Chope’s – La Mesa, New Mexico
During our inaugural visit several years ago, we ran into a former Las Cruces resident now living in the nation’s capital. His near teary-eyed testimony about how much he missed Chope’s was more powerful than a Sunday sermon. When he kissed the hallowed ground in front of Chope’s, we knew he meant it. An elderly gentleman recounted the time Chope’s salsa was so hot it made him hiccup for three days. A middle-aged woman from Las Cruces rhapsodized about Chope’s chile rellenos, her testimony practically eliciting involuntary salivation in the impromptu audience of queued patrons. Chope’s has had a similar effect on most its guests for six generations. Perhaps the consummate mom-and-pop operation, Chope’s had the most humble of beginnings. …