Cindy has described the goal plainly — 'we wanted to preserve tradition and create a space where people could get a little taste of our home' — and two decades in, the restaurant has become enough of a neighborhood institution that their son Alexander, a DePaul finance graduate who grew up eating and working in the dining room, now helps lead the next chapter. The signature dish is almost absurdly beloved: the coconut oatmeal is popular enough that customers buy it to go by the gallon, not by the bowl. Weekdays bring a rotating special built around an omelet with salchichon and sweet fried maduros, while weekends shift into a genuine all-you-can-eat Puerto Rican brunch buffet, Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 2pm, $25 for adults and $9 for kids 3 to 10, with coffee and orange juice included — reservations recommended, since this has become a real draw rather than a quiet neighborhood secret.
Weekday hours run 7am to 3pm, early enough to catch the pre-work breakfast crowd, with weekend hours stretching to 4pm for the full brunch rush. For anyone exploring Paseo Boricua, Nellie's is the breakfast stop locals send you to first.
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