Food, feathered friends and a piranha: La Posta de Mesilla celebrates 85 years

Family recipes that have stood the test of time is how La Posta de Mesilla has achieved 85 years of operation.

In 1939, Katy Griggs opened the little chile joint and named it La Posta. Her uncle, Edgar Griggs, was impressed with her energetic personality and sold his property that would become the restaurant for $1, love and affection. It had meager beginnings with four tables on a dirt floor and Katy’s mother cooking in the kitchen with no running water. Young Katy, at 25, handled front of the house duties greeting guests and manned the cash register. Her hard work, smart business sense, and front of the house warmth continued until her death in 1993. In 1996, her great niece Jerean Camuñez Hutchinson and her husband Tom Hutchinson acquired the property and the business.

Food, feathered friends and a piranha: La Posta de Mesilla celebrates 85 years

Tom Hutchinson said if you could peel back the roof of La Posta that you would see a series of adobe buildings connected over time.

“We call it a compound now, but in the old days, it was just a single standing building that accommodated maybe a half a dozen tables and a kitchen, and it evolved to where it is today, with several buildings that have been incorporated into the compound, all of them on the national register of historic buildings and the state register as well. Some of them date back to the early 1800s, you’re talking about adobe buildings that are 200 plus years old.”

The restaurant that began as a “little chile joint” in Mesilla, just outside of Las Cruces, has blossomed into a unique dining experience that not only features its signature New Mexican cuisine created from old family recipes handed down over the years, but also an aviary and a sole piranha, creating an environment that is like no other in the state. Griggs who made frequent visits to South America, became intrigued with tropical birds and the unique fish. She introduced the feathered friends and a piranha in the 1950s-1960s.

“The historical story behind our compound and authenticity of the old adobe building and all the building materials, from the adobe to the vigas and latillas on the ceiling, the store that’s in the lobby, the aviary, the lone piranha, the only piranha in the state of New Mexico, all those feed into a wonderful story, and it converts into a great dining experience, just not a place to eat, but a dining experience,” Hutchinson said. “I think that’s what’s been our secret over all these years. But, it starts first with good people working for you and obviously our loyal customer base.”

The menu has remained consistent over the years to include traditional Mexican food items including tacos and enchiladas, as well as steaks. What started as a menu with about a dozen items has tripled in size.

“We call it southern New Mexico Mexican food because these recipes are generated from generations of folks here in Mesilla,” Hutchinson said. “... We’ve been true to (family) recipes all those years. I will tell you the menu has adjusted over the years to accommodate consumer desires and wants, from vegan diets to gluten-free and a few more salads, a couple more seafood options, but the foundation of our menu remains the same as it was in 1939.”

The Tostadas Compuestas have been on the menu since the restaurant’s inception.

“That was a dish Katy Griggs allegedly invented in 1939, and it’s really just a corn tortilla cup fried a certain way,” Hutchinson said. “And inside that tortilla cup is frijoles (pinto beans), lettuce and tomato, your choice of protein, which is typically red (chile con) carne or our green chile chicken, and topped with grated cheese. What a wonderful little dish. It has a variety of different flavors.

“And if you really want to be adventurous, you can try it with our La Posta slaw instead of a garnish. And then when you do that, you have that vinegar that integrates into this flavor profile, and between that and the red chile and the green chile, it’s just a wonderful flavor combination.”

La Posta’s cuisine revolves around green and red chile.

“We love the flavors regardless of the heat,” Hutchinson said. “Obviously, (some) of the chiles are hotter than others, but we don’t try to mask the taste of the chile with other spices or cilantro or something like that. We really depend on the chile itself to be the dominant taste in all our foods. It’s what makes us special here in the (Mesilla) valley. Hatch chile has become world renowned now, but it’s been the staple of our menu for 85 years.”

La Posta has been practicing methods for many years that have recently become on trend.

“We like to say we were farm to table before it was cool,” Hutchinson said. “We got all our products from local farmers, everything, and then over time, you got your food vendors and your food providers which we get our products from now, but most of the products still originate somewhere here in New Mexico, and certainly really here in the (Mesilla) valley.”

In addition to the food, La Posta boasts the Adobe Cantina y Tequileria that showcases more than 100 tequilas. Bottles of tequila set the tone for the bar area.

“The bottles themselves are art from their different sizes and shapes and their color,” Hutchinson said. “They make for a wonderful backdrop in a bar.”

The bar area was created from a room that was once part of an old home.

“It was the south of the original La Posta restaurant that we acquired in 1996,” Hutchinson explained. “We acquired that home, which was Katy Griggs, the founder’s residence. So when you see those rooms, we were restricted by historical society folks from doing a whole lot of modifications to them. So what we had to do was take this beautiful residence with all these architectural details and convert it into a restaurant, and that was the challenge, but it’s worked out pretty well for us.”