Great Tacos in West El Paso Texas

Great Tacos in West El Paso, Texas

Welcome to the Taco Tour

Welcome to Living in El Paso, Texas. My name is John Peña, and I'm a real estate agent here in El Paso. Today we are talking tacos. One of the many awesome things about El Paso is that you have a lot of Mexican food and Tex-Mex options here. This place is called Leo's. I chose it because it's super close to where I live, and chances are, if you move to El Paso, you're going to have a pretty good Mexican food restaurant near you too. I'm going to give a little review of Leo's, and then Miguel took out three other places. We want to start featuring local businesses as much as possible, to do our fair share to help the people who have businesses here be successful and get a little free marketing. So with that, let's dig into some tacos.

Where the Word "Taco" Came From

I did a little internet research to try to figure out the origin of the word taco, and this is the best explanation I came up with. In 18th century Mexico, in the silver mines, the word taco was used to describe what was called a plug, an explosive charge made of gunpowder wrapped in paper. Miners used these to excavate in the mines. That little explosive charge, that plug, was called a taco. I thought that was a pretty cool bit of history.

Why We Live in El Paso

You're watching the infinitely educational YouTube channel called Living in El Paso, Texas. This channel is all about El Paso: eat, sleep, work, play. If that's the kind of information you're interested in, this is the place to be. In all seriousness, this is a channel where we showcase El Paso, Texas, which is really an amazing place. We've come to love it. My family moved here about two years ago. It's funny, I was just with a gentleman today who's from Colorado and looking at investing in homes here, and he asked me why I moved here. My go-to response is weather, community, the people, and affordability. The weather is moderate, the community and the people are awesome, and it's affordable. The average home price here is still $200,000, which is pretty phenomenal.

This channel exists to feature and showcase El Paso. I like to joke with my friends that I'm the ambassador of El Paso. And yes, of course, I'm a real estate agent, and yes, I would love to sell you a home here or help you sell your home if you already live here. But in all reality, El Paso is an amazing community. A lot of people are fleeing California, the Pacific Northwest, New England, and even the Midwest, and El Paso is a pretty fantastic option for a lot of folks because it's such an amazing community.

The people here really are nice, I always say that, and I think some people roll their eyes at me for it. But when they get here, they're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe how nice everybody is. It's a pretty great community, and weather-wise, it's great too. Does it get hot in the summer? Absolutely, it gets hot in the summer. But does it get 120 degrees hot? No, it does not. Maybe 106 a couple of times a summer. This summer has been crazy because we've had so much rain, which has been a lot of fun. But weather-wise, it's amazing. In the winter here it's 50, 60 degrees, nice, and the sun's out. It's hard to beat that, and I've lived in Wisconsin, so trust me, I know what it means to experience a full-on winter.

Leo's Mexican Food

So: community, weather, affordability. I'm about to have the taco special here at Leo's, and it's going to run me $11.79. Now don't judge me, but it is Friday, it's after five o'clock, and this large margarita is probably going to run me about $5. Affordability-wise, pretty good. I'm about to get my food, so I'll give you my honest review of the tacos, and I'm really excited for you to see Miguel's debut with his own taco reviews. If there's anything you need, please reach out to us. My email address is john at penaelpaso.com. If you want to talk El Paso or talk real estate, give us a shout. Thank you.

Leo's Mexican Food Restaurant, over on the west side. Awesome place, been around for a long time. I spoke with the waitress, and yes, it is a local business. We really want to shift our focus to helping local businesses thrive, because we're all about community, this idea that we're all in this together, and we want to do our part to showcase local businesses.

Now, I'm very concerned about how I look when I eat food on camera, so please don't judge me here. I'm going to take a very dainty, delicate bite and give you my honest opinion.

I'm having the carnitas tacos. You probably don't know this, but I'm actually not fluent in Spanish. In past episodes I've had to pronounce some Spanish words, and I think I've mostly nailed it, but my father is Mexican, and he didn't speak Spanish to me growing up, so I never really picked it up as a kid, and my old brain hasn't been able to figure it out since. The kind waitress told me carnitas actually means pork. These tacos are amazing. Honestly, if you stick to local restaurants around here, you're probably going to have a similarly great meal, and you'll get the benefit of that affordability too.

Leo's is awesome. Love it. It's been here a long time, and it's literally about five minutes from me. Hard to beat great food right around the corner. Thank you all so much for watching and for supporting local businesses. Now let's roll into Miguel's top three taco choices.

Los Primos Barbacoa

Here we are at Los Primos Barbacoa, located at 5500 Doniphan Drive in this little strip mall area. When you first walk into the restaurant, you see the Los Primos Barbacoa sign, their refreshment cooler, and some local business cards and local treats, supporting local businesses here too. The general layout reminds me of a taco shop in Mexico. If you've ever been in Juárez, just over the border, you know plenty of taco shops there have this same general layout.

But let's get to the main event, the tacos. We started with an order of carnitas, very crispy and well done, and an order of barbacoa tacos, which is their specialty. Something we really liked about this place is that it gave you plenty of salsas and condiments, like lemon, onion, and cilantro. My dad always used to say, if you don't put salsa on a taco, it's not really a taco. Overall, this place captures an authentic Mexican taco flavor.

Tacos Chinampa

Now we're at Tacos Chinampa, located at 7500 North Mesa Street at the Promenade strip mall. The inside has a little more dining capacity than the last place, but it still captures that Mexican vibe, with a very nice mural painted on the wall. But the important part is the tacos. We ordered tripitas with corn tortillas, plus an order of tacos al pastor, which is this place's specialty. They gave us plenty of side choices to go with the tacos, which I really liked, along with plenty of salsas and condiments like cilantro and onion. The tacos were very delicious, everything cooked excellently. We couldn't have just one, so we tried different tacos with different sauces. Overall, this place delivered a very authentic Mexican-style taco as well.

Carnitas Queretaro

Last but not least, we're at Carnitas Queretaro, a Mexican restaurant located at 7410 Remcon Circle. There's a rather large parking lot, and it seems like a much bigger restaurant. Inside, it operates much like a bar and grill, with plenty of interesting decorations. The menu is laid out simply, with prices and descriptions for each item. But the important part is their specialty, the Queretaro plate. We had to order some more horchata, which is fresh, and of course any restaurant that gives you complimentary chips is a bonus. We got the carnitas quesadillas and carnitas with corn tortillas. This place also does a very good job of giving you plenty of side choices. Here we just got beans and rice, plus plenty of condiments like cilantro, onion, lemon, and salsas.

These are supposed to be carnitas quesadillas, but they really seem more like carnitas tacos with queso. We had to try out some different salsas, of course. Everything here was delicious, which is why we recommend it as a stop on your taco journey in El Paso.

Bonus: The Sopapilla

This episode could not get any better, because I've got a little bonus clip for you. I noticed what appeared to be a small container of honey on the table. My curious nature was instinctively asking, is that honey, and if it's honey, why is it on the table? My answer was revealed when the waitress asked if I would like a sopapilla. I didn't know what a sopapilla was, but I've come to find out that it's a Mexican dessert, a fried dough, and it comes with a sprinkle of honey that you drizzle over the top.

Let me take a tiny, very delicate bite of this sopapilla. Awesome. But I'm not going to lie, I'm a sucker for simple carbohydrates. Once you get glucose into the picture, simple sugars, watch out, I'm all over that. Fried bread, cinnamon, sugar, and honey appeal to me as an admirer of simple carbohydrates.

Wrap-Up

So there turn out to be two Spanish words for everybody this week: carnitas, which essentially means pork, and sopapillas, which is essentially a Mexican dessert dough with a honey concoction. That's pretty awesome. I hope everybody's doing well, and I hope you find my humor at least somewhat entertaining. If you don't, I'm sure you'll let us know in the comments. Honestly, I hope everybody out there is doing really well, and we're excited to keep showcasing El Paso for the amazing community that it really is. With that, we'll see you next time.