Breakfast at Delicias

I'm a bit behind on telling you about some of our culinary adventures around Las Cruces, so for the next few days I'll be talking about some of our favorite restaurants. Please don't think we eat out all the time--I've been saving up these experiences from the last month or so.

We had Mother's Day breakfast at Delicias Café. Here is their own description of the place from their website:

Delicias Café honors the small farm town where we grew up, Delicias, Chihuahua, Mexico. Surrounded on all sides by amazing produce and legendary cattle ranches, every meal was infused with fresh ingredients and authentic Mexican flavors.

Prior to opening our restaurants in the United States, we were always on the lookout for Mexican food that reminded us of home - but always ended up frustrated. Either the ingredients tasted canned, or the flavors oddly unoriginal, or the prices ridiculously overpriced.

Thus the genesis of Delicias Café, where everything we cook is made fresh daily, from the enchilada sauce to the menudo. Where we believe our customers should experience wonderful, authentic Mexican flavors at very reasonable prices.

"Delicias" in English means "Delicious," - and we really hope you agree.

From the moment we stepped through the door after walking past the roses in full bloom out front, until we waved good-bye to our smiling and attentive waitress, we had a wonderful breakfast experience. The place was clean, colorful, friendly, and a great place for people watching.

I chose the Huevos Divorciados (Divorced Eggs), and I couldn't have made a better choice. It was a version of Huevos Rancheros, with two eggs sunny-side up served on top of fresh (and I mean fresh) corn tortillas with homemade beans and hash browns on the side. The "divorciado" in the name comes from the fact that one egg was covered with green chile sauce, and the other with red.

You can check out the rest of the breakfast menu (and lunch and supper) right here.

About that green chile sauce--it is still haunting my taste buds. It was unlike any other I have tried and, believe me, you can try a huge range of chile sauces here in Las Cruces. This one was flavored with an herb I have never had before--it imparted a lemony flavor to the sauce and was altogether delicious. Might it have been epazote? I don't really know, but I'll have to go back and do some more on-the-spot research. Please let me know if you have any ideas as to what I was tasting.

Update 5/28/10: Auntie Bucksnort and I went back for another breakfast and, thanks to her impeccable taste buds, we now know that the secret ingredient in the green chile sauce is tomatillos! I should have recognized the flavor--after all, I have a recipe for a green salsa with tomatillos over on the recipe blog.