Hugo’s Breakfast
Monday, September 26, 2005 19:39My soon to be bride (less than three weeks now for those of you keeping score) and I figured out that there are four places where we love having breakfast, and that we have a hard time branching out. One of those four places is Hugo’s in West Hollywood, where we brunched on Sunday. We go to Hugo’s the least out of our favorites, simply because of geography, but quality wise, it is one of the tops.
I’m not a creature of habit. When I go out to eat, I like to try different things. I’ve never thought it would be “cool” to be able to go into a place and order “the usual”. To me, that would mean going to the same place too often and ordering the same thing everytime. Who wants that? Hugo’s, however, drives me to break my rules. I simply cannot go there and order anything except for the Desayuno Fuerte. Good god, just writing about it makes me crave it.
The Desayuno Fuerte has four basic ingredients. Starting at the bottom: potato pancakes, veggies, eggs and cheese. If only it were that simple, I could whip it up at home. Starting at the top. The cheese is fresh shreds of parmesian, flavorful and robust. The eggs are two perfectly poached mini globes of goodness, with solid whites and flowing motlen yolks. The veggies, a mix of spinach, tomatoes, onions and garlic are sauteed until slightly soft, but not mushy. The potato pancakes, well the potato panckaes are the very specific reason why this dish is so tasty. The first time I tried them, I thought that it was some sort of sausage patty. There was simply too much flavor to be formed tubers. In truth, well, they are potato pancakes, but the flavor and consistancy is like no potato pancake I have had anywhere else. They are amazing, basically.
There are other options on the menu. Obviously. They used to have some great potato taquitos, but those weren’t on the menu Sunday. Hugo’s also serves chilaquiles, although I will have to leave it to someone else to sample those.
Free two hour parking in the structure across the street from Hugo’s.
By the way, the other three in the top four? Jinky’s, Amandine and John O’Groats. Feel free to through darts at that list.
Hugo’s Restaurant
8401 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, Ca 90069
323-654-3993
By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.
bellafey says:
September 26th, 2005 at 8:38 pm
K. and I just made chilaquiles from Rick Bayliss’s book. They were awesome!!
Pauline says:
September 26th, 2005 at 11:15 pm
God, I’m hungry right now. I’m adding this one to my list of places to go when I get back in Dec.
BIG congrats on the approaching wedding date, too! Will we get reviews about the wedding cake?
G-net says:
September 27th, 2005 at 8:27 pm
Hugos is one of my all time faves. It’s too far away now for me to go there very often though. I always get Pasta Oscar. Isn’t that funny? I’ll have pasta for breakfast at this place only.
Dylan says:
September 29th, 2005 at 12:38 pm
jonah, you said the “C” word. Chilaquiles!! i’ll let you know how it is.
VeggieGal says:
September 30th, 2005 at 9:19 am
The Hugo’s in the Valley is open for dinner too - they do a great veggie loaf. It’s a standby when we’ve gotta have a meal with the in-laws who live in the valley. There’s something for everyone!
Martini Al Fresco says:
June 22nd, 2006 at 2:40 pm
Just had brunch at Hugo’s (WeHo). Really very good. Per suggestion I tried the Desayuno Fuerte and the esults were better than expected: fresh ingredients, crispy potato pancakes (had to keep them away from the jus!) and excellent poached eggs. My companion ordered the pumpkin pancakes and we split our orders equally, making for a fine balance of savory/sweet. The pancakes were also extremely good, with a lot of spice (I like ‘em that way) and a good balance between fluffy and flat — with good integrity once the syrup was added (bad pancakes can crumble once the syrup goes on like water on the Witch of the West.. ick). Pumpkin flavor was definitely there but seemed to biminish after a few mouthfuls (spice fatigue? ;-). It was a nice enough day to be on the patio but we opted for eating inside. Although there was nothing wrong with the interior space I think the next visit will have to be outside. Good service with plenty of coffee refills. Where was the parking mention across the street? It was a gas station as far as I could tell, so we parked on the side street nearby.
Jonah says:
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:50 pm
The parking is on the same side of Santa Monica Blvd as Hugo’s, across the side street that the patio is on. I think the structure is connected to a frame store? It is hard to see.