Welcome to our new web site!

To give our readers a chance to experience all that our new website has to offer, we have made all content freely avaiable, through October 1, 2018.

During this time, print and digital subscribers will not need to log in to view our stories or e-editions.

Restaurant Review

Vintage Mercado and Coffee Shop a welcome addition to Downtown Las Cruces

Posted

LAS CRUCES - Joining Beck’s Roasting House and Creamery (and, coming next month, Beck’s Express on Main Street), Cafecito Divino Coffee Bar on West Picacho Avenue, Downtown Blues Coffee (also coming soon) and Little Toad Creek serving great coffee in the downtown area is Main Street Vintage Mercado and Coffee Shop, 300 N. Main St. It opened in late June.

If you’re like me, you may not have figured out the street addresses downtown yet, so just look for the two-story La Esquina Plaza at the corner of Main Street and Las Cruces Avenue, and there is Vintage Mercado.

I had a lime-flavored paleta (fresh from Price’s Dairy in El Paso) during my first visit to Vintage Mercado, when I visited with owner Beverly Chavez-Floyd. I had a vanilla-flavored Italian soda during my second visit. There are about a dozen flavors of both paletas (including rice pudding and bubble gum) and Italian sodas (including almond and amaretto).

I should mention that, after the Italian soda, I walked a few steps farther into the La Esquina Plaza courtyard and had lunch at Rosie’s Café. I’ve been on an enchilada kick lately, and the red meat enchilada with an egg over medium didn’t disappoint. I love eating at Rosie’s. The food is always terrific, I get to see Rosie and Monica and there’s almost always other people there I know.

Next time at Vintage Mercado, I will try the fresh-brewed coffee! The menu also includes Chai tea, and there’s more coming.

The coffee shop also has a stage for live music performances and other community events. And, you can sit outside in front of the restaurant or on the La Esquina Plaza courtyard in back.

“It’s going gangbusters,” Chavez-Floyd said about a week after opening. “People are embracing it.”

The 2,000-square-foot business is opening with a green theme. “We’re all about upcycling and recycling,” Chavez-Floyd said, with biodegradable coffee cups and lids and paper bags. The décor is all about upcycling and recycling as well, including a vintage tin wall hanging from El Paso. The light over the coffee bar is from Italy and was purchased in a junk store in Deming, Chavez-Floyd said, and the railing in the lowered dining area is also recycled from El Paso. 

The coffee shop is open 7 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday. For information, call  575-524-1061 or visit  facebook.com/Mainstreetvintagemerado

 Mike Cook may be contacted at mike@lascrucesbulletin.com.

Main Street, Vintage Mercado and Coffee Shop, Downtown Las Cruces, Las Cruces, coffee, coffee shops

X