Green Chile Cheeseburgers at EXPO
The Annual Green Chile Cheeseburger Challenge was held Monday at the New Mexico State Fair/EXPO. Ten eateries entered versus the seven I had to judge in Santa Fe. I bet the judges were full!
The eateries were:
Fuddruckers (winner the past two years)
Big Mike’s Grill in Belen
Sparky’s in Hatch
Sadie’s in Albuquerque, Los Ranchos, & Bernalillo
The Eklund in Clayton
Stuart Brothers Brewing in Albuquerque
Laguna Burger in Laguna
Los Chavez Café’s HUB City Grill in Belen
Pasion Latin Fusion in Albuquerque
El Bruno’s in Albuquerque & Cuba
The winners are: Laguna Burger -1st place and Stuart Brothers Brewing -2nd place. The People’s Choice Awards is Sparky’s.
But the real winner is you if you can sample some of the burgers – they are all good.
- Barbe Awalt
National Chocolate Milkshake Day & Space
I LOVE milkshakes and the best is chocolate. What goes better with Green Chile Cheeseburgers? Usually the places that have a great GCC also have a good milkshake. The Today Show had a chocolate milkshake tasting and McDonald’s came out first.
We will let you know the results of the Green Chile Cheeseburger Challenge at Expo today. The last two year’s of the Challenge, Fuddruckers has won.
I will be the first to toast Loretta Hall who just won the 2016 Communicator of Achievement from National Press Women at the national convention. I may be prejudiced but it couldn’t happen to a nicer and more deserving person.
As the author of the Space Buff’s Bucket List book we joke and call her spacey. Now we will call her super space woman! Congrats!
- Barbe Awalt
We Remember & More Smackdown
First, and most importantly, we need to keep remembering 9/11. So many people did not get a chance to do their bucket lists. Maybe that is why bucket lists are so important. You never know when you will run out of time.
To do something lighter – more pictures of the Edible Smackdown.
- Barbe Awalt
Edible Magazine Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown
This was not my first rodeo judging food. I did the Scovie Awards for a few years and judged the Matanza in Belen with mud up to my knees. You have to suffer for your art! My fellow judges were: Cheryl Alters Jamison – food icon & author in Santa Fe; Angela Moore from The Food Network (I watch daily!); Arthur Bovino editor & photographer for Mouth.com; and Tracey Ryder co-founder of Edible Communities. All were serious about GCC. We were waited on by Stephanie Cameron - Publisher of Edible Santa Fe.
To be very honest, almost every eatery in New Mexico has a good or great Green Chile Cheeseburger. If it were bad, they would be lynched. But the Smackdown brings a few really great GCCs to the front to be judged and sampled. I have to be frank; the simple Green Chile Cheeseburgers are the best. Some of the ones I tasted had an egg on top, too many toppings, and one burger was almost raw! Presentation is important because we eat with our eyes.
The winners, I think, were Milton Villarrubia, Second Street Brewery – The People’s Choice Award and Anthony Smith, Living Room at Inn and Spa Loretto – The Judges Award. I say, I think, because it was very loud when the results were read – screaming and clapping. I apologize if I have misspoken. Go to Edible Smackdown for the results on Monday. I tried to get it right!
The Smackdown was a good experience and a lot of fun. I am so glad I came! A great event for a foodie.
- Barbe Awalt
Green Chile Cheeseburger Judging in Santa Fe
I got new cheeseburger tennis shoes at Walmart. I have a cheeseburger shirt I never wore. Today the occasion screams for that shirt! New Mexico earrings finish the look.
I am also giving a signed Green Chile Cheeseburger Bucket List book to fellow judges. I am ready. Pictures will be on Saturday’s blog.
We are talking major good eats!
- Barbe Awalt
The Smackdown!!!!!
Visit ediblesantafe.com and go to events and see the Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown!
I put in The Range because it is owned by the same wonderful people that own the Freight House in the Smackdown. Go to Bernalillo and get some good food!
— Barbe Awalt
Ultimate Green Chile Cheeseburger Bucket List
There is no doubt about it, green chile cheeseburgers are good eats. New Mexico is blessed with many good green chile cheeseburgers. In fact, every eatery around has a green chile cheeseburger. They can be beef, pork, lamb, or even turkey and chicken. The type of roll is endless as is the slice of cheese. Green chile has to be from Hatch or somewhere else in New Mexico – no out-of-state stuff, please!
The Green Chile Cheeseburger Bucket List book came out the end of June. It is a tasty treat especially for a gift. Combine it with some salsa, can of chopped green chiles from Hatch, and even some chile seasoning and you are set.
One nasty little secret is that the book is listed on Amazon as a Chile – the country, travel book. You see the robots that work on Amazon, think chile is a country and not a food. That has happened with our How Chile Came to New Mexico and Chile Trivia books. Sad! We in New Mexico, constantly have to remind folks that it is C-H-I-L-E not chili.
I am eating right now: The Jersey Mike’s Chipotle Cheese Steak, The Range Green Chile Cheeseburger, Burger Bite’s Green Chile Cheeseburger, and of course Blake’s, but there are so many more.
Think about the Green Chile Cheeseburger Bucket List book when you go around and smell roasting chile in the air.
— Barbe Awalt
