The Plaza de Las Cruces downtown was filled to near capacity on Friday night, Sept. 8, as the Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra (LCSO) opened its 2017-18 season with a salute to local veterans and a host of patriotic tunes for its Pops Under the Stars concert.

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ELVA K. OSTERREICH
Las Cruces Bulletin

Dona Ana County is celebrating September across the board with its Monuments to Main Street initiative promoting hikes with the Bereau of Land Management, There is a variety of aerial tours through Southwest Expeditions, offering views [Read more…]

Something Fresh in Downtown Las Cruces: Dragonfly Restaurant

When you live in a city as flavorful and friendly as Las Cruces, local is just better.

That’s why Tracy Baker announced the September opening of a spirited new downtown Las Cruces restaurant, named Dragonfly.

Dragonfly will feature fresh, local, farm-to-table cuisine and the work of talented local artists.

Local goodness

Baker was getting ready to enjoy some of the fresh produce from the Las Cruces Farmers and Crafts market when she stumbled upon a lovely vacant building, formerly housing the Main Street Bistro and Ale House.

With a love for the Las Cruces community and a passion for great food, she set the wheels in motion to transform the eye-catching location into a one-of-a-kind culinary and visual experience of the best local offerings.

“I’m hoping to get at least 90 percent of my produce locally,” Baker told the Las Cruces Sun News, adding, “I would like to get my proteins locally as much as possible, at least 60 percent of the rest of the menu locally.”

A table just for you

In addition to featuring local artists’ work for the restaurant permanent decor, Dragonfly will have an art gallery featuring a rotation of local artists in a juried show.

The space will be ingeniously allocated with table seating, group areas, and technological amenities to host flavorful business meetings and small conferences.

With fresh, “built in the pan” local entrees, appetizers, sandwiches, and a selection of New Mexico’s best beer and wine, you’re sure to find a new favorite at Dragonfly, set to open in September 2017.

LAS CRUCES — Deming’s Forghedaboudit Authentic New York Italian was named the Best in the Southwest in the traditional category at the The American pizza capital you’ve never heard of

The Pizza Expo features roughly 500 businesses that cater to both chain and independent businesses and draws thousands of attendees from across the globe.

“Combine this major win with our national chicken wing victory in Buffalo, New York, last September and you have the only restaurant in the nation with both honors under one roof and in Deming,” Yacone said. “Go figure.”

Yacone and his wife, Kim Yacone, started the business four years ago and now serve more than 2,500 customers a week in the 49-seat restaurant, Yacone said. How did the restaurant grow so quickly?

“The secret is no secret,” Yacone said. “We bring the best ingredients in from New York and Philadelphia. Everything is made to order and from scratch. My passion passed down from my Italian grandmother is what drives me to be the best. My daughter, Caleigh, who is 18 and attending the Culinary Institute of America in New York, is the next generation. She has cooked next to me since (she was) 13 and is a cooking machine who will surpass me soon. So big things are the horizon for southwest New Mexico.”

Source: Las Cruces Sun-News

One of the best Italian restaurants in the Southwest plans to open in Las Cruces, further fueling the revamping of the Downtown area.

“Forghedaboutit Authentic NY Italian” in Deming has customers driving 100 miles from El Paso to get a piece of its famous pizza pie.

“People come from Las Cruces, Silver City, El Paso, Arizona, Lordsburg — and Silver City. They come everyday and go right back home,” said owner Bob Yacone, “The reason: they want to eat at Forghedaboutit Pizza. And it’s not just pizza. It’s a lot of other Italian dishes.”

The restaurant recently won the Traditional Division of the International Championship Pizza Competition. In a competition involving pizzas from 40 different countries, Forghedaboutit won 2nd place in the US and 4th in the world.

Ingredients, like the pepperonis and bread, are shipped from the East Coast. The restaurant’s sauce is homemade every day.

Yacone said he and his wife Kim started the restaurant out of their kitchen when they moved to Deming four years ago. Now he said his plan is to open a second location in Las Cruces by the end of the year.

Las Cruces Economic Developer Phillip San Fillipo said now is the right time for business to open in downtown Las Cruces. “Most importantly, any town needs a center and focus and that’s what we’re trying to build,” said San Fillipo.

The Yacones have been in negotiations with a developer the past eight months with the hope of becoming the premiere restaurant in Downtown Las Cruces.

“It really is an important part that they have a signature restaurant Downtown. Something that’s family orietented, that’ll draw people,” Bob Yacone said.

“It’s not just the food. It’s the experience that you get when you come into Forghedaboutit,” Kim Yacone said, “We treat everybody like family. I try to remember everybody’s name.”

Source: KVIA