Chile Trail Peppered with Apples, Adobe, Pounds of Picked Peppers

Early fall is the time to hit the Chile Trail to New Mexico--land of red and green chiles, blue cornmeal, refried beans and fluffy, puffy fried bread called sopaipillas.

But the Chile Trail leads to more than taste sensations that range from hot to hotter to incendiary. It winds through adobe huts and mansions decked with chile ristras, pauses in settings that have mesmerized artists for close to a century, meanders through a blend of three cultures: Indian, Hispanic and Anglo. Exploring New Mexico is the next best thing to touring a foreign country.

The Chile Trail is at its best in autumn when the scenery looks exactly like your favorite southwestern painting. The sky really is that incredible blue--the mountains really do look royal purple in contrast to gold-hued foothills bristling with pinon, sage and chamiso. The scent of burning pinon permeates the crisp morning air. Roadside fruit stands glow with shiny apples and red chile chains called ristras. Art posters advertise local festivals.

Depending on the fall weekend you choose, you can celebrate the harvest of apples in Velarde or chiles in Hatch, shop for jewelry at the Fiesta crafts market in Santa Fe, get insight into Spanish Colonial life at the Martinez Hacienda outdoor museum in Taos, marvel at the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, watch the Indian San Geronimo Eve Vespers Dance at Taos Pueblo or help devour the world’s largest enchilada at the Whole Enchilada Fiesta in Las Cruces.

Our imaginary trail starts in the chile fields of southwest Colorado, near Ft. Garland. Work your way south through San Luis over the New Mexico border to Taos, then southwest to Velarde, continuing south to Espanola before veering east to Chimayo, Mecca for chile aficionados.

Turn south to Santa Fe. (Don’t plan to spend much time there--it has become too chic, too crowded, too costly for this kind of laid back itinerary.)

Take the Turquoise Trail (the old mountain road) southwest to Albuquerque, then it’s a long hop south on I-25 to Hatch, the fire eaters’ favorite chile patch, and Las Cruces, the brave new world of chiledom where New Mexico State University botanists conspire to create the dream chile pod for a can.

You’ll find lots of surprises along the way:

--A Chimayo roadside stand that sells apple-cinnamon, banana or chocolate tortillas for $2 to $2.50 a dozen. (Leona’s Tortilla Factory)

--A Velarde fruit stand where Loretta Valdez, queen of Velarde’s Ristras Row, makes and exhibits $3,000 wheat and American Indian rice grass wreaths embellished with intricate wood carvings. One of a number of would-be buyers is determined by lottery at her annual wreath show the last weekend in October. (Herman Valdez Fruit Stand, Highway 68 midway between Taos and Santa Fe.)

--The Santa Fe School of Cooking where you can learn the basics of New Mexican home cooking in a 2 1/2-hour class on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday morning. (Class $25--reservations suggested; 505-983-4511.)

--Albuquerque’s Indian Pueblo Cultural Center where you can browse nine gallery-like shops offering the work (tax-free) of young artists from 19 pueblos. (Located one block north of I-40 at 2401 12th St. NW. Open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.)

--Gilded ristras (as well as turquoise, yellow and lavender painted ones) in no-nonsense Hatch, ($20, Hatch Chile Express, P.O. Box 350, Hatch, N.M. 87937).

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First, tune up your taste buds for a taste of New Mexico. (Don’t forget your Maalox!)

The first stop on the trail from Denver to Las Cruces is in Ft. Garland, at the Ute Cafe. (It’s just beyond the junction of U.S. 160 and Colorado 159, on the north side of the highway.) Ute’s chile is good, but if you’re there when migrant workers are in the area, order the barbacoa tacquito, slow cooked beef barbecue wrapped in a fresh made tortilla, chile on the side, a meal for $1.50. For dessert--or a light lunch by itself--savor a slice of owner Darlene Maes’ home-baked pies. Closed Saturday; open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday through Friday.

That should hold you until you reach Taos for another chile fix at Don Pedro’s, Pete Trujillo’s family restaurant south of town, on South Santa Fe Road.

Try the Papago Taco-Bunuelo, Indian fry bread topped with shredded beef, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, beans and a splash of red and green chile. The sopa is a tasty bread pudding with apples, cinnamon, raisins--and cheddar cheese. Closed Monday.

While you’re waiting to be served, check out the menu. Everything is tri-cultural in New Mexico, including the way restaurants spell chile (Spanish). Some spell it chili (Anglo). Still others go with chilli (Indian). New Mexicans take it in stride, defending whatever spelling they prefer but letting you spell it your way.

If you’re looking for something a little more upscale but still top notch traditional New Mexican food, head for Roberto’s on East Kit Carson Road--if it’s open. There you’ll find Bobby Garcia’s chiles rellenos, which are so good it’s worth checking his erratic schedule. He says the restaurant is open Memorial Day to Labor Day, closed Tuesdays. During ski season, it’s open only on Friday and Saturday. Between seasons it’s usually closed--but not always. That casual approach to business is very “Old Taos.”

If you decide to stay overnight--Taos has 37 B&Bs; as well as the Taos Inn and the chain motels south of town--check out the action at Rick’s Sonic Drive-In, a favorite tri-cultural gathering spot for the locals. Funky but fun.

On to Chimayo and one of New Mexico’s most famous restaurants, Rancho de Chimayo. This is the area where small farms carefully nurture only an acre or two of the full-bodied chimayo chile each year, handpicking the harvest before the first frost. It’s the chile most experts say is the finest the state has to offer.

In Chimayo and its nearby areas in the Espanola Valley, each farm’s harvest is kept separate, the seed passed down from father to son. The result is a much richer flavored, thin-skinned chile in the medium hot category.

Chimayo chile comes in many guises at Rancho de Chimayo but the hottest thing on the menu is the pork adovado, pork chops that have been marinated overnight in a red chile puree, then baked.

If your mouth feels like it’s been struck by lightning, don’t drink the water . It will make things worse. Better to sip a glass of milk or take a bite of rice. Some say chocolate helps.

There’s usually a wait to be served at the Rancho de Chimayo. If you’re in a hurry, drive on to Espanola and a totally different atmosphere at Angelina’s, the Guitierrez family operation about a block off the busy highway through town. Chile of choice here is the velarde variety. Pick of the menu: the lamb fajitas.

Espanola, usually considered the ugly duckling of northern New Mexico, is on the move with five B&Bs; and a posh restaurant, Anthony’s at the Delta. Anthony’s recently opened a lunch section--Flavio’s--and plans to add a B&B; in the next few months. A growing number of budget-conscious opera fans and skiers are learning they can save a bundle if they stay in Espanola and commute to Santa Fe, Los Alamos or Taos--all less than an hour’s drive away.

On to Santa Fe, if only long enough for a quick lunch at the Cloud Cliff, the natural foods restaurant-bakery southwest of town (1805 Second St., a few blocks off Cerillos Road). How about vegetarian black bean chili made with ancho chiles, onions, cumin, oregano, cilantro and tomatoes with sour cream on top? At least pick up a loaf of the blue cornmeal-green chile bread to bring home. Second choice: a loaf of lemon-pinon. (Open daily, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.)

If you should decide to stay overnight in Santa Fe, don’t miss breakfast at Tecolote, which makes up for a lot of Santa Fe’s upscale overkill. Tecolote’s $5.95 breakfast burrito is enough to stoke a hungry truck driver: eggs scrambled with ham, bacon or sausage, rolled in a flour tortilla, topped with red or green chiles and melted cheddar, served with posole (a kind of soup) and beans on the side.

Just as delicious, maybe more so if you’re beginning to suffer chile burnout: the atole pinon (blue cornmeal) hot cakes with warm maple syrup. It’s our candidate for best pancake you’ve ever tasted. Tecolote, 1203 Cerrillos Road, is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., closed Monday.

Take the “high road”--New Mexico 14--to Albuquerque with a planned stop for shopping at the old mining town of Madrid (pronounced MAD-rid).

The town is only four blocks long but the shop-till-you-drop crowd will be delighted with every inch of storefront along the board walk and the cottage industries across the road.

You can find red satin ristras at the Madrid Supply Co.; rustic blue and white pottery and southwestern furniture at Madrid Earthenware Pottery; Guatemalan fabric by the yard and funky patchwork cocktail skirts at Maya Jones; woven wonders and glitzy lizard wall decorations at Tapestry; handsome hand-painted tiles at the Motherlode Gallery. Bring your credit cards.

Should you decide to tote home a ristra , be advised that those made of fresh chiles may not last.

“Chiles fresh from the field that have been strung up for ristras are still quite moist, like fresh produce,” said SuAnne Armstrong, owner of the Chile Shop in Santa Fe. “I’ve heard horror stories from people who bought fresh ristras, threw them into a paper bag and stuck them in the trunks of their cars. They drove home across the desert to California, and when they unpacked, all they had was chile mush. People don’t realize fresh chiles are as delicate as velvet.”

In New Mexico, where ristras hang outdoors and are replaced after they’ve bleached out or become damaged, bugs and mold aren’t big problems. But visitors who want their ristras for indoor decorative purposes need to take precautions.

Armstrong advises would-be buyers to check the merchandise carefully. “Don’t buy a ristra put together with rubber bands. The rubber loses its elasticity and the ristra falls apart. Look for one where the chiles are tightly tied. Check the stems for mold. Keep it in an airy place until it’s dry. Sometimes it will never dry in high humidity. Chiles dry like clothes dry outdoors.”

Do not spray the ristra until it has thoroughly dried, she cautions. “The object is to keep moisture out, not seal it in. Chile is the perfect incubator for moth larvae. When the larvae grow up they become the kind of moths that get into wool. Spray the ristra periodically to avoid bugs.”

With your dried ristra at your side, drive on to Albuquerque’s Old Town where you’ll find the Chili Pepper Emporium, a bottomless bowl of chilemania. The inventory includes chile peanut butter, chile peanut brittle, chile jam (three strengths of hot), chile cookbooks, chile memorabilia of every variety. Look for the shadowy alcove where a pair of boots and the bottoms of Levis stick out from under a display. A sign reads: “Chile jam victim: the unknown tourist.”

Old Town Plaza’s aura of dusty dignity can be most appreciated before the shops open at 10 a.m. Enjoy the tranquillity over breakfast on the patio at Cocina de Montoya. If you’re not ready to face chile at that hour, don’t even look at the menu. It will give you indigestion. Settle for sopaipillas and coffee. Some say sopaipillas (fried bread that resembles “sofa pillows”) originated in Albuquerque.

It’s a four-hour drive to Las Cruces, cruising along Interstate 25, crossing what would be desert if not for the long, narrow ribbons of green along the banks of the Rio Grande River. The lake at Elephant Butte State Park only emphasizes the barren landscape surrounding its shores. It’s the combination of arid climate, warm days and cool nights that make this ideal chile growing country.

By the time you spot Hatch, a lovely oasis of pecan trees and chile fields nestled at the foot of the mountains, you might feel the urge to turn off the interstate to do some exploring. Don’t bother. Hatch Valley has beautiful farms that, along with Mesilla Valley fields, produce more chile than the rest of the U.S. But downtown Hatch is as lackluster as the desert.

While you’re passing by take note of the farms. Hatch chiles are mass produced, with research focused on growing the ideal chile for a can. Crops are machine harvested, with every effort made to produce a crop that will be ready at a given time to meet factory deadlines. Hatch chiles cover the range from mild to extra hot.

Finally, Las Cruces: A recent Network magazine survey found this adobe town, 44 miles north of El Paso, to be the eighth fastest growing city in the country. Largely a sun seekers’ retirement community with input from the chile and pecan growers, New Mexico State University, the White Sands Missile Range and a few factories, its most apparent virtue is unbounded civic pride.

Just when you think it’s only another sleepy border town with more than its share of mom and pop Mexican restaurants, you find touches of unexpected sophistication.

A top-drawer new Hilton hotel stands across the street from a shopping center anchored by Dillard’s department store. The restoration of nearby Mesilla’s historic plaza is strictly first class--and so is the gift shop in the former courthouse where Billy the Kid went to trial. A delightfully contemporary restaurant called Peppers features new New Mexican cuisine-- a la cheese, guacamole and chile won tons.

Warning: There’s still Hatch chile in them thar dishes, no matter how fancy they look. If you thought the White Sands missiles took off in a hurry, just wait until the roof of your mouth react to this different kind of firing range. Lift off!

Next time, ask before you taste. A chile considered mild in Las Cruces is plenty hot enough for the end of the Chile Trail.