It takes guts to name your business Con Huevos Tacos. Owner-chef Hugo Garcia admits that some Spanish speakers roll their eyes or snicker. He acknowledges that the first two words in the restaurant’s name imply many things—some baser than others—but for him, the phrase has a more serious meaning. When Garcia opened the restaurant six months ago, his mom was battling cancer, and he was inspired by her fighting spirit. “Con huevos” is all about “how to work hard or give it your all,” he says. I’m not going to spoil the pun otherwise. What I will say, in all seriousness, is that even in San Antonio’s crowded morning taco market, Con Huevos is a standout taqueria.
Garcia based the menu on the homestyle dishes his mother and grandmother cooked during his youth in the Rio Grande Valley and the northern Mexican town of Valle Hermoso. Con Huevos serves a selection of egg-based tacos and quesadillas brimming with comforting, invigorating guisados like smoky chipotle-stewed chicken tinga. Classics such as papas con huevos and migas are litmus tests for breakfast taco spots, and Con Huevos nails the exam.
I ordered that pairing in the Con Huevos Bag Special, which for $6 gives you the option of two traditional breakfast tacos (bean and cheese, bacon and eggs, chorizo and egg, or the two I chose) handed over in a brown paper bag with a coffee and soup. For the latter, I went for the chest-burning wonder that is the fideo. A small cup of wiggly vermicelli in a vermillion, oil-spotted broth is not only warming, but also stirs the appetite.
That’s when you dive in to the sizable breakfast tacos with handmade flour tortillas almost as big as those found in the Brownsville–Matamoros area. They’re not quite the diameter of a platter, but they’re close. The tortillas are also flaky and gauzy with thin layers lifted with a touch of baking powder. They’re wrapped around beautifully slick, bouncy scrambled eggs tossed with cubed potatoes that have browned, snappy exteriors and fluffy interiors. The fried tortilla strips in the migas are crunchy in a pleasant contrast to the eggs. Sprinkle a little salt on the fillings, add drizzles of the red jalapeño salsa, which has a consistent fruity burn, and all the trappings of an ideal breakfast taco meal are yours. Breakfast taco lovers—dare I say all Texans?—will walk away happy. Folks who grew up in or have spent significant time in the Valley or along the border will also come away from Con Huevos with a satisfied sense of nostalgia.
That’s fitting, since love of family is what led Garcia to open his restaurant. Sadly, his mother died in March, but he says that opening his little place—a small blue building with the restaurant’s name in hand-painted yellow letters—has given him purpose. “I wanted to honor my mom, make people smile, everything for la familia.”
That goal is also reflected in Con Huevos’ specialty tacos, which are named after important women in the chef-owner’s life. (These tacos are on hiatus while the restaurant operates as a takeaway spot with a limited menu and shortened hours during the COVID-19 pandemic.) My favorite is the Irma. Named after one of Garcia’s aunts, the Irma is scrambled eggs in salsa verde with fine shreds of Oaxaca cheese, fat wedges of avocado, and a shower of whole cilantro on a flour tortilla that’s still inflated in spots when served. It’s spunky and comforting—like a good aunt who always gives you a reason to smile. “Those smiles are worth it,” Garcia explains. “Family is everything.”
Con Huevos Tacos
1629 E. Houston, San Antonio
Phone: 210-229-9295
Hours: Wednesday–Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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