H&H Cafe & Car Wash

701 E. Yandel, El Paso, TX - (915) 533-1144

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Posted By Michael Stern on October 31, 2010 12:07 PM

If you are hungry and your car is dusty from traveling Southwest roads, the place to go is the H&H Cafe and Car Wash, where table seats in the little joint afford a view of your vehicle being scrubbed and dried. We prefer counter stools with a vista of chiles rellenos getting battered and fried and huevos rancheros being topped with a curious buttery gravy flecked with onions and hot peppers. Artimisa, who has been a waitress here for years, frequently conjures up her own special salsa which capsicum addicts know to request. "It will hurt you," warns proprietor Kenny Haddad, who served me a few spoonfuls in a saucer. It is flecked with seeds and pod membrane (the hottest parts) and glistens seductively. Artemisa, who is normally a stern sort of person, broke into a broad grin when she watched me wipe the last of it up with warm tortillas, then wipe the beads of perspiration from my brow with napkins.

Not everything posted on the H&H wall menu is four-alarm. You can eat ordinary eggs for breakfast or a hamburger for lunch (the café closes at 3pm). Burritos are available seven ways: stuffed with chile rellenos, egg and chorizo sausage, picadillo, red chile, green chile, carne picada, or beans. Specials include chicken molé, red and green enchiladas, and – always on Saturday – menudo, the tripe and hominy stew renowned for its power to cure a hangover.

Hospitality at the well-worn cook shop is enchanting. If you speak Spanish, so much the better: you will understand the nuances of the chatter. But if, like us, you are limited to English, you will still be part of the action. The day we first visited, many years ago, we were wearing ten-gallon hats, so we soon became known to one and all as the cowboys. “Vaqueros,” called a waitress as we headed out the door, “Vaya con dios.” With our car newly cleaned and the radio tuned to the rollicking Mexican polka rhythms of Tejano music, we highballed north along the Rio Grande.

Overall Rating

Chiles Rellenos

Huevos Rancheros

Hot Salsa

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