You can’t get good green chile in New Jersey. Let me repeat, you can’t get good green chile in New Jersey. Cthuhlu knows I’ve tried.
When I moved to NJ back in the early 90s, I knew there were some things I would end up having trouble finding. Strangely, one of those things was Dr Pepper. I used to have to go to two or three stores before finding any. Diet Squirt Plus, though, was gone forever. But, surely, the biggest culture shock I went through was the inability of New Jersey to have decent green chile.
You gotta understand: in New Mexico, you could order green chile everywhere. Want a Big Mac with green chile? No problem. Scrambled eggs with green chile? Here ya go. A random helping of green chile for your pasta? You could get it.
But I moved. And the dark years began. Sure, I had a small supply I brought with me, and my sisters sent a few care packages here and there. But soon my supply was all gone. After about a year, we finally got a Taco Bell nearby (yes, by that time, I was so desperate that even Taco Bell looked like a good place for getting some green chile). So I pulled up to the drive-through and asked for the same thing I could get at any New Mexico Taco Bell:
Me: I’d like two bean burritos with green chile and a Dr Pepper, please.
Taco Bell Guy: Uh, what?
Me (slowly): I’d like two bean burritos with green chile, please.
Taco Bell Guy: Uh, okay.
I know, I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. When I finally ate the burritos, I discovered they had put little green onions in them. I was doomed. I was destined to be disappointed several times over the next decade. Every restaurant I’d visit would attempt to pass off either watered down salsa or spiced up tomatoes as some kind of alternative.
But then the Internet appeared and saved my life. Sure, I had to wait 6-7 years before anyone started selling any good green chile, but it has finally happened. I can get good green chile and eat it all day long.
- El Pinto Green Chile: I tend to get the medium in 32 ounce jars and go through one ever month or so;
- Hatch Green Chile: if you like it fresh or frozen, this is the place to go.
This entry was posted on Sunday, March 13th, 2005 at 10:37 pm and is filed under Food and Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Responses to “Getting Green Chile in New Jersey”
When I lived in Oxford, Ohio, I learned the same thing. I saw all the “chili” places and thought, hey, living here won’t be so bad. So I went up to the counter at Skyline Chili and proudly stated, “I’d like a bowl of chili.” The girl behind the counter looked at me real funny, you know, and then she said, “Would you like spaghetti with that?” Then I looked at her real funny, and said, “No, I’d like a plain bowl of chili.” The funny look was back to her. She then asked if I’d like cheese or onion. The chili–which I later found out is a Cincinnati thing–tasted like a fruitier version of canned chili, but nothing like a carne asada or green chile stew.
March 15th, 2005 at 8:25 pm |
I’ve never heard of green chili, maybe because I live in New Jersey. Do you have a recipie?
A friend of mine from Ohio says that Ohio chili tastes like Spagehttios [sic] mixed with sand.
April 23rd, 2005 at 8:04 pm |
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