Adobe Deli – Deming, New Mexico

In 2009  I had the great privilege of helping compile the inaugural New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail along with the scintillating, four-time James Beard award-winning author Cheryl Alters Jamison; the brilliant Kate Manchester, founding publisher of Edible Santa Fe; and one of New Mexico’s finest ambassadors, Martin Leger, then advertising manager for the New Mexico Department of Tourism.  We discussed dozens of potential candidates for inclusion into the inaugural Trail.    Narrowing down those “most worthy” was like selecting the best and brightest stars on a clear, cold New Mexico winter night. Between the four of us, we had (over the years, not in one seating) voraciously consumed green chile cheeseburgers at an almost embarrassing number of restaurants, drive-ins, diners, dives, joints, cafes, roadside stands and even bowling alleys.  Ultimately we narrowed down the number of selections to what we believed were the very best green chile cheeseburgers from throughout the Land of Enchantment.  Our list was well vetted, our research meticulous (and delicious) and our bellies full.  There’s no way we could possibly have missed any of the Land of Enchantment’s best green chile cheeseburgers…or was there? During a long overdue visit to the Adobe Deli about eight miles…

La Vie Est Un Bistro – Silver City, New Mexico

In 2013, the New York Times published an article titled “Looking for Big Flavors in a Small Town.”  The article extolled the dining scene in “Silver City, an old mining town in the southwestern corner of the state, which has “seen its creative spirit extend to the local food scene.”   Leave it to your roving gastronome to arrive in Silver City ten eleven years too late.  When the New York Times visited, Silver City was home to the Curious Komquat, where Chef Rob Connoley earned  James Beard semi-finalist honors for Best Chef – Southwest.  Chef Connoley, by the way, moved to St. Louis where he garnered another semifinalist nomination in 2022, this time for Best Chef: Midwest.  He repeated that honor in 2023 then in 2024 was the only St. Louis chef to be named finalist. It goes without saying that the closure of Curious Kumquat put a serious dent on the Silver City culinary world.  That loss was compounded by the 2015 shutting down of Shevek & Co, another Silver City institution.  Then, the aftermath of the Cabrona virus brought about the 2022 closure of Revel, another highly regarded downtown eatery.  Diane’s Restaurant & Bakery, THE place to visit…