Sunday, December 03, 2006

Sunday Breakfast

Are you a breakfast person? We are. Always have been and I don't mean a grab a breakfast bar or bowl of cereal breakfast people. I mean a real meal as soon as it can be prepared after we get out of bed. Our sons were raised with a breakfast on the table.....eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, juice, toast, biscuits....good old stick to your ribs food. Of course, now they say that it is a wonder they have lived as long as they have with those kinds of breakfasts.

Although we don't officially have a kitchen, just a toaster, coffee pot, hot plate and microwave on the patio, we eat breakfast in most days. Some days it is pan dulce from the bakery around the corner, some days toast and fruit, some days Ned makes scrambled eggs and gets us fresh tortillas. But it isn't the same as having a real kitchen breakfast. So we have taken to going out a day or two a week for breakfast.

Today we headed out, not sure where we would have breakfast. Juancho's around the corner isn't open on Sunday. We thought that Xoconoxtle on Ancha might be a little too cool. We headed on into the Centro realizing that the breakfast places might be busy because Friday was a holiday due to the Inauguration of Mexico's new President so lots of Mexicans took advantage of the long weekend. Parroquia Cafe has great breakfasts but it was full and people were waiting for tables. So the next stop was the San Francisco Cafe.....again a line of people waiting. We looked at the menu there and it was just as well that we didn't want to wait. Most of the egg dishes were about 70 or 75 pesos. More than we want to spend for breakfast. Same thing at San Augustin across from the San Francisco church. Actually all of this worked out perfectly because we ended up where we wanted to be anyway at one of our favorite places for breakfasts, The Cafe Colon on Mesones. Great breakfast including coffee for $30 pesos. Ned has huevos albanil and I had the chiliquiles en salsa verde. Next time maybe, just maybe, we will try the restaurant next door, El Infierno which also has a 30 peso breakfast but Cafe Colon will be hard to beat.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Billie! We love breakfast too and will often have it instead of lunch or even at dinner. We'll have to try this place the next time we're in town. I'm sure we've walked by it many times. Deb

Anonymous said...

70-75 pesos for breakfast - ouch! Now I know you are in SMA and not our area - the locals eat for a week on that much dinero ;-) I think tortillas and beans are their breakfast staples. They still have to pay a peso an egg in the tiendes.

Juan Calypso

Billie Mercer said...

Deb, Cafe Colon is one block above Bonanza. The Juarez street on the side of the San Francisco Church runs almost into it's two front doors. We've eaten comida there too but I don't remember how much the Comida was...but not expensive.

Juan, Several of the places for breakfast that were full, were full of Mexicans....probably wealthy Mexicans from DF here for the weekend. They can afford 70 peso eggs but we like the spots where the locals go. There were several Mexican couples having breakfast while we were there as well as a young couple with backpacks.

La Gringa said...

I just have to ask: What are huevos albañil? I know what an albañil is, so I'm having a hard time guessing.

Billie Mercer said...

La Gringa, I guess I should have written Huevos al Albanil. But here is the recipe:

Huevos al Albañil: Eggs in Green Salsa
Huevos al Albañil literally means "bricklayer's eggs", but I have yet to find anyone who can tell me the origin of the name. It is very popular as a brunch dish in Central Mexico, where the cool mornings call for hearty, spicey fare.

Ingredients:


1 pound tomatillos, husked
1 medium white onion, peeled and quartered
4 large garlic cloves, peeled
4 fresh serrano chiles, or to taste
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
8 eggs
salt to taste
Preparation:


In a large saucepan, place tomatillos, onion, garlic, chile and water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until the tomatillos are just soft. Place in a blender with the cilantro and puree until smooth.

In a saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil, add the pureed sauce, and cook over medium heat 15-20 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Heat the remaining oil in a large skillet. Beat the eggs with salt to taste and pour into the skillet. Cook the eggs until set, then turn and cook on the other side. Use a spatula to break the eggs into pieces. Pour the sauce over the eggs and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.

Serve immediately with plenty of warm tortillas.

Serves 4.

Billie Mercer said...

La Gringa, my husband read the recipe I got from the internet and he says that isn't the way he makes his "Huevos de Albanil"
Here is his recipe:
In a small saucepan simmer 1 tomato and 2 chiles serranos in water to cover for 5 minutes. Peel the tomato and put in a blender with the chiles and 1 clove garlic and puree.

In a skillet heat 1 1/2 tablespoons oil, add 1/4 onion chopped and saute for 2 minutes. Add 2 lightly beaten eggs and scramble. Add the tomato puree and cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Add salt to taste.
Serve with hot tortillas.