James Beck

"My Most Exciting Food Experience"
The Quest for the Best Chile Relleno 

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It started in the late 90’s as a casual attempt to find a really good chile relleno. It has since evolved into a quest that would be considered one crazy act away from obsession. I’m only trying to answer one simple question. Where is the best chile relleno in America?

Chile Relleno literally means “stuffed chile”. It’s a Mexican dish that consists of a roasted fresh chile, stuffed with cheese or meat, battered, and served smothered in a variety of sauces. One of the factors that make this quest so daunting is the broad diversity in the preparation and ingredients involved.

Tex-Mex style was the most common version I had sampled over the years. Prepared with one or more Poblano or Anaheim chiles, stuffed with cheddar, queso, or Oaxacan cheese, battered in egg, and drenched in salsa rojo or verde. A combination that in the right balance would make even the most selective food critic set down their pen and paper to enjoy the flavor. Sampling these very similar versions over the years had become an exercise in redundancy. I needed an adventure in eating to gain perspective, but where would I find such a rarity? I had no clue that the answer might be found in New Mexico. It was February of this year when I decided to lead a video road trip to New Mexico. The goal of the road trip was to record the largest hot sauce event in the country, and look for spicy diversions along the way. The stop that would change the way I look at rellenos wasn’t even on the itinerary when we left Houston.

The second day of the road trip led us to Las Cruces, New Mexico where we planned on visiting a stand that specialized in chile ristras. A chile ristra is a decorative arrangement of dried chiles designed to preserve chile pods until you are ready to use them. We were told the Ristramnn (that is not a typo, according to the owner “mnn” is the plural of “man”) Chile Co. was the place to visit for the most amazing selection of ristras in southern New Mexico. We were not disappointed. We finished our visit, and asked the owners if they knew of anywhere we could get some great local food. They were happy to suggest the place that was rumored to have the best chile rellenos in New Mexico; Chope’s in La Mesa. We asked them who had said they were the best, and they explained that this spot had gotten rave reviews from residents and reviewers alike. How could we pass up such an opportunity? We headed south to find this diamond in the rough.

The drive took much longer than we were told, and we weren’t prepared for what we found upon arrival. Chope’s has the reputation as one of the best New Mexican food restaurants in the state, and it also happens to be a biker bar. Now when I say biker bar I’m not talking about a place where casual motorcycle riders hang out. This was the place where the local chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle gang spends their weekends. Call me determined, moronic, or slightly insane, but it takes more than a bunch of grizzly men in leather vests to keep me from good food.

Walking into this place was about as surreal as life gets. Hardcore bikers in every direction looking at you like you don’t belong, and I didn’t. I walked up to the bar, and asked the bartender about their legendary chile rellenos. He explained that the restaurant wouldn’t open for another two hours, and we were welcome to order a drink and wait. How could I say no? What’s the worst that could happen? Get shanked at a dive bar in search of magnificent Mexican food? That sounded like a great way to go, so I perused their beer selection. I noticed that all the beer was in forty ounce bottles, and far be it from me to break from tradition. I ordered a forty of Dos Equis, and then it hit me. The only way to fit in here is to win them over! Unfortunately I wasn’t in the mood to pull a Pee Wee Herman and start dancing on the bar, so I improvised. I asked my cameraman if he would be willing to shoot here, and he reluctantly agreed. I asked the bartender for permission to shoot some video, and after checking with the owners he said it was fine. There was only one thing left for me to do. I had to climb on the bar, and tell this room full of gangsters that I wanted to interview them. Amidst a downpour of jeers I announced that we were shooting a video production, and we would like to talk to them about the food at Chope’s. I watched as almost instantly the room started to change. In a matter of minutes these men went from intimidating to excited, as the idea of sharing this place they hold so dear to their hearts became a reality. I spent the next two hours interviewing anyone that wasn’t wanted or on probation. All of them raved about the amazing food in the restaurant next door. The anticipation was killing me!

Five o’clock finally rolled around, and it was time for the restaurant to open. We were standing at the front door the moment it opened, and got the first table of the evening. The waitress already knew who we were, and verified that I wanted the chile relleno platter. I asked if we could shoot some video of the preparation, and without hesitation she declined. She said their recipe was a family secret that they would not share under any circumstances. That’s what I wanted to hear. She took our orders and disappeared into the kitchen. While we were waiting I looked closely at the menu, and started to understand what made this dish different. First I noticed they used Hatch green chiles instead of Poblano or Anaheim chiles. I was familiar with the unique, complex flavor of the Hatch chile and immediately thought it might be a perfect fit. The other unique aspect was that they used Hatch chiles in the salsa verde. I started to think about the reputation surrounding this dish. If it was anything short of perfection it would be a terrible disappointment. I had a few tortilla chips and some water to make sure my palate was as clean as possible, and then waited for what seemed like forever.

The waitress finally emerged with our food. The only way I could describe the anticipation would be similar to if you were slightly intoxicated, in a biker bar, and everyone there was telling you how great the food was for two hours. It was like that, but worse. She set the plate in front of me, and like any good foodie the first thing I did was take a picture. It was the most beautiful mess of Mexican food I had ever seen! You could just barely see the fried egg batter beneath the pool of salsa verde and cheese. There was only one thing left to do. Inhale this culinary masterpiece and try to taste it on the way down. The first bite was divine! I made sure to include all of the components to gauge the balance of flavors. I could tell right away that they used spicy Hatch green chiles, which gave it just the right amount of bite. The cheese blend on top and inside was exceptional. I could tell they used cheddar and Monterey Jack, but the taste was so robust there had to be another white cheese that I couldn’t pick out. The chiles were extraordinarily fresh. Very fresh roasted chiles are easy to identify. There’s a crispness to the flesh that you can’t get from fresh frozen chiles, and the pungency is unmistakable. The salsa verde was good enough to eat alone. I could probably spend an entire day just standing over the simmering pot and basking in the aroma. I didn’t even want to look at the refried beans or the rice. This was too good to ruin with side dishes. Each bite was followed by a drink of water or beer. There was no way I was going to reduce the character of the chiles with back to back bites. I wanted to find flaws. I wanted to say I’ve tasted better, but I couldn’t fool myself or anyone else. It lived up to the hype. There are very few meals that I would say I could eat every day for the rest of my life, but this was one. I spent the time after dinner back in the bar reminiscing with everyone about my meal like it was a dearly departed old friend. Whether or not I found the best chile rellenos on the planet is debatable. However that evening in La Mesa, New Mexico; I experienced relleno nirvana.