when it was first built — no staircase to get to the choir loft from the chapel. The nuns who ran the church, known as the Loretto Sisters, prayed for one. According to the story, a mysterious carpenter appeared to build the staircase, then vanished without pay when he finished. The “miraculous staircase,” as it’s called, has no center support and is not held from other sides.
Today, people can get married in the church — or just stop by to see it.
If you go…
Getting there:
Delta flights into Albuquerque, New Mexico from JFK Airport start at $283 one-way. From there, it’s a one-hour drive to Santa Fe.
Stay:
Inn and Spa at Loretto(211 Old Santa Fe Trail). Rooms start at $220 per night.
Do:
Tequila lovers won’t want to miss the Santa Fe Margarita Trail. This boozy excursion features 31 different margaritas at restaurants and bars around Santa Fe, each made with 100% agave tequila. Buy a $3 Margarita Trail Passport at any Tourism Santa Fe Visitor Center, or Margarita Trail participating restaurant. Present your “passport” for a $1 discount on select margaritas at participating restaurants. Collect stamps from stops along the way for prizes.
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum ($12 admission) has the world’s largest collection of the artist’s work, with more than 1,000 of her paintings and drawings.