http://farm1.static.flickr.com/190/482196578_1ac4ee7a35.jpg |
We've all hadat least one experience with a to-die-for chicken enchilada, right? Maybe even a chicken enchilada so good, you wanted to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
Hot damn. Well there's an idea; a breakfast enchilada. And why not? Everyone and his mother makes a breakfast burrito. Why not mix things up a bit with enchiladas? To make an entree item a breakfast food, apparently all you have to do is fry some eggs over the top and it's breakfast. Anything + Eggs = Breakfast. Duh.
Enter our battle of the dishes contestants, Dick's Hideaway in Phoenix, and Serrano's Mexican Food Restaurant, in Tempe.
Who's gonna convince us we should ditch the breakfast burrito?
6008 N 16th St, Phoenix
602-241-1881
The Set-Up: Straight from the oven comes our ENTIRE plate (not just the food for our plate) filled with two rolled chicken enchiladas wrapped in blue corn tortillas with green chili (we know red chili is a little more traditional, but with a disclaimer at the top of the menu reading, "Dick's Chili Policy: You Order It...You Own It," we decided to play it safe...initially.), shredded cheese, two eggs over easy, beans and potatoes. If it sounds like enough to feed a pack of New Mexican wolves, it is.
Pros: Our enchiladas were swimming in sauce, and yet everything was crunchy in all the right places; from the edges of blue corn tortilla peeking through the fried egg over top to the beans and potatoes. Although the portion size is a bit outrageous, it allowed for the duplication of our "perfect bite" over and over again. What's the perfect bite you ask? A bit of the chicken enchilada run through the yolk of the egg hoisted on the fork with a bit of beans and capped with a perfectly crisp potato piece.
Cons: We don't want to dig for a con just to have a con, so maybe get back to us on that? I guess our con would be more of a warning. Do not leave silverware sitting on the blazing hot plate that just came out of the oven. Metal is a great heat conductor and your fingertips will suffer.
Suggestion: Order a side of the red chili sauce for that extra kick that we were initially too wimpy to try.
In The Other Corner:
Serrano's Mexican Food Restaurant
6440 S Rural Rd, Tempe
480-345-0044
The Set-Up: A little more straightforward here with almost no choices, except for how we wanted our eggs, which isn't really a choice at all. We take them over easy. Always. The enchiladas were just cheese with plain corn tortillas barely stained with red sauce , side of rice and beans with a little wilted lettuce and tomato garnish. Even less breakfasty than the competitor's who at least substituted the rice for potatoes.
Pros: The meal comes with a side flour tortillas wrapped in foil to keep warm. You can take them home in a doggy bag or create a semi-decent breakfast burrito, loading up on the amazing (FREE) salsa and bean dip and using some ingredients from your plate of enchilada rancheras.
Cons: The ingredients were simple (potential to be a plus) but were a bit off in quality (always a negative). In the words of our kind server, "You get what you get, and don't throw a fit." We'd rather fill up on the chips and salsa.
The Verdict: Dick's takes the whole enchilada, with an egg on top.
Anyone else venture away from the breakfast burrito for a day to try the elusive breakfast enchilada? What did you think?