Food critic Anthony Bourdain admitted he was wrong in his description of a Frito pie dish made by a restaurant in Santa Fe, N.M., reported the Associated Press and other media outlets.
During a recent episode of CNN’s “Parts Unknown” involving primarily taco stands along Route 66 in New Mexico, Bourdain visited the Five and Dime General Store in downtown Santa Fe and sampled the Frito pie there.
The dish, according to Bourdain, was made with canned Hormel Chili and a “day-glow orange cheese-like substance.”
But Bourdain spokeswoman Karen Reynolds told The Associated Press on Monday that the writer was incorrect in his description of the chile used by Santa Fe’s Five & Dime General Store’s snack bar to make the Frito pies.
“He admits that `we got it wrong’ about the chile,” Reynolds said in an email. “And we’ll try to correct it for future airings.”
The store’s owner says the chile is made from its own recipe, with New Mexico-grown peppers.
Bourdain also erroneously said the Frito pie’s origins are Texas, not New Mexico. But that is unconfirmed. In fact, one source lays claim to the Frito pie starting in a Woolworth’s in Santa Fe.
KRQE-TV in Albuquerque also filed this report:
Bourdain is notorious for being acid-tongued and unapologetic. So for him to own up to the error, it must have been quite a doozy.
The Five & Dime is located a stone’s throw from an older alignment of Route 66, where the Old Santa Fe Trail spills into downtown.
(Image of a sign at the Five and Dime in Santa Fe by Katatonic28 via Flickr)