LA POSTA DE MESILLA, the venerable southern New Mexico restaurant, looks like Christmas all year long, with its colorful string lights and steaming plates blanketed in red and green chile on every table. During the December holidays, though, it celebrates the season with what co-owner Jerean Camúñez Hutchinson describes as a “más y más” (more and more) mentality. More than 50 festooned Christmas trees bring life to every room, along with wreaths, handcrafted ornaments, whimsical oversize crepe paper flowers, and a life-size folk art nativity scene. Beyond the decorations, it’s the lovingly made classic local dishes and warm hospitality that keep generations of visitors coming back to enjoy this quintessential New Mexican favorite. The bow on top this year is La Posta marking its 85th anniversary under the same family’s stewardship. “Everything about the business is running well,” Hutchinson says. “It’s a great time to celebrate.”
Tucked into the corner where Old and New Mexico meet Texas, the low-slung rambling adobe sits just off Mesilla’s central plaza, growing almost organically from it. The building incorporates the original room where Hutchinson’s great-aunt Katy Griggs (later Camúñez) first welcomed diners on September 16, 1939. Griggs had no experience running a restaurant, or much else, at the tender age of 25, but she had gumption and big ambitions. “Aunt Katy convinced her uncle George Griggs, a prominent merchant, to sell her the building for one dollar, love, and affection,” relates Hutchinson.
The 1840s-era structure, now on the National Register of Historic Places, already had a storied history. Following the Civil War, it had been a stop on the Butterfield stagecoach line, which delivered passengers from the East all the way to California. Later, it became the Corn Exchange Hotel, where rumored guests include legends from New Mexico’s past, like Billy the Kid, Kit Carson, and Pancho Villa.
nitially, the “little chile joint” had four tables, a dirt floor, and no running water. Griggs gathered recipes from branches of her family—the Griggs, Chavez, and Fountain clans—and had her mother prepare the dishes, while Griggs greeted guests and operated the cash register. She quickly distinguished herself as an excellent businesswoman at a time when there were few models. Among her innovations was to serve guests complimentary chips and salsa—something she had not seen done before (and a practice not enough restaurants currently do).
“Katy was as flamboyant as the macaws, parrots, and other tropical birds that she acquired to reside in the lobby,” says Hutchinson’s husband, Tom. La Posta’s current menagerie of Picasso, DaVinci, Sugar, Lucky, and many more birds—cared for by a specially trained veterinarian—continue to delight guests.
The Hutchinsons have owned the restaurant since 1994, but their fond and humorous memories of the place go back much further—like the time they brought Tom’s more reserved family to La Posta on the eve of their wedding more than four decades ago. “Aunt Katy’s bawdy jokes and endless flattery of Tom’s grandpa had his grandma wondering whether this union was such a good idea,” Hutchinson recalls.
In the decades since, the Hutchinson children—Christopher, Brett, and Elena—have all come to work alongside Mom and Dad. “I wanted to get as far away from the family business as I could as a teenager,” Christopher says, “but I realized, after going away to school at Texas Tech, that truly there’s no place like home.”
The entire family is quick to credit the dedicated employees as a big part of their success over the decades. “The kitchen staff, our servers, bartenders, cleanup crew, everyone works together and gives it their all,” Christopher says. To honor them, there is a Wall of Legends, with photos of longtime staff members, which greets visitors in the entryway. “We build a Día de los Muertos altar annually to celebrate those who have passed on,” adds Elena.
The heart of La Posta’s menu is the dishes created with New Mexican chiles grown nearby. Hatch-based chile company Young Guns provides most of the red and green, as well as jalapeños, while other area suppliers furnish local ingredients, such as pecans and honey. A signature dish from the earliest days is Katy’s tostadas compuestas, little corn tortilla cups overflowing with refried beans and chile con carne that come effusively garnished. Newer additions include a fine beef tenderloin, as well as that Texas import: fajitas on sizzling platters. During the holiday season, the red-chile-enriched posole and Christmas enchiladas bathed in both red and green are especially popular, as is the special cranberry margarita.
For dessert, La Posta offers plump empanadas filled with a revolving series of seasonal fruit fillings—in the winter, pumpkin empanadas reign supreme. And don’t miss out on the flan. The first year that the Hutchinsons owned La Posta, they imported flan from an out-of-state restaurant, flying it in each week on Southwest Airlines. “One week, the dessert missed its connection,” Jerean says. “So out of necessity, our kitchen had to come up with its own version—no plane ticket required.” The result is truly one of the best renditions of the creamy dish you will come across anywhere.
“Tom and I feel we truly are stewards of an important legacy, created by the vivacious Katy, but nurtured by generations of our cherished employees and guests,” Jerean says. “We have to keep this going.” Seeing the family’s enthusiasm is perhaps the greatest holiday gift to all of us who have dined here—it ensures that the future of La Posta sparkles as brightly as its many Christmas lights.
