Local foods in AZ and NM
 

We'll be traveling in AZ and NM soon, and whenever we travel, I want to try the local foods. However, on this trip, I'm not too sure of what to order. I'm not very familiar with the peppers and spices that are used, and probably because of not eating them too often, I prefer dishes that aren't real hot in taste. I don't want to order something and then not be able to enjoy it because my mouth is burning.

Can anyone supply any guidelines as to which menu terms or ingredients signify "hot?" I realize it's personal perception and taste, so I guess this is why I wondering how I'll know what to order.

Also, any suggestions for "must trys" would be appreciated.

New Mexico has a complex culinary culture, lucky for you, which leads to a lot of different kinds of food, only some of them hot. Here is a very, very simplified list:

1. Tex-Mex. This is the kind of "Mexican" food you get everywhere, beans, rice, globs of cheese, generally not too hot.

2. Mexican. Mexican and Mexican American "home cooking" style, often variety meats such as menudo (tripe) or chicharones (pork skin), darker sauces, less cheese, corn tortillas, can be hot.

3. New Mexican. Food as cooked by/for the Hispanic residents
who lived here when NM was still part of New Spain. Complex sauces based on red and green chiles but more warm than hot on the tongue. A New Mexican enchilada is not, for example, rolled and smothered with melted cheese. It is corn tortillas with some combination of beans, meat, cheese, onions, perhaps olives, served flat with a thin chile sauce. A common ingredient in season is pinones (pine nuts). When they ask if you want red or green (sauce) ask for some of each.

4. Indian (Native American, though people in NM have been known to look at you funny when you say that). More vegetables, less meat, flavors that let let you taste the ingredients , and I have never had any that was hot.

5. New New Mexican. International chef cuisine using local ingredients.

It makes me hungry to think about it, and it won't be long before those peppers will be roasting all along the highway.

We had some great green chile cheeseburgers in Santa Fe. Also yummy enchiladas with red chile sauce. If you want both red and green, you can order Christmas, and they'll give you some of each. We also had some great little cinnamony cookies called bizcochitos.

I'd ask the servers which is hotter; it seems like it varied from place to place. For the most part, I found the food there much fresher and more complex than the standard Tex Mex I'm used to. If you make it to Santa Fe, we really liked The Shed.

We're in the midst of green chile roasting season right now, and it smells incredible around here!

Clousie, if you have New Mexican food, ask for the chile on the side. Some places, like El Pinto in Albuquerque, have pretty mild chile. It will have a hint of spiciness, but not be overly hot.

Lee Ann

In Arizona, you will find mostly Sonora style Mexican food. Mostly it doesn't come with sauce on it. When in Arizona, try these dishes:

Chiles Rellenos green chile stuffed with cheese, coated with an egg batter and pan fried.
Carne Seca (El Charro in Tucson has the best I have tasted)
Carne Asada
Machaca -- dried, shredded beef, fried with onions, green chiles and tomatoes. Often served for breakfast as a burrito with fried potatoes>
Tamales (beef, pork, or green corn, usually)

With sauce (normally pretty mild):
Chile Verde -- pork in green chile sauce
Chile Colorado -- beef in red chile sauce
Enchiladas -- meat or chicken with onions wrapped in corn tortillas, topped with enchilada sauce (mild) and cheese and baked.

Native American -- fry bread, which you can have plain or with sugar or honey.

Also Indian taco -- fry bread with beans, lettuce, tomato and cheese.

I'm sure I will think of lots more, probably as soon as I hit "Submit".

I absolutely LOVE the smell of green chiles roasting. Only thing better is eating one, fresh roasted, with just salt.

Wow! It sounds as though each area has its own specific dishes. I'll have lots of new foods to try. Besides the obvious color, what's the difference between red and green chile sauce? Is one hotter than the other?

I'm intrigued by your comments about chile roasting. Where can you get them and of course, my usual question, are they hot?

Is fry bread usually the type of bread one would be served in restaurants, or must you get it at a certain place?

Thanks for the comments you've provided so far. I'd love to hear more, because as you can certainly tell, this New Jersey girl is not familiar with the cuisine at all, but wants to learn.

Fry bread is more like the dough boys you get back east. Not regular bread, just dough rolled and stretched flat and deep fried. You haven't said where in AZ & NM you will be visiting. But if it is northern AZ, the Cameron Trading Post has a really good Navajo Taco. In Tucson, you can get fry bread at San Xavier Mission.

New Mexico is the best place right now for green chiles, particularly down in the area of Hatch. You can get them mild, medium, or hot.

The chile verde is usually, but not always, hotter than the chile colorado. Chiles, like most peppers, tend to get sweeter as they redden.

Usually you can ask in Mexican restaurants whether a dish is hot. And usually you will get the correct answer. But my wife says that my mild is her hot, so it is very much a matter of taste and what you are used to.

First rule, always ask for the chile on the side. And you can ask for both, it is referred to as "Christmas".

Red and green vary from place to place as to which is hotter. It even varies day to day in the same place.

There is a big difference in red and green. Green is roasted green chiles, roasted over a fire and then peeled and chopped. It tastes a bit like bell peppers, but hotter and much more intense. It does not taste like jalapenos.

Red chiles are greens chiles that have been left on the vine and redden. Then they are dried. Then they are ground up and cooked into a sauce, the consistency of tomato sauce.

I have red that is mildish and red that is scorcher. Same for green, there really isn't a hard and fast rule. Ask the server "what's hottest today?"

I prefer green, my husband prefers red. Pork tends to go best with red, chicken with green.

I lived in NM for 6 years and never did develop a tolerance for the heat of chile, although I love the taste of green chile. Red chile always tastes metallic to me.

You really do need to ask about the heat, and be sure to point out that you do not tolerate heat well. However - people who are used to the heat of chiles are likely to say something is mild when it is hot to you! (I ran into that just tonight at an East Indian restaurant -something I was told was mild was fairly hot to me!)

And I like green with pork! I have had some wonderful green chile stew with pork, as well as with chicken.

As I remember it, green chile stew has a "clear" broth and includes (in addition to the chile) meat and hominy.

Posole also has hominy and meat but is made with red chile. It has a thicker consistency than green chile stew.

And the sopapillas in NM are wonderful - dough stretched thin and fried in hot oil. They puff up light and airy. You can eat them stuffed (with beans, rice, cheese - and meat, like ground beef or shredded chicken, if desired). They often are served as a dessert as well, with honey to drizzle over them. The altitude in northern NM means they puff up wonderfully. I tried to find them in Texas after I moved there, and they never were as good.

If you are going really soon, the NM State Fair is running though September 26. The Asbury Pie Cafe there has some wonderful pies!

And Blake's Lotaburger (all over NM) had some good green chile cheeseburgers. They are a chain, but operate only in NM.

Speaking of pie, another good place for pie is the Rock Springs Cafe north of Phoenix just off I-17.

LOL, I just posted a recipe on here for a Green Chile Chicken Posole.

I neglected to mention the sopapillas [with a drizzle of honey, they put out the fire of the chiles].

Sounds a bit confusing. I guess I'll just try to go for the mild since I really do want to try the different foods. I've been able to develop a real taste for Thai food by going that route and asking for the hot sauces on the side to add in very small increments.

I've seen recipes for sopapillas and they always look good so am anxious to try them.

MikePinTucson--I'm not familiar with doughboys, but will certainly look for fry bread, too. You asked where we're going, Flying into Phoenix, but heading directly to Greer followed by Los Alamos/SantaFe area, Taos, Canyon de Chelly, Grand Canyon and Sedona (yes, we did decide to stay at Sky Ranch Lodge) Except for Grand Canyon, which is just one night, we'll be in each place two or three nights.

Any special desserts to try? Which local fruits are in season now?

Whoa, this is making me so hungry!

I can't get fresh roasted green chiles, but I can get dried red ones, so I make posole a lot, here on an island off the coast of New England!

I haven't seen (in restaurants here) chicken in green chile. Our chile verde is just about always with pork and the chile colorad always with beef.

Clousie, when you go to the GC, enter through the east entrance. Just north of the 89 / 64 intersection, the Cameron Trading Post is on the west side of 89. Have lunch there and order the Navajo Taco. But, unless you eat like a trucker, choose the medium one, not the large.

Maybe dough boys were a Rhode Island thing.

Sopapillas are standard in a lot of NM restaurants as the "bread" to start or with the meal. If you lived here in the great State of Texas you could go Hatch chile crazy thanks to Central Market, which orders truckloads of them (both hot and mild). If you have sinus issues, the hot will ameliorate them . . .

I don't recall "mild" chile being anything but mild in NM. Even my mom survived mild chile, and she can't take anything above about 5 scovilles.

P.S. if you can handle a jalapeno, you basically can handle a hot NM chile -- which are essentially NM varieties of Anaheim peppers (this is a rough equivalence, so if you're New Mexican -- Deb, Lee Ann, BG247 -- don't flame me). If not, get straight with your server that you want mild stuff.

See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_unit#cite_note-15

The joy of cooking your own food, I happen to love the combo of chicken and green chile. :)

How could I have forgotten :-o

Breakfast Burritos are a must [scrambled egg, potatoes, bacon, cheese rolled in a soft flour tortilla] with green chile

Carne Adovado - either as is or in a burrito [chunks of pork simmered in red chile] DH loves a carne adovado burrito with an egg over easy on top for breakfast.

Tamales are also delish, pork or chicken.

Take a look at this menu:

http://www.garciaskitchen.com/images...T-CT-MN-TR.pdf

"The joy of cooking your own food, I happen to love the combo of chicken and green chile. "

DebitNM, do restaurants serve green chile with chicken? I do agree, doing your own cooking lets you do whatever you like. But Clousie will only have restaurants to rely on. Also, there is a huge difference between the Mexican food you find in AZ and what you will find in NM, and in Texas.

Green chiles go with lots of things. I REALLY love grilled cheese with green chiles.

Oh, not sure if restaurants have these in NM, but most Mexican restaurants in Tucson have what they usually call cheese crisps. Large flour tortilla, buttered, covered with cheese and baked in the oven until crisp. You can get them with additional toppings, and I always have green chiles added. Nice appetiser.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_cheese_crisp

I love reading the info you're all providing and I am doing my research, too, so hope it doesn't sound like I'm one of those people who say, "Tell me everything you know..."

The menu was helpful, Deb, and the prices amazing! I've looked up all the dishes using tortillas, so now know something of how they're used. The only two that I'm not sure of are tostadas and fajitas. It seems as though they're both meat/sauce served on a flat tortilla. Is the difference that a tostada is toasted and a fajita is just a warmed tortilla? Are corn and flour tortillas equally used?

Mike: We do plan to use the east entrance and knowing a place to stop for lunch will eliminate those "Should we stop here?" comments that can easily lead into a tense drive as a decision isn't made.

If anyone has any other suggestions of "great" places to eat along our itinerary, please pass them on if you have time. By "great places," I mean local, good food restaurants. When traveling, we're not usually looking for elegant, pricey restaurants, but rather those where the locals go.

I did see the restaurant suggestions for the Santa Fe GTG. A friend, who was there last week, suggested Cowgirls. Any thoughts on that one?

Sorry this is long. I just love talking food. Always like to visit local supermarkets/farmers markets to see what is sold in a different area. After many years of marriage and traveling, my husband even tolerates this whim of mine.