New Mexican Culinary Invasion in Everett

This isn’t a restaurant review blog but as much as we like to try various kinds of restaurants I’d have no trouble turning it into one, at least on a part-time basis.  That’s why BowlingWidow and I were quite pleased when we saw that there was a new New Mexican restaurant opening on Hewitt Avenue in downtown Everett a few months ago.  After giving the owners a few weeks to work the bugs out (and hopefully that’s just an expression in this case), it was time to give it a try.  Appropriately enough, the place is called The New Mexicans.  It's also owned and operated by native New Mexicans.

The New Mexicans:  Just Look for the State Flags on Hewitt Ave.

For the uninitiated, New Mexican food is a culinary melting pot of Mexican, Southwest, with some Pueblo Native American styles thrown in for good measure.  As one might expect, many of the dishes revolve around the chile pepper and contain sauce made out of red and green chile peppers.  The most notable are types of peppers known as Hatch peppers, called so because they’re grown only in a chile-rich region near Hatch, NM.  Should you attempt to sell peppers grown in Texas and pass them off as Hatch peppers, chile snobs will hunt you down and backhand you in the chops in much the same way a wine snob would do if you sold wine bottled in Oregon and called it “Bordeaux”. 

Much of the Kitchen is Front and Center in This Floor Plan

On our first visit, I tried the enchiladas with red chile sauce (and cheese, onion, lettuce).  It came with a side of pinto beans and I also ordered a small coleslaw on the side.  It was absolutely delicious and there’s nothing in the world like a good chile sauce.  New Mexican cuisine doesn’t necessarily pack an overabundance of spicy heat, but here’s what I like about this place:  they have a wide variety of hot sauces on their tables ranging from mild to wild, giving the diner the option of kicking it up.

BowlingWidow went with the chicken and dumplings.  She loved her dish also.  It was tasty, creamy  and dumplingy (if that’s a word) with just the right amount of spice for her.  I’m not sure if that’s a traditional dish in New Mexico or if it was a family recipe that they brought with them.  Either way it was a big hit, as was the small spinach salad she had on the side.

Getting Ready to Dig Into the Green Enchilada Casserole

We returned a couple of weeks later with BowlingWidow ordering the large version of that spinach salad.  I decided to try the green enchilada dish which is served casserole style and consists of Hatch chiles, corn tortillas, onions, jack cheese and a creamy sauce.  Again, remarkable but in a completely different way than the red enchiladas.  And at five dollars a serving it’s clearly the best restaurant deal in town.  (I refuse to include the Junior Whopper in this category, although I think they’re just fine).

We’ll be back to try breakfast one of these days soon.  Perhaps a breakfast burrito.  Right now the menu selection is a bit small but they said that as time goes on they’ll be introducing new and interesting dishes.  And I’m prepared to try every one of them.