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