Prior to moving to LA, I had never heard of chilaquiles. Jason and I caught an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives after moving here, where we were introduced to this traditional Mexican dish. Lightly fried, quartered corn tortillas are used for the base of the dish. The tortillas are then topped with a green or red salsa or mole, and sometimes chicken. The dish is then covered with crema, shredded queso fresco, onion and avocado. It is often served with beans, eggs or guacamole. Here in LA, it is often served as a breakfast dish. Needless to say, it was something we decided we needed to try.

Cacao Mexicatessen’s chilaquiles, and restaurant in general, continue to make best of LA food lists. We recently ventured over to LA’s Eagle Rock neighborhood to check it out. I started my meal with the dulce cafe con leche (coffee with piloncillo, cinnamon and milk,) which was perfectly sweet enough for my palate and I loved the addition of the cinnamon! I sprung for the tres leches pancakes, house-made buttermilk pancakes infused with sweetened tres leches milk sauce and topped with strawberries, whipped cream and sliced almonds. The pancakes were served atop the tres leches milk sauce and sprinkled with cinnamon. I have been on this pancake kick lately and these are some of the best I’ve ever eaten in any restaurant!

Jason ordered the chilaquiles topped with mole sauce. Mole is a traditional Mexican sauce that is made with chocolate(!!). The tortillas and sauce were then topped with two over-easy eggs. The dish was served with black beans topped with queso fresco and potatoes. We don’t have any other chilaquiles experiences to compare this to, but we really enjoyed Cacao Mexicatessen’s version, for sure!

We’re still deciding what to order next time. Maybe we’ll try the carnitas de pato (duck tacos!)

Dulce Cafe con Leche

Tres Leches Pancakes

Chilaquiles!