At Hot Tamales, Steve Gallegos found what accounting never gave him

Try making 12,000 tamales in a compressed period of time. Or standing for hours waving a sign outside your newly opened restaurant in a bid to draw customers.

Steve Gallegos has done all of that over the years — part of his role as a quasi-godfather of the Rio Rancho restaurant scene.

Gallegos and his longtime partner, Michael Hughes, opened O’Hare’s Grille & Pub 30 years ago and turned it into a beloved drinking and eating establishment.

In 2003, they launched Hot Tamales just down the road with the vision of an authentic New Mexican restaurant in a “cozy, family-friendly atmosphere.”

That restaurant is also an institution, and a testament to Gallegos’ efforts to feed New Mexico residents, even when the odds seemed long.

“You know, working 80-hour weeks and not getting a paycheck is tough,” Gallegos says of his early days at O’Hare’s.

Same with Hot Tamales, where Gallegos headed the sign-waving effort — which did, in fact, achieve its goal.

“I had to convince some of the other staff to do it with me because they were embarrassed,” Gallegos says. “But it worked. When we first opened, we had a few people come in and say, ‘I came in because I saw you out on the road.’”

Gallegos and Hughes have since sold O’Hares, and Gallegos is now the sole owner of Hot Tamales.

The enormous amount of tamales the restaurant produces is for a Christmas-time crowd, but the work actually starts in October and peaks with Gallegos spending up to 50 hours a week meeting demand.

Now, Gallegos is looking to semi-retire, probably later this year. He plans to turn over Hot Tamales ownership to his current general manager and two of his children while still being available for consultation, food prep and whatever else needs doing.

That will include dishwashing.

“We call it dishing, and I actually like it. It’s kind of therapeutic.”

What’s your most popular menu item?

It's always the stacked enchilada plate, no matter what. It outsells everything by far, but our green chile chicken enchilada casserole, that’s probably the No. 2 seller.

How did you end up becoming a restaurant owner?

Mike Hughes hired me as a line cook back in the day at Liquid Assets. Balloon Fiesta would come around, and it was a tough time. They had the only liquor sales (at the fiesta) for a stretch of a few years, so they had a really busy booth. We were making 500-gallon batches of green chile stew and 500-gallon batches of burrito mix for breakfast burritos. I worked 120 hours in one week, and one of my shifts was 30, 32 hours straight, because you had to make all that in the middle of the night. Mike wanted to open an Irish pub and asked if I wanted to partner up. I thought, “I know I can work hard. Why not?”

What was a tough time for you?

After a year (at O’Hare’s), we were talking about is this worth it? And I was pretty adamant that I did not want to give up. And so we kept going. And then, probably a year and a half later, we started seeing a little bit of a profit. Two years later, we started getting into the black instead of flatlining.

What’s been your favorite part of the business?

I’ve always loved cooking. That’s my thing. I liked it when I first started doing it years ago. I was taking accounting at (Central New Mexico Community College) back in the day. And, you know, it’s a sedentary job. The thing I liked about cooking was you’re active, and you have a sense of accomplishment after you overcome the challenge of a rush of tickets.

Did you always want to be in the restaurant business?

I wanted to be a high school teacher, although a woman who I knew when I was young later told me, “I remember when you were 18, you were telling me you were going to own a restaurant someday.”

What’s your history with New Mexican food?

I was born in California, but we moved here when I was 10. My family is from southern Colorado. My parents, my grandparents on both sides always made chile. All the time.

Do you ever get sick of chile?

No.

What are your regrets?

You know, this is a double-edged sword. It would be working too much. I think I leaned on the side of workaholic, but you have to be there (at the business), because you don’t want it to fail. Everyone has a value system. My top one is probably financial security.

What are your pet peeves?

I guess somebody might accuse me of being a perfectionist, but it’s people who lack attention to detail because it’s the little things that matter in anything. I think somebody not smiling is a pet peeve. Another attention to detail is counting change back to customers. People don’t do that anymore, but I want our staff to do it because we have a lot of elderly folks, and they appreciate it.

Do you go to other restaurants?

Yes, and I notice everything.

Ellen Marks, a former Journal editor, writes One-on-One profiles and Scam Watch. You can reach her at emarks@abqjournal.com.