Santa Fe Bite ★ 4.4
Santa Fe Bite, employee-owned heir to the iconic Bobcat Bite chile-burger lineage; the 10-oz patty under $18 pulls St. Michael's Drive crowds Tue through Sun.
Try: Green chile cheeseburger
History
The green chile cheeseburger emerged across roadside diners in 1950s and 60s New Mexico; Bobcat Bite, established 1953 just outside Santa Fe, made the canonical version, and former owners Bonnie and John Eckre carried the lineage into Santa Fe Bite when they opened in 2013. The state's official Green Chile Cheese Burger Trail launched in 2009 to formalise the road-trip pilgrimage.
Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef chuck (80/20)
- 1 cup fresh roasted and chopped Hatch green chile (or thawed from frozen)
- 4 slices Monterey Jack or American cheese
- 2 brioche or potato buns
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Sea salt and black pepper
- Mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, red onion to garnish
Method
- Divide beef into two 8-oz patties; salt and pepper generously.
- Heat a cast-iron pan over high heat until smoking; add butter.
- Sear patties 3 minutes per side, pressing once.
- Top each with 1/2 cup green chile and 2 slices cheese; cover the pan to melt 30 seconds.
- Toast buns in the same pan with butter.
- Assemble: bun, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, patty with chile, onion, top bun. Serve immediately.
Tip from the editors. Use real roasted Hatch green chile, frozen if not in season; jarred or canned is a different dish.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Where to eat green chile cheeseburger
Green chile cheeseburger in Santa Fe
Harry's Roadhouse ★ 4.5
Harry's Roadhouse weekends are a Santa Fe ritual; the patio fills with families and dogs while the kitchen plates pancakes and a green chile breakfast burger.
Order: Green chile cheeseburger or the corned-beef hash
Bang Bite Filling Station ★ 4.6
Bang Bite's Galisteo Street truck plates the Bite Burger and a green chile cheeseburger under $18; on Food Network's 2019 Best 26 Food Trucks list.
Try: Bite Burger (winner, 2015 Green Chile Cheese Burger Smackdown)
El Parasol Pojoaque ★ 4.4
El Parasol started as a roadside taco stand in 1958; the Pojoaque outpost sits on New Mexico's Green Chile Cheese Burger Trail and feeds Highway 285.
Try: Green chile cheeseburger and tacos
More cities are in research. Want green chile cheeseburger covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.