I purposely left Austin at 4am to get to Las Cruces, New Mexico by lunchtime. It’s one of my favorite places for Mexican food and once I’m there I know I only have four more hours before reaching Tucson. Also there’s the fact that there really isn’t much to see or do between Austin and El Paso Texas, especially when one leaves so early in the morning. One thing I would like to explore on another trip would be the Texas wine country. My route took me through some very small towns that were lined with wineries for miles. I had no idea of the expanse of wineries in the Hill Country. A quick internet search will give you approximately 50 wineries in the area of my travels. So note to self and all of you, that’s something to check out! Texas is always full of surprises.
Las Cruces also holds many things of interest. It’s history dates way back to the 1500’s when Don Juan de Oñate made his way into what is now New Mexico in search of gold. (Have you heard of the 7 Cities of Gold?) The Spaniard’s were obsessed with the legend they had heard while in South America and their search took them deep into what is now America. In 1598, Oñate on behalf of the King of Spain, made his way through the Great Pass of the North”, which is now known as El Paso. The road they created is one that goes from Mexico City all the way to Santa Fe. The route became a trade route and was known as the Camino Real. The area of present day Las Cruces was the final place for water before Oñate’s group passed through a desolate stretch of land that later became known as the Jornada del Muerto, or Journey of the Dead. Many men died of thirst along this stretch, both during Oñate’s search and on many that followed. Oñate’s expedition marked the first major European colonization of the North American continent, years before Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. So Las Cruces was an important place to stop before people made their way north. The name Las Cruces has many origins , most of them are about settlers being killed and crosses being put up in their memory or it might simply be the Spanish translation for “Crossroads or Crossing”. I like that we can chose the one that suits our needs! Las Cruces was also famous for Billy The Kid who was captured there and sentenced to hang for the killing of Andrew “Buckshot” Roberts in 1880. He was taken to Lincoln, NM where he escaped before his hanging could take place, but was later shot by Sheriff Pat Garett in 1881. There’s always some interesting history wherever you go!
On this trip I decided to eat at an old Mexican restaurant known as Napolito which means little cactus in Spanish. Napolitos are part of the family of Prickly Pear Cacti and they’re edible. The signature salsa at Napolito’s is made with cactus, green chili’s and onions and a few other ingredients. The restaurant is also located on the Camino Real , so it seemed appropriate. There are much older restaurants in Las Cruces but this one was started in 1968 and was once a very old church , so it does have that high ceiling feel of openness. They also have one outdoor table and that’s where I sat. The Mexican food in New Mexico uses green chili’s more than other versions and their food can be slightly spicier. These are two things I love about it. Napolito didn’t stray from this tradition either. Sometimes I want to eat everything on the menu so when that happens I love to order the combination plate. I had combo plate numero uno, which consisted of a taco, flauta (rolled fried taco) an enchilada and green chili con carne. Yes, that does seem like a huge amount of food but, in my defense I hadn’t eaten anything all day! With the accompaniment of their cactus salsa this meal was exactly what a road weary traveler needed. The taco was perfect and the flauta wasn’t greasy. I have a special place in my heart for enchiladas so they have to be really awful for me to say anything. This enchilada wasn’t the best I had ever eaten but could have used more filling and less sauce. The green chili con carne was heaven on a plate! It had me wishing I had ordered that as my whole meal instead. I often find that this is the case in my travels, but when you’re doing a food and travel blog I feel it’s important to try as wide an array of food as possible to give the readers an idea of what’s out there. If I come here again it’ll be their green chili burrito for sure.
Sitting outside on the patio it wasn’t hard to imagine how things looked back in the old days. The old horse drawn wagons bringing people and supplies to and from Mexico. The area is surrounded by many old adobe homes and Napolito’s Gallery was housed in an adobe home built in the 1800’s. A fun bit of history about Las Cruces is back in the day when they were building the first homes using mud to make the adobe bricks, people started digging holes in the streets to get the dirt they needed, this prompted the Mayor to pass legislation that all holes had to be filled in and the roads smoothed out and no one could use dirt from the streets for the houses! I find it interesting to think of how America was settled in different parts of the country at once. Most of us tend to only think of the East Coast and movement West but it wasn’t that way. If you ever get out West for a road trip I think you’d enjoy studying the local history in the places you visit. It was a hard land and only hardy people could settle it. That led to a lot of colorful characters that helped to make America what it is today. It’s time for this old cowboy to saddle up and head into the sunset for the final leg of my journey. If you have any questions or comments as always please leave them in the box below. If you haven’t signed up for email reminders please do so, so you’ll be informed on my next post. Thanks for stopping by and until next time Boone Appétit!
Wave hello to my son, Charlie.
He and wife are living in Las Cruces now.
Hi Gail, next time I’m passing through I’ll let you know! Have you eaten there?
We were there last year. Ate in Mesilla and elsewhere but I don’t think there
Will do on our next visit!