Food:

El Paso may or may not be the capital of Texas Mexican food, but the restaurants do serve up a lot of Tex-Mex, and not just the staples. Many restaurants serve unique dishes and some change their menu constantly. Barbecue is also a staple of El Paso cuisine. Both styles of restaurants tend to be very affordable. A hop over the border into Ciudad Juarez rewards the diner with some very specifically Mexican cuisine, from brochette to red snapper cooked just so and spicy.

Music:

El Paso, like Corpus Christi, has some tejano and conjunto roots and some clubs have mariachi nights. The music scene is pretty diverse, with a lot of latin and latin-jazz, as well as hip hop, blues, and regular top-40 stuff. Flipping through the radio is good fun, also, especially if you’re looking for lyrics to supplement your Spanish. Not all top-40 stuff is American top-40 stuff. El Paso has a symphony orchestra and an opera for the more classically minded.