Places to eat in Las Cruces

Visiting Las Cruces?

If you're looking at this blog because you're thinking of visiting or are already here and Googling in your hotel room, welcome!
I bet by driving into town you didn't see much and are thinking about going to McDonald's or Denny's for dinner. You don't have to do that. I know I've done that in a few cities because; there wasn't enough time to explore; I had no idea where anything was; and I've had bad experiences in restaurants that have a huge online presence (you don't want to be adventurous after you have a terrible dinner at a place the Internet says is the greatest in town).
Allow me to be your guide.

Breakfast:
Any of the local Mexican restaurants that serve breakfast — There are breakfast burritos smothered in chile and huevos rancheros — I think the best at El Patron Café,1103 S. Solano Drive, a tiny place that pushes out a pretty good breakfast and lunch. If you've never had chile like ours before, ask for it on the side, it could get really hot sometimes. 


A Bite of Belgium — I know, right? Belgian food in Las Cruces? Yeah, we have it and A Bite of Belgium has great things for breakfast including Belgian waffles, pain perdu (French toast) and a great sandwich called the Belgian Breakfast Brioche, a buttered brioche bun topped with eggs, ham and cheese. They also have the best fresh pastries and sweets such as apricot chausson, cinnamon rolls, Danishes, cream puffs, cake, ect. They also have a great lunch menu that includes sandwiches, one burger, soup and salads. Everything is homemade, even the breads for lunch.
Read a review here.
Hours: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day
Location: 741 N. Alameda St.
Info: 575-527-2483, abiteofbelgium.com

A waffle from Bite of Belgium is a good snack and can be found at the Las Cruces Farmers and Crafts Market.

Old Town Restaurant — This is a good ole' fashioned diner with good ole' fashioned breakfast plates with Mexican influences and Mexican items. One of my favorites here is the pork chop breakfast. It comes with two chops that are to die for. They're the kind of pork chops only your dad can make. They're not dry, they're full of flavor and the tasty little fatty ends top it off.
Hours: 7 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. every day
Location: 1155 S. Valley Drive
Info: 575-523-4586

Pork chop breakfast special at Old Town.

Lunch:
The Third Floor Bistro — Try not to get lost finding this place. Even the locals call in asking for direction. Get directions to the NMSU campus and the NMSU Aggies football stadium (called: Stan Fulton Center). On the third floor of this building, which is connected to the stadium, is a very nice restaurant that's only open for lunch. Picture: table cloths, full-length windows over looking the stadium, water goblets, cloth napkins and shiny silverware. A pulled pork sandwich with green chile aoili costs around $7. It's a small menu, but they do it very well. It's classy — and they serve alcohol.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Location: From University Avenue, take the Frontage Road south onto campus. Take a right on Payne Street until you come up to the football stadium. At the south of the stadium is the Stan Fulton Center and on the third floor is the Bistro.
Info: 575-646-4763.

 Pulled pork sandwich at Third Floor Bistro.

Rockin' BZ Burgers — They have the best green chile cheeseburger in town."The Champ" is what you want to get because it came in first place at the state Green Chile Cheeseburger Challenge in 2012. If you've had as many green chile cheeseburgers as I have, you'll find that each restaurant does it differently and every burger has a unique taste. You can practically blindfold me and I can tell you where that burger came from. And I can also tell you BZ's has the best green chile cheeseburger in town.
Read a food review here.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Location:3961 E. Lohman Ave.
Info: 575-521-9336

A 1/4-pound burger from Rockin' BZ's.

Tiffany's Pizza and Greek Cuisine — Tiffany makes the best gyro and hummus in town! The meat is juicy, their bread is soft and the Greek salad is tops. One order of the gyro sandwich is enough to feed two people, so make room for leftovers. This place is well-lit with a very friendly atmosphere.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday
Location: 755 S. Telshor Blvd.
Info: 575-532-5002

A gyro with Greek salad from Tiffany's.

Pho Saigon and Pho A Dong Vietnamese restaurants — If you're looking for something a little different, we have two Vietnamese restaurants that are very much on par with each other. I eat at both of them and they serve up some of the same items. They have more than 100 items on their menu to choose from including traditional Vietnamese items to plates that unadventurous Americans might be more comfortable with. And they both have giant bowls of pho. You can't go wrong at either of these restaurants.
Read a review of Pho Saigon here. And read about A Dong here.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day at Pho Saigon. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at A Dong
Location: Pho Saigon, 1160 El Paseo Road and A Dong is at 504 E. Amador Ave.

A dish from Pho Saigon.

Perfume chicken from A Dong.

Blakes Lotaburger — Home of New Mexico's favorite burger. We love this place. The burgers are large and strictly come with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and mustard. You can add green chile too! They have hot dogs and chicken on the board too. Lotaburger also has breakfast and they have a great breakfast burrito.
Locations: 700 S. Solano Drive (take-out only), 2915 N. Main St. and 1300 S. Valley Drive

Ranchway BBQ — They have the best refried beans and ribeye steak in town! That is, if you like a juicy steak that's a little on the fatty side — hey, if you're going to have a steak, have a steak. That's my favorite kind of steak. Rancheway has the oldest barbeque in town where they smoke meat in an old iron oven with mesquite. They have Mexican favorites, barbecue and great chips and salsa. It's a little cramped, but it's comfortable and homey. You may want to call ahead and ask if they have steaks available (I have their number saved on my phone). They're so popular, they always run out of them.
Hours: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday
Location: 604 N. Valley Drive
Info: 575-523-7361.

Dinner:
De La Vega's Pecan Grill and Brewery —This place is higher on the scale than most places here. They have a fancy menu that includes steaks, chicken, seafood, salads with a unique Las Cruces twist (which mostly means added pecans and green chile: i.e. green chile macaroni and cheese). Everything is delicious and tastes expertly made. Lunch is around $10. And they have a full bar that serves a brilliant pecan beer. It's a sweet, savory and nutty brew and one of my all-time favorite beers.
Hours: 11 to 2 a.m. Monday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 to 2 a.m. Thursday to Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday
Location: 500 S. Telshor Blvd.
Info: 575-521-1099, pecangrill.com

A lobster bisque from Pecan Grill.

Double Eagle —  If you're looking for a special place to spoil yourself and your dining partner, Double Eagle is the place to do it. It's the home of aged steaks, baked Brie cheese and juicy pork chops. Sit in a very elegant dining room with gold ceilings, oil paintings and low light. It's the fanciest place in town and probably one of the oldest.
Read a food review here.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday and Sunday brunch seating at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Location: 2355 Calle de Guadalupe
Info: 575-523-6700

Delmonico steak from Double Eagle.

Paisano Cafe —Spanish cooking. Don't get that mixed up with Mexican cooking, it's a whole different animal. Their menu items are almost all in Spanish, but reading the translations and descriptions makes your mouth water. It's really a culinary adventure when you go there. Everything on the menu has a special Paisano touch to it that makes it unique and memorable. It's one of my favorite places in town.
Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Location: 1740 Calle de Mercado

 A smothered burger from Paisano Cafe.

St. Clair Winery and Bistro — I had a fantastic chicken Marsala here with the best side of fresh vegetables I've ever had. These vegetables were so very tasty, I could have a plate of them with nothing else. The chicken and pasta was good too. I like their healthy servings of bread sticks and the elegant look of the dining room. You can fill yourself up here and it's actually not that pricy.
Read a food review here.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Location: 1720 Avenida de Mesilla
Info: 575-524-2408

Chicken Marsala from St. Clair.

Dessert
Caliches — If you're not tired of green chile getting into everything, Caliches has a green chile sundae. I've had a sample of it and it was weird, though I can see how some people may love it. But there's lots more here. It's a local drive-up joint with the best frozen custard in town. I rarely get ice cream anywhere else because once you have Caliches, you can't go back to anything else. Items start around $4. And they put giant, salted, warm pecans on almost everything!
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Locations: 590 S. Valley Drive and 131 S. Roadrunner Parkway
Info: 575-647-5066

 Pumpkin pie and Gizmo Caliche.