I brunch a lot, and I've talked about why brunch is the meal of the gods here. So, I decided I needed to start documenting these awesome places individually.
Since Egg Shop is the elusive great white buffalo of brunch spots (meaning, to actually get in, you have to have all of the stars align and then also have a little new york magic wafting in your direction), I decided to start this series with my visit.
The Rundown
Food: Eggs. (duh). Lots of egg sandwiches and egg bowls with grains and veggies. And some killa hashbrowns (but more on those in a minute)
Location: Nolita- 151 Elizabeth Street
Vibe: People wearing sunglasses. Early to mid twenty-somethings. People who like eggs.
Price: Each entree runs about $10-14, and they're mid sized. Between two people, we split three and grabbed a side as well.
Boozy Drinks? Yep.
We all know that saying "if at first you don't succeed, try and try again." Well I've also heard the quote that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Here's the background: We had tried to hit up egg shop twice before, only to be slapped with a big 1 hour wait time. I'm a hungry person on a Saturday morning, so my staying power (or lack thereof) led us elsewhere. Finally, on a Friday that my boyfriend and I both had off, we hoped we'd beat the rush by showing up 24 hours early to weekend brunch. It paid off-- The wait time was only 20 minutes for a table. I could taste success (in the form of eggs) on the horizon.
The Spandex: Poached eggs, pickled carrots, greens, avocado, and miso quinoa
We hunkered down at the corner stool spot near the window. [And a random observation, these stools are very comfy stools, because they have a mini back. Will this make or break your trip? Probably not-- just keeping you informed in all ways.] I ordered a lemongrass tea, which tasted like detoxifying happiness, and my boyfriend ordered a coffee, which tasted like coffee (good coffee, FYI, for you coffee peeps).
I ended up ordering the Spandex, which is miso quinoa, pickled carrots, greens, and a poached egg (I added a second). My boyfriend ordered the BEC, which looked like heaven, and was made of an egg, shelburne cheddar, blackforest bacon, tomato jam, fresh pickled jalapeno, on a delicious salted fluffy roll. We decided to split the El Camino (a bowl consisting of a poached egg, avocado, pulled pork, tomatoes, tortilla chips and cilantro) and the Hashbrowns (two lil hashbrown nuggs).
The El Camino was the winner to me. I get why they call it "The Road" because I would walk many a road for this bowl (namely, Broadway, because that's how I get from my apartment to this spot). I love sweet southern style pulled pork, and this was perfectly sweet and delicious and saucy. It was rich, not overly heavy, and overly heavenly. The other winner to me was the side of hashbrowns. I'm not a hashbrown person, I repeat, not a hashbrown person, and I was digging these. They're not overly oily or greasy-- more like crispy wedges of shredded potatoes, in a round ball. Like an adult-ified hush puppy. The ketchup was weirdly good-- I don't know why, it was slightly spicy and I slightly wanted to ask for more to put on everything. (I'm also not a ketchup person-- what is this new me Egg Shop has created?) I didn't try the BEC, but my boyfriend was loving it, and he's been around the BEC block more than a few times. The Spandex was good-- it just didn't stand out as much among the other amazing flavors. When I stirred in some of the pulled pork with the quinoa, though-- now we're talking.
El Camino: Pulled Pork Carnitas, A Poached Egg, Tomatoes, Avocado, Cilantro and Tortilla Strips
As far as the aesthetic and service, it's a small place, but once you're in, the waitstaff is crazy attentive and nice. The food comes out fast, so factor that in to the impending doom of your wait time, because you will get fed quickly (especially if you know what you're ordering, which hopefully you do now). I'm a typography lover, and I love the typeface of everything in there. Down to the little egg-shaped salt shakers, the attention to detail is super cool.
Overall Cool Brunch Rating: 4.5/5
- Pros: Awesome food, great design, great wait staff
- Cons: Wait time
- Tips: Go early [before 10:30], late [after 2:30], or for a "brunch" dinner-- because they serve dinner! Eggs never go outta style. And order the El Camino, because happiness is eggs and pulled pork.
- Will I go back? I'm egg-static. Yeah! On The Cool York shortlist.
For more information, here's Egg Shop's website.
I remember having high expectations before trying a Cronut for the first time, thinking, yeah, I'm sure it's all hype. And then I remember biting into it. And in that moment of custardy-butter fueled bliss, I remember thinking, no way. No way does this thing exist. The last time I had one of those moments was at Poilane in France when I bit into an apple tart. And excuse my french, but Cronuts are f!cking awesome.