One of the most popular menu items is the
pimento mac & cheese melt. The melt is
served with house made pimento cheese, a
local cheddar variety, macaroni (of course!),
and tomatoes and bacon bits, all on country
sourdough bread. For a sweet treat melt, try
the Campfire S’more, with a toasted smoked
sugar marshmallow, Nutella sauce, and a
salted honey graham cracker crumble on a
brioche bun.
Perfect for a winter meal, order the harvest melt,
which consists of a double-cream brie melted
over roasted turkey, maple roasted squash, and
topped with a pumpkin seed pesto on a multi-
grain bread. You can also make your own melt
however you’d like to build it. Choose to pair
your melt with one of their delectable milk-
shakes for the full effect. You can’t go wrong
with the classics, but if your sweet tooth is really
screaming, try the hopscotch shake, made with
vanilla ice cream, house made butterscotch,
fresh banana for flavor, and brown sugar
caramelized bananas for richness.
For those of you who would rather make a road
trip adventure out of finding the best food, you’ll
want to head to the Southwest for the best
green chile cheeseburgers you’ll ever have in
your life. The New Mexico Green Chile Cheese-
burger Trail has been voted time and time again
into the best food trails of America, alongside
the Hoosier Pie Trail and the Texas BBQ Trail.
The green chile is practically its own food group
in New Mexico, so it comes to no surprise that
putting it on a cheeseburger made all the sense
in the world. Traditionally, the green chiles are
roasted slowly and perfectly to provide a subtle,
hearty, mildly hot flavor. The pairing of this simple
chile with a cheeseburger is otherworldly, and
has both locals and tourists coming back year
after year.
There are over 200 different restaurants
nominated to be on the trail, and roughly 60+
that are mapped, so trying them all in a sin-
gle trip is hardly realistic. However, there are
a few stops that you shouldn’t miss, no mat-
ter what!
One of those stops in particular is the Owl
Bar & Café. They have been grinding their
own burger meat, searing up the buns, and
preparing their own secr et green chile sauce
for years. It is no wonder that their Owl Burg-
ers are world famous. For $5.95, you can
order and try what has been described as
the best green chile cheeseburger on the
planet by many reviewers. Don’t miss out on
their green chile cheese onion rings, either!
Food Traveler | Winter 2017 | 59