Our Trip to Mexico and Lunch

I would love to be to tell you that our trip to Mexico was fabulous, but at least our lunch at Eloise in El Paso was.

Please let me explain. We woke up to a beautiful sunny day in El Paso and Steve asked me “What do you feel like doing today?” To which I replied “Let’s go to Mexico for a Margarita at the bar where it was first created!” “Sounds like a plan.” said Steve.

We had learned from people at our RV park in El Paso that you didn’t need a passport to enter Mexico as an U.S. citizen. All we needed was our driver’s license and a copy of our birth certificates. Since both of our passports had expired we had thought a visit to Mexico was off the books. So when we learned that passports were not required, we jumped at the chance to spend an afternoon in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

The plan was to cross the border, explore a little and then head to the Kentucky Club for lunch and a margarita. Who wouldn’t want to sip margaritas at the place whose claim to fame is being the birthplace of this delicious concoction?

The first part went off without a hitch. We crossed the border into Mexico with ease, even if it was a bit slow due to heavy traffic. We drove around a bit passed some questionable shops. Something about the area where we crossed the border just made us feel very uncomfortable. So Steve put the address of the Kentucky Club in our GPS so we could just head to lunch.

Funny thing, as soon as we crossed into Mexico our car switched to kilometers and everything was in Spanish. Our GPS narrator spoke in English, but the long foreign street names were a bit difficult to understand.

The further we drove the nicer the city became but the traffic got worse. By this time we were hungry and parched. We were both mentally tasting those margaritas, imagining the tart, icy, limey cocktail. The two of us were totally stoked!

Finally we turned the corner to the street where the Kentucky Club is located. Traffic had practically come to a halt. There was only a block or so to go. The bar was on the left and we were in the extreme right lane of 4 lanes of traffic all headed in one direction. Back to El Paso!!!

Steve gave it a valiant effort to get out of the line and find a place to park so we could walk to the Kentucky Club. No way José. Once we were in that line there was no escaping. We inched along, starving and disappointed, until we were finally across the border and back in the good ole USA.

Since we were famished, I was tasked with finding a good place for lunch. After a Google Search I gave Steve the address of Eloise and we high-tailed it to the restaurant.

Eloise is a contemporary restaurant set in the charming Thunderbird valley on El Paso’s west side. It was established in October of 2012 by Kristine and Jim Ward. They offer a cozy European inspired atmosphere built to share their love of food, coffee, cocktails and conversation.

Their philosophy is that “everyone is welcome to the table to enjoy quality ingredients, warm service and a relaxed atmosphere”. Thoughtful, whimsical design and curated playlists surround old friends reconnecting and new friends being made.

Community is a priority at Eloise, Earth is important and they work towards being good residents through their practices. Love and art and music and food feed the soul, the owners of Eloise do their best to support local artists and organizations because they feed us.

At that point we could have eaten the menu itself! But we showed restraint and both ordered Pub Burgers with House Cut Fries. The Pub Burger offers a choice of Native American beef patty, impossible patty (plant based) or 2 bean patty (plant based) for your burger. We chose the Native American beef patty which comes topped with melted brie, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onion, coarse grained Dijon on a house baked bun. You are given a few options for your side that is included with the Pub Burger. Steve and I both got the fries which were fabulous. They were that perfect combination of crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside, as well as being well seasoned.

Our lunch at Eloise made up for our disappointing trip to Juarez, Mexico.