In the two years I've been back in Southern California I've taken in a
surprisingly little amount of Korean food. These days all I want to eat
is Mexican. It's still tough as a lazy vegetarian (aka a pescetarian) to
enjoy all the good stuff, but there are some dishes here and there that I
can indulge in. Case in point: CHILAQUILES!
The first time I dined on this Mexican breakfast dish was at Old Town Cafe in Seal Beach. The cafe had chilaquiles (tortilla chips covered with tomatillo sauce, crema, queso, and scrambled eggs) on their Specials menu along with waffles and such. Old Town Cafe's chilaquiles (served with red sauce) blasted my brain with so much dopamine it is my favorite food.
I've ordered chilaquiles at many restaurants and they vary radically in taste and quality. Don't bother ordering them at a non-Mexican restaurant or at a place without Mexicans chefs. The result will be food so bad that you will want to punt the plate like a football out the restaurant's front window. Both the red and green sauces are lovely, but I prefer green.
How to say chilaquiles:
Chee-la-KEY-les
How not to say chilaquiles:
Chee-la-KWEE-les (I ordered them this way once, in LA, and my friend said, "You live in California now. You've got to get it together.")
Previously:
¡ Viva eloté !
Photos via Phoenix New Times, Sabor Gourmet, The Mexico Report
