Guess where I'm eating...green chile?

Smother love: It's easy being green in Denver in September, when the smell of roasting chiles overrides the odor of exhaust along Federal Boulevard, and the green chile at your favorite Mexican joint carries the heat of the new harvest. For the next several weeks, Cafe Society will feature some...

By Patricia Calhoun

September 15, 2010

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Smother love: It's easy being green in Denver in September, when the smell of roasting chiles overrides the odor of exhaust along Federal Boulevard, and the green chile at your favorite Mexican joint carries the heat of the new harvest.

For the next several weeks, Cafe Society will feature some of our favorite green chiles. We started last week with Phil's Place, and continued through El Tejado, La Fiesta, Bonnie Brae Tavern and a still-unidentified spot where green chile makes a very occasional, but delicious, appearance.

For many people in Denver, this green chile is the definitive version of a dish that's unique to Colorado: a hot, gravy-like sauce that is very rarely green. And except for degrees of heat that change slightly with the chile season, the recipe hasn't changed since the restaurant's owner was cooking it up in the kitchen of the Oak Alley Inn thirty years ago.

Can you guess where I'm eating green chile?

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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