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…

Buckhorn Saloon – Pinos Altos, New Mexico

In 1859, 49ers returning home from California discovered gold among the tall pines (Pinos Altos) north of Silver City. Word spread like wildfire.  In short order, there were more than 700 men prospecting in the area. As with other boom towns, rampant lawlessness made prospectors lives exciting to say the least.  Miners faced an anything goes attitude in the pursuit of gold punctuated by frequent raids by marauding Apaches.  In the “Apache War” of 1861, Cochise joined his father-in-law Mangas Coloradas (an Apache war leader who towered at 6’7″) and some 400 Apache warriors to drive away miners from their traditional homeland. In its early days Pinos Altos saw a veritable who’s who of fame and infamy.   In the 1860s, Old West legend Roy Bean operated a mercantile in Pinos Altos before moving to West Texas to gain fame as Judge Roy Bean “The Law West of the Pecos.” Henry McCarty (William Bonney was just an alias), the infamous Billy the Kid, began his life of crime in the area.  As the area’s gold began to deplete, families turned to ranching.  Some of the largest ranches in the country once were located just outside of town.  Evidence of ranching…