1120 Commerce Dr.
Las Cruces, NM
(575) 652-3731
Tacos & Shell-ah’s
Tacos & Shell-ah’s has a rather strange name but it is simple to understand. It is a seafood restaurant with a bar atmosphere. It has a rather small dining room (their web site advises people to call for a reservation). Tables are packed close together and it reminded me of The Little Shack in El Paso except that the dining room is larger. Servers seem to be no-nonsense and orders come out quickly.
Green chile cheeseburger
The problem with this review, though, is that I did not come for the seafood. I had seen many posts saying that this place had the best Green Chile Cheeseburger in Las Cruces. In keeping with the quirkiness of the place, though, there is no such thing on the menu. Instead there are two burgers– one plain and one with extra toppings such as bacon. You can add green chile and cheese but I thought they would be marketing this special dish instead of having it somewhere down on the menu. One problem was that the waitress did not know which burger the GCC fanatics liked, so I figured it must be the special burger with the special toppings.
Cross section view of the burger
What they brought out, though, was the regular burger. I was happy with the mistake because to me this was the classic GCC. Looking at the burger sliced in half does not really reveal many more details than the regular view, but I thought all the ingredients were excellent and appropriate for the kind of burger that I liked. What stuck with me the most was the green chile–lots of it, good tasting, and laid on thick. A large green chile was placed on top of the bun, and at first I thought you use this to put your own chile on the burger. Instead it already came with ample amounts of chile so I didn’t even bother trying to eat the one on top of the bun. The taste I took of it though revealed that this was the chile for the local crowd– not the out of state tenderfoots that maybe have not tried NM chile (not that there is anything wrong with that, of course).
My conclusion was that this may be the best green chile cheeseburger in Las Cruces. I certainly enjoyed it quite a bit. The green chile is hot but probably suitable for most visitors to the state. It does not reach the level that some restaurants have with their red chile. It is not as spicy as the green chile that Rio Grande Cafe in Española used to have. It is very spicy in a good way and that adds a great flavor to the burger.
RATING: N/R
Cuisine: Seafood
Cost: $$
Hours: Open Daily
Accessible: Yes
Smoking: No
Alcohol: Beer, Wine, Cocktails
Most Recent Visit: Oct. 21, 2025
Number of Visits: 1
Best Items: Green Chile Cheeseburger, Fries
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Green Chile Cheeseburger |
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Fries |