Restaurants in El Paso

Walking into Andre’s Pizza can feel like walking into a home kitchen. As family members chop up veggies for fresh salads and hand-knead dough for pizzas, the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven wafts over the entire scene. The bread is used for toasted deli subs that diners customize with six meats and three cheeses, as well as add-ons such as guacamole and bacon. The aforementioned pizza dough gets slathered with homemade sauce before it’s transformed into specialty pizzas—sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts top the gourmet pie, and sausage, meatballs, and bacon bulk up the all-meat pizza. The rest of the menu includes custom calzones and eight salads that, like the best avant-garde art, can be drizzled with a selection of house-made dressings.

The menu at Amore Ristorante Pizzeria raises the quintessential dilemma of Italian cuisine: pizza or pasta? Those opting for pies can slice up crusts laden with gourmet toppings such as prosciutto and brie or pesto and feta. Alternatively, plates of pasta entice diners to spear forkfuls of tortellini and ham or fettuccine alfredo bulked up with chicken or salmon. After dinner, tiramisu and spumoni sweeten meals better than a lazy susan carved out of chocolate.

Plumes of aromatic smoke curl from the arms of colorful hookahs as Al-Zaituna’s chefs cook up moist yet crispy falafel and tender kebabs. Stuffed grape leaves and hummus satiate palates alongside gyro meats nestled into pitas that are baked daily, and sips of turkish coffee power up neural search engines.

The chefs at Salma Farah's Mediterranean Restaurant stick to the culinary traditions of the sun-steeped Greek and Turkish shores. Kebabs sizzle as they pour tzatziki across gyros and roll grape leaves. Garlic and eggplant roast aromatically, bound for bowls of hummus or baba ghanouj. Steam rises from earthy, dark Arabic coffee near fatayers—baked pastries consisting of dough rolled around spinach or meat. The BYOB policy lets guests bring in their favorite vintage without having to pay a corkage fee or watch a clumsy waiter try to impress everybody with his unicycling skills when delivering bottles.

Chef Patricia Carpio and the crew at Mancora Peruvian Restaurant draw on an array of international flavors sampled from Spain, Italy, Africa, and Quechua to tweak each traditional Peruvian dish. Aromas of pollo saltado, sautéed chicken with tomatoes and french fries over rice, and seafood ceviche marinated in fresh lemon juices mingle and waft into the dining area. There, patrons dig into fire-roasted chicken and classic Peruvian desserts of sweet caramel meringue and baked custards.

Elegant white plates serve as the canvases for Pacifica Seafood & Bar’s decadent undersea feasts, holding artfully presented helpings of everything from tuna Shanghai to shrimp quesadillas. Diners enjoy fish tacos, 12-ounce skirt steaks, and roasted chicken amid expansive windows overlooking a picturesque mountainous view. Though it sounds swanky, the restaurant pulses with relaxed vibes, with colorful writing and drawings scribbled across the white walls and bartenders pouring drinks directly into patron's mouths. Bottles of Indio beer fuel game-watching sessions around one of six high-definition televisions, or cool off games of full-contact charades played on the outdoor patio.