3 Best Restaurants in Borrego Springs, North County and Around

For inexpensive comfort food, this desert restaurant serves sandwiches, pasta, burgers, and chicken-fried steak with thick fries; for super-fresh ingredients, request organic goods plucked from their adjacent vegetable garden. This is the area's best breakfast joint, with menu highlights including cinnamon French toast and smoked salmon eggs Benedict. Portions are hearty including the salads with homemade dressings; the seared ahi salad and cold peanut sesame noodle salad are both top picks on a hot day.  The air-conditioned dining room, full bar, and pet-friendly shaded patio are great when the season heats up.

With over 100 items on its menu, this local watering hole seems to collect hungry patrons ranging from hippies to hikers and is the place to go any night of the week. A large, dimly lighted room houses the horse shoe–shaped bar and dining tables, and the menu lists pasta, burgers, seafood, and pizza in addition to old-fashioned entrées such as liver and onions, ribs and steaks, and a mixed grill. Dinners come with soup or salad, and mashed potatoes and vegetables. There's live music Friday and Saturday (October–May) at 8 pm, but a juke box keeps tunes going regardless of the day. 

Before dawn, owner and chef Narciso Dorado preps all of Carmelita's meat, sauces, and sides to create the generous portions served at this friendly family-run eatery tucked into a back corner of what is called "The Mall." Carmelita's draws locals and visitors all day whether it's for a hearty breakfast, a cooked-to-order enchilada or burrito, or a brew at the bar. If you're still hungry, they'll serve you plenty of chips and salsa. It's the best place to escape the heat with a margarita on the rocks.