Red, Green…or a Juicy “Christmas” Blend?
Imagine spooning a sunset-red chile sauce and a fire-roasted green splash over fluffy rice—then tasting a surprise kiss of local berries that makes the whole bowl pop. Chef Tory McPhail’s brand-new mash-up at Mixed Berry is turning I-40 pit stops into flavor field trips, and it’s only nine minutes from your campsite.
Key Takeaways
• Mixed Berry sits 9 minutes from American RV Resort and has pull-through parking for big RVs.
• The Christmas Berry Bowl blends smoky red chile, bright green chile, and sweet local berries in one bite.
• Choose mild, medium, or hot; add berry crema or sour cream to cool it for kids.
• Chef Tory McPhail, a James Beard winner, often hands out free samples and cooking tips.
• The article gives a 30-minute, one-pot recipe plus freezer and camp-stove hacks for RV cooks.
• Try local rosé, light lager, or malty amber beer to make the bowl date-night ready.
• Winery snacks, chile-glazed cookies, and Hatch-topped pizza sit within a 5-mile food crawl.
• Tips show how to buy, freeze, and mail chiles; best roasting season is August–September.
• Weekly sauce classes and a Chile & Chocolate tour let visitors roast, stir, and taste.
• Families, snowbirds, digital workers, couples, and hikers all get gear, timing, and spice advice inside.
Why keep reading?
• Families: Find out how to dial the heat down so even picky kiddos ask for seconds.
• Snowbirds: See the simple RV-kitchen hack Chef McPhail swears by for simmering sauces without steaming up the cabin.
• Digital nomads: Grab the 10-minute meal-prep shortcut that beats another granola bar between Zoom calls.
• Couples: Get the date-night pairing that makes this dish Instagram-worthy—and kiss-worthy.
• Trail trekkers: Pack our camp-stove checklist so you can refuel trailside with real New Mexico fire.
• Big-trip planners: Slot the mash-up into a chile-fest itinerary that hits markets, roasters and balloon glows.
Ready to answer the state’s hottest question—red or green—with one berry-bright bite? Let’s dig in!
Meet the Man Stirring the Pot
Chef Tory McPhail won a James Beard Award for celebrating Gulf Coast produce, but he has always chased new terroir. After discovering New Mexico’s chile fields on a cross-country road trip, he opened Mixed Berry—his fast-casual love letter to the Land of Enchantment—just off I-40 and Coors Boulevard. The spot sits 7.8 miles, or nine easy minutes, from American RV Resort, which means you can set up your leveling blocks and still make the lunch lull before 1:30 p.m.
McPhail’s bowl shop keeps things easy for travelers: pull-through parking for rigs up to forty-five feet lines the east curb, the order counter moves in three quick steps—choose a base, a protein, then ask for the “Christmas Berry” sauce—and the staff happily splits one bowl into kid-size portions. Locals already rave about the balance of smoky red chile, bright green chile, and sweet-tart puréed berries. Travelers, meanwhile, appreciate the chef’s personal touch; you’ll often spot him handing out sample spoons and sharing heat-level hacks with curious snowbirds.
What Makes the Christmas Berry Bowl Different
McPhail slow-simmers sun-dried Chimayó pods with garlic until they bloom into a brick-red sauce, then folds in fire-roasted Hatch chiles for a vegetal snap. A handful of puréed chokecherries—picked along the Rio Grande bosque—rounds out the heat with a subtle, jammy finish. The trio answers New Mexico’s official state question, “Red or green?” with a playful “Why not both…and berries?” as chronicled by Lonely Planet’s chile deep-dive.
For diners, that means a flavor journey in one spoonful: first smoky, then fresh, then fruity. For parents, it means an easy pathway to tweak spice without sacrificing excitement—ask the cashier for medium and request an extra swirl of berry crema on top. For couples chasing date-night vibes, the bowl pairs beautifully with a semi-dry local rosé, transforming a roadside meal into a mini celebration.
Where to Taste It Today
Mixed Berry is the headliner, yet Albuquerque offers a whole playlist of chile riffs within five miles. After polishing off your bowl, stroll two doors down to D. H. Lescombes Winery & Bistro for green-chile mac-and-cheese bites, a glass of cab-franc, and free Wi-Fi that delights the Laptop & Ladle crowd. Over on Fourth Street, Celina’s Biscochitos dips classic anise cookies in crimson glaze—proof that red chile can be dessert romance.
Need kid-approved slices? Dion’s on Central layers chopped Hatch chile over pepperoni, giving young palates a gentle intro to the state’s signature vegetable. Each of these stops welcomes casual attire, offers parking for midsize tow vehicles, and slides neatly into a city-wide food crawl that big-trip planners love mapping out.
Chile 101: Red, Green, and the Spectrum Between
Red chiles start life as green pods left to ripen until they blush crimson, then they’re sun-dried in ristras or ground into powder. The famed Chimayó variety delivers fruity sweetness and gentle heat that locals guard like family heirlooms, according to Red River’s flavor profile. Green chiles, harvested young in Hatch Valley’s mineral-rich soil, boast bright, grassy notes that sing after a tumble through a roaring propane roaster.
Order “Christmas,” and you’ll taste the entire life cycle of the pepper in one dish—a culinary time-lapse that explains why the state question rates dinner-conversation status. Innovative chefs consistently remix the classics: think green-chile beer, red-chile biscochitos, even chile-spiked wine showcased at the Fiery Foods & BBQ Show every March, as highlighted by Visit Albuquerque’s roundup. That spirit of experimentation set the stage for McPhail’s berry twist.
RV-Friendly Recipe: Christmas Berry Bowl in 30 Minutes
Cooking in 120 square feet shouldn’t feel like hostage negotiations. Grab your countertop induction burner—it throws less residual heat than propane—and a three-quart pot. Vent fans on, window cracked, capsaicin fumes out.
Gear check complete, here’s the grocery short list: two cups roasted green chile (mild, medium, or hot), one cup dried red Chimayó pods or two tablespoons powder, half cup fresh or frozen berries, one can low-sodium broth, and cooked rice, quinoa, or greens for your base. Rehydrate red pods in warm broth for ten minutes, then blend until smooth. Return the purée to the pot, fold in diced green chile, stir in berries, and simmer ten minutes more.
Families can mellow the fire by adding a spoonful of sour cream just before serving; McPhail himself uses the trick when his nieces visit. Digital nomads prepping ahead will love this hack: ladle extra sauce into silicone muffin trays, freeze flat, and pop out single pucks that reheat in three minutes while you reload email. Trail-to-Table explorers can pour the sauce into a squeeze bottle, stash it in a cooler, and drizzle over campfire-grilled chicken within hour three of a Sandia Crest hike.
For pairings, reach for a light lager from Marble Brewery to soften the verde’s grassy kick, or opt for La Cumbre’s malty amber that echoes the roja’s smoke. Couples tilting romantic can share a chilled local rosé; its berry notes echo the sauce while its acidity cleans the palate for the next bite.
Shop, Store, and Ship the Heat
If tasting sparks a take-home mission, point your GPS toward Rail Yards Market on Sunday mornings for small-batch Chimayó powder, or swing by El Pinto’s on-site farm stand for still-steaming sacks of roasted green chile. First-timers should request medium heat; anything hotter may dominate dishes and end up freezer-burned from neglect. Remember: roasted chiles keep steaming inside plastic, so crack the bag as soon as you’re back in the RV to prevent moisture-induced mold.
Freeze flat in quart-size zipper bags; thin layers stack neatly behind the ice cream and thaw in minutes on an induction burner. Dried red pods last longest in airtight containers stashed away from the window’s desert glare—whole pods retain volatile oils better than pre-ground powder. Big-trip planners flying home can mail vacuum-sealed chiles through most carriers; just declare “food items” at the counter and keep the shipment chilled with gel packs.
Hands-On Ways to Play With Fire
Watching chiles roast is a sensory thrill, but rolling up your sleeves burns the memory into muscle. The National Hispanic Cultural Center hosts a ninety-minute sauce lab every Thursday where visiting cooks learn to coax depth from red pods and brightness from greens. Classes sell out fast, so book at least two weeks ahead or risk resort-lounge FOMO.
Prefer wheels to aprons? ABQ Trolley Co.’s half-day Chile & Chocolate tour glides between a working farm, a small-batch roaster, and a bean-to-bar confectioner. Pack cotton long sleeves—capsaicin sticks to bare arms—and slide a small cooler under the seat to keep your souvenir peppers below forty degrees Fahrenheit while your eyes feast on high-desert scenery.
Season Planner: When Roasters Rule the Road
Early August through late September marks peak roasting season, when grocery-store parking lots sound like maracas and smell like campfires. Drive with windows cracked, and the aroma alone will guide you to tumbling steel drums. Those weeks also host the Hatch Chile Festival on Labor Day weekend—two hours south but an easy day trip if you roll out of the resort by 7 a.m.
Spring travelers need not fret: the Fiery Foods & BBQ Show lights up the first weekend of March with hundreds of vendors, while early October’s Balloon Fiesta paints the sky and fills the fairgrounds with pop-up bowls of green chile stew. No matter the month, high-desert sun demands SPF 30, wide-brimmed hats, and at least two quarts of water per person, per day—basic but critical advice from New Mexico health officials. Booking festival campsites and event tickets well ahead of time ensures prime parking for your rig and spares you the headache of pre-dawn traffic jams.
Plate, Snap, and Share
Presentation turns a bowl into a memory, especially for Romantic Flavor Seekers chasing that heart-stopping photo. Use a white vessel so the red-green swirl pops, lay a lime wedge at two o’clock for contrast, and dot micro-cilantro across the top like confetti. Drizzle a berry reduction in a playful heart shape—❤️ optional but encouraged—and you’ve got an edible postcard.
Limited light inside the rig? Open the awning, set the bowl near the doorway, and bounce sunlight off a clean cutting board for a soft, flattering glow. A quick overhead shot captures the swirl, while a close-up angled at forty-five degrees highlights texture; both practically beg your followers to ask, “Where can I get that?”
Red, green, or that berry-bright “Christmas” swirl—whatever lands on your spoon tastes better when your home base is only nine minutes away. Settle into a spacious pull-through at American RV Resort, stream your #ChristmasBerry shots on our lightning-fast Wi-Fi, cool off in the pool after the chile heat, and wake up ready for round two of Albuquerque flavor. Book your stay today and let the road, the chiles, and our warm community welcome you home.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can we try Chef McPhail’s red-green-berry sauce without cooking it ourselves?
A: Yes, Mixed Berry keeps a stockpot rolling daily and is only nine minutes from American RV Resort, so you can swing by for a dine-in bowl or grab a travel-friendly container to reheat back at your site.
Q: How spicy is the sauce for kids or spice-shy relatives?
A: The default heat is mild-medium; simply ask the cashier for “kid-friendly” and they’ll add extra berry crema and skip the hottest green chile so little taste buds stay happy.
Q: Where can we buy the chiles and berries nearby?
A: Smith’s on Coors has bagged roasted Hatch chile in the freezer aisle year-round, while Rail Yards Market (Sundays) sells fresh red Chimayó pods and local chokecherry jam perfect for the berry swirl.
Q: Does the recipe work in a small RV kitchen?
A: Absolutely—one induction burner and a three-quart pot are all you need, and the simmering sauce puts out less steam than boiling pasta, so your rig windows won’t fog up.
Q: Any make-ahead hacks for busy workdays?
A: Cook a double batch, freeze it in silicone muffin cups, then pop out single pucks that thaw in three minutes for a quick lunch between Zoom calls.
Q: Can we cook the sauce over a camp stove or fire pit after a hike?
A: Yes, the blend reheats beautifully in a lightweight mess pan; just keep the flame low so the berries don’t scorch and add a splash of water if it gets too thick.
Q: Which local beer or wine pairs best for date night?
A: A chilled semi-dry rosé from D. H. Lescombes lifts the berry notes, while Marble Brewery’s light lager smooths the green chile kick—both are one parking lot away from Mixed Berry.
Q: Where can we snap an Instagram-worthy photo of the dish?
A: Mixed Berry’s patio has southwest murals and bright natural light, but if you plate it in the RV, set the bowl under the awning edge and bounce sunlight off a white cutting board for a vibrant swirl shot.
Q: Are there WiFi cafés serving something similar?
A: D. H. Lescombes Winery & Bistro offers free high-speed WiFi and a green-chile mac starter that echoes the sauce, making it a comfortable work perch five minutes from the resort.
Q: Is the dish vegetarian or gluten-free friendly?
A: The base sauce is naturally gluten-free and meatless; just choose beans or veggies instead of carne adovada at the counter to keep the whole bowl plant-powered.
Q: How do I store extra roasted chile safely in the RV freezer?
A: Lay the peeled chiles flat in quart-size zip bags, squeeze out air, and freeze them in thin sheets that thaw quickly and stack neatly beside the ice cream.
Q: What’s the difference in flavor between red and green chile?
A: Green tastes bright and grassy with a quick heat, while red feels sweeter and smoky with a slower burn; the “Christmas Berry” sauce lets you sample both in one spoonful.
Q: Can we take a cooking class to learn more while we’re in town?
A: The National Hispanic Cultural Center runs a Thursday sauce lab where visiting chefs guide you through red and green techniques; spots book up fast, so reserve online two weeks ahead.
Q: Does the sauce change with the seasons?
A: Peak August–September batches use fresh-roasted chile for deeper flavor, but winter versions rely on flash-frozen pods and still hit the same smoky-sweet balance thanks to dried Chimayó and frozen berries.
