Two storefronts on the 14000 block of Pebble Hills Boulevard sum up how Far East El Paso has been growing this fall. At 14011 Pebble Hills Blvd. is the city's second Pokeworks. The first is near UTEP at 6951 N. Mesa St. A few doors down, at 14021 Pebble Hills Blvd., Suite A107, JL Grill Shack Filipino Cuisine now runs a permanent kitchen. Before that it was a food truck.
Neither one is really new. Both brands built a following somewhere else first, and the Far East is where they expanded. Over the past year the same thing has happened along Zaragoza Road and Eastlake Boulevard, with pizza, coffee and Italian food. Brands that started on the West Side, in Central, in the Northeast or across the border in Juárez keep picking this part of El Paso for their next location.
Where each one started
Taken one at a time, these openings look like a routine list of openings. Next to where each brand started, they show a pattern.
| Business | Far East address | Where it started | Far East timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basilico | 12900 Eastlake Blvd., Suite A106-10 | Juárez | Open by September 2025 |
| The Pizza Joint | 13034 Eastlake Blvd., Bldg. B | N. Mesa, N. Stanton, Westwind and N. Zaragoza shops | Announced January 2026, listed with hours by September 2026 |
| JL Grill Shack | 14021 Pebble Hills Blvd., Suite A107 | Food truck | Grand opening covered August 22, 2026 |
| 7 Brew | 12220 Eastlake Blvd. | 9061 Dyer St., Northeast | September 14, 2026 |
| Pokeworks | 14011 Pebble Hills Blvd. | 6951 N. Mesa St., near UTEP | Open by mid-September 2026 |
| Dion's Pizza | 3154 N. Zaragoza Rd. | 7484 Paseo del Norte Blvd., West Side | September 24, 2026 |
The dates bunch toward the bottom of the table. One opening a year ago and one announcement last winter turned into four openings between late August and late September. The rest of this post follows that order.
A Juárez restaurant made Eastlake its first El Paso address
Basilico came first, and it moved in the opposite direction from the rest. The Italian restaurant has well-known roots in Juárez. When it opened at 12900 Eastlake Blvd. in 2025, the El Paso Times described it as its first location in El Paso and said it was already becoming a regular spot for the business community and for date nights and family celebrations.
Basilico's El Paso locator now also lists 2701 N. Stanton St. Because Eastlake was the first El Paso location, the Stanton address came later. That means a brand coming into El Paso started on the far side of Loop 375 and then opened in Central, which runs opposite to the usual west-to-east expansion.
The Pizza Joint stretched its eastern reach
The Pizza Joint's locations page lists a shop at 2106 N. Zaragoza on the east side of town, along with stores at 2900 N. Mesa St., 500 N. Stanton St. and 7000 Westwind. In January 2026, the El Paso Times reported plans for another shop at 13034 Eastlake Blvd. in Emerald Park Plaza.
That shop is on the company's locations page now, with a Horizon City, TX 79928 address. It's open 10:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday. That puts the brand on lower Zaragoza and also further out along Eastlake.
Two storefronts on Pebble Hills, two kinds of second chance
JL Grill Shack shows the most local version of the pattern. ToDoElPaso covered its grand opening on August 22, 2026, and described it as family-owned and family-run. Before the move, the food truck sold out almost immediately when it worked ToDoElPaso's Asian Night Market. With a permanent kitchen it can make more food. The same post mentions lechon kawali, which is crispy fried pork belly with rice and pancit, and Filipino BBQ skewers in pork and chicken.
Pokeworks arrived next door through a much larger expansion. In its September 14 roundup, the El Paso Times reported that the brand had 26 locations open in Texas and 11 franchisees statewide. It had six more under construction in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and El Paso. A statewide chain with 26 open Texas locations picked 14011 Pebble Hills Blvd. as its second El Paso location. A family business that started on wheels picked the storefront a few doors away. Both decided to commit to the same block.
7 Brew went Northeast first, then Eastlake
7 Brew's first El Paso drive-thru opened in June at 9061 Dyer St. in Northeast El Paso. The second opened on Eastlake. That one is at 12220 Eastlake Blvd., directly across from Dutch Bros Coffee at 12221 Eastlake Blvd., and its planned opening date was Monday, September 14.
It's a drive-thru-only stand of about 510 square feet. The menu covers coffee, energy drinks, fizzes, teas, lemonades, smoothies and shakes. With two drive-thru coffee brands now facing each other across the 12200 block, Eastlake has a coffee strip of its own.
Dion's chose Zaragoza for store number two
The largest opening came last. Dion's Pizza was founded in Albuquerque in 1978 and is known for New Mexico-style chile toppings and dressings. It opened its second El Paso restaurant at 3154 N. Zaragoza Rd. on Thursday, September 24. The first El Paso Dion's opened in June 2024 on the West Side, at 7484 Paseo del Norte Blvd. off Resler Drive. As El Paso Inc. put it, Far East El Pasoans now have a closer option for green chile ranch and chile-topped pizza.
The new building is set up as a neighborhood restaurant. KTSM reported these features at the 4,200-square-foot location:
- An open kitchen and dining room that seats up to 78
- A drive-thru window for picking up advance orders
- Dine-in, call-in, online, delivery and mobile app ordering
- Educational kitchen tours for children from pre-K through fifth grade
- Catering with delivery
Student representatives from arts and athletic groups at Pebble Hills High School were part of the opening. The restaurant also planned to bring children from Dream Small Ministries into the kitchen for a behind-the-scenes look. Dion's CEO Mark Herman described the store's purpose this way:
"We're excited to join the east side and create an easy, comfortable neighborhood place where families and friends can connect. We look forward to building relationships with the schools, businesses and families in this part of the city."
The Zaragoza store is Dion's 29th location company-wide and its fourth in Texas. When a chain that size picks its second El Paso store, it has the whole city to choose from. It chose the corner of Zaragoza Road and Pebble Hills Boulevard.
What's still on the way
The next item on the list is a third 7 Brew. According to social media posts cited by the El Paso Times, it's planned for 1830 N. Zaragoza Rd., Suite 101, with an estimated November opening. As of early October, that estimate hasn't been firmed up with a specific date in local coverage, so it's best treated as a plan.
If it opens, it will be the brand's second location on the east side. That would also put 7 Brew alongside The Pizza Joint as a brand in this group with more than one east-side address.
International Real Estate follows El Paso's commercial corridors as closely as its residential streets, and the openings along Zaragoza, Pebble Hills and Eastlake are where you can see Far East demand most clearly. If you own a commercial lot or an owner-user property along these roads, or you're thinking about one, David Torres at International Real Estate can go over what these openings mean for your site, in English or Spanish. Schedule a Consultation / Agenda tu consulta.
