The 'New' State of Chilaquiles in Austin, Texas.

100 plates of chilaquiles. © Ryan Schierling

(FGHD editor's note: Originally updated March 2016 for the AFBA City Guide with 100 plates of chilaquiles.)

As a lot of you know, we've been on a epic, epicurean quest – a grand gustatory gamble with breaking the fast deep in the heart of Texas.

We've been scouring Austin for the very best chilaquiles it has to offer. We've torn apart the town, top to bottom, for more than two years sampling both highbrow and humble versions of this traditional Mexican dish. 

There are no shortage of restaurants offering up their take on what shouldn't really be more than crisp fresh-fried tortilla chips (totopos) simmered with a red or green sauce until just slightly softened, crowned with a pair of properly-cooked eggs. With such a simple preparation, you'd think it would be difficult to screw up this classic.

We weren't looking for haute cuisine a la Mexicana, we just wanted an honest, reliable, simple Sunday morning comfort-food breakfast at a joint where everyone might eventually know us (and our broken Spanish).

There were standouts, certainly, but just as often there were store-bought chips, soggy and swimming in sub-par sauces, eggs that were under-cooked, over-cooked or not even offered as an option. There were some surprises, and there were some disappointments. 

There were also some stunningly brilliant breakfasts. 

If a restaurant presented only one sauce option for chilaquiles, Julie and I would typically order the same dish. If a restaurant had both verdes (green) and rojos (red), we'd order one of each. The majority of the time, we'd order eggs over-easy. If we knew the eggs were going to be happy eggs (see $9 chilaquiles), I'd go for sunny-side-up. Beans, potatoes and accoutrements (if available) were taken into consideration, as was the coffee or aguas frescas. The overall experience was key, but really, it all came down to the chilaquiles. 

After eating 100 different plates of chilaquiles, we've done our due diligence, and now, we humbly present to you ten establishments that Julie and I both agreed have the finest chilaquiles in Austin. These are our favorites, the places we return to time and time again. 

These chilaquiles are the best of the best. 

2015 AFBA City Guide – our Top 10 chilaquiles in Austin and so much more...

We like compendiums. Who doesn’t, really? They give you a vantage point from which to make your own best judgements and begin your own adventures.

The Austin Food Blogger Alliance puts out an annual “City Guide” which draws from the rich resources of its food-obsessed members, and the 2015 AFBA City Guide is bigger and better than ever. Its mission is to highlight the best places to eat and drink in Austin, with categories by cuisine, by dish, for drinks and a wide range of other social situations.

Our particular obsession with the traditional Mexican breakfast chilaquiles led to our contribution to this year's guide. Chilaquiles are a simple dish, with fried corn tortilla pieces (totopos) that are simmered in red or green chile sauce and generally served with a bit of cheese, fried eggs and a side of refried beans. Our first post about this dish was in 2012, but this year we updated our most recent offering (from 2013) on the topic. This 2015 update for the AFBA City Guide 2015 includes an additional 15 plates of chilaquiles (and our current Top 10 recommendations) along with photos and descriptions for a total of 65 establishments in the Austin metropolitan area.
 

The best of the best chilaquiles in Austin. © Ryan Schierling

 
So, whether you are just visiting Austin or a long-time resident looking to explore a new cuisine in town, the AFBA City Guide is a great place to start your search.

LINKS
The complete compendium:  AFBA City Guide 2015
Our chilaquiles recommendations here: The "NEW" State of Chilaquiles in Austin, Texas

Don't forget to join the conversation on Twitter using hashtag #ATXBestEats

AFBA Photography Camp.

(L) Sopes con platanos. (R) Aaron Franklin. © Ryan Schierling

Summer camp!

Who wants to go swim in a septic pond, pick ticks out of their nether-regions and make arts and crafts out of yarn and popsicle sticks? Yes! No?

Then how about a one-day Austin Food Blogger Alliance summer photo camp, where you get to pick the brains of some of Austin's finest food photographers*, eat lobster rolls for lunch, shoot breakout sessions and have happy hour snacks? This all goes down Saturday, September 28, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and tickets are available for both AFBA members and the general public. 

*Melissa Skorpil, Mary Helen Leonard, Chris Perez, Jane Ko and Peter Tsai.

I'm going to drop in on as many classes as I can, because at no point in our lives do we ever stop learning valuable photography lessons. I will also be there because AFBA actually asked me if I'd teach a class, which we eventually called "Rig It" – which, really, is just about right considering how we shoot here at Foie Gras Hot Dog. Shoestring, ghetto, on the fly. You'd be surprised how far it goes. 

Honestly, pretty prose doesn't always command attention when you're working on a food site. As brilliant as the recipes and writing may be, there need to be photographs, and sometimes it takes a beautiful image to really draw the reader in. 

While the biggest and best food blogs certainly have fancy this and expensive that when it comes to photography gear, is all of that really necessary?  Well, I've also been told that Hemingway had a badass typewriter. High-dollar doesn't always equal high-concept or amazing imagery and you don't need spendy cameras and lenses or professional kitchens. It simply takes an educated eye and knowing what you want to convey through your photographs, and that's not expensive. 

If I dropped as much dough on camera equipment as Julie and I do on food in a year, I'd have the top-of-the-line, latest-and-greatest at my disposal. But we don't, and that camera bag full of gear is not as mandatory as you might think in producing high-quality images for your site. 

The class I'm teaching is intended to help you get the most out of whatever camera you're using, help you with manipulating natural and artificial light on the cheap, and give a few tips on backgrounds and aesthetics to make your photographs look amazing whether they're food or the folks creating the food. 

THE CLASSES

Food Photography 101 – Melissa Skorpil takes you through everything from how to plan a shoot to setting up lighting and using props.

Photo Editing – Mary Helen Leonard takes you through editing basics.

Don’t Fear the Manual Setting – Chris Perez will help you step outside your autofocus safety zone.

Rig It – Ryan Schierling teaches you how to get the most out of your camera.

Phoning It In – Jane Ko will show that gorgeous photos can come from your phone, too.

All About the Gear – Peter Tsai discusses the best gear for your camera.

*plus Breakout Shooting Sessions

Your ticket gets you hands-on training and photography best practices, a yummy box lunch provided by Pamela Jane’s New England Lobster Rolls (vegetarian and gluten-free options available), morning sips and snacks by Zhi Tea and  Better Bites Bakery, iced coffee by Chameleon Cold Brew, and happy hour snacks sponsored by Dinner Lab.

Austin Bakes for West, Texas.

 A good old-fashioned bake sale for a worthy cause.

What we love about Austin being such a food-centric town is that we're part of a greater community – one of chefs, restaurateurs, food writers, bloggers and food and drink aficionados who not only organize in appreciation of food, but to pool their energy and talents to help others. 

This month I am excited to be baking for the Austin Bakes for West event on Saturday, May 4. This delicious fundraising event will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in eight locations around the Austin-metro area and there's a venue near you. 

• Bee Cave: Whole Foods Market, 12601 Hill Country Blvd, Bee Cave, TX 78738
• Central: Foreign & Domestic, 306 E. 53rd Street, 78751
• Central: Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew, 6610 N Lamar Blvd, 78757
• Downtown: Whole Foods Market, 525 N. Lamar Boulevard, 78703
• East: Springdale Farm, 755 Springdale Road, 78702
• North: Whole Foods Market, 9607 Research Boulevard #300, 78759
• Round Rock: Round Rock Market 221 E. Main Street, Round Rock, 78664
• South: Crema Bakery, 9001 Brodie Lane, Suite B, 78748

We put a lot of love into our baking at Foie Gras Hot Dog, and we're sharing in hopes that our friends, family and neighbors will come out to support those in West who have been so terribly affected by the explosion that devastated their city.

For more information about this bake sale and supporting Austin Bakes, please visit austinbakes.com.

Austin Food Blogger Alliance Cookbook.

Mando Rayo's fried egg tacos. © Ryan Schierling

We love cookbooks, and believe that if you truly want a comprehensive understanding of a family or community, read one of their collected cookbooks cover to cover. Find the most dog-eared, sauce-splattered pages, cook those recipes and you will know the way to their hearts. 

Last September, we were asked to test a pair of recipes for the Austin Food Blogger Alliance cookbook, set to be published in the Spring of 2013 by History Press.

Mando Rayo of Taco Journalism has one of the most exhaustively-compiled review sites of taco trucks and taquerias in and around Austin, and we've used that vast database for years now in finding new tacos. His fried egg taco recipe produced a deliciously spicy, messy handful best served "after many tequilazos."