3 Best Restaurants in West Texas and the Panhandle, Texas

Background Illustration for Restaurants

Reviews Updated by

Reviewer Avatar
Andrew Collins

Due to a mix of geographic isolation and Hispanic heritage, the food is a redolent, sumptuous mix of north Mexican cooking and Southern home cooking, giving area dishes a very rich, heavy and spicy character. Sometimes the menus are in Spanish.

Tex-Mex, Mexican, and Southern cooking are what this region does best. In general, steer away from East Asian; stick with items like country-fried steaks, barbecue, and Mexican dishes like burritos, asado (a tangy dish, often pork, cooked in oil and ground-up chiles), chiles rellenos (raw green chiles that are stuffed with meat, cheeses, and spices and then baked; can be hot or mild), and barbacoa (slow-cooked beef seasoned with tangy marinade). (Note that some barbacoa is actually from the head of the cow [called barbacoa de cabeza].)

Big Texan Steak Ranch

$$$

They don't call this place "Big Texan" for nothing: if you can eat four-and-a-half pounds of steak plus a shrimp cocktail, baked beans, a salad, and a roll with butter, before the clock ticks off an hour—while everyone, including a web cam, is watching—your dinner is on the house. Since 1960, when Bob Lee opened the restaurant and motel along Route 66 near the Amarillo stockyards, diners and drinkers of all varieties have poured in. Now positioned on the busier Interstate 40, Big Texan is still pulling in busloads of business with an on-site brewery (try the nutty, maple-sweet Pecan Porter) with all-day service and a menu that includes a full-monty selection of beef plus a smattering of chicken, seafood, and pork options—and for "real" Texans, mountain oysters.

LaVenture

$$$
The urbane restaurant just off the lobby at Marfa's design-driven Hotel Saint George wouldn't feel out of place in Austin or Brooklyn, its softly illuminated brick walls hung with bold contemporary local art. The seasonal, market-inspired cuisine, from lighter wood-fired pizzas and cheese-charcuterie boards to more substantial plates of grass-fed bone-in rib eye and pappardelle pasta with garlic-fennel sausage, is accompanied by a well-curated wine list and first-rate cocktails. Earlier in the day, drop in for Belgian waffles, Cuban sandwiches, and other tasty breakfast and lunch fare. A few feet away, Bar Saint George offers a simpler menu and serves food and drinks later into the evening.

The State Line

$$$
Named for its position on the border of El Paso and New Mexico, The State Line is a popular place with those who relish its tangy barbecue. The barbecued ribs and smoked chicken are fabulous here. Bring an appetite, because the trimmings include generous helpings of potato salad, coleslaw, and beans. Drinks are served in an outdoor courtyard, where you can wait for your table.
American $$$ Lunch Dinner Dessert
1222 Sunland Park Dr, El Paso, TX, 79922, USA
915-581-3371
Restaurant Details
Reservations not accepted

Something incorrect in this review?

Recommended Fodor's Video