Forty-five years ago I first
motorcycled down Highway 28 to Chope's, in La Mesa. The food and
mood in Chope's were welcoming. The drive was delightful too, a
gently-curving country road – with a sudden coolness when the
motorcycle passed through irrigated fields, and the pungent scent of
onions growing.
Nowadays, we don't make that drive
often enough – and not on the motorcycle recently. Together, the
drive and Chope's are something special we share with close friends
and family when they visit.
Sometimes we pause in Mesilla.
Sometimes we just meander down through San Miguel (resolving to
attend its next fiesta!) and Stahman farms, mesmerized by the trees
flashing by. One of my best-selling images is of those trees in late
afternoon, reflected in the surface of the flood-irriagion water.
Whatever I may think about water conservation and the arcane rules
that govern water rights in New Mexico, those pecan orchards are
sometimes extraordinarily beautiful. So are the distant Organs
rising up beyond green fields.
Yeah, plenty of houses stand where
just fields were; but I'm reassured by how little some of the
villages along Route 28 appear to have changed. I'm sure they have
changed. Surely faster transportation routes have killed off
some local markets and services, as I watched happen up by Garfield
and Derry; but the villages seem quiet and familiar, without neon
lights or advertising or significant traffic. Sometimes if we are
early we simply wander around La Mesa and the area, photographing
adobe homes, rusted cars, green fields, and what-not, bathed in the
rich light of the setting sun.
Chope's is what a lot of historic
restaurants might wish they were, or pretend to be – and perhaps
could be if they were still run by family and if their size and
locations discouraged expansion. Bigger is not always better.
Whether by choice or happenstance, Chope's smaller size not only
reinforces the home-like feel of the place but helps maintain the
quality of the food. And there's something in being faithful to
your origins.
Chope's is a family place. One
evening when we were there with my sister and brother-in-law,
Cecilia, one of the daughters who runs the place, noticed my camera
and hauled me into the big room where the many descendants of Chope's
widow Lupe, the matriarch, were celebrating Lupe's 94th or
95th birthday. I was delighted to help, delighted to be a
small part of the event for a moment. The other day when we sat in
that room with two old friends, facing the portraits of Chope and
Lupe, I recalled her birthday. I also noticed the subtle,
mischievous grin on Chope's face, and the warmth of Lupe's eyes.
The food is very, very good. And to
my taste. It seems true to the local style, but extremely well
done. You also get a lot on your plate. “I suspect about half of
this will be going home with us in a box,” our friend Jim said last
week, eyeing what seemed a mountainous serving. Quite soon his
plate was about as empty as a plate can get. In between we'd talked
(in a full room that wasn't too loud), consumed a pitcher of
margaritas (never a hindrance to a good evening), and devoured our
food. And asked the waitress, for the second time this month, the
Spanish for “smothered in” a point that had troubled us ordering
chile relleño burritos
recently in a small restaurant in Palomas. (Bañado,
of course.)
We drove home through dark fields,
under a sky is rippled with clouds. Just one more shining moment in
a place we love.
-30-
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| On the Road to Chope's |
[
The above column appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News this morning, Sunday, 27 September.]
[Las Cruces has no shortage of wonderful, small Mexican Restaurants. Nellie's is one of the oldest; La Ñueva Nueva Casita and Nopalito's are also good, both on Mesquite St.. (One friend swears by the former, and one by the latter, so I get to each regularly.) One of my strong favorites, a bit different from local tradition but really great, mixing wonderful taste with maybe an extra emphasis on healthy ingredients, is Habañeros. We loved it when it was in a tiny ex-drive-in spot on Solano, then heard that it had moved; and when we finally got over to the new location one night, we found that it was in a great location that we'd really enjoyed when another restaurant was there, an old house that friends of mine actually lived in forty years ago. Tornillo between Amador and Lohman. Great food, friendly chef, and a pleasant place, still divided into several rooms, which somehow enhances the experience. Habañeros Fresh Mex.]
