Las Cruces Restaurant Wins Best Green Chile in New Mexico

Green Chile is to New Mexico what BBQ is to Texas. While New Mexico isn't the birthplace of green Chile, God bless its people for finding flavorful ways of adding it to any and every type of food under its equally hot sun.

And lucky for us, the best the Land of Enchantment has to offer is only minutes away. According to a recently-released reader poll hosted by USA Today, El Patrón Café in Las Cruces is home to the "Best Green Chile in New Mexico."

Here's what the editors of the 10best website had to say about the family run restaurant, and its homemade recipes:

The Hatch green chile coming out of the kitchen at El Patron Cafe in Las Cruces is...spicy, but not overpowering. The brisket nachos are a house specialty, smothered in green. Diners also find green chile in the house made posole, atop chicken enchiladas and even for dessert in the form of a green chile pineapple upside-down cake.

Chope's Bar & Cafe on Highway 28 in La Mesa (#9), and Sparky's Burgers and BBQ (#8), home of Sparky's World Famous Green Chile Cheeseburger, a 90 minute drive away in Hatch also made the Top 10 list.

L & J Cafe in Central El Paso was a winner in this year's 10 Best Reader's Choice contest as well. The "Old Place by the Graveyard" was tops in the Best Tex-Mex in Texas category. (They have some pretty tasty green Chile dishes themselves, by the way.)

How to Get to El Patron Cafe in Las Cruces