Adventurous Dining in the Southwest

Making New Year's Resolutions

It is the time of year for New Year's Resolutions.  Instead of making the usual ones about diet and exercise (often broken by January 15th), my husband, Wayne, and I resolved to try as many different ethnic restaurants as we could locate in our home city of El Paso, Texas during 2018.

El Paso, a border city with Mexico

El Paso has bragging rights as the "Mexican Food Capital of the U.S."  And I do not intend to desert our favorite local Mexican food restaurants.   But El Paso isn't just a bilingual, bicultural border city— it is home to many different ethnic groups and nationalities.  I set out to make a list of culturally diverse cafes and restaurants we can visit in our own home town.

A Google search for "ethnic restaurants in El Paso" brought up even more locations than I had imagined:   Indian, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Greek, Puerto Rican, German, Vietnamese, and Thai.  I stopped looking at this point, although I know we will discover many more now that we are on the lookout for a different dining experience.

I read through reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor to see if I could choose restaurants to put first on our list, concentrating on the food offerings. Wayne is a carnivore, and I am almost a vegetarian.  Neither of us wants to resort to eating the bread all night because we can't find anything on the menu that suits us (I speak from experience!)  Of course, it was impossible to ignore comments about the atmosphere and service.  And I was impressed when reviewers mentioned that the wait staff or even the owner were happy to answer questions about the menu.

Puerto Rico

The ethnic restaurant I chose for our first dining adventure was the Puerto Rican Sabor Boricua, or  "Taste of Puerto Rico."  The dish mentioned most often was mofongo, a dish based on fried plantains, which you can order with meat or chicken.  The guava sauce was praised by reviewers, as were the pastelillos (little filled pies).

Germany

Peter's German Grill and Bakery also had many positive comments from diners who ordered Wiener Schnitzel with potato salad or Bratwurst with sauerkraut and onions.  The pumpernickel bread and homemade desserts caught my eye.

Italy

Italian food is a bit more familiar to us, but I thought Mi Piaci (translates to "I like you") offered some special menu items.  Pistachio pesto pasta and vegetarian bruschetta looked promising,  not to mention that the pasta is homemade. 

Greece

Zino's Greek Restaurant is a fourth restaurant that may help us expand our knowledge of other cultures. The menu offers some dishes that sound vaguely familiar, like gyros, tabouli, hummus, pita bread and baklava.  Other dishes like falafel, spanakopita, and moussaka may take venturing into the unknown.

Other cultures have held a fascination for me since I was a child.  I probably won't have the chance to travel to every country I would like to visit, but a pleasant evening spent in a new ambiance with interesting local dishes may curb that travel longing for a short while.  I wonder how long it will be, though, before I just have to have a plate of huevos rancheros from my favorite El Paso Mexican food restaurant, the L & J?

L and J Cafe, El Paso, Texas

How we fight Old Man Winter in the Southwest

I'll be the first to admit that fighting Old Man Winter in the Southwest takes less effort than confronting him in other locales.  A friend who lives near Quebec, Canada wrote to me several weeks ago describing their swimming pool as a Popsicle.  And I regularly check the daily high temperatures of a friend in London, England, which are hovering in the 40's (F). 

Here in the Desert Southwest, in El Paso, Texas, we have yet to experience a killing freeze.  The outside plants do look a little chilly, I must admit. They shiver through the cold nights (cold=in the 40's for us), but they soon perk up as the morning sun warms them.  Then the 70 degree daytime temperatures make them forget how cold they were the night before.

As we are warned in "The Game of Thrones," winter is coming. Every day I consider bringing the more delicate plants inside.  But I postpone that unpleasant task.  One of these nights I'm going to be forced to throw on a heavy coat and rescue them from certain death. Then the plants can huddle inside the house around windows, searching for light and heat until mid-March.

The colder nights in El Paso, however, do give us an excuse to spend more time outdoors.  After all, our summers are so hot that sitting outside is not a pleasant option.   In  autumn and most of winter, all that is needed is a little extra warmth. Free-standing chimeneas (chimneys) are readily available and inexpensive in the Southwest.  We bought this chimenea to place by the jacuzzi so that bathers can move quickly from the warm water to a warm chair.

Chimenea by spa

We were so proud of our first chimenea that we bought another to put in the main courtyard.  It occupies a sheltered spot where you can have a hot drink and listen to the soothing sounds of the fountain.

Chimenea in main courtyard

My husband, Wayne, and a good friend built this kiva fireplace many years ago in what we call the barbecue courtyard.  Cooks and diners alike can keep warm while waiting for the brisket to come out of the barbecue pit.

Kiva fireplace in barbecue courtyard

Or Wayne may prepare breakfast in his cook shack on an old-fashioned stove.

Cook shack stove

But my favorite heat source for frosty evenings is an old wood-burning stove that heats an outdoor room that we call the bunkhouse.  No cowboys bunk here, but many a game of cards or dominoes has gone long into the night, thanks to the gentle warmth from the stove.

Bunkhouse stove

You can see why autumn and winter are my favorite Southwest seasons.  The blazing sun of summer has passed on, and the wailing winds of spring are yet to come.  As long as we can give Mother Nature a little help with creating heat for chilly nights, we can look forward to cozy evenings spent in the outdoors.