Chimayo: A Chile Pilgrimage

Last weekend, on our last day in New Mexico, we drove north to a town known for its chiles, dirt, and heroin problem.  

Chimayo is a short, beautiful drive from Santa Fe, and the prospect of one last chile-spiced lunch spurred us onwards.  When we arrived, we could smell the area's famous chiles in the breeze - or perhaps that was just the chile stand in the parking lot?

Our first stop, after a quick walk through town, was a little restaurant called Leona's.  It's pretty easy to find if you're on foot, nestled up against the side of the town's main attraction, the Santuario.

Ordering here is via a simple, cafeteria-style line, though the smells wafting from the kitchen make deciding what to eat a serious battle.

We overordered, of course.  While waiting for our tray of food, I poked around the restaurant.  Chile ristras hung over a mismatched collection of chairs and tables, which perched on an uneven stone floor.

Our food finally came, just as I was eyeing a particularly lovely ristra and thinking that it might be tasty on its own.

Here's our tray of insanity:

We tried two kinds of Leona's tamales.  The green chile cheese & chicken was delicious, with that fresh green chile bite, but the pork and red chile was a little dry, though the filling was flavorful.

The carne adovada burrito was smooth, soft, and delicious.  Shredded cheese melted into the spicy stewed pork, all wrapped up in a toasty flour tortilla that went wonderfully soft in the center, but never got soggy.  The best burrito we had in our time in New Mexico.

I liked the red chile stew, with its pork meat and chunks of carrot and potato.  Little cubes of raw onion gave the stew a nice punch, and the thin broth was surprisingly deeply flavored.

The capirotada was completely new to us.  It's a bread pudding with raisins and sweetly caramelized sugar, but then there's cheddar cheese all over it too!  Like cheddar cheese on an apple pie, the savory cuts through the sweet.  Not my favorite, but oddly tasty.

Food culture down, it was time to check out the rest of Chimayo.  An outdoor service was going on while we were there, and it was very well attended.

Chimayo's main attraction is the Santuario de Chimayo, site of a yearly Easter pilgrimage.  The adobe structure, built in 1816, is imposing and beautiful.  

There are lots of legends detailing why the Santuario is so holy (and you can see three of the most popular on the Wikipedia page), but the important thing to know here is that there's a small hole in the floor of a room just off the chapel.  This hole is full of dirt that supposedly has wonderful curative powers, and believers use provided shovels to load up zip-loc bags toted from home.

A small room in front of the chapel overflows with the evidence of belief, from crutches to prosthetic legs to pictures of New Mexico police officers killed in the line of duty.

We walked briefly into the actual church, where people had their heads bowed in prayer underneath "NO PHOTOGRAPHY" signs.  The church was cool and high-ceilinged, with whitewashed walls and New Mexican style stations of the cross.

After all the seriousness and holy this and revere that, I got a good laugh out of this bucket, sitting next to a very ordinary-looking sink.  I think it would be a great setup for a terrible new buddy caper comedy: "No, you idiot, I keep the mop bucket in the KITCHEN!"

With time running short before we had to head to Albuquerque to catch our flight, we headed down Chimayo's little tourist strip.  We bought sun-dried Chimayo chile powder, with its fruity heat, at this little store.

This family's bread products looked so delicious, we couldn't pass them up.  One giant loaf of white bread and one thin baked prune tart, please!  Money was passed back through the van to the front seat, where one of the sisters made change and returned the money through several pairs of hands to us.

You can tell that this is a tourist town.  There were shops set up to sell the previously mentioned famous Chimayo chile, alongside blue cornmeal and pinon coffee and salsas, and there were stands selling beaded jewelry, and canvases painted by local artists lined the main thoroughfare.  All to entice the visitors.

As you can see, most of the art has a religious theme.

I already wanted another burrito from Leona's, but it was time for us to go.  Unbeknownst to us, we had almost 20 hours in front of us before we'd eventually make it back to Austin, and we'd have to spend a night in Denver as well.  Perhaps we should have just stuck around for the dang burrito.  I know I would have been a lot happier.

Leona's Restaurante.  Next to el Santuario.  888.561.5569.

Rachel

Comments

[Crystal]

Dreamy... that dessert reminds me of capirotada. Maybe same thing, different name?

[Rachel @ Boots in the Oven]

Oops! I just realized, in looking back at my menu pics, that we ordered the capirotada and not the panocha. Post edited.

So yes, same thing... same name!

[Albany Jane]

burrito, burrito, burrito - how delicious looking1

[elmundodemando]

I love NM! Chimayo is a great little town "where everyone gets a second chance" via the holy water. Did you bring back some NM red??? Soo good! Love the pics.

[Natanya]

I'm now craving every possible kind of Mexican and New Mexican food that I can't possibly lay my hands on here in Austin. Thanks guys :-(

Okay, just kidding. It looks like you had a great trip and some fantastic eats along the way. Thanks as always for sharing it with us.

[Jodi]

This is a wonderful post -- loved the pics and the descriptions, especially "Money was passed back through the van to the front seat, where one of the sisters made change and returned the money through several pairs of hands to us."

Hope to see y'all soon!

[Rachel @ Boots in the Oven]

Definitely, Albany Jane - I think I need to choreograph a burrito dance.

Mando, we brought back a sac of chile powder, but we still have a ristra along with cans and cans of green from our December trip!

Sorries, Natanya! I can't believe how different the food is in New Mexico. Congrats on the new blog!

I'm so glad you liked the post, Jodi. It's been a long time since I've written anything for the blog, and I was feeling a little rusty!