STATE FAIR CHEESEBURGER CHAMPIONS GREEN CHILE CHEESE BURGER FAME SPOTLIGHTS YOUNG NEW MEXICO RESTAURANT BY JULIE CARTER
Sometimes when dreams come true, they arrive even bigger and better than we’d hoped for. Oso Grill in Capitan, New Mexico is the “we want a small Mom and Pop restaurant of our own” dream of Brian and Pam Cleckler. Located on a corner where two main highways intersect, and across the street from the Smokey Bear Park and Museum, Oso Grill has, in just three years, become an established part of the local community and a destination; many travel great distances on word-of-mouth recommendations. Home of the world-famous Smokey Bear, Capitan boasts just over 1300 residents, a 500+ student school district, the Smokey Bear Market, along with other Smokey Bear named businesses (motel, restaurant), one gas station and an assortment of other small businesses that serve the locals. Capitan is also home to the Lincoln County Fairgrounds, a destination for thousands of visitors during the annual 4-day Fourth of July Stampede rodeo. In August it’s county fair time, again filling the fairgrounds with people and livestock. And if all that isn’t enough for a visit, the historical stomping grounds of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett, Lincoln, New Mexico, is only 12 miles to the east. What does a weekly tally of 400 pounds of fresh ground chuck for burgers and 40 pounds of daily cut cube steaks for chicken fried steak say about a business that first opened their doors August 3, 2015? According to Brian, Oso Grill is on target to do three quarters of a million dollars in sales this year, topping the $550,000 they did last year. “We are a year and half ahead of our projections,” he said,
“And this has been with no advertising. We support a lot of local events like the county fair as well as the FFA, 4-H and different things at the school, but we’ve never advertised.” The family, food and service speak for itself, but a prestigious award recently added to their fame. Last year, Oso Grill won the People’s Choice Award at the 2017 New Mexico State Fair Green Chile Cheeseburger competition. It was their first time to enter, but definitely won’t be their last. The restaurant closed for the day while the Oso crew headed to Albuquerque and the New Mexico State Fairgrounds for lots of hard work with great rewards.
Last year’s winning burger, now named the State Fair Burger,was a standout with its fresh (never frozen) 8 oz. patty, chopped New Mexico green chile cooked directly on the meat to give the patty an infusion of chile flavor, then a layer of melted cheese, all topped with battered deep-fried green chile strips. Served on a toasted bun with a chipotle ranch dressing sauce that adds a tangy sweet zap, it all adds up to a flavor explosion. The Cleckers have deep roots in the Lincoln County area. Pam is fourth generation to the local mountains, while Brian has spent most his adult life in the
