Green chile isn’t just a vegetable — it’s the iconic flavor of New Mexico. It’s a motif that runs through almost all of our experiences in the state.

Once we crossed the line from Oklahoma into New Mexico, we could have driven straight to the little Santa Fe casita that we had rented for the month of April. Instead, we hightailed it to Cimarron, a mountain town right out of the Old West. We went for the St. James Hotel (617 South Collison Avenue, Cimarron, NM; 575-376-2664; exstjames.com). The hostelry is the stuff of Western legend — plus it also serves green chile mac-and-cheese in its barroom restaurant.

Founded in 1861, Cimarron was a trading crossroads where the high plains met the Rocky Mountains. After days of driving dusty plains across Kansas and Oklahoma, the snow-capped peaks behind the town were as welcome as the mountains in a beer commercial.

We doubt it had anything to do with the scenery or the mac-and-cheese, but many an Old West gunslinger also found his way to the St. James Hotel, established just 11 years after the town. The bullet-riddled tin ceiling in the saloon attests to the killing of 26 men there in gunfights. These days it’s a classy, old-fashioned hotel with lots of Arts & Crafts details, stuffed bison heads in the lobby, and a reputation for being haunted.

If you’re a fan of comfort food, the “Adult Mac & Cheese” could haunt your dreams. It consists of a in-house cheese sauce laced with chopped green chile. The sauce goes over cavatappi noodles before the plate is sprinkled with pieces of crispy bacon. One of us ordered the full serving (all of $12.95) and there was enough left over that we both shared it for dinner with a salad once we reached Boho Bungalow, the name of our Airbnb casita in Santa Fe.

Looks like we’ll be eating well in New Mexico.