John, you as someone who lives in NM, I am appalled!
;?)

Hey, I celebrated Cinco de Mayo with some Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas! Unfortunately, anyone that doesn't live in a relatively narrow strip that runs up the center of New Mexico doesn't know about the joys (and addictive qualities) of green (and red) chile. We put green (and red) chile on everything! What we have here is New Mexican food which is VERY different than Mexican food. The official state question is, "Red or Green?"

I was in Texas years ago and I saw that a restaurant had "Chili burgers", I asked what color the chili was and the waitress looked at me quite puzzled and said, "uh, brown." I should have remembered where I was. Therein lies the difference between "Tex-Mex chili" and real "chile."

Hey John,
I had lunch at Little Anita's just this afternoon.
And lunched often at the one in Santa Fe in the 1980's.

Oh, and my lunch is remembering me just now, please excuse . . .

and when all else fails.... tabasco!

there's an authentic mexican restaurant in sydney that has a wall with shelves with mild chilli sauces on the bottom going up six or seven shelves to one that requires a box to stand on to reach the top shelf on which all the bottles carry warnings of one sort or another (skull & cross bones, hospital logo, obviously flames, pic of the devil, etc.,)

i LOVE spicy food, but am still two shelves below the top ;-)

Little Anita's? Where? There were a couple of them back in Virginia and they served the absolute worst New Mexican food I ever had, they really had to "dumb it down" for the east coast. In fact, the Little Anita's here in Albuquerque really isn't that good anymore either. Over the last 15-20 years it's been harder and harder to find authentic New Mexican food in Santa Fe, the town has been taken over by a lot of out-of-town trust fund babies that have turned it into a parody of what Santa Fe used to be. I just call Santa Fe the "Adobe Theme Park." If you're ever in Albuquerque, I'll take you out for some real New Mexican food.

John,
I've had the real thing in Albuquerque and at the NM State Fair, a few times.
The Little Anitas in Santa Fe was at the 'new' mall on Cerrilos where I opened a retail store in the 1980's. [Edited for accuracy]
Never heard of an outlet in Virginia, where my sister and brother live, but I assume it must have been on the order of the defunct ChiChi's. Yuk.
But the Denver Little Anita's outlets continue to serve award winning fare.

Cool! (You know, this might be one of the most off-topic threads ever on the Vegas forum.)

I have absolutely NO idea what's going on here. ? ???

Grazie

Grazie,
As i recognize you are someone who has never eaten and pooped the same meal in one day, I understand!

Until you have had real New Mexico / Southern Colorado food, it is beyond comprehension. But if you will provide me your postal address, I will gladly send you 1/4 bushel of frozen Hatch or Pueblo green chile packed in dry ice at my expense, but not until this September . . . .

My best recipe is here:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=743375

I have absolutely NO idea what's going on here. ? ???

LMAO
I've been in Cruces for many years now and have definitely acquired a taste for green chile...BUT I grew up in Dallas/Ft Worth and really miss that "uh, brown" chile!!!

Sad,thing is, Anita's is one of the better Mexican/Southwest places in Northern VA. I would love to find a great Mexican restaurant around here.
Lots of great middle eastern and African restaurants though.

Happy Cinco de Mayo?

By the end of the day, I ate so much it was Cinco de Farto
(Apologies to our Mexican friends).

Just to clear the air (so to speak), Anita's in Virginia and Little Anita's (New Mexico, Colorado) are two different companies, but both have connections to the same family. [Edited for accuracy] Looks like the Santa Fe locations are gone too. The californication of that beautiful place in time will never be undone.

This discussion reminded me of getting of the plane in Dayton OH for a job assignment to be whisked away by my new bosses to a "great authentic Mexican place" for dinner (they were obviously trying to impress). It was a ChiChi's (now defunct).

Here in Deep South Texas is where you can get the real deal in terms of Tex-Mex food...and I don't mean San Antonio!

We're talking the Rio Grande Valley here my friends. It's been my experience that the longer one travels away from the Valley the more difficult it becomes to get real tasty Tex-Mex food like Carne Guisada, Picadillo, Mole' and other dishes associated with our region.

Happy Cinco de Mayo raza!