The chef at the time was into exploring Southwestern cooking, so there was interesting hash, and venison, and corn bread.

Sales of Chile Today-Hot Tamale and other chili purveyors have been helped by the fact that America's appetite for hot spices has been growing, whetted by a new acquaintance with Southwestern cooking.

In the mid-1980's, food and shelter books were important in popularizing Santa Fe chic and Southwestern cooking.

But it is Southwestern cooking that borrows the subtleties of fragrant wood smoking from the Texas barbecue, chutneys and salads from family recipes, as well as terrines, wine sauces and other basics from classic French cooking.

Its stark interior is offset by dramatic dinner presentations that combine elements of French, Italian, Oriental and Southwestern cooking.

"Southwestern cooking has become extremely popular, but I think it has the most integrity in its native setting."

"I got a lot of help from the chefs who made Southwestern cooking what it was - Stephan Pyles, Dean Fearing," he said.

The popularity of Mexican and Southwestern cooking has led to new appreciation for dishes based on dried corn.

As familiar as pork may seem now in Mexican and Southwestern cooking, it actually came to the region late, they say, because pigs aren't as obliging as cattle - they don't eat grass.

Chefs in restaurants that specialize in Southwestern cooking invariably roast corn on the cob, bringing out the rich sweetness of the kernels.