Best Bets: Huevos rancheros

Photo by Michael Donahue // Buy this photo

Huevos rancheros at Taqueria La Guadalupana.

Like barbecue, Mexican food goes with hot weather.

And, like barbecue, huevos rancheros is something I could eat everyday. My favorite place to get it in Memphis is Taqueria La Guadalupana on Summer.

Photo by Michael Donahue

Huevos rancheros at Taqueria La Guadalupana.

According to the menu, huevos rancheros consists of "three eggs served with rice, beans, Mexican sauce and tortillas." Mexican sauce, according to one of the restaurant's cooks Francisco Bautista, is made of tomatoes, bell peppers and onions.

Huevos Rancheros is listed under "Desayunos/Breakfast," but I eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

So do other diners. Emanuel Castelan, my server, said they sell huevos rancheros "throughout the day." It was around 3 p.m. on a sweltering 95-plus-degree day when I ate it earlier this week.

Huevos Rancheros is a "typical Mexican dish," Castelan said. They began selling it at the restaurant 10 years ago. "I was walking around in diapers," said Castelan, 16, whose father, Juan Castelan, owns Taqueria La Guadalupana.

People usually drink coffee when they eat huevos rancheros for breakfast, Castelan said. They drink horchata with it at dinner. Horchata, made of rice, water, cinnamon and milk, is "like a desert in a drink."

The first time I ate huevos rancheros was at the old Gonzales and Gertrude's restaurant in Overton Square. When I cut the egg, the yellow yolk ran into the rice and beans. Eating all three components in one bite was sublime. I was hooked forever.

Taqueria La Guadalupana is at 4818 Summer; 685-6857.

-- Michael Donahue: 529-2797

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