M-Th 11am-10pm, F, Sa 10am-11pm, Su 10am-10pm
Instead of waiting an hour to get a table at Orange on Roscoe, head down the street to this marvelous little restaurant. El Tinajon is a fantastic Guatemalan joint that apparently has very tasty lunches and dinners. I wouldn't know, but I believe it. Their breakfast options aren't massively extensive; they're mostly fairly simple combinations of eggs, beans, fried plantains and rice, but they're very, very well done. The interior is homey but not cheesy; warm orange walls and some mediocre paintings of village streets and Mayan ruins. The service is prompt and friendly.
As soon as you sit down, fresh chips and salsa are set in front of you. Not especially amazing, but good. The water, I have to say, kind of tasted like swimming pool. It was strange. The coffee, on the other hand, is fantastic, rich and smooth and with a hint of cinnamon. They're not that quick on the refills, but then, many restaurants don't really seem to understand just how much coffee I wanna drink in the morning (I'm not even kidding - I share responsibility for one place revoking its bottomless cup policy).
For an appetizer, Jen ordered the yucca for us all to share. I had ever eaten a yucca. It's a lot like a potato, albeit somewhat mushier, kinda. This arrived in small cubes, coated in some marvelous spices and fried or possibly baked. I don't think I'm going to become a yucca enthusiast, but I also don't think I'm going to get yucca that good in very many other places. I'll bet it's really easy to prepare yucca in a way that really accentuates its bland mushiness, rather than playing to its strengths as a mild-mannered vegetable.
For an entree I had the Huevos a la Mexicana, scrambled eggs with cilantro, tomatoes, onions and peppers, served with rice and black beans. The scramble wasn't particularly complex, but it was simple, good food done right. Not too dry, not too mushy, the various vegetables came together into a solidly tasty symphony. The black beans were really quite good - I'm not usually a big fan of beans, but these were flavorful and actually enhanced my eating experience. The rice, also, packed more flavor than you'd expect, and had just the right sticky-but-not-mushy texture, a nice change from usual bone-dry fare one finds as an accompaniment to a lot of Latin American food. I got a side of the fried plantains, and they rocked my world. Buttery fried goodness.
If you have never encountered beans, rice and plantains for breakfast, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. It may seem strange at first (like, wow! dinner for breakfast!), but it's actually a much healthier, pleasanter eating experience than most American breakfasts. You'll leave full and energized but not stuffed to the gills and ready to lie down. It's fairly simple food, but it's good for you. You may scoff at the idea of fried food being healthy, but I tell you what - you know it is, because of how you'll feel after eating it. Trust me on this one.
Anyways, an enthusiastic recommendation from me on this one. I will definitely be coming back for more. Probably quite soon, actually, given that my car broke down right after breakfast and I had to leave it there. Um. The food is great!
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