{"id":67504,"date":"2026-04-08T00:01:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=67504"},"modified":"2026-04-10T08:17:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T14:17:55","slug":"red-chilli-house-albuquerque-new-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=67504","title":{"rendered":"Red Chilli House – Albuquerque, New Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Red Chilli House on Golf Course Road in Albuquerque’s West Side<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Red “Chilli” House…doesn’t “Chilli” read like a misspelled word that knocked a spelling bee contestant out of the competition? \u00a0Or like someone added one too many letter “l’s” to the already misspelled word “chili?” \u00a0Actually, that spelling (which some of us purists consider Texan) is by design. \u00a0 The delightful Chinese restaurant sporting that appellation–which opened its doors in June, 2024–wouldn’t change it. \u00a0Among other things, it illustrates just how important Capsicum is in some provinces of China, particularly Sichuan and Hunan.<\/p>\n

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The Interior of Red Chilli House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Capsicum, as most New Mexicans know, is the genus to which all chili (chile in New Mexico) peppers and bell peppers belong. The fruit of the capsicum plant contains a chemical called capsaicin, the active ingredient that gives chile its piquancy. \u00a0Historians widely agree that capsicum was unknown outside the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas before 1490s. \u00a0That’s when Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and brought this red-fruited plant along with other food plants, such as maize, beans and squash, from the New World to the Old.<\/p>\n

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Pork Buns<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When introduced to China in the 16th Century, chile peppers were called “barbarian peppers” on account of their foreign origin. \u00a0Eventually the province of Sichuan developed a profound predilection for piquant peppers. \u00a0By the 20th Century, you couldn’t find a Sichuan menu without extremely piquant peppers. \u00a0Among those with a zealous passion for hot peppers was Chairman Mao, the founding father of the Chinese republic. \u00a0 Mao was known to have declared “A man who dares to eat hot peppers fears nothing; all of our Red Army soldiers loved spicy food<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

Today, the tongue-tingling, throat-scorching cuisine of the Sichuan region with its liberal use of hot peppers is without doubt the most popular culinary style in China. \u00a0Increasingly, the cuisine of the Sichuan (also spelled Szechuan) is poised to supplant the much milder Cantonese cuisine as the most popular Chinese food style across the fruited plain. \u00a0Fire-eaters (like me) have learned that tolerance of the piquancy generated by New Mexico’s sacrosanct red and green does not always translate to being able to handle the Napalm heat of Szechuan peppers. \u00a0It can be a painful lesson.<\/p>\n

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Won Ton in Chili Oil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though the Red Chilli House menu doesn’t feature Sichuan cuisine exclusively, that menu has a respectable number of dishes that bring the heat. \u00a0One section of the menu is titled “American Chinese,” an acknowledgement that the fifteen items on that section were created by Chinese immigrants. \u00a0Other sections of the menu are titled: Popular Items (20), Appetizers (10), Soup (3), Buns\/Dumplings (11), Signature Dish (23), Vegetables (9) Fried Rice (8), Noodles (12) and Dessert (6). \u00a0The menu also has a 14 item section for Lunch Specials.<\/p>\n

Among the most intriguing aspects of the menu is the “authenticity” of the menu. \u00a0While American tastes lean toward sweet and sour dishes, the closest you’ll find to those are orange chicken and sesame chicken, both featuring white meat. \u00a0Instead, the menu includes such items eschewed by the American palate as pork lungs in chili sauce, spicy beef tripe slices, spicy beef tendon,and \u00a0beef and intestines in chili oil. \u00a0One item which piqued my interest was “hand-grabbed \u00a0lamb chops”<\/em> (which sounds rather like a ribald joke).<\/p>\n

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Special Dumplings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

11 July 2024<\/strong>: Fittingly, one of the walls at the Red Chilli House is festooned with decorative bamboo dim sum baskets, the type of which are used at dim sum restaurants to ferry delectable delights to your table. \u00a0Among the most popular dim sum items are dumplings and buns, either steamed or pan-fried. \u00a0\u00a0There are eleven items on the Buns\/Dumplings section of the menu. They’re all prepared in-house by a very skilled chef. You can even purchase frozen dumplings to prepare at home later. \u00a0We didn’t want to wait. \u00a0My Kim picked out the pan-fried buns. \u00a0<\/strong><\/em> Though served on a plate and not on a dim sum basket, these gems have a slightly crispy bottom (there’s a joke in there somewhere) that gives way to a marble-sized pork sausage orb. \u00a0Served in quantities of five per order and accommpanied by soy sauce, they’re quite good.<\/p>\n

26 July 2025<\/strong>:\u00a0 Only Nio Szechuan<\/strong><\/a> on Montgomery has a comparable menu to the Red Chilli House.\u00a0 There are several comonalities so it’s only natural to compare one restaurant’s version of an item with the other restaurant’s version.\u00a0 Such is the case with the wontons in chili oil<\/strong><\/em> (delicate wontons drizzled with chili oil, garnished with chopped scallions and sesame seeds).\u00a0 \u00a0Both versions are outstanding.\u00a0 In fact, I’d go so far as to declare them my favorite wontons in New Mexico.\u00a0 \u00a0Red Chilli House’s version isn’t quite as fiercely piquant as those from Nio, but they’ll give your taste buds a swift kick if you’re not ready for the wonderful burn.\u00a0 Because they’re served in chili oil, these wontons don’t maintain their integrity as well as other dumplings, but it won’t really matter.\u00a0 You taste buds will love them.<\/p>\n

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Sesame Chicken<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

26 July 2025<\/strong>:\u00a0 In a previous post, I shared Wikipedia\u2019s \u201clist of dumplings<\/strong><\/a>\u201d which surprised \u00a0some of you that by definition, empanadas and ravioli are both a type of dumpling.\u00a0 Even Hot Pockets are a type of dumpling.\u00a0 Wikipedia’s list is constantly being revised.\u00a0 In previous instantiations, Danny DeVito and Barack Obama were both listed as dumpling types.\u00a0 Suffice to say, Red Chilli House’s special dumplings<\/strong><\/em> are what most of us would picture dumplings to be.\u00a0 These crescent-shaped beauties are savory and juicy with just a hint of sweetness. What makes them special is that the pork sausage within each dumpling is covered in a delicious broth reminiscent of soup dumplings. Special indeed!<\/p>\n

11 July 2024<\/strong>: Remember that “American Chinese” menu section I mentioned earlier. \u00a0Sesame chicken (crispy chicken pieces tossed in a sweet and savory honey sesame sauce<\/em>) is among the items on that section of the menu though the origin of sesame chicken<\/strong><\/em> is in dispute. Some sources credit its origin to the southern Chinese region of Guangdong while other sources believe it was invented in North America back in the 1970s. \u00a0Whatever it’s origin, it’s a very popular dish across the fruited plain. \u00a0It’s not a dish I would ever order (too sweet for my tastes), but my Kim will. \u00a0She enjoyed Red Chilli’s version.<\/p>\n

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Eggplant in Garlic Sauce<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

26 July 2025<\/strong>: A June, 2024 visit to Kwok’s Bistro<\/strong><\/a>, a James Beard “Best Chef: Southwest” semifinalist restaurant in Reno reminded me how good Chinese eggplant dishes can be. \u00a0Though my preference is for Sichuan eggplant with its piquant notes, Red Chilli’s eggplant with garlic sauce<\/strong><\/em> (from the Vegetables section of the menu) is the next best thing. \u00a0 The gently steamed eggplant is so tender it practically melts in your mouth. \u00a0It’s lightly sauteed and tossed with a flavorful and umami-rich garlic sauce. \u00a0Garlic cloves help cement the garlic flavors vampires hate.\u00a0 \u00a0I loved this dish even more the second time experiencing it with our friends Tom and Ellyn Hamilton.\u00a0 In fact, from among the seven items we shared, this was a near-consensus best dish of the evening.\u00a0 Maybe eggplant can’t\u00a0 change your life, but it can sure make it more tasty.<\/p>\n

30 September 2024<\/strong>:\u00a0 My friend and former stand-up comedian Bill Resnik has shared more meals with me than anyone but my Kim.\u00a0 Our tastes are remarkably similar, especially when it comes to Chinese food.\u00a0 Neither of us is fond of sweet-and-sour anything.\u00a0 Our preferences lie in Chinese food that has a personality, especially if that personality is assertive and angry.\u00a0 Even more than me, Bill will add Chinese chili oil to Chinese food that’s already too hot for most people to eat.\u00a0 He’s a bona fide volcano eater who would thrive in the Szechuan province of China where foods are as explosive as Old Faithful.<\/p>\n

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Shredded Pork With Garlic Sauce<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When ordering from a Chinese menu, Bill is likely going to ask if the item is sweet, a good indication he probably won’t like it.\u00a0 He’ll then ask that the dish be made “extra hot” as in lots of Chinese chili peppers, the small and spicy dynamite that will make your nose run just by looking at them.\u00a0 Predictably, he ordered shredded pork with garlic sauce<\/strong><\/em> for his inaugural meal at Red Chilli House.\u00a0 Chili peppers festooned this stir-fried dish along with red- and green-peppers and a generous amount of pork which didn’t at all resemble shredded pork (at least as you’ll find shredded pork in barbecue).\u00a0 \u00a0The combination\u00a0 of garlic, chili and chili oil was terrific.\u00a0 This is a dish I’ll order again.<\/p>\n

30 September 2024<\/strong>:\u00a0 During our three year tour of England, my Kim and I learned to appreciate (okay, love) leeks, a vastly underappreciated Rodney Dangerfield (they get no respect) of the vegetable family.\u00a0 Closely related to onions and garlic, but with a sweeter and more mild flavor, leeks to taste like\u00a0a mild and delicate version of an onion, with the same base flavor but far less intensity.\u00a0 The Mermaid<\/strong><\/a>, our favorite restaurant in Burford (the most beautiful village in England, by the way) prepared the very best leeks I’ve ever had.\u00a0 They’re permanently imprinted on my memory engrams<\/p>\n

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Shreded Pork With Yellow Leeks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Red Chilli House’s version of leeks didn’t resemble The Mermaid’s version (not even close) but the vast differences demonstrate the versatility of this vegetable.\u00a0 While enjoying my plate of shredded pork with yellow leeks<\/strong><\/em>, I kept wondering where the unique flavor of the dish emanated.\u00a0 It was most certainly from the leeks having been stir-fried along with celery and bell peppers.\u00a0 In describing this dish, Saveur<\/strong><\/a> noted “Leeks are sliced on the diagonal to increase the surface area exposed to the wok; that way, they wilt and release their fragrance faster. The pork is sliced thinly so that it will brown quickly before it loses its moisture.<\/em>”\u00a0 That all makes sense, but I’m convinced leeks inherit a unique flavor profile when stir-fried.<\/p>\n

30 September 2024<\/strong>: When you contemplate foods that are indigenous to China, potatoes are likely not among them.\u00a0 Potatoes didn’t arrive in China until Dutch traders brought them in the mid-1600s.\u00a0 As in Ireland, they quickly became associated with poverty and food shortages.\u00a0 Today, China is the world’s largest potato producer, although about half of the 95 million metric tons it grows every year is exported or fed to livestock. By contrast, Americans eat 80% of what is grown domestically.\u00a0 If you’ve never seen potatoes on a Chinese restaurant’s menu, maybe you’re not visiting the right Chinese restaurants.<\/p>\n

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Sichuan Style Shredded Potatoes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At Szechuan style Chinese restaurants (such as Nio Szechuan<\/strong><\/a> and the Red Chilli House), shredded potatoes<\/strong><\/em> are a classic appetizer .\u00a0 Slightly crunchy, laced with red- and green-peppers as well as ginger, these tubers can be habit-forming.\u00a0 \u00a0 Shredded potatoes are remarkably uniform in size and are thinner than shoestring fries, albeit not fried.\u00a0 Szechuan chefs have mastered the art of preparing shredded potatoes so that they’re not starchy and soft (even mushy).\u00a0 They remain crispy for the duration of your enjoyment–and you will enjoy them immensely.<\/p>\n

26 July 2025<\/strong>:\u00a0 When our friends Tom and Ellyn Hamilton are in town, we know we\u2019re in for a great time and great food.\u00a0 Almost invariably we meet up at a Chinese restaurant and without exception we order a lot of food.\u00a0 \u00a0Tom, a phenomenal retired chef who once owned and operated\u00a0Colorado\u2019s best steakhouse<\/strong><\/a> is a fellow trencherman.\u00a0 Like me, he can put down a lot of food, but it had better be good.\u00a0 With the closure of Budhai Gourmet Chinese<\/strong><\/a>, his favorite Chinese restaurant in Albuquerque has become Nio Szechuan<\/strong><\/a>, a wonderful venue if your tastes gravitate towards authenticity and entrees with personality.<\/p>\n

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Signature Grilled Fish<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tom and Ellyn have visited China several times and like me, his tastes gravite towards authenticity and piquancy.\u00a0 He didn’t bat an eye when perusing Red Chilli House’s menu and seeing protein entrees made with intestines, lungs and kidneys.\u00a0 \u00a0In inviting to Red Chilli House, I had hoped to introduce him to Chinese items rarely found in American Chinese restaurants.\u00a0 What surprised me most, however, is that (like me two years ago), he had never had Chinese shredded potatoes.\u00a0 Not surprisingly, however, he and Ellyn loved them.\u00a0 So did my Kim.<\/p>\n

26 July 2025<\/strong>:\u00a0 Another surprise was a dish simply known on the menu as “signature grilled fish<\/strong><\/em>.”(served with a savory sauce, accompanied by vegetables such as bell peppers, onions, lotus root and mushrooms).\u00a0 \u00a0Talk about underselling.\u00a0 There is so much to this beauteous family-sized tray brimming with a large sea bass swimming in a chili-glazed sauce.\u00a0 The cynosure of this pelagic treat was a whole fish grilled to perfection and resplendent with tender, flaky meat.\u00a0 Not so flaky are the annoying fish bones which warrant paying close attention while enjoying this dish.\u00a0 This dish inherits a fiery personality (that is actually even more pronounced the following day) from ginger, scallions, garlic, jalape\u00f1os and lots of cilantro.\u00a0 When flavors are allowed to marinate overnight, the signature grilled fish is even more delicious.<\/p>\n

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Crispy Duck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

26 July 2025<\/strong>:\u00a0 You can probably call the crispy duck<\/strong><\/em> (marinated in Chinese spices, steamed, then deep-fried until crispy) the polar opposite of the signature grilled fish.\u00a0 Truly worthy of its name, the duck’s skin is exceptionally crispy, giving it a discernible crunch when bitten into.\u00a0 Inside, the meat is tender and juicy though there’s really not a lot of it.\u00a0 \u00a0At many Chinese restaurants, crispy duck is served with thin pancakes and hoisin sauce, allowing you to make your own “duck wraps.”\u00a0 That wasn’t the case at the Red Chilli House.\u00a0 We would have probably enjoyed this duck even more with a complementary sauce.<\/p>\n

26 July 2025<\/strong>:\u00a0 You’ve got to love a menu in which superlatives precede some menu items.\u00a0 For example, at the Red Chilli House, you’ll find such appetizers as mouthwatering chicken and heartbreaking jelly noodles.\u00a0 Hmm, I’ve never had my heart broken by jelly noodles.\u00a0 Maybe it’s time to try them.\u00a0 \u00a0Not descriptive, but delicious is the sliced beef in chili oil<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 (tender beef slices in a rich, spicy chili oil sauce, garnished with fresh green onions).\u00a0 This is a beautiful dish redolent with nasal-clearing chili oil.\u00a0 Fittingly because of the restaurant’s name, it’s deeply, richly red punctuated by chili flakes and scallions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sliced beef in chili oil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

26 July 2025<\/strong>:\u00a0 Tom rarely visits a Chinese restaurant without having the\u00a0hot and sour soup<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 He\u2019s visited China several times so he recognizes the real stuff as well as the pretenders \u201cdumbed down\u201d for American tastes.\u00a0 \u00a0Though hot and sour soup (along with egg drop soup) is ubiquitous in Chinese restaurants, rarely does it showcase the Szechuan properties that make it \u201chot.\u201d\u00a0 Still there\u2019s a delightful consistency to even restaurant-quality hot and sour soup.\u00a0 First, it\u2019s made with a surprising number of ingredients.\u00a0 You can probably name mushrooms (wood-ear, shiitake and distant cousin Lilly flower) and green onion, but there\u2019s a lot more going on in even the most basic hot and sour soup.\u00a0 White vinegar and soy sauce impart the sour components of the soup.\u00a0 \u00a0Red Chilli House’s version isn’t quite as hot or sour as we would have liked, but it does envelop diners with pleasing fragrances and deliciousness.<\/p>\n

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Hot and Sour Soup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

8 April 2026<\/strong>: Dining at Red Chilli House with my friend Bill Resnik is a delight.\u00a0 Like me, he doesn’t fall in love with one dish to the exclusion of ordering anything else.\u00a0 Also like me, he enjoys figuring out “under the surface” ingredients, those subtle ameliorants that aren’t obvious.\u00a0 We both study the provenance of a dish–how it’s constructed, what its genesis is.\u00a0 Even a dish as simple as scallion pancakes<\/strong><\/em> has a very interesting story behind it.\u00a0 Although several culinary cultures have a version of scallion pancakes, the genesis of this wonderful appetizer is China where it remains a very popular street food.\u00a0 As with other flatbreads, this multi-layered flatbread is made by folding dough several times.\u00a0 Each layer is a thin sheet of delicious crispiness with scallions providing an additional flavor profile.\u00a0 Bill likes to use them as “spoons,” the way we both use tortillas.<\/p>\n

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Scallion Pancake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

8 April 2026<\/strong>:\u00a0 It may sometimes appear as if Bill and I don’t like Chinese food that doesn’t bite us back.\u00a0 Sure, we love food with a fiery personality of all ethnic origins, but the primary determinant of our enjoyment is flavor, how a particular food appeals to our pedantic taste buds.\u00a0 Case in point, the garlic scapes with pork<\/strong><\/em> from Red Chilli House.\u00a0 This dish is the antithesis of dishes we typically order.\u00a0 It’s very mild yet amazingly delicious.\u00a0 Garlic scapes may look like green beans, but they’re more closely related to scallions.\u00a0 They have a mild garlicky flavor with just a bit of sweetness sneaking through.\u00a0 Because garlic scapes are available only in late spring and early summer, the garlic scapes with pork dish is a seasonal dish.\u00a0 You’ll wish every season was garlic scape season.\u00a0 This is a surprisingly wonderful dish despite not having as many personalities as Sybil<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Garlic Scapes and Pork<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

8 April 2026<\/strong>: The cuisine of Sichuan is internationally renowned for its liberal use of spice.\u00a0 What characterizes Sichuan from the other regions of China is its use of Sichuan peppercorn, chilies, and the ability to take even the most mundane of ingredients to create fabulous dishes.\u00a0 There\u2019s a term for the flavor profile associated with Sichuan cuisine.\u00a0 It\u2019s the word \u201cmala\u201d which translates to \u201cnumbing spice.\u201d\u00a0 The \u201cma<\/em>\u201d portion of that term comes from the use of Sichuan Peppercorns (which are actually in the same botanical family as citrus, not chilies).\u00a0 Sichuan peppercorns create a tingly, electric, buzzing, salivating, sensation on the palate. Sichuan peppercorns\u00a0 are not spicy. The heat in Sichuan cuisine comes from\u00a0la\u00a0<\/em>\u2013 or spicy. A variety of chilies are used in Sichuan cuisine.<\/p>\n

As we enjoyed the pepper twins chicken<\/strong><\/em>, we couldn’t help but remark at the presence of mala.\u00a0 Not only was this dish replete with (what I believe to be sliced) Serrano peppers and dried Thai bird peppers, it has an abundance of Sichuan peppercorns.\u00a0 The peppercorns have a wonderful numbing effect on the tongue.\u00a0 This effect is made doubly potent with a swig of Pepsi.\u00a0 Yes, it’s a real thing…and strong coffee has a similar effect.\u00a0 Serrano peppers are several times more piquant than jalape\u00f1os and provide a significant kick at 10,000\u201325,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU).\u00a0 Thai bird peppers are even more potent.\u00a0 Add in the peppercorns and you’ve got a dynamite dish with an outstanding flavor and potent personality.<\/p>\n

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Pepper Twins Chicken<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

8 April 2026<\/strong>:\u00a0 In Spanish, the term “mala” can also mean “bad” or “mean.”\u00a0 My mom, an elementary school teacher for 31 years, recalls a young student describing a fellow teacher as “mas mala que un perro rabio<\/em>” (meaner than a rabid dog).\u00a0 That might also describe Red Chilli House’s salted sauerkraut fish<\/strong><\/em>, poached fish (a type of flounder) fillets in a spicy, tangly broth that includes pickled mustard greens, Sichuan peppercorns and chiles.\u00a0 This outstanding dish was a revelation for both Bill and I.<\/p>\n

The poached fish has a velvety, melt-in-your-mouth texture, but it’s the broth and the vegetables that really grabbed us.\u00a0 The leaves of the mustard greens had a peppery, bitter profile similar to greens that help define Soul food.\u00a0 It’s the stems, however, in which a sweet, delicate flavor is concentrated.\u00a0 Peppercorns and chiles give this dish starts with a tongue-tingling effect followed by numbness.\u00a0 It’s sheer pleasure to indulge in a dish with this much personality.<\/p>\n

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Salted Sauerkraut Fish<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

8 April 2026<\/strong>: Several Albuquerque restaurants have earned accolades and repeat customers for one particular dish.\u00a0 The “Travis” at the K&I Diner<\/strong><\/a> comes to mind.\u00a0 So does the coffee chicken at Fan Tang<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 I know several people who visit Fan Tang and will never order anything else.\u00a0 I’ve always found Coffee chicken<\/strong><\/em> nearly as sweet as the Americanized sweet-and-sour dishes diners seem to love.\u00a0 Even though finely ground coffee is an ingredient in the dish, it’s a rare coffee chicken in which you can actually taste the coffee.\u00a0 Coffee does act as a catalyst that tenderizes the chicken and lends some smokiness.\u00a0 Much more prevalent is the flavor of brown sugar which helps create a caramelized crust.<\/p>\n

The coffee chicken at Red Chilli House isn’t nearly as sweet as its counterpart at Fan Tang though Bill and I found it still too sweet.\u00a0 What made this dish “salvageable” was using it as a “palate-cleanser.”\u00a0 After luxuriating in the mala effect, a nugget of the coffee chicken brough life back to my tongue.\u00a0 In all fairness to coffee chicken, I can see its appeal to diners weaned on sweet and sour Chinese dishes.\u00a0 It’s not a dish we’ll order with regularity, but I wouldn’t kick it off my table either.<\/p>\n

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Coffee Chicken<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Red Chilli House has given Albuquerque’s west-siders a reason to follow Horace Greely’s advice. \u00a0It’s in rarefied air as one of a handful of Chinese restaurants catering to those of us who don’t particularly like Americanized Chinese food.<\/p>\n

Red Chilli House<\/strong>
\n8201 Golf Course Road N.W.
\nAlbuquerque, New Mexico<\/strong>
\n(505) 681-8869
\nWebsite<\/strong><\/a> |
\nLATEST VISIT<\/strong>: 8 April 2026
\n1st VISIT<\/strong>: 11 July 2024
\n# OF VISITS<\/strong>: 4
\nRATING<\/strong>: Excellent<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0\u2013 High quality dining experience; very good to excellent food, attentive service, and a well-maintained atmosphere; worth a detour.
\nCOST<\/strong>: $$
\nBEST BET<\/strong>: Eggplant in Garlic Sauce, Sesame Chicken, Pork Buns, Shredded Pork With Garlic Sauce, Signature Grilled Fish, Sliced Beef in Chili Oil, Hot and Sour Soup, Salted Sauerkraut Fish, Coffee Chicken, Garlic Scapes and Pork, Pepper Twins Chicken, Scallion Pancakes,
\nREVIEW #1412<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Red “Chilli” House…doesn’t “Chilli” read like a misspelled word that knocked a spelling bee contestant out of the competition? \u00a0Or like someone added one too many letter “l’s” to the already misspelled word “chili?” \u00a0Actually, that spelling (which some of us purists consider Texan) is by design. \u00a0 The delightful Chinese restaurant sporting that appellation–which opened its doors in June, 2024–wouldn’t change it. \u00a0Among other things, it illustrates just how important Capsicum is in some provinces of China, particularly Sichuan and Hunan. Capsicum, as most New Mexicans know, is the genus to which all chili (chile in New Mexico) peppers and bell peppers belong. 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