Steve's Gastronomic Home Page

Carnitas Queretaro:  This is a local mini-chain that specializes in Chihuahua style food (despite the name "Queretaro"). This is one of the best places in town to try "Lent Specials" (food served on Fridays during Lent). Some of the other food I tried did not excite me as much as in the past, even some of my favorite dishes such as mole and pozole. For a place that is open every day and that serves as many customers as it does, I am not surprised that CQ would have its ups and downs. It is generally consistently good, but this time I did not think it was the best. I went to the one on Mesa Street in Coronado, but some readers have said the one on Mesa near UTEP is the best location. I will try to make it there next time.

Mi Tierra:  This is a little restaurant at Belvidere and Westwind that I think serves some of the best breakfasts in town. I tried several items, but the one I like best is still the one I recommend on my web page (Huevos estilo de Mi Tierra).

H & H Car Wash:  I went there for the first time in a number of years. I had quit going because I thought it was too greasy, but this time I was pleasantly surprised by the breakfast. This is good, solid El Paso style food with a good kick to the chiles.

Barrigas:  If Barrigas has a dish I think is particularly good, it is probably the "enchiladas suizas" (green chicken enchiladas with sour cream). It is also one of my "go to" places for mole. Barrigas is a good upscale restaurant that I think is good for first time visitors to El Paso.

El Taconazo:  It is easy to overlook this place since it is tucked back in a shopping center behind some other buildings on Mesa, but this is a great place for tacos al carbon and other meat items. It closes early on some nights, and I have the best luck going on Fridays.

Los Jarrones:  This is a great home cooking style restaurant in the Upper Valley with a bakery attached (although I do not care as much for the bakery as the ones downtown). The food is fresh, good tasting, and cheap. The major flaw is that it does not serve aguas frescas.

El Rincon de Cortez:  I had not been to this restaurant on Sun Bowl Drive for some time. I tried the tampiquena steak, and thought it was as good as I had remembered. The red enchilada that came with it was surprisingly good (in the past I had thought only the steaks were good here, and I did not care for the other things served).

Red Peppers (Redd Rd. & Westwind):  I had received letters warning me that Red Peppers was not as good as previously, but I found it to be about the same. I find Mi Tierra better for breakfast, though, located a little farther south at Belvidere & Westwind.

Delicias Cafe (Resler & Redd Rd.):  Of the Mexican restaurants available for breakfast in the Franklin High School area, this is my least favorite, and I think Mi Tierra and Red Peppers are better choices. The lunch and dinner menus have a few things I like, and I have recently begun to think they have one of the best moles in town.

China Star:  When I went to China Star I did not find the same authentic Chinese dishes to be available as when Mike was there. I am not a good judge of American style dishes, so it is hard to say whether this is a good place to go for them. I talked to the new chef, and he said he could prepare some authentic Chinese dishes if I requested them. The problem, though, is in requesting them. I asked both the host and the waitress about ordering traditional (not American style food), and neither could offer any suggestions other than what was on the menu, and I was not able to talk to the chef until I had finished my dinner and I saw him eating a meal in the dining area. Even if the authentic Chinese food turns out to be good, I would say most people would have difficulty ordering it, so I would not really recommend China Star as a place to try to order it. (I would, however, suggest going to Mayflower up the street on Dyer). The review I wrote about China Star, though, probably now applies to Red Lantern rather than China Star.

Oriental Cafe:  Oriental Cafe across the street from Franklin High School is a neighborhood Chinese restaurant that is gaining a reputation among El Paso's Chinese community as a place to go for food that tastes like it does "at home." By this I mean simple food (not necessarily elaborate banquet food) that is prepared the traditional Chinese way (the owners are from the Guangzhou area of southern China). It has an American style menu, but even this has been changed to have a more Chinese taste by using sauces that are more flavorful and not as salty. In addition, there are special items listed on the wall (with pictures), and there is usually something available from the kitchen that is not on the menu. This is my "go to" place for everyday Chinese food that is healthy, inexpensive, and tastes like "real Chinese food" (no, I have not been to China, but the food here tastes like the food you can get in the Chinatown areas of the west coast).

Moon Day:  Moon Day is unique in several respects. It serves authentic tasting northern Chinese food from family recipes, and in fact I have not found any food quite like it anywhere in the country (including "Mandarin" style Chinese restaurants). It is also unique because the menu does not offer americanized style dishes, although there are quite a few items most people would recognize. I would say that everything served, though, is very much like I would expect to find it in northern China (in the Beijing region). Although several restaurants in El Paso offer spicy Chinese food, Moon Day is the only one that I consider as succeeding in serving it in an authentic Chinese style (although not all dishes at Moon Day are spicy). Along with Oriental Cafe, I think Moon Day serves genuine top quality Chinese food, although in a competely different style. Moon Day would probably be my first suggestion for a special occasion meal, although there are lunch specials and other dishes available that make it more affordable on a more frequent basis.

Golden Buddha:  The UTEP restaurant closed, and now the only restaurant operating is at the crossroads on Mesa (between Doniphan and IH-10). The lunch specials are cheap, but variable in quality. More authentic food is available, but the prices are higher. This is not my favorite Chinese restaurant, but it offers better choices than many restaurants in the city.

Sam's:  I ate at Sam's Restaurant while I was in town, and even though many of the chefs have left to operate the "satellite" restaurants, authentic Chinese food can still be ordered here. It no longer has some of the specials that used to be listed on the wall, but if you want something simple (such as noodle soup), the chef will be able to prepare it.

Tara Thai:  As mentioned, this is El Paso's newest Thai restaurant. It is definitely upscale, with what I consider to be high prices for Thai food. I did not eat there for dinner, but the dinner menu was considerably more expensive than the lunch menu, perhaps even surpassing Lemongrass in Las Cruces. I liked the food, but I regularly get food of equal or greater quality in Oklahoma City Thai restaurants. I will have to go back to Tara Thai to find out what they do that I really consider the standout dishes. They were not afraid to make the food "Thai spicy," so I would suggest taking this into account when ordering (it is probably better to get the food too mild than too spicy).

True Thai:  True Thai, on Fred Wilson just off of U.S. 54, seems to be on about its fourth owner with as many or more cooks over the years. In my opinion it was best when it had the first owner, but I also think the food is pretty good now. The biggest weakness of True Thai has seemed to be the use of cheaper meats and vegetables than the other Thai restaurants, but I have always liked the curry here the best of any restaurant in El Paso. When I ordered seafood soup on my most recent visit it indicated that the ingredients served may have improved in quality, so I think it is possible the food may now (again, as it was when True Thai first opened) be comparable to more upscale restaurants such as Tara Thai.

Singapore:  Singapore has many dishes I like a lot and many that have a totally non-Thai taste to me. The problem is figuring out which dishes are which. From my most recent visits, it seems that the food is much the same as when I last updated my review.

India Palace:  I have tried just about everything on the menu, so there is not much to discover on new visits other than to determine if the quality of food is about the same as before. I found it to be the same, although at higher prices than a year ago.

Chut-ney:  Chut-ney began with the concept that it would mainly serve dosas and other south Indian food, but quickly expanded the menu to meet customers' expectations for the type of dishes served at India Palace and other northern Indian restaurants. I found the south Indian food (particularly the dosas) to be wonderful, and clearly my favorite Indian food in El Paso. For north Indian food, though, I would recommend going to India Palace, since I like their version better. When going to Chut-ney, I found the waiter to be very helpful in recommending the dishes the chef does quite well.

Saigon Taste:  On my latest visits the lemongrass tofu and the pho seemed better than ever, while the "Saigon pancake" was not as good (but still good). One dish that always seems better at Saigon Taste than Pho Tre Bien is the tofu hot pot.

Pho Tre Bien:  On my latest visit I tried lemongrass tofu that was excellent (perhaps better than at Saigon Taste), and I also like the pho. There are probably as many dishes here that I think are better than at Saigon Taste as the reverse. Probably the boba drinks are better here.

Tony's Deli:  Since this is the only German restaurant I have tried this year, this is the only one I can review. I used to go to Smit's in Sunrise Center on Saturdays for bratwurst grilled outside on the sidewalk, and I have yet to find any bratwurst that compare (or even come close). The exception to this is the bratwurst served by Tony's Deli, which are no longer made in Alamogordo as the original ones were, but they are made by the same family and as far as I can tell have the same flavor and quality. Tony's has a number of other sandwiches, but I would say if you like bratwurst you really need to try the one here.

Il Posto:  This is no longer one of El Paso's newest Italian restaurants, but I think it is one of the best. From its humble beginnings on Doniphan Drive it has developed into a "special occasion" restaurant with popular wine tasting dinners and daily specials in addition to the high quality menu that is offered. Prices for both the special dinners and the daily specials are usually a little higher than the regular menu, but the nightly special I ordered turned out to be one of the best Italian meals I have had, and I think is one thing that sets Il Posto apart from the other restaurants.

Cafe Italia:  It is hard to decide whether Cafe Italia or Hello Pizza have the best pizza in town, since they are two completely different styles of pizza. Hello Pizza is New York style, but I would guess that the brick oven cooked pizzas at Cafe Italia are some of the most authentic that can be found in the Southwest. I certainly think they are some of the best.