Huevos Rancheros: Marquez Restaurant

I love starting off the day (preferably during the weekend!) with a cup of coffee and a proper plate of HR’s, the pick-me-up from the caffeine propels you thru the often rich and heavy dish, which in turn powers your activities for the rest of the day. Ah, but sometimes, things get a little crazy, errands need to be ran, things need to get done, and before you know it’s already 3:30 pm and you are just sitting down to your first meal of the day. No matter that it’s past lunch time, my mind was stuck on breakfast. Even though I was in Monterey Park, I found a spot that was willing to satisfy my cravings. “Sir, I will gladly pay you Tuesday for some fine Huevos Rancheros today.”

Nah, I didn’t really say that, most likely just “unos huevos rancheros, por favor. Gracias.” Oh, and “de harina” since he asked. I don’t expect to get tortillas with this dish as some places don’t consider it necessary, the same way you’ll often not get them when you order enchiladas or chilaquiles. When they do offer a choice (and they don’t make their own de maiz) I’m mostly an harina guy as I hate the taste of the modern commercial tortilla de maiz ala Guerrero and the rest of the culprits. You might as well eat a paper plate, cheaper and probably tastes better. Or maybe it’s just my Norteño roots. In any case, even though I’ve only been here a few times, I do look forward to maiz in the form of these fried bite sized morsels, aka chips..

..as they are usually warm and they always come with two tasty salsas, a pico de gallo-ish one and a salsa verde with chunks of cebollita, that one ingredient I love in just about everything. It’s not uncommon for the decision of ‘where to eat’ to be influenced by that minor perk of the chips and salsa and their relative quality, which is very appealing when you are famished and contemplating your very late breakfast. Devour a few doritos with salsa and begin to relax, back to semi-normality. Oh yes, here comes the main dish!

Here’s a quick pointer: if your food comes covered in yellow cheese you know that you are in a Mexican-American restaurant, I don’t think there is such a thing as yellow cheese in Mexican cuisine. I wish more food reviews and guides would make that distinction between Mexican and Mex-American eateries since there is a wide chasm between the two, the American version usually being totally bogged down in cheese, sour cream, iceberg lettuce, guacamole, and general heaviness. There is a place for both styles but it’s jarring when you expect a simple dish only to get served a boatload of food covered in cheese, if you’ve ever been to Barragan’s you’ll know what I mean. (I’m working up the energy to eventually go try those HR’s again, I still skip a breath thinking of the ones from many years ago!)

That being said, I expected lots of cheese on this and they delivered. But they also drowned the whole thing in a tomatoey red sauce, which was tasty enough, so the cheese just blended in. But really, it looks more like a mini-caldo of huevos, don’t you think? Did I mention I was starving? I’d already had more than a few bites before I started contemplating the taste when I decided I liked these HR’s despite how cheesy they were. And then I realized there’s not even a tortilla underneath, even though it’s mentioned on the menu. Maybe they just forgot. And these beans are hinting at some sort of meat flavor/ingredient but I couldn’t tell for sure, I mostly left those alone. Despite those drawbacks, I ate my plate up and was very content. I really liked the dish but this just might be a very clouded review, like a junkie getting that first fix after a long forced withdrawal. And you do know to never trust a junkie, right?

It’s $6.10 for the plate and if you get a window booth you can watch all the goings-on at the cemetery across the street, not a bad deal.

1965 S. Potrero Grande, Monterey Park
626-572-7245