La Casita Mexicana

Can't think of a better way to start the day than with a platter of chilaquiles at La Casita Mexicana. Here it's fried tortillas with nopales (cactus) or guajillo chiles smothered with one of several sauces: a rojo tomato and cascabel sauce, a verde tomatillo and serrano sauce, a combination of the two (divorciados), a 46-ingredient mole poblano, or red or green pepian sauce made with pumpkin seeds, peanuts and chiles. It's topped with cotija cheese, crema, beans and red onions. (Excellent eggs ranchero and omelets are $7.99 too.) Wash it all down with cinnamon-scented de la olla coffee, sweetened with a little piloncillo (dark sugar).

Betty Hallock, Times Staff Writer, 9/16/09