Month: May 2011

Hey Green Chile Cheeseburger lovers! In case you hadn’t checked back, the New Mexico Tourism office’s 2011 Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail Map is up and running! Tool around New Mexico this summer in search of your favorite oh-so-worth-it diet-buster platter and don’t forget your TUMs!

Click here for a 2011 Interactive Map and Burger Roll Call.

Happy hunting!

Whatcha’ doin’ this summer? C’mon over to Pie Town or Quemado – there’s always a little something-something goin’ on… Plus… there’s always PIE! 🙂

Fri. June 3rd –  Food Fair and Commodities for June – check time and location for your area – Datil sign in before 11:00 at the Datil School Gym ,Horse Mountain Fire  Dept sign in before 12:00, Pie Town Community Center sign in before 2:00 and Quemado Community Center sign in before 3:00.

Sat. June 4 – Datil Community Food Pantry Annual Auction –Preview at 8AM and Auction at 10 AM. This is the third annual auction for the food pantry  and will be back at the original location – in the Datil Elementary Gym just south of Hwy 60 on Hwy 12. Sponsored by and to benefit the Catron Food Pantries..

The items are pouring in:  Antiques, Remington Bronze Buffalo Signal; Travel trailer with Refrigerator and Stove; Exercise machine;  Garden Tractor, furniture and MUCH MORE  Forms of payment – Cash or check. NO BUYERS PREMIUM! Contact Nancy 772-5095 nwettach@wildblue.net or 575-772-5095

Fri. June 10th…5:30pm….Reserve Community Center….Emergency Prepardness/Food Storage Seminar by Jonille Shepherd. Valuable information on preparing emergency info/packets and useful information on different types of food storage capabilities. Everyone welcome and free to the public.

**Saturday, June 18^th 4pm at the Quemado Community Center– The Meeting of the Catron County Historical Society will have as guest speaker Peggy Gerow, Phd., who is a Project Administrator and Historian with the University of New Mexico. She will be giving a power point presentation on the Fence Lake Mine project and surrounding homesteads in the area.

Week of June 20-24 –  Datil Community Vacation Bible School. This is an annual community bible school and is open to all children, even visiting children!  For information please contact Ann Jenkerson 772-5156.

 

“Partnering with SunPower to offer these incentives makes it easy and affordable for members to purchase solar systems for their homes and businesses today,” said Allan Oliver, CEO of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce.  “This exciting new program not only offers a significant savings to our members, but will help support jobs in the fast-growing clean-energy sector.”

In addition to the discounts on high-efficiency SunPower solar systems, the company will offer free, comprehensive solar workshops, including information on available state and local financial incentives, via its authorized dealers, NMGCC members Positive Energy and Consolidated Solar Technologies. These workshops will be scheduled throughout the summer months in the Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces areas.

“This is a great opportunity for members to install the most reliable solar panels available today at a reduced rate,” said Jim Pape, president, SunPower residential and commercial business unit.  “SunPower solar systems offer guaranteed performance, delivering both monthly financial savings and clean, renewable solar power for 25 years or more.”

The program offers residential customers rebates up to $2,000 in addition to any federal and local incentives and up to $10,000 for commercial solar projects.

Members can call SunPower at 1-877-779-7496, or visit www.sunpowercorp.com/asp/nmgcc for residential information, or www.sunpowercorp.com/bsp/greenchamberbiz for commercial inquiries. A qualified SunPower dealer will respond within three business days.

About the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce:

With more than 1100 member businesses statewide, the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce is an advocate for business owners who subscribe to a Triple Bottom Line that invests in people, protects land, air and water, and creates long-term profits.  One of its goals is to unleash the creative force of business to rebuild local economies and to take advantage of new opportunities in a fast-growing clean energy economy.  For more information, visit www.nmgreenchamber.com.

About SunPower

SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWRA, SPWRB) designs, manufactures and delivers the highest efficiency, highest reliability solar panels and systems available today. Residential, business, government and utility customers rely on the company’s quarter century of experience and guaranteed performance to provide maximum return on investment throughout the life of the solar system. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., SunPower has offices in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. For more information, visit www.sunpowercorp.com.

The folks at the New Mexico Tourism Department are busy counting the votes to see where to send green chile cheeseburger lovers to find the best plates in the state. Stay tuned for the 2011 results!

The New Trail Arrives May 19th

New Mexico didn’t invent the hamburger, but we’re the one who added green chile and made it hot! Sample this culinary treasure on your next trip, or turn your next trip into a sampling of burgers down our highways and byways, including Route 66.

No state is more passionate about its burger than New Mexico. A juicy thick patty grilled over an open flame or sizzled on a griddle, then blanketed in molten Cheddar or other cheese, and topped off with enough New Mexican green chile to tingle the tastebuds—what could be more glorious?

The green chile cheeseburger has been a staple on menus here since the middle of the last century. Burgers gained in popularity during the glory years of American road travel, when the asphalt ribbon Route 66 bisected New Mexico from west to east. Many lay claim to the idea of adding the state’s chile to a classic cheeseburger. The fiery burger’s early esteem was fueled by decades-old burger hotspots like The Owl Café and Buckhorn Tavern in San Antonio, Burt’s Burger Bowl in Santa Fe, Bobcat Bite just outside of Santa Fe, and Blake’s Lotaburger’s original Albuquerque location.

The national media’s fueled the flames of passion for our burgers. Alan Richman’s “The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die” (GQ, July 2008) includes Buckhorn Tavern and Bobcat Bite, and George Motz’s Hamburger America book and film singled out Bobcat Bite for even more accolades. The Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” host, Guy Fieri, loved the well-known Bert’s Burger Bowl but even sleuthed out Albuquerque’s fabulous Monte Carlo Steak House, hidden behind a humble package liquor store. The Food Network’s “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” brought its roadshow to New Mexico and saw Buckhorn Tavern crush grillmeister Flay.

Those places all deserve the attention they get, but you’ll miss out big-time, if you limit your burger budget to only those spots. However, a search for all the great burgers might take an intrepid diner too many years and a few too many calories to find.

We’ve made it easy, selecting some 4 dozen of the state’s outstanding green chile cheeseburger restaurants, cafes, drive-ins, and joints. Now this was tough! Some 8,000 people—residents, visitors, reviewers, and other restaurateurs—weighed in. By no means did they or we exhaust the possibilities, but we did try to make sure visitors have options on the most travelled routes, along with pit stops in all corners of the state. Now you have no excuse to miss Lucky Boy, a Chinese mom-and-pop shop, or Home of the Laguna Burger, in a superette inside a gas station on a pueblo west of Albuquerque, or newcomer Badlands Burgers in Grants, winner of the Governor’s Green Chile Cheeseburger Challenge, held during the New Mexico State Fair.

Some of the best news about our burgers is really old news. Decades ago, prepared condiments may have started at a local farm, and the bun may have come from a local bakery. So it is again. New Mexico-raised beef is turning up on more and more restaurant menus, as is New Mexico-grown chile. Albuquerque’s Bueno Foods, supplier of pungent pods for many a restaurant, recently began designating “New Mexico Grown, Guaranteed” on menus around the state. Chile is one of our most important but most endangered crops.

You’re sure to find great burger places we missed. We don’t want you to miss anything yourself, so always call ahead or check the establishment’s website to confirm details before going out of your way. We update periodically, but facts can change.

Happy trails and buen provecho!

Click here for a map of the 2009 Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail

You might have seen the old Quemado motel building on your way into town: to say it was a bit “rundown” was a bit of an understatement. Still, it was home to one old gentleman, who recently relocated to a much nicer house where he can live out his twilight years in peace and dignity.

After our very own Kelly Gatlin took some pics, the owner of the property, Tommy Padilla—who also has the Rito Quemado convenience store next door—cleaned it up and took it down to create a proper parking area.

A little bit of progress is a good thing, especially when everyone comes out on top!

Images courtesy of Kelly Gatlin/La Luz Photography