Tacos of every imaginable variety. Soups loaded with tomatoes, chiles, and tomatillos. Maíz-concentrated tortillas and street food. These are between the tasty Mexican foods specialties that await in the west Texas town of El Paso.
Regarded as the Mexican Food items Capital of America, El Paso has a good deal of characteristics to again up that assert: Not only is it the lone major city in the Lone Star Condition to be positioned specifically on the U.S./Mexico border, but El Paso sits just throughout the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez, the premier city in the Mexican point out of Chihuahua (and arguably the birthplace of the margarita cocktail).
With a merged populace of additional than two million, the border cities of El Paso and Juarez have a flourishing foodstuff scene that brings together the cheesy/peppery flavors of Tex-Mex with the salsas, corn masa, and beans of common Mexican delicacies.
From the trendy downtown eateries to the rapid-food taco places to the nearby mainstays, I located stellar Mexican cuisine in El Paso on my modern go to — together with every little thing from inventive corn dishes to almost just about every assortment of taco identified to guy.
Based on my favorites and the tips of nearby experts, below are 9 of the finest Mexican specialties to test in El Paso, and wherever to locate them.
1. Esquites (Street Corn) — ELEMI
Corn is a staple of Mexican cuisine, and the downtown cocina ELEMI performs that up by focusing on the heirloom versions of native maíz (corn) from sustainable farming communities in Mexico. The cool little spot found on El Paso’s Kansas Avenue cooks and grinds maíz every day, “evoking tactics both equally past and existing,” suggests its web page.
For a delightful sample of ELEMI’s native maíz, I loved the esquites, a deconstructed edition of Mexican avenue corn that characteristics younger tender Mexican corn imported weekly and cooked with classic herbs, chiles, sweet cream butter, and garnished with lime aioli.
Professional Guidelines: ELEMI was highlighted on Padma Lakshmi’s Flavor the Country tv show, which concentrated on the café’s El Campesino tacos, built with confit portobello mushrooms, grilled eggplant, avocado, queso, and black beans in blue-corn tortillas.
The common elotes dish consisting of corn that is roasted on the cob and then slathered in mayonnaise-dependent product sauce and protected in chili powder, cheese, and lime, can normally be found in street carts in the vicinity of the international border in El Paso and Juarez.
2. Chicken Tortilla Soup — Mamacita’s
As a enthusiast of flavorful Mexican soups, I usually purchase variations of caldo de camarón (shrimp/seafood soup) or rooster tortilla soup when it is on a restaurant’s menu — especially during chilly weather.
Even even though the temperatures were being far from chilly when I visited El Paso in late June 2021, I was happy I took the assistance of the welcoming server at Mamacita’s and purchased the hen tortilla soup as a starter. The abundant tomato-dependent broth and plentiful chunks of hen breast were being mouth watering, but the soup’s toppings of crispy tortilla strips, sliced tomatillos, radishes, and avocado truly set the dish apart.
Pro Idea: Mamacita’s cafe is found on the floor ground of the hip Resort Indigo on Kansas Road in downtown El Paso. Together with conventional fare like the tortilla soup, its menu options a assortment of modern Latin American-influenced dishes, these kinds of as road corn risotto croquettes, mushroom/goat cheese empanadas, and poblano mac n’ cheese.
3. Queso Fundido — Tacos Chinampa
Number of dishes say Tex-Mex like melted cheese dip, and for El Paso-type queso fundido, locals head to Tacos Chinampa. A variation of the well-liked queso dip, fundido is acknowledged to be a bit much more flavorful, with chile peppers incorporating further zest.
The little regional Tacos Chinampa chain has several locations in the course of El Paso, each and every presenting a complete menu that characteristics starters like the queso fundido, alongside with reliable tacos and Tex-Mex specialties like quesadillas, chiles rellenos, flautas (rolled tacos), and grilled fajitas.
Professional Suggestion: Like other classic El Paso/Juarez taquerias, Tacos Chinampa is recognized for serving baked potatoes as a facet dish with its tacos.
4. Brisket Machaca — Kiki’s Mexican Restaurant
Celebrity chef and Meals Community star, Aarón Sanchez, obtained his culinary commence cooking in El Paso, so when he terms a neighborhood dish the best ever, foodies pay attention. KiKi’s Mexican Restaurant seems regularly on lists of the most effective Mexican dining places in El Paso, with the beef machaca plate as the star.
The braised-beef dish was Sanchez’s choice on an episode of the Food Network demonstrate, Greatest Detail I At any time Ate. The specialty dish capabilities a combination of beef, onions, tomato, cheese, chile, and eggs — all smothered in chile con queso (chile with cheese).
5. Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas — L&J Café
For another local most loved on the El Paso foodstuff scene, head to the homey L&J Café for a selection of Tex-Mex specialties like beef and rooster fajitas, chile con queso, and steak tampiqueña (grilled steak served with inexperienced chiles, refried beans, and shredded cheese).
When I dined at L&J, my server recommended the inexperienced chile chicken enchiladas, which turned out to be a deliciously decadent dish that includes stacked corn tortillas, roasted inexperienced chiles, and tender hen, all coated in a inexperienced chile sauce and melted cheese.
Professional Suggestion: Expect to wait in line to get seated at the tremendous-well-known L&J Café. On my Saturday afternoon visit in late June, I experienced a wait around of about 40 minutes. I utilised the time to examine the historic Concordia Cemetery — a Texas Point out Historic Internet site that is located just across the street. The cemetery is the resting position for hundreds of early west Texas citizens — together with everybody from notorious 1800s-period gunslinger John Wesley Hardin to Buffalo Soldier veterans of the Indian and Spanish-American wars.
6. Barbacoa Tacos — Tacotote
Customarily built from cuts of beef cheek, barbacoa is a southwest Texas tradition that is rooted in the farm and ranch society. The beef is seasoned with bold Mexican spices right before staying gradual cooked — occasionally in an in-ground pit or outdoor oven — and then shredded or chopped.
Tacotote, a regional chain of dining establishments in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, originated in Juarez, just throughout the U.S./Mexico border from El Paso. According to its web site, the chain’s foodstuff is centered on loved ones recipes handed down from the matriarch (Abuelita Dora) in Juarez. The initial United States restaurant opened in 1994 in El Paso and the chain has because grown to 10 places in Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Barbacoa is just one particular of the 50 percent-dozen meat selections offered at Tacotote — commonly served loved ones-design. Buyers select from beef fajita, adobado (marinated) pork, adobado chicken, beef sirloin, brisket, and shrimp, which are served on platters for two or four together with sides, tortillas, and salsas.
Aspect possibilities vary from baked potatoes to charro beans to refried beans to Mexican-design and style rice. Salsas come in a variety of common kinds, like tatemada (charred chile), jalapeño, cambray (contemporary tomato and chile), roja (purple), and pico de gallo. Salsas at Tacotote are normally supplied at a convenient salsa bar.
7. Rolled Tacos — Chico’s Tacos
Rolled tacos, also recognised as taquitos or flautas, are a specialty of a lot of of the Mexican dining places and taco joints in El Paso. Once all over again, celeb chef Aarón Sanchez weighed in on in which to find the most effective of the finest.
Contacting Chico’s Tacos “an institution” in El Paso, Sanchez states the rolled tacos, filled with seasoned ground beef, deep fried, and then doused in a exclusive tomato-centered sauce, make for “the most messy wonderful dish you have at any time experienced.”
8. Margaritas — Los Bandidos De Carlos & Mickey’s
Despite the fact that the origin of the margarita cocktail is open for discussion, one particular of the well-known theories is that the tequila-infused beverage was established by bartender Pancho Morales in Tommy’s Spot Bar in Juarez, just throughout the Rio Grande from El Paso.
These days, El Paso lovers of the tart icy drink head to Los Bandidos de Carlos & Mickey’s for the hometown mainstay’s famous “Texas-sized” cocktails. The relaxed cafe is also recognized for its casual Mexican delicacies possibilities like quesadillas, chile con queso, and chiles rellenos.
9. Salsa — El Paso Downtown Artist & Farmers Market
Lovers of resourceful salsas will obtain lots to sample at the El Paso Downtown Artist & Farmers Marketplace in the Union Plaza.
If you’re in the market place for one thing completely various, check out out the booth for Salsas Mi Alma, the place one particular of the specialties is the Gourmand Seed Salsa showcasing a mixture of crunchy almonds, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower, and sesame seeds preserved in a flavorful oil.
Salsas Mi Alma options nine other freshly-manufactured blends as perfectly — varying in spiciness from fiery warm to gentle.
Pro Suggestions
- If a relaxed lunch or night snack is in order, prevent by the lovely very little La Placita Café in the San Jacinto Plaza in downtown El Paso. For anything light-weight on a warm evening, I liked the cucumber sticks dusted with flavorful chili powder and the cucumber lemonade. The stand also delivers a variety of border tacos, scorching puppies, and sweet crispy churros.
- With its thriving dining, arts, and history scenes, El Paso can make for a excellent desired destination visit, or a prevent on a countrywide park street vacation. For suggestions on area points of interest, see 10 Great Items To Do In Historic El Paso, Texas, and for street excursion inspiration, see Countrywide Park Street Vacation: 7 Very best Stops From White Sands To Major Bend.