The Queso Connection

Redheaded Stranger gets me. The queso is gloriously uncomplicated: hot, silky American and cheddar cheese, the kind that clings to a warm flour tortilla instead of running away from it. And those tortillas are the whole damn point. They're made fresh every morning, soft and blistered from the griddle, and served instead of chips because Redheaded Stranger remains proudly, emphatically NO FUCKIN' CHIPS. Tear. Drag. Fold. Repeat. I've been tangled up with this place since the beginning. I wrote about it when it opened, ate the green chile cheeseburger for Food Paradise, ordered delivery constantly during COVID and showed up when they roasted Hatch chiles on site. Chef Bryan Lee Weaver even heard me lamenting the loss of Taco Bell's Meximelt and created the Texi Melt, christening the special “The Delia Jo.” It was fabulous. And do not sleep on that green chile cheeseburger. Chopped Hatch chiles and American cheese on a potato roll. It's still one of the things people consistently tell other diners to order, and it's the dish television came calling for. No f•ckin' chips. No notes. Get the cheeseburger.