Nellie's Cafe

Inside the cozy cinderblock and glass brick restaurant, a sign on the wall confirms the kitchen's priorities: "A day without chile is like a day without sunshine."  Danny Ray Hernandez, Nellie's son, makes vivid salsas using five to seven different types of chile and specializes in such eye-opening breakfasts as huevos a la Mexicana (scrambled with jalapenos) and eggs with chile and meat. For the latter you can get red or green or a combination of the two (known as Christmas). The red tastes of pure pod; the green is hot enough to require tongue-tamping with the kitchen's pulchritudinous sopaipillas. Mr. Hernandez speculated that dry growing conditions over recent years have produced chiles in which the heat is more concentrated.  Today it is strictly a breakfast-and-lunch eatery.