Restaurants in Las Cruces

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.

When describing The Magic Pan Restaurant's cuisine to Ventanas Magazine, owner Annette Lawrence, an El Paso native, described it as "gourmet with a Southwestern flair." Homemade sauces and dressings in flavors such as honey Tabasco and creamy cilantro lime add kick to fresh salads served with sides such as pecan cornbread, while parmesan cream laced with peppery chipotle spices up a classic bowl of fettuccini alfredo. Smoked and roasted meats fill the majority of the restaurant's sandwiches, which are held together by focaccia, brioche, ciabatta, or the telekinetic powers of the kitchen's chef, and meaty entrees such as prime angus ribeye with smoked sea salt, cognac, and fresh herb compound butter reveal the kitchen's talent for updating culinary classics.

According to Ventanas Magazine, The Magic Pan's interior also combines flavors from around the globe in a design scheme orchestrated by Lawrence and her daughter Vanessa. At The Pan Restaurant on Cincinnati Street, work from local furniture makers is showcased alongside pieces imported from Bali, while guests to the original restaurant on Doniphan Drive enjoy their vibrant fare while surrounded by colorful, original artwork or patio planters filled with exotic flowers.:m]]

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.

Like an overzealous mama bird, The Brown Bag Deli has been feeding hundreds of hungry mouths over its 30-plus years in existence. Join the nest with today’s deal: for $5, you get $10 worth of sandwiches, soups, salads, and more at this German Village mainstay. This is a popular lunch spot, but it's also open for dinner. Please don't neglect dinner, as he hates when his little brother gets all the attention and will most likely react by putting mashed potatoes in your hair while you sleep.

As its name implies, Brown Bag Deli focuses its culinary efforts almost exclusively on fresh sandwiches. The shop’s staff stands ready to fashion any meat and veggie-packed sandwich from the deli's menu of more than 30 choices, such as liverwurst and bologna, or genoa and smoked ham. The restaurant also pairs its subs with sweet and sugary sides that range from chips and pickles to carrot cake and cookies, all of which make great bargaining chips for lunch trades that fetch strangers’ savings bonds.