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I should mention that it is more traditional to use stale tortillas that are kind of pan-fried. Using tortilla chips is kind of the lazy man's way. Just be sure to use a thicker chip that won't turn to mush easily.

My guess as to why they're not popular: Pure peasant food. The stale chips mention hints at it. These are supposed to be made for breakfast using dinner leftovers.

With chicken? Muy elegante. Chilaquiles are indeed peasant food, most often with the tortillas alone and not any kind of meat providing the substance.

As to the question, chilaquiles are probably not on as many Tex-Mex menus as nachos because, well, why make tortilla chips soggy with sauce when most people, even Mexican people, prefer the crisp, fresh ones? The idea of the dish is to use up stale tortillas, which may be a concern at home but not a major concern in Tex-Mex restaurants. Another reason might be that the dish is usually made without chicken or other meat, for reasons of economy. Sure, if you adapt a traditional chilaquiles recipe to take advantage of the fact that some chicken or whatever is not going to bust the wallet of any Tex-Mex restaurant patron, then I can see chilaquiles appearing on more restaurant menus. But the traditional spartan versions with tortilla chips alone?--not very satisfying compared with typical Tex-Mex menu options laden with chicken, beef, cheese, etc.

My first encounter with this wonderful dish was on a weekend spent out on Catalina Island off the coast of LA. After a long hard night of drinking at the deliciously seedy Luau Larry's, we stumbled back in Sunday morning for the brunch. Friends recommended the chilaquiles. They were like nothing i had ever experienced before (being from the not-so-texmex Northeast). I can also attest that they are a great Hangover remedy food. I came back home to Boston and began searching my local Mexican haunts, but never found chilaquiles on the menus. I was mentioning this to friends one night and the waiter overheard and informed me that chilaquiles were considered a peasant dish back home and that I would most likely not find them on any local menus. Still looking, no luck. NOW, I have a recipe even I can follow, I look forward to this upcomming Sunday morning when I will host a brunch and my chilaquiles will be the Main Event. I think I will go more traditional and skip the chicken. I will post an update later.

Yeah, I had it again for lunch with a fried egg on top. Great....

Chilaquiles is also a breakfast meal. We hate them every morning we were in Sayulita - they are absolutely wonderful. We were lucky to come across an authentic recipe, just like the ones we ate, and made it for dinner - http://www.chezus.com/2008/10/29/chilaquiles/. Really fantastic!

I grew up in El Paso, Texas, right on the border with Mexico and New Mexico. We ate a lot of chilaquiles, which were scrambled eggs with tostadas (fried corn tortilla pieces), fresh salsa (we called it pico de gallo) or red enchilada sauce, and cheese. That's the Chihuahua or New Mexican version. In other parts of Texas and in general Tex-Mex cooking, they're called migas and are a bit different.

Chilaquiles, fideo (vermicelli in a thin tomato sauce), and gorditas (fried corn patties stuffed with ground meat, potatoes, veggies, and cheese and fried again!) were definitely home food and not usually to be had in restaurants (though gorditas started springing up in hamburger stands, etc.),

Sorry this is so long, but I live in Los Angeles now and really miss my home-style Mexican food; the Mexican food here is lovely, but it's just not the same -- witness the fact that all tacos here are soft!

The availability of chilaquiles on a restaurant's menu is how I determine if it's a good place to go, or not. What I love is how it varies even at the same restaurant depending on who is cooking. Green sauce, red sauce, cheesy sauce, OH so good. Dry or wet. Oh man do I love chilaquiles! I've only found a couple of places in my area with them, and unfortunately our favorite closed a year or two ago. :( It will remain the standard by which restaurants are judged for me. Even if I have to ask whether they have them, on the off chance that someone in the kitchen might be willing to make them for me. Yum!

I'm a bit late to the party here, but wanted to comment that I made these and they were stellar.