The Real Hatch Green Chile Festival

One of the reasons that Chuy's Green Chile Festival is so anticipated and enjoyed is the handful of new dishes they come up with each year - all featuring, of course Hatch Chilies. Barb is not so fond of the Fest, being less a fan of the burn than some of us. She doesn't try the new recipes and she has to stick to the blandest dishes because there is a certain proximity effect during the Fest. For the duration, the output of the kitchen is just plain hotter. The queso is hotter, the tortillas are hotter, the water is hotter, so she says. This is the 23rd year of Chile Fest for Chuy's.

Except for longevity, however, Central Market embraces the new crop of Hatch Chiles to a greater degree than Chuy's. CM still roasts them daily, in big, electrically-rotated cages over a roaring fire (Chuy's gave this up several years ago - at least at our location), and the list of products offered featuring the chiles is incredibly long.

They have Hatch Chile chips, dips, and sips (okay, I made that last part up); the bakery goes wild and you can get a dozen different types of chile-infused bread (Hatch demi-baguette, Hatch cheddar loaf, Hatch Challah). The salsas and spreads are legion (Hatch salsa, Hatch remoulade, Hatch goat cheese spread). Game for some Hatch chicken salad?  Hatch crab cakes, Hatch sausage, Hatch turkey breast? I even saw a Hatch Cobbler. And of course, you can buy the chiles themselves, fresh or freshly roasted. Mild or Hot. This was the 16th year for Central Market's Fest.

But the real Hatch Chile Fest, is of course, in Hatch, New Mexico. Every Labor Day weekend for the last 40 years, this sleepy little village of  1,600 residents (four banks, two grocery stores) hosts a festival that now attracts as many as 30,000 visitors. Every way that the chile can be incorporated into some edible (?) form is at hand; green chile cheeseburgers, gorditas, enchiladas, burritos, etc. Dozens of vendors offer every chile-related product known to man, and a lot of other stuff, besides. Those big roasters at Central Market? Made in Hatch, of course. And this close to the source, you can get your chile in red as well as green, and they can be mild, medium, hot and "must sign the release" before eating.

Sounds like an event that should go on a bucket list.