The Percolator, El Paso

The hum of live performances echoes across The Percolator, where guests meet over mugs of organic coffee and plates of gourmet sandwiches and sushi. Chefs usher in the day with eggs, meat, and vegetarian breakfast wraps before moving on to lunch and dinner to assemble chicken pesto or herbed goat–cheese sandwiches along with seven specialty sushi rolls. Lattes, mochas, and creamy coffee frappés start days or cap off meals, and a selection of beer and wine rinses off incisors. As customers sip and dine, they lounge at the cafe's numerous tabletops beneath local artwork and vibrant murals on the crimson walls. A stage hosts a rotating schedule of live music, poetry slams, and theater nearly every day, offering visitors a welcome reprieve from frustrating evenings of teaching a pet tortoise to roll over.