West Side & Upper Valley
Mesa Street commerce on the bench, pecan groves and horse property down in the valley.
The character of the place
- The West Side is where most of the newer restaurants and shopping have landed.
- Drop down to Doniphan and the Upper Valley and it turns rural fast — irrigation ditches, cottonwoods, farm stands.
- Straight-shot access to Transmountain and to New Mexico.
Eat and drink here
All places →Lucy's Café
$Breakfast · West Side, N Mesa St
Breakfast burritos, machaca, and huevos rancheros for the West Side before-work crowd.
Taquería Elemi
$$Taquería · Far West Side, Paseo del Norte
The Marentes family’s West Side taquería — the same obsessive house masa, in a faster, cheaper format.
Taquería El Cometa
$Taquería · West Side, N Mesa St
A straightforward Mesa Street taquería that the neighborhood keeps to itself.
Twisted Fork
$$American & cocktails · West Side, Resler Dr
A West Side scratch kitchen with a cocktail bar attached and a patio people camp out on.
Ripe Eatery & Market
$$Brunch · West Side, Redd Rd
The West Side brunch standby — scratch kitchen, bright room, long Sunday lines.
Crave Kitchen & Bar
$$American · Kern Place and other locations
Pancakes the size of a hubcap, burgers, and the Cincinnati-district patio that started it all.
State Line
$$Barbecue · Sunland Park Dr, at the NM line
Big Texas barbecue served family-style, right where the state line is.
Rosa's Cantina
$Honky-tonk · Upper Valley, Doniphan Dr
The cantina behind the Marty Robbins song, still standing on Doniphan with the memorabilia on the walls and live music on Saturday nights.
The Hope & Anchor
$Neighborhood bar · West Side, N Mesa St
A low-lit neighborhood bar on Mesa with a big patio and a straight-on view of the Franklins.
The Hoppy Monk
$$Beer bar · West Side, N Mesa St
Independently owned since 2010, with dozens of taps, a deep spirits list and a scratch kitchen that is not an afterthought.
Kinley's House Coffee & Tea
$Coffee house · Kern Place, N Mesa St
A converted house near UTEP with porch seating and a permanent population of students and laptop workers.
Do this here
All things to do →Keystone Heritage Park & El Paso Desert Botanical Garden
Park & garden
A wetland, an archaeological site dating back thousands of years, and a desert garden — all on the same few acres.
UTEP & the Sun Bowl
College sports & campus
A campus built in Bhutanese-inspired architecture — genuinely, sloping walls and all — wrapped around a stadium carved into the mountain.
Also worth knowing
- The Hoppy Monk
- The Hope & Anchor
- Lucy's Café
- Ripe Eatery
- Rosa's Cantina
- State Line
Nearby
- Franklin Mountains trailheads
- Ardovino's Saturday farmers market
- Sunland Park Racetrack