Background

New Mexico Tourism & Travel published a list of the state's Culinary Treasures, restaurants which have been in continuous operation for at least 40 years and which remain family owned and operated. Billy Crews in Santa Teresa (just outside the El Paso city limits) made the list, as did several restaurants in the Las Cruces area.

In the same spirit I am submitting my own list of El Paso Mexican restaurants which was compiled in 1976 (my first year of living in the city). This is not quite a 40 year old list, and does not include anything other than Mexican food, but it is somewhat of a start in identifying El Paso's "culinary treasures." Probably the ratings I made of these restaurants are not as important as the fact that many of them are still in operation, showing what I think is a greater than average longevity of eating places in El Paso.

This list includes Mexican Restaurants from the telephone directory, but I do not believe it is a complete list. After this much time I cannot remember the reason some restaurants were not included (but I suspect I saw some names in the phone book which I did not know were Mexican restaurants).

The restaurants I visited and rated are in bold.

Rating System

Ratings are included for restaurants I visited:

Additional Comments

I think this was my first attempt at rating restaurants, and all comments were based on my personal preferences rather than any objective or systematic rating scale.

Some restaurants had higher ratings in 1976 than I would give them today, and this is probably due to my perception that they have declined in quality. Examples of this include Leo's and Elmer's.

Some restaurants had low ratings in 1976 that at this point I really cannot explain based on later experiences. These include Forti's and Riviera.

The price categories were somewhat influenced by my budget, and probably some of the places marked "expensive" were not so in reality.

At the time there was not much variety in the style of Mexican food served-- it was all either Chihuahua style or the closely related El Paso border style (which had more emphasis on enchiladas and the chile relleno). The big difference was in execution and quality of the food, with small places such as Lupita's and larger restaurants such as Griggs and La Hacienda making me think that I could do quite well by eating out most of the time.

******************************

For some reason in 1976 I thought Chico's Tacos was good, and this shows how my tastes have changed over the years.

Casa Jurado was more upscale then most restaurants and had better food, but it was casual enough to go during lunch hour.

Del Camino was the closest thing to what I considered to be a "fine dining" experience in El Paso, although usually people went to Ciudad Juarez for the most upscale food (in El Paso they would go to a steakhouse or a private club).

Forti's opened in Dec. 1976, so this rating would have been shortly after they opened (possibly in early 1977).

Griggs is now closed, but one of its cooks opened Peppe's in Canutillo, serving the Griggs family recipes.

The last time I went to G & R it looked as if the same owners were still running it, and I think it is quite a good candidate for a "culinary treasure" designation. The chile con queso also classifies as a culinary treasure to me.

L & W was somewhat different because it served both Mexican and Chinese food. I liked the Chinese food much better.

La Hacienda was somewhat of a "special experience" restaurant because of the historic building in which it was located (literally a "hacienda") and because it had old-style professional waiters just like in Mexico's high end restaurants. The long running La Hacienda closed around 2004 and the owners retired, but one of the cooks still works at Amigos Restaurant near Montana and Cotton (and the "La Hacienda" food is still served there).

Leo's and La Terraza are owned by the same family, thus the restaurant at 315 Mills has been under continuous ownership even though it changed from Leo's to La Terraza, and then back to Leo's.

Lupita's on Myrtle was something of a Mexican version of a "meat plus three" restaurant because the side dishes were usually delicious tasting vegetables rather than the standard rice and beans. Like many restaurants near downtown and probably throughout the city, it was a small restaurant run by one person who made it feel more like a home cooked meal than restaurant food.

Pancho's on Alameda Ave. was the original restaurant which later developed into a chain, and was the only Pancho's which I considered to have a real Mexican flavor.