The road to Guadalajara is a long one, about eighteen hours from Las Cruces by car, in fact. But if you take a slight detour on New Mexico State Road 28, you’ll come across a little Guadalajaran oasis by the name of Casa El Camino Restaurant & Cantina in La Mesa.

Right across the street from longtime local favorite Chope’s Bar & Cafe, Casa El Camino celebrated their two-year anniversary in December 2025. An explosion of color, warmth, and aromas hit you when you walk through the door. Inside, you’ll find the bar to your right and the main dining room to your left. Whichever room you decide to venture to, you’re very likely to find a regular grabbing a meal and a drink.

I’m not a complete newcomer to Casa El Camino, but I am still exploring the menu’s many offerings. I’ve been around enough to at least notice that some of the dishes and ingredients aren’t those you’d typically find in the kind of restaurant that’s often labeled “Mexican” in this state. The influence of New Mexico’s flavors are still present—you can’t set up shop in the Land of Enchantment without recognizing the holy grail that is green chile, which you can have on top of the queso fundido, inside La Tradicional Burger, or blended into the specialty green sauce that’s used in the restaurant’s house enchiladas—but there’s a unique Guadalajaran through line. The molcajete dishes, red menudo, and carne en su jugo are confirmation.

On a recent visit, I started my meal with the queso fundido, topped with both chorizo and green chile, though you can order one or the other, or just plain queso (not to be confused with the chile con queso ubiquitous throughout the Southwest). The steaming-hot dish comes with warm complimentary corn tortillas on the side to scoop up the gooey melted Monterey Jack blend. The chorizo, a Mexican staple, adds a bit of smoky spice, while the not-too-spicy Hatch green chile gives the dish a subtle bite.

Adalberto Orozco and Andrea Landeros.

Adalberto Orozco, one of the three co-owners of Casa El Camino, grew up on a pig farm outside Guadalajara, Jalisco. He relocated to the borderland in recent years, where he joined Nicole Stewart and Daniel Fernandez as co-owners of House of Rock and House of Rock Early Bird Grill and Bar in El Paso, Texas. The friends went on a trip to Guadalajara, where Fernandez “fell in love” with Guadalajara, Orozco said.

Fast-forward to two years ago and Orozco was driving through the area south of Las Cruces on his motorcycle and was enchanted by his surroundings. “Oh my God, I am in Jalisco,” Orozco recalled thinking when he saw the green fields and trees. “That’s why they chose this [location], because it symbolizes Guadalajara to him,” Casa El Camino manager Andrea Landeros said, translating when Orozco shared details in Spanish.

Orozco partnered with Stewart and Fernandez to open the restaurant, but Orozco is largely in charge of the kitchen. He said he returns to his childhood home for inspiration, where during his childhood his mother cooked and the family sat down for a meal together after a day of working on the farm. “It was everything for him. It was a very special moment,” Landeros said, translating from Orozco’s Spanish. 

Orozco said his food at Casa El Camino is not necessarily “typical” Guadalajaran food, but contemporary and inspired by the flavors and the essence of his mother. He also draws on flavors from other areas of Mexico, like Puebla and the southern part of the country. The carne en su jugo is one of the more traditional Guadalajaran dishes on the menu. The soup is made with slow-roasted beef and bacon in a tomatillo broth and topped with onions and cilantro. “He likes to incorporate stuff that the people already know, but he still wants to give them other options that they are not familiar with,” Landeros said.

I tried the tacos de fideo seco on my latest visit because I love fideo, but I was most familiar with it served in a soup. The three toasted corn tortillas were filled with a generous helping of flavorful fideo cooked in a house blend of spices to a rice-like consistency. The small, dry noodles were topped with slices of fresh avocado, cotija, chipotle salsa, and sour cream. The dish is simple on its face, but the savory, spiced notes make it like eating a bowl of sopa de fideo wrapped up in a tortilla with a cool, creamy topping to finish. Casa El Camino’s fideo seco is also offered as a side dish, or just by itself.

You can also find such traditional gems as the molcajete—both an appetizer or entrée and a serving dish—which Orozco said is the “star of the restaurant.” The entrée includes your choice of meat served in a large molcajete, or traditional Mexican mortar (the bowl used with a pestle to grind spices and salsa ingredients), filled with panela cheese, grilled chorizo, green onion, and nopal in a house sauce made with chipotle, green chile, and tomatoes. You can pick between chicken, shrimp, and sirloin, or go for a mix of all three—“cielo, mar y tierra.” All eyes follow the waiter delivering this extraordinary dish to a table.

If you visit on a weekend, you can try the restaurant’s red chile menudo, served alongside two fresh bolillos for your dipping pleasure. I’m not personally a menudo fan, but I have it on good authority—my mom—that theirs is spicy, bold, and hearty without being too heavy. And if you’re there on a Sunday, you may experience being serenaded with traditional and contemporary Spanish songs by members of Mariachi Aguilas de Las Cruces. A table near me requested “El Noa Noa” and the dining room turned into a dance party for musicians and patrons alike. Orozco’s passion may be in the kitchen, but you’ll also see him wander into the dining area from time to time, mingling with customers and enjoying the music.

Rounding off your visit to the La Mesa eatery, you must try the pastel de elote: a corn cake served warm with vanilla ice cream on the side and a maraschino cherry on top. Orozco said pastel de elote is very common in Mexico, but is often similar to flan. He decided to change things up with the consistency—the cake is more like a moist corn bread than a custard—and said he also uses half white corn from Mexico and half yellow corn from New Mexico in the recipe, once again blending flavors. “It was an experiment,” Landeros said. Not too sweet on its own, the more savory flavors of corn pop when you take a spoonful with cold ice cream on top. It’s perfect for sharing, or keeping all to yourself. 

Orozco said each Mexican restaurant in the area has its own special touch, and he wanted to leave his own mark on the food scene. “This is for the people,” he said.

📍109 E Corpening St, La Mesa, 575-448-7115