Best Cheap Breakfast

Fans of this tiny neighborhood tiendalike to keep the venue a secret. "It's a hidden jewel," says novelist Lou Jane Temple, who often shares one of Ortega's Restaurant and Mini-Market's red-leatherette booths on Sunday mornings with good friends, hot coffee and a newspaper. "You want to tell people about it, but you're afraid that if you do, it will be too hard to get a table." Each morning at 8:30, cooks working the restaurant half of the business begin serving up wonderful, Mexican-style breakfasts, such as a generous plate of huevos rancheros con chorizo with flour or corn tortillas, beans, rice and fresh salsa for $5.50. A plate of eggs without sausage goes for $4.25. The best part may be that they keep serving breakfast all day.