Hatch's Pepper Pot dishes up delicious chile rellenos and more

I often stop in Hatch to take photos of signs, ristras and friendly roadside characters like Yogi Bear on the way to Lordsburg or Tucson.

But there is one place in the village I had yet to stop at: the Pepper Pot Restaurant, a local watering hole that is known for its mouthwatering chile rellenos that will cause some eyes to water.

The family-owned establishment sits in a converted residence that faces the constant flow of vehicles traveling through on their way to Deming and beyond.

On a July morning, owner Melva Aguirre greeted me at the door. After we went inside, we walked by colorful Mexican fiesta banderas and murals of the Hatch Valley.

Before I ordered, however, I wanted to know more about the Pepper Pot and its owner.

Aguirre was born in Torreón, Mexico, the youngest of eight children. When she was a teenager, she moved to the Hatch Valley, where she picked chile and onions every summer.

When she was about 20, she left the fields to work at a now-defunct Hatch restaurant.

“I didn’t want to do that all my life, so I washed dishes and learned to cook,” Aguirre said.

In 1992, after a brief stint working at a restaurant in Truth of Consequences, she came back to Hatch to raise a family and worked at the Pepper Pot with her sister, Rosario Varela.

At the time, the restaurant served American food.

“There was no chile at all,” Aguirre said.

They eventually started fixing Mexican dishes, but she said the owner cooked it “gringo style.”

Aguirre said she told them, “They don’t want American Mexican food. They want the real thing. She goes, ‘Then you make it.’ So every day we started making tacos, enchiladas and chile rellenos.”

Later that year, Aguirre said she and Varela inquired about buying the business. The owner wanted $10,000.

“So, (Varela) said, ‘$5,000 and $5,000.’ I needed to figure out where to get my $5,000,” Aguirre said. “So, I sold stuff like my truck and gold jewelry.”

The Pepper Pot still offers American dishes like chicken fried steak, but its bread and butter continues to be Mexican.

“I make a little bit of every little thing,” Aguirre said.

In 2000, Pepper Pot moved to its current location in Hatch at 250 W. Hall St.

Over the years, she said she met famous people like Anthony Bourdain, host of Travel Channel’s culinary and cultural adventure program “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.”

Aguirre said he asked her what the difference was between red and green chile.

“He didn’t understand how the green chile turned red,” she said. “He thought that the red and green chile came from different plants, and a lot of people to this day don’t understand that part. They come from the same plant. They just don’t get it.”

Aguirre said Bourdain also asked her how to make chile rellenos, made with Big Jim peppers stuffed with cheese.

Pepper Pot’s chile rellenos have been so popular, she said, that former Texas Gov. Rick Perry flew a staff member to Hatch to pick up 500 orders to take back to Austin, Texas.

Normally, I order beef enchiladas or fajitas whenever I stop at a Mexican restaurant, but after hearing about Bourdain and Perry, I had to try the chile rellenos.

After I took my first bite, Aguirre asked how I was doing.

“Fine,” I said while enjoying the flavor and kick.

While the restaurant had famous guests, its main clientele are locals, including chile and onion farmers that she feeds early in the morning before they start their day.

“I like the farmers because I worked for them and I like to feed them,” Aguirre said.

After the meal, she took me into the kitchen, where she stirred red enchilada sauce and mixed some beef.

“It’s unbelievable how much chile people can eat,” Aguirre said.

She not only cooks for regular customers, but she is preparing 3,000 chile relleno dishes for the upcoming Hatch Chile Festival on Labor Day weekend.

It is a labor of love and Aguirre enjoys every minute of it.

“When (customers) go to the kitchen and say, ‘compliments to the chef,’” she said, “I just feel happy.”

Hatch's Pepper Pot dishes up delicious chile rellenos and more