DINNER AND A DRIVE: San Antonio is filled with savory flavors of New Mexican traditional cuisine

If you’re looking for a road trip and a hamburger, San Antonio, New Mexico, needs to be added to your bucket list. Why? Because it’s the home of two famous green chile cheeseburgers, the Bosque Del Apache, the Quebradas Backcountry Byway, and more.

Separated by a stone’s throw across Highway 380, the Owl Bar and Café and the Buckhorn Tavern collaborate to keep their town vital while their customers keep alive San Antonio’s legendary burger war.

The Buckhorn Tavern

“It’s a collaboration between us. I’ve never viewed it as a competition. Janice has helped us out, and we have helped her,” Ernie Sichler said.

Sichler and his wife Stephanie own and operate the Buckhorn, or, as their daughter Morgan once called it, “Daddy’s house.” “We bought the place when Morgan was two years old, and Ernie spent so much time here. Morgan once asked me when we were going to Daddy’s house,” Stephanie said.

Ernie’s long hours were dedicated to making improvements to the dining area, kitchen and building. There are state restrictions to deal with when it comes to some upgrades. It’s become a case of thinking outside the box while staying in it. There’s no room for baking pies or places to store them, so instead, there’s an ice cream freezer.

There have been some tweaks to the menu here and there, but for the most part, patrons can come in and enjoy the same excellent chile cheeseburger that their grandparents did years ago when Miguel Olguin started the establishment in 1918. Manuel “Manny” Olguin moved the business to its current location in 1943, and people could get a burger, get slicked up for Saturday with a haircut, play a game of pool, and even duke it out after hours in a challenge boxing match.

It’s easy to say the Buckhorn doesn’t lack history, and that’s part of the reason the Sichler family is so invested in their business. They were anxious to carry on a San Antonio tradition when Bobby Olguin decided to shut down after a bout with cancer.

Ernie was born and raised in San Antonio, but the idea of taking on a brick-and-mortar restaurant was different from the food truck he and Stephanie had discussed in the past. Then again, it was a chance to keep a San Antonio institution going and they both agreed to jump at the chance. N

ow more than four years into keeping the Buckhorn’s tradition alive, the couple is sponsoring a golf tournament at the New Mexico Tech Golf Course on Aug. 24 to raise money for a community fund in San Antonio. “We are almost sold out on our team entries,” Ernie said. “We want to give back to our community and see it grow again.” While the Sichler family wants to revitalize San Antonio, you won’t find them changing the menu items, but you will find them making improvements.

The changes that have been made are noticed by folks like patrons Mike and Tana Hudson, who were enjoying an evening out.

“It’s been quite an improvement. We hadn’t been coming as much, and now it’s our Monday night date,” Tana said. “They’re very consistent. They have great red chile enchiladas, and the Buckhorn green chile cheeseburgers are awesome.”

When it comes to the burger choices, her husband has his favorite.

“I like all of them, but I kind of like the American melt the best,” Mike said.

The Owl Bar and Café

Janice Baca Argabright is the fourth generation of her family to own and operate the Owl Bar and Café, where rumor has it that the green chile cheeseburger was invented due to the lack of a dishwasher.

“He started with a chili sauce, and he would put it on the side. One day, the dishwasher didn’t show up, and my grandfather had run out of dishes, so he said I’m just going to throw that chile on the burger and cheese,” Baca Argabright said.

She’s taken operation of the Owl after a life spent in education; Baca Argabright received her B.A. in elementary education from New Mexico State University and her M.S. degree in educational administration from the University of New Mexico. She’s gone from elementary school teacher to several leadership roles, including Director of Bilingual/Special Education and Support Services, Special Programs Coordinator, Teaching Principal, and Associate Superintendent of Socorro Consolidated Schools. She also served as a member of the Western New Mexico Board of Regents from 2011 to 2023.

“I was fortunate that my mom and dad let me have my career. They said do whatever you want, you know what to do. But after I hit 25 years, that’s when the pressure started. Are you going to retire? Are you going to retire? I kept her at bay for eight years,” Baca Argabright said.

Rowena “Rena” Joyce Baca and her husband Adolfo successfully ran the Owl for many years and were honored by the New Mexico Restaurant Association as Restaurateurs of the Year in 2018. The pride of keeping a family legacy alive finally won out, and Baca Argabright picked up her family’s tradition. She certainly had a wealth of experience dating back to before she was a teenager.

“I would help my grandfather out on Saturdays. I was about 10 years old, serving beer. He would tell me to go to table three or take a beer over there. Of course, that was before the liquor regulations tightened up,” Baca Argabright said.

The Owl’s green chile cheeseburger has been described as a working man’s burger. It’s hand-pressed, and because there’s no fat, the lean beef is hard to keep together. It’s a quick and easy lunch or dinner meal, and it’s totally tasty.

“I think it’s a compliment. We’re hardworking people, so we cater to hardworking people,” Baca Argabright said. Janice handles the day-to-day operations while her husband, Steve, serves as the restaurant’s baker.

“He’s retired, so now he bakes cookies, cinnamon rolls, cakes, and stuff. He likes to do that. That’s what he did when he was in high school,” Baca Argabright said.

While she’s not ready for retirement, Baca Argabright’s eye is on the future, and 8-year-old granddaughter Maddison has expressed great interest in keeping the family legacy going. Maddison’s father, Matthew, has done like his mother and gone off and had a career, too. He’s next in line to keep the family legacy going, and there’s been a hint or two from his mother about taking over.

Las Cruces resident David Kingsbury hadn’t been to the Owl in more than two decades but wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity when driving by. It may have been years since he’d had a sampling of the green chile cheeseburger, but he wasn’t about to waste the chance to fling a “burger barb”.

“I saw the sign down the street about them having the best burger, and that just can’t possibly be true,” Kingsbury said. “We almost went there, but I didn’t see the lights on, and I’m glad I stopped here.”

The Owl’s staff hears such banter every day; still when it comes to the bottom line, the two establishments are friendly neighbors.

“If it’s a cheeseburger competition, it’s a very friendly one. We help each other out when it’s needed. I have needed storage space before, or sometimes we run out of something,” Baca Argabright said.

Cool Facts About Both

The Buckhorn

• The Buckhorn’s green chile cheeseburgers were rated No. 7 Burger in America by GQ Magazine in 2005 and No. 3 “Baddest Burger in the Land” by the Nightlife Flavor Roundup.

• The Buckhorn has been featured in New Mexico Magazine, Sunset Magazine and as No. 1 Burger in the West by Saveur Magazine, and also in Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine.

• Bobby Flay lost his own Throwdown in 2009 at the Buckhorn, and the nationwide exposure led to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, declaring July 24 as New Mexico Buckhorn Tavern Day.

The Owl

• The accolades and guests who have eaten at the Owl are eclectic and range from Native American Wes Studi (Dances with Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, and as the lead actor in Geronimo: An American Legend star) to the heavy metal band Megadeath. While there’s no photo, it’s almost certain that Dr. Robert Oppenheimer was one of the “prospectors” visiting the Owl in the 1940s. Those prospectors/ scientists encouraged Baca Argabright’s grandfather, Frank Chavez, to install a grill while they were also building and exploding the world’s first atomic bomb. Some might dispute Chavez’s “invention” of the Owl Burger, or as some call it, the original New Mexico green chile cheeseburger, but there’s no doubt his secret chile sauce is the icing on the “cake,” or in this case, the all-beef patty. It’s a secret that’s not written down and lies in the heads of Baca Argabright’s family.

The Drives

• Stephanie Sichler has a sound grasp on why people venture along Highway 380 around San Antonio. “You can also take Highway 1 or the Farm-to-Market road for a great drive,” she said. “You can come to the Farmers Market stand in the autumn and get your green chile. We say eat dinner at the Buckhorn, but you can pick your option,” Sichler said. “You can drive to the Bosque Del Apache. There’s the Trinity Site and White Sands. Some of our first responders who come here for training have never seen the night sky like we have here. It’s absolutely gorgeous,” she said.