So I spent a decent amount of my childhood in Texas, and I didn’t know that New Mexico had its own style of Mexican food until just a few years ago. It’s kind of a crime that it’s not more widely known, because it’s seriously, seriously delicious.
Disclaimer: I have never been to New Mexico. Well, I think my family drove through the northwest corner of it once on a road trip, but that hardly counts. Niles’s parents live in Arizona, though, and introduced me to New Mexican food when we were on a trip there once. Having had plenty of Mexican-American cuisine in Texas, Chicago, California, New York, and lots of other places, I wasn’t really prepared for how different New Mexican food is. I’ve been told that it borrows heavily from Navajo and Mescalero tribes, I’ve been told that it’s closest to the style of food cooked in Mexico – it’s hard to untangle what’s true and what’s been written by tourist boards, but beyond what I’ve drawn above, here are my impressions of it: New Mexican cuisine is more rustic and earthy. There’s a lot more smoking of things, and grilling on mesquite and cedar planks. There’s usually (counterintuitively, but I’m not arguing) seafood. And of course there’s the ever-present New Mexican Chile – which I’ll get into in more detail in a later comic – chosen for its balance of flavor and heat, instead of peppers like habanero, which are pretty much just there to kick your ass.
There are actually a few New Mexican restaurants here in Chicago. Last night we went to Masa Azul, here in Logan Square. It was outstanding, but it’s more of a modern, fusion-y take on New Mexican food. I’m told that there’s one in Ukrainian Village that’s more traditional and also cheaper, but its name escapes me at the moment, and it’s actually kind of difficult to google “New Mexican Restaurant” and get what you’re looking for, instead of just new restaurants that are Mexican.
I live in New Mexico.. and when they say “it is closest to the style eaten in Mexico” one has to realize that Mexico is a HUGE place. I have been told by Mexicans that New Mexican cuisine is closer to the north central Mexican “native” foods than say something served in Mexico City or on the coasts.
Green chile gets served on everything in New Mexico. For breakfast there are various “burritos ” and most places will have a Cheeseburger with green. The red chile is served more on traditional meals.
Stephen: that’s a fair point, Mexico is a large country – and if Mexican-American food in the US varies as much as it does from California to Chicago to New York, I can only imagine how much it must vary from Baja California to the Yucatan!
When we were in Arizona, I had just started noticing the differences between the Mexican food I grew up with in Texas and the Mexican food we’d had here in Chicago, or on the east coast or the west coast, and I was curious how Arizona did things. When I asked Niles’s parents how Arizona Mexican food was, they immediately said “we’ll take you to a New Mexican restaurant.” :)
Was just talking recently about some of my favs: green chile jelly and green chile bagels (not together, tho I haven’t tried it).
I love red chile the best, but cook with a lot of green chile, too. Each fall, chile sellers set up their propane-fired roasters and sell fresh roasted green chiles. We usually buy 10-20 pounds, bring them home, peel and de-seed and stock up the freezer. Yum.