Frito Pie-Eyed

IT ARRIVED IN A SMALL yellow bag, cut open lengthwise, with piping-hot red chile, ground beef, and beans poured directly over the corn chips inside, all topped with diced onions, yellow cheese, and lettuce. A server handed it to me across the lunch counter of the Five & Dime General Store in downtown Santa Fe. I was 10 or 11, and this, my first Frito pie, was magical. A rich and iconic New Mexican meal.