My wife 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 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 every time. 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 would whip it up at home. Starting at the top. The cheese is fresh shreds of Parmesan, flavorful and robust. The eggs are two perfectly poached mini globes of goodness, with solid whites and runny 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 pancakes 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 tubers. In truth, well, they are potato pancakes, but the flavor and consistency 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 aren’t always on the menu. Hugo’s also serves chilaquiles, although I will have to leave it to someone else to sample those.

In addition to the terrific food, Hugo’s has an extensive tea list. It was at Hugo’s where we learned that if you steep tea for about a minute then throw out the water, you can remove about 90% of the caffeine. It is for that reason that Hugo’s doesn’t serve non-herbal decaf tea.

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.

Other Hugo’s Write Ups (leave yours in the comments):

• Quarry Girl
• Snag Wire Media
• VegGuide
• Gourmet Pigs

Hugo’s Restaurant
8401 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, Ca 90069
323-654-3993