AMARILLO, TEXAS -- For a few months each year, you can drive by Fiesta Foods on 10th Street and see employees hard at work in the parking lot, roasting chiles for a constant stream of customers.
Pronews 7 met O.T. Gonzales who loves customers as much as she loves roasting the chiles.
On this custom made rotisserie, O.T> Gonzales can load up 30 pounds of chiles at a time, fire up the jets and for 14 minutes, these chiles continually roll around until they're perfectly roasted and bagged up for a continuous stream of customers....
Fiesta Foods has been doing this for a couple years and this is O-T's first season on the roaster. The chiles are imported and range from mild to extra hot and can be used in thousands of cooking application. O-T has her own favorite recipe.
"I like to make them with burritos and barbacoa and noplaes, cactus. I love cactus," said O.T. Gonzales/Chile Roaster
We met one customer who was sending an order of hot chiles to Wisconsin and was putting up another order for her self to last the winter. O-T says it's not uncommon to get people from other states stopping by to stock up on these roasted bundles of flavor.
"Here lately, I've seen different faces..we've had some from Oklahoma, from everywhere. They travel to come pick some up."
"Word is out you've got the best roasted chiles in the world?"
"Yeah!"
Because an order can take a few minutes to roast and bag up, O-T says she gets to spend a lot of time with the customers...
"As they come, the customers know what they want and we throw it in there and make it as fast as we can and we make it and they're on their way.
And she adds for here, that's the best part of the job.
"I love to talk...and I'm not sure who likes to talk more..me or them."
"What's the best part of your job?"
"I love the customers I love the customers...they're good."
The roaster will be shut down in a few weeks but it's a sure bet that O-T will be back next year...loading the hoppers,firing up the jets and making sure everyone who wants some freshly roasted chiles and a friendly smile won't be disappointed.
