The 11 Best Restaurant Egg Dishes In America
The going rate for one egg these days is about 10 cents depending on where you live, making it one of the least expensive, most convenient, versatile, and delicious sources of protein you'll find. There are literally an infinite amount of culinary uses for an egg, and just about every restaurant in America that's open during breakfast or lunch hours has an egg dish of some sort on the menu. But at these 11 eateries, you'll find the absolute best egg-based dishes in America.
Una Pizza Napoletana, San Francisco: Apollonia
Only available on Saturdays at San Francisco's legendary Neapolitan pizza restaurant, the Apollonia tops a pizza with fresh eggs, Parmigiano Reggiano, buffalo mozzarella, salami, extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil and garlic, and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. It's a brunch dish that dreams are made of.
Shopsin’s General Store, New York City: Ova
The tiny Shopsin's, located in New York's Essex Street Market, is one of the most bonkers restaurants you'll ever encounter; just look at the menu! We have no idea how owner Kenny Shopsin manages to whip up each of these dishes on command, but he does, and the results are always delicious. Nearly half of the dishes on the 900-item menu (seriously) contain eggs, but we're partial to the Ova: a creamy, cheesy patty of bacon cheese grits served with two perfectly poached eggs and your choice of toast.
Hominy Grill, Charleston, S.C.: Country Breakfast
When in Charleston, a stop at Hominy Grill is essential. Chef Robert Stehling is serving essentially perfect renditions of Southern classics. And his Country Breakfast is worth the trip alone: Two eggs cooked to your liking, a bowl of spot-on grits (ask for them cheesy), toast, and a patty of housemade pork sausage. Breakfast perfection.
Commander’s Palace, New Orleans: Cochon de Lait Eggs Benedict
This New Orleans landmark just might serve the best brunch in America, and the best dish on their brunch menu is arguably the cochon de lait eggs Benedict. Pork shoulder is slowly cooked for 12 hours before being shredded and piled atop a buttermilk biscuit in a pool of rich mushroom-based sauce forestiere. Topped with two poached eggs and a ladle of tasso-infused hollandaise, this just might be the best play on eggs Benedict you'll find anywhere.
Little Goat Diner, Chicago: Kimchi & Bacon & Eggs & Pancakes Asian Style Breakfast Tasty Thing
The highly anticipated follow-up to Stephanie Izard's acclaimed Girl & The Goat delivered on all fronts. What is this dish, exactly? Just what it sounds like: A pile of shredded kimchi, bacon, eggs, and pancakes that's absolutely delicious, and there's nothing else like it anywhere. We have a feeling this was invented at about 3 o'clock in the morning.
Mile End, New York City: Smoked Meat Hash
Mile End's "smoked meat," Montreal's answer to pastrami, is the basis of one of New York's best sandwiches, giving its more common cousins pastrami and corned beef a run for its money. Spiced, brined, and slow-smoked, when chopped up, miced with potatoes, and onion, and topped with two fried eggs, it's an absolute masterpiece.
Pine State Biscuits, Portland, Ore.: The Reggie Deluxe
A warning: This dish is not healthy. Not by a long shot. To make it, Pine State Biscuits starts with one of their legendary biscuits, and then tops it with fried chicken, bacon, cheese, and a massive helping of chunky cream gravy. What makes this the Reggie Deluxe? A fried egg on top.
Big Bad Breakfast, Oxford, Miss.: Shrimp & Grits
Chef John Currence, famous for his landmark City Grocery, is also serving flawless classic Southern cuisine in the same vein as Hominy Grill's Robert Stehling, and his Big Bad Breakfast is serving just that: big, bad (in a good way) breakfasts. Omelettes, skillets, and egg plates are all well and good, but if you really want to get an idea for how great a chef Currence is, try his shrimp and grits. Made with creamy grits, sautéed Gulf shrimp, bacon, tomatoes, red-eye gravy, and eggs, and served with a biscuit or toast, it's Mississippi on a plate.
Eggslut, Los Angeles: Fairfax
Yes, their name is borderline inappropriate, but once you get over it you'll realize that this place takes its eggs very seriously. The bacon, egg, and cheese and sausage, egg, and cheese sandwiches are perfectly constructed (we'll be putting honey mustard aïoli on all our sausage, egg, and cheeses from now on), but the Fairfax is what put it on the map. A warm brioche bun is filled with perfectly soft scrambled eggs and chives, and then simply topped with caramelized onions and Sriracha mayonnaise. It's an egg sandwich in the purest sense of the term, and it's damn near perfect.
Olde Towne Deli, Boonton, N.J.: Pork Roll, Egg, & Cheese
In Jersey, the Taylor ham (also called pork roll), egg, and cheese sandwich on a hard roll is king, and according to NJ.com, the best version can be found on narrow Main Street in the little Morris County hamlet of Boonton, in a humble deli called Olde Towne. Made with Thumann's Jersey-made pork roll (which is slightly less greasy than the more common Taylor Provisions variety) that's griddled until deep golden brown, plenty of fried eggs, and perfectly melty cheese, it's the platonic ideal of Jersey breakfast sandwiches.
Jean Georges, New York City: Egg Caviar
Jean-Georges Vongerichten is one of the best chefs in America these days, and the egg caviar is arguably the most famous dish at his flagship New York restaurant. So, yeah, it's good. To make the dish, heavy cream is lightly whipped with cayenne, salt, and a touch of vodka and fresh lemon juice, and the mixture is added into a piping bag. Egg, salt, cayenne, cream, and butter are whisked into a very soft scramble, and this mixture is spooned into the bottom of an eggshell. It's then topped with the vodka whipped cream and a massive spoonful of caviar. If this isn't fine dining, we don't know what is.