Happy Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail To You!

Hey! It’s time to hit the Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail. If you’re a carnivorous gourmand, you just have to dive into this adventure and explore the trail with us.

When the Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail was opened in 2009, it had nearly 50 restaurants ... many with more than one location. What that meant was you could try a different burger at nearly 100 different dining venues. We’re told, about 8,000 residents, visitors, and restauranteurs checking out the competition weighed in. I suspect they weighed more on the way out, too!

New Mexicans ... like me ... sorry, but Cheryl’s a vegetarian ... just can’t get enough of a juicy, thick New Mexico beef patty grilled to perfection, then swathed in Cheddar or another favorite cheese, and topped with enough New Mexican green chile to set off the restaurant’s smoke alarm. Just the thought has me salivating so much, my keyboard thinks it’s been hit by a tsunami!

[Credit time: We took the map from the New Mexico Tourism Department's web site. Thanks for the loan.]

Ok. So here’s how the trail works. Restaurant owners can register their burger at the New Mexico Tourism Department web site. Then ... starting at 6 a.m. on March 1 ... think of it, green chile cheeseburgers for breakfast!!! ... you can sign in at the web site ... www.newmexico.org/greenchilecheeseburger ... and vote. Voting is open until 6 p.m. on March 31. But ... here’s the catch ... you can vote only once ... unless you have multiple email addresses. The rule says only one vote will be accepted from a specific email address.

So ... Chomp around until you find the green chile cheeseburger that reminds your taste buds of Anna Pavlova whose rendition of the dying swan in Swan Lake was so tender, it’d make you cry ... or Glen Campbell plunking your heart strings with one of his touching love songs ... or the Green Bay Packers winning the Super Bowl. Then vote.

There are no prizes. The chef of the best green chile cheeseburger gets nothing but the satisfaction of being King ... or Queen ... on the hill until the next time we wander down the trail.

I have my favorite and I’m voting for what I consider the best green chile cheeseburger in the country. Yeah, I know it’s only New Mexico, but they sure don’t know how to make’em anywhere else but here.

Good huntin’! Good eatin’! Compadres.

Posted by Bud Russo