PUEBLO • Walking into Romero’s Cafe, you see three people, their faces in frames on the walls: Mr. Chile, his beloved mother and a president of the United States.

First, about Mr. Chile.

That’s Robert Romero, 64, the goateed man who harnessed the spicy power of Pueblo’s famed chile, enlisted a neighbor cartoonist to create a character, threw on a shirt with flames on it, and backed up the marketable persona with award-winning green chili and other Mexican specialties that keep people coming back for more.

They’ve been coming back for nearly 50 years.

In a town packed with Mexican eateries thanks to those sun-splashed pepper fields, Romero’s is one of the most popular. And that’s thanks to Mr. Chile’s mother, Virginia, who in 1976 started the business in a small, rundown adobe structure.

“It was rough,” Robert remembers. “Hot, small. We used to walk down the street to go get a bucket of ice. No dish machine, no air conditioning, a little tiny sink, no deep fryer.”

It wasn’t long before his mom changed locations to a building that was part restaurant, part house.

“So she was able to wake up and go to work,” says Virginia’s granddaughter and Robert’s daughter, Sheri.

“She would get up and start the beans and chili when I was still sleeping. Then she’d go back and get me dressed, get herself dressed, take a shower and whatnot, then go and do the rest of the cooking.”

As far as the family was concerned, no one worked harder than Virginia. And no one cooked better — that green chili, those enchiladas and chicharones, those sopapillas rolled on the wooden table that stood at the center of her kitchen.

From those hard, humble beginnings, perhaps no one foresaw Romero’s Cafe being what it is today: widely sought, award-winning, much bigger but still modest by the plain, unassuming block of a building that it is today on the edge of Pueblo.

Certainly, no one expected the customer who walked through the door on the morning of Aug. 9, 2012.

Up rolled the motorcade. Out poured a gaggle of reporters and photographers in then-President Barack Obama’s wake.

“A sight that left diners with wide eyes, open mouths and forkfuls of enchiladas suspended in midair,” read The Pueblo Chieftain.

The paper quoted Obama’s banter with Robert: “I hear you have great breakfast burritos. But I need to be a little careful. Later, I’m going to be kissin’ babies and stuff.”

It’s true, people love Romero’s breakfast burritos, but Obama went with the recommended Enchiladas Tejanas and a bowl of hot green chili to go. He was on his way to a campaign rally at the State Fairgrounds.

He hugged and kissed a wide-smiling Virginia before he went, Robert says. “That was the best day of her life.”

She died in 2017 at the age of 88. Her legacy lives on at Romero’s — remembered by the mural in her honor and that wooden table where sopapillas are still rolled.

Her legacy lives on in the chili. Obama kept talking about it at the rally. “I’m going to have to work with the White House chef to figure out some of its secrets,” he said.

Mr. Chile divulges only so much: “I use 100% Pueblo green chile. I have a guy who grows it, roasts it and bags it on site. We keep the seeds the same and consistent. We have it down to a science.”

Upon taking over the business by the end of the ‘80s, he went about enhancing the recipe inherited from his mom.

The Mr. Chile mascot was but one product of his creative, entrepreneurial spirit. There was also the Monster Burrito — an oversized favorite today — and, more recently, the chile cone. Robert invented it for the state fair and annual Chile and Frijoles Festival: a deep-fried tortilla packed with cheese, green chile strips and wrapped in bacon.

Virginia’s menu was shorter, more traditional. But just like today, the portions were plentiful.

Food to her was “love and comfort,” says the granddaughter managing Romero’s now. Sheri remembers the house full of family and friends, everyone Virginia gathered around. “She liked to make sure everybody was nice and full.”

So she did in the cafeteria of East High School through the ’60s. “Back when they actually cooked food in school,” Robert says.

She would retire but not really. By 1976, she had saved enough to start the restaurant that seemingly everyone wanted to see, everyone who ate her food.

“She had that magic hand. She just knew that flavor,” Robert says. “When you took a bite, it just hit you.”

The steel mill downturn in the ’80s hit hard. Families were out of work and staying home to eat. Robert got the idea to go to them: Catering continues to keep him busy.

He got the idea for Mr. Chile and the idea to pound pavement; he’d give out free samples, turning locals on to his chili and collecting feedback. He took the perfected recipe to the International Chili Society championships in the ’90s — more good marketing.

The ideas continue. “My latest and greatest invention,” Robert says, holding up a freeze-dried bag of ingredients for instant green chili.

He has otherwise kept Romero’s Cafe the same, in his mother’s likeness. He says he shares her pride and joy.

“Feeding people,” he says. “That’s my calling.”

On the menu

Romero’s breakfast is served until 2 p.m. and popularly ordered up to then. Breakfast burritos are most-ordered, particularly the Monster Burrito ($12-$15): choice of bacon, sausage, chorizo or founder Virginia Romero’s beloved chicharones, topped with cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion and smothered in award-winning green chili.

Then-President Barack Obama went with the Enchiladas Tejanas ($13): three corn tortillas under green chili, onions, cheese, egg and choice of meat.

Among combo plates, Manager Sheri Romero loves the Mesa Special ($12): bacon or sausage, two eggs, potatoes, beans, tortilla or toast and chili. Huevos Rancheros ($10) and Chile Relleno ($13) are other go-tos.

For lunch and dinner specialties ($10-$15), owner Robert Romero eats the enchiladas just as his late mother, Virginia, made them. She was also known for her sopapillas — they are stuffed with beef or chicken and beans and rice.

Several burritos: standards with pork or steak, beans, tomato, onion and chili, The Works adding more ingredients and deep-fried varieties. Also homemade tamales, tacos, quesadillas, tostadas and combo plates. And, of course, sloppers: the regional delicacy that is an open-face burger smothered in green chili, topped with lettuce, cheese, tomato and fries.

Nachos piled high on the appetizer side ($5-$10). Robert Romero is proud of his chile cones, made for local fairs: deep-fried tortillas stuffed with cheese and green chiles and wrapped in bacon.

Sopapillas for dessert.