D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
February 2010
Table Talk
After more than five years of serving suds, Bob Brauckhausen has sold his Silver City Brewing Co. brewpub-restaurant, at the corner of College and Pope. The establishment will reopen as Q's Southern Bistro. New owner Ronald A. Quintana hopes to open the specialty family restaurant in late February or early March. Originally from Silver City and with many relatives here, Quintana was trained as a chef at culinary-arts school in San Francisco and has been living and working in Las Cruces. In addition to serving hungry folks at the new restaurant, Quintana will be offering catering.
Maybe it's the name? Mesón de Mesilla has closed--again. The restaurant and bar at 1803 Avenida de Mesilla had been purchased in 2006 and extensively renovated by Cali McCord, but closed abruptly in July 2008. While McCord retained ownership of the building, she sold the business to May Entertainment LLC and Mes—n de Mesilla reopened in May 2009. Last month, however, a sign on the door told would-be customers: "Mesón de Mesilla is closed due to dispute with the building owner." (In case you're wondering, "mesón" is Spanish for "inn" or "tavern." Not to be confused with "meson," which is an unstable subatomic particle. Although the "unstable" part does seem to fit!) 525-9212.
A sign on the door at 1340 E. Lohman Ave. (the former home of Casa Luna) says the promised new Las Cruces eatery at that location will be Shem's Authentic Moroccan Cuisine.
So much for Las Crucens loving New York-style pizza. Eddie's Done Deal Pizza at 1103 S. Solano Dr. is, well, done for. (A second Zeffiro Pizzaeria location at 101 E. University Ave. will, however, offer relief for those who like their slices Big Apple-style.)
A new program promoting healthy eating out has reached Silver City, with The Red Barn and Vicki's Eatery offering diabetes- and heart-friendly menu selections. at their Silver City restaurants. The Viva New Mexico Restaurant Program aims to encourage diners to select more health-conscious meals when eating out. A registered dietician helped select menu items at the participating restaurants that are marked with a red heart. HMS La Vida provides hands-on support to label the restaurant menus with the hearts and also the supplies to label take-out menus.
Speaking of healthy eating: "Good food on the healthy side" is promised by La Iguana, a new downtown Las Cruces restaurant that's in the works. Owner Michael LeBlanc moved to town from Maine, where he ran a cheesecake business, and despite the "healthy" promise, the Main Street eatery will serve cheesecake, too
.--David A. Fryxell
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