kirktastic

I often talk of my love for migas. A Tex-Mex breakfast food that I discovered visiting Austin before moving here. My friends from elsewhere including Mexico have never heard of Migas. You get too far north or south of the Rio Grande and the breakfast staple is lost. When I was in Cd Mexico and Cuernavaca I would ask the cooks to make me migas to a blank look. And I would drop migas knowledge. When I mention there’s tortillas fritas/totopos in them people think I’m meaning chilaquiles and/or huevos Mexicanos. In Austin, pretty much every place that serves breakfast will have migas on the menu. Although someone has finally added the Tex-Mex variety to wikipedia (the version in Spain sounds quite unappetizing to me), it remains a regional secret.

GQ correspondent Robert Draper on his favorite breakfast spot in Austin:
Recognizing that America has had its fill of Texas certitude, I humbly submit this southwestern verity: Nothing lifts you out of yesternight’s gutter like a Tex-Mex breakfast. Scrambled eggs, cheese, hot peppers, tomatoes, and slivers of tortilla chips, all encased in a flour tortilla. That’s migas. That’s restoration. In peace-loving Austin, pitched battles are waged over whose migas most excel. For my money, the destination must be Polvo’s. Cheery but not overly so, and free of all the downtown networkers, this slacker-filled south Austin joint is deceptively fastidious, with excellent coffee, fresh produce, and, of course, homemade tortillas. But what makes the spirit soar are their vats of fresh salsa—the best of which is a roasted chili-tomatillo brew nearly the color of squid ink. Smother your migas accordingly, deploy your flour tortilla in the manner of the blanket swaddling baby Jesus, and something holy this way comes. (GQ City Guide/Austin)

Yes, a link to the GQ City Guide for Austin even though they didn’t use my photo and do a feature on Tacodeli. Yes, Polvo’s has some tasty eats. But Draper’s description of migas is pretty spot on. And double so for the near religious experience of a good salsa.