1964 — Where it started
Nopalito’s opened in 1964, when Jose (J.R.) and Ernestina Gallegos started serving New Mexican food out of a small converted adobe house at 226 S. Campo Street. Word about the food, especially the green chile, got around quickly, and in 1968 the family moved to 310 S. Mesquite Street, into the old Templo Bautista church building where Jose and Ernestina first met. The building sits on El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the historic trade route that once connected Mexico City to Santa Fe. In 1974 the family opened a second restaurant at 2605 Missouri Avenue, back when Missouri was still a dirt road on the edge of town, and in 2010 they opened Nopalito Galería next to the Mesquite restaurant, in an adobe building dating to the late 1800s, to give local artists a place to show their work. More than sixty years later, Nopalito’s is still family-owned, still making its red and green chile from scratch, and still serving Las Cruces from both locations.
