Breakfast Beat: Nine Orders of Chilaquiles Dishes Across Greater Phoenix

Chilaquiles — a traditional Mexican breakfast dish of tortilla chips, eggs, salsa, and lots of other good stuff — is, for very good reasons, a popular order around these parts. Here are nine Valley-area restaurants that serve unique or otherwise excellent chilaquiles.

The Bread and Honey House

4700 East Van Buren Street

If you’re a fan of chilaquiles, Chef Javier Perez’s version at The Bread and Honey House is worth your full focus. He starts by cutting whole tortillas six ways and frying them. A deeply red sauce draws heavily on the magic of fried guajillo and pasilla chiles. Visually, the bowl is striking — red onion, cilantro, a white raft of egg, all buoyed on sloping chips. Some chips even have that glorious, dark, burnt-top-nacho level of crunch. The zing of red onions and fragrance of cilantro break the salinity and heft, and none of the chips are too soggy.

Ground Control

4860 North Litchfield Road, Litchfield Park

The West valley gastropub Ground Control has recently started serving brunch for the first time — and you can bet chilaquiles are on deck. The breakfast dish here is topped with crumbled cheese, green and red onion, and a fried egg if you so choose. And guests are free to add chislic (cubed beef), chorizo, or shredded pork for an extra $3

Comedor Guadalajara

1830 South Central Avenue

Some days, you need a huge Mexican breakfast. And on those mornings, consider Comedor Guadalajara — a homestyle Mexican restaurant in south Phoenix Though the chilaquiles are completely smothered, the tortillas retain their crisp even though they're sopping with deep velvety sauce the color of Kidney beans. The textural difference between beans and sauce is surprisingly slight, and pleasant, especially if you've ordered your crowning eggs so that the yolk will be runny.

Elly’s Brunch & Café

100 East Camelback Road, #166

The chilaquiles verdes at Elly’s Brunch & Café are a late-morning highlight at the Uptown Plaza. Softly cooked tortilla strips are layered elegantly on a frying pan and steeped in a wonderfully tangy, salty salsa verde that’s laced with queso fresco. It’s a strong, bold take on the Mexican breakfast classic, and the fresh avocado slices are a great touch.

Centrico

202 North Central Avenue

Centrico in the historic Hotel San Carlos knows how to kick out breakfast dishes to passersby in downtown Phoenix. Here, the brunch menu offers chilaquiles with crisp tortilla chips, Oaxacan cheese, crema, shaved radish, red onion, cilantro, and beans. If you’d like to make this dish look all the more stunning, add eggs, carne asada, or achiote grilled chicken breasts.

The Social on 83rd

8350 West Paradise Lane, Peoria

Though ideal for any meal, the chef-driven menu at The Social on 83rd offers a decent brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Peoria Eighty Three shopping district. This local northwest Valley restaurant offers orange-red chilaquiles with two eggs, guajillo sauce, cotija cheese, onions, crema, and cilantro — which may be best paired with a strong breakfast cocktail.

Soul Modern Arizona Cuisine

7615 East Pinnacle Peak Road, Scottsdale

Don’t let the restaurant’s name fool you – Soul is not so much Southern as Southwestern. Chef Sheila Bryson moved here from Chicago years ago, and — like so many Midwesterners — fell in love with the desert (which is reflected in her food). The chilaquiles and eggs dish here starts with fried corn tortillas, which are topped with green pork chili and cheddar jack cheese. The whole thing is baked and topped with two eggs-your-way, crumbled feta cheese, diced tomato, and cilantro.

Gallo Blanco

928 East Pierce Street

Chef Doug Robson’s Garfield District eatery is famous for its chilaquiles (as seen on Mark Tarbell’s second season of the Plate & Pour show on PBS). This popular Gallo Blanco dish comes with chicken and/or vegetables, which sit atop corn tortilla chips baked with asadero and cotija cheeses and loaded with fire-roasted salsa, cilantro, onion, and two eggs cooked your way.

Over Easy

Multiple Locations

This local breakfast and brunch chain knows how to put together a plate of chilaquiles. At Over Easy, the chilaquiles dish consists of corn tortilla chips loaded with chicken, two eggs, cheddar cheese, ranchero sauce, pico de gallo, sour cream, and green onion. And the order is gluten-free to boot.

See what Valley restaurants are offering takeout, delivery, and dine-in services with our Phoenix Restaurant Directory.