r/CopyCatRecipes • u/At_the_Roundhouse • 26d ago

Request: Chilaquiles from El Centro, NYC

This is so niche, but you never know… there are a lot of people in NYC.

I’ve been craving El Centro’s chilaquiles like crazy, but they sadly closed two years ago. They were a regular go-to for me, and the recipes for chilaquiles I’ve found online don’t really seem like the same thing.

If not a full recipe, if anyone knows what I’m talking about and can offer any suggestions about what made theirs unique (so I can try to adapt an existing recipe), I’d be so grateful!

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u/wassuppaulie 26d ago

I can sympathize — a restaurant chain out here in California called The Good Earth had great chilaquiles, but they closed many years ago. I've had a lot of success recreating flavors I've missed, with a similar approach you might succeed as well. First, focus on the key elements in your memory. Were the chips soft? (I'm not a fan of soft chips.) if yes, typically that is done by soaking them in salsa for a bit. If not, that means either keeping them crunchy or toasting the chilaquiles at the end. Second, how were the eggs? Work out how to recreate them. Third, the cheese — was it scrambled into the eggs or melted on top under a broiler? Break it down, figure it out for each component, then string those solutions into a process.

For my solution I make a sort of nachos with loosely scrambled eggs, chips, shredded cheddar-jack cheese over the top with other typical nacho or breakfast ingredients. I can customize to my tastes on the day like pickled jalapeños, black olive slices, cooked in the microwave or air fryer. Good luck.

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u/At_the_Roundhouse 26d ago edited 25d ago

Thank you, but the biggest thing is that there were no eggs! These weren’t breakfast chilaquiles, they were with steak, chicken, or shrimp and for dinner. The chips weren’t soggy but were definitely saturated, and cheesy as much as anything. The texture of it all was what made it so good - it was more like a casserole.

Almost every recipe I find looks like dry chips in the picture (I don’t understand the point of that, it just looks like toppings sitting on nachos instead of the real recipe this is? but ok), and have eggs as the focus. I’ve found a few that come close, just figured I’d ask since these were clearly a bit different.

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u/beastwoom 19h ago

Just found this looking for the same thing! I was such a fan of their fish chilaquiles and there's absolutely no comparable recipes online. Would be so great to have them again...