I ate a green chile pepper tonight.
Raw.
And? I liked it.
What?
Well, as luck would have it, I attended an event at Chuy’s a week or so ago to highlight their annual Green Chile Festival that is going on right now at their Louisville and Clarksville, IN, locations until September 8.
I liked what I tasted.
Every August, Chuy’s sends a team of folks to the Hatch Valley of New Mexico to bring back the chile peppers grown there for their Green Chile Festival. The climate and soil in the Hatch Valley is very specific and unique and provides the perfect environment for growing green chiles.
Who knew?
At the event, I sampled the dishes Chuy’s has added to the menu just for the festival: Mexican rolls, Hatch Valley Chicken Enchiladas, Tacos al Pastor, Mama’s Stacked Enchiladas, Fajita Beef Chuychanga, Green Chile Chicken Taquitos and a Mexi-Cobb Salad. All highlighted the green chile and all were tasty. My favorite was the Fajita Beef Chuychanga, as the beef was tender and tasted like a roast. The green chiles were hot but not too hot. It was exactly the level of heat I like when I eat Mexican food.
I also sampled one of the drinks that have made an appearance at the festival: the Southern Nino frozen margarita. I could have had a few of those, to be honest. It was that good.
If you like the green chiles, Chuy’s sells them by the pound during the festival: $2.25 fresh; $3.50 roasted; or $4.50 roasted, peeled, seeded and diced.
So, I took home a few green chills from the event and finally decided to try one raw.
And it was everything Chui’s and Hatch, New Mexico promised it would be.
So, if you are a fan of the green Chile, you have until September 8 to experience the peppers Chui has to offer, by way of Hatch, New Mexico.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock/wangmengxiao
