CHILE CHAM
A look at the competition this weekend’s Green Chi Cheeseburger Smackd
In 2016, chef Milton Villarrubia had put his money on a pricey wheel of goat and cow’s milk triple-cream brie when he had a game-changing epiphany. It was Villarrubia’s second time chasing green chile glory in Santa Fe’s annual Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown, and the relatively new executive chef of Second Street Brewery was hungry for a win.
His plan was to stuff a patty with the top-shelf, locally crafted brie, elevating the burger to fine dining status. But something didn’t feel right.
“I was talking in private to one of the sous chefs, and I came out and I said, ‘You know, I have to admit to you, I really love the flavor combination of American cheese with green chile,” Villarrubia recalled. “I know it’s totally ghetto, but it resonates with me, like, at such a deep level. And the sous chef ’s like, ‘Me too!’ ”
His near-blasphemous secret out of the bag, Villarrubia slowly, “in confidence,” he said, shared his light bulb moment with other chefs.
“Nobody was making fun of us,” he said. “I was like, ‘We’re going with it.’ ”
The result of Villarrubia’s last-minute substitution was that year’s People’s Choice winner, the Plate Lickin’ Chile Cheeseburger. A gooey take on a traditional green chile cheeseburger, the Plate Lickin’ burger was stuffed with four slices of processed-dairy paradise, topped with spicy green chile and bacon and sandwiched between a house-baked brioche bun.
It tasted like childhood and New Mexico, and there was nothing fine dining about it.
In the competition’s six-year history, Second Street, the popular restaurant and brewery with three locations in Santa Fe, has emerged as a powerhouse player. Second Street has made the final round every year it has entered and taken a top nod twice. In 2014, a former executive chef envisioned the Original Alien Burger, which featured a blue corn-dusted chile relleno, won the judges’ award.
For Villarrubia, competing in the Smackdown is a yearlong adventure. A few weeks after this year’s competition, Villarrubia will begin planning for next year. And he keeps that process pretty close to his vest, testing recipes at home — first alone and then in the company of family. He won’t even tell his boss what he’s working up until a few weeks before the competition.
He’s not alone in his passion. The competition, which kicked off in 2013 and is put on by Edible magazine, attracts chefs statewide. This year’s burger ballot features three veterans and four newcomers. A panel of judges selected the seven finalists from a roster of 15 semifinalists.
Second Street joins Santa Fe’s Palace Restaurant & Saloon and El Farol, along with Albuquerquebased Mas Tapas y Vino, Street Food Institute, Toltec Brewing and Slow Roasted Bocadillos.
At the competition, held this year at The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing Co.’s flagship location, ticket holders will sample and vote for a People’s Choice winner, while a panel of seasoned judges will bestow upon their top pick the title of Reigning Chomp.
This year, Villarrubia enters the ring with a burger that combines the best elements of Second Street’s two winning entries. His creation, El Patron, starts with a locally baked brioche bun, topped with — wait for it — a blue corn, green chile cheese enchilada. Villarrubia adds an all-natural, half-pound patty of Harris Ranch beef, American cheese and spicy green chile from Young Guns Ranch in Hatch.
Per competition rules, El Patron and all the other entrants already are on their respective restaurants’ menus. Indulging in Second Street’s enchilada-topped burger will run you $15.
Don’t let the sheer audacity of an enchilada within a cheeseburger overwhelm you. This burger is more diminutive and nuanced than its description lets on.
The stars of the show are the three-layer flat enchilada’s rich, textured blue corn tortillas, featuring local corn milled to Villarrubia’s specs at Albuquerquebased Southwest Heritage Mill. The milled corn is shipped to local favorite Alicia’s Tortilleria, where it’s crafted into tortillas made custom for this burger and this burger alone. Once it’s formed, the enchilada is heated and broiled. The result is a crunchy char of cheese on the exterior that punctuates an otherwise gooey bite of burger.
If all this preparation and fanfare for a cheeseburger sounds a little intense, that’s because, for Villarrubia, it is. Remember, he inherited a championship title. (There’s “probably ego there,” he admits.) But that’s not his only drive. Villarrubia is a New Orleans native who relocated to New Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. When you think about it, the two locales share something special. Both are known for their unique food and culture. Though Villarrubia still identifies as a New Orleanian, he’s making a home here.
“I feel like the green chile cheeseburger is now newly embedded into the culture of Northern New Mexico,” he said. “I haven’t lost my roots in New Orleans, but I’ve put down new ones here, and I want to put them down strong. I’ve got three kids, and I think that’s why I get so crazy about this.”
Villarrubia acknowledges the competition has proved lucrative, too. That first year, when the Original Alien Burger won, he estimates the restaurant yielded a 15 percent increase in burger sales. For a chain that sells up to 400 burgers a day, that’s not peanuts.
Any extra dough contributes to Villarrubia’s longer-term goal of sourcing the restaurant’s ingredients more locally and organically — and it helps bolster one of his passion projects in the process.
Inspired by his victory with the Plate Lickin’ Chile Cheeseburger, Villarrubia concocted a grand scheme to turn something processed into something homespun.
“We talked about making a homemade, locally sourced, organic, handcrafted American cheese,” he said with a mischievous grin. “I think it’s a little funny. I think it could actually sell well and be a hook.”