PrintNot All Breakfast Sandwiches are Created Equal
Along with pizza, fried chicken, cheeseburgers, and barbecue, I would like to nominate breakfast sandwiches for my personal food hall of fame. How great are breakfast sandwiches? Where else do you find flaky biscuits or some other appropriate breadstuff, cured and smoked meat, tangy melted cheese, and fluffy eggs in one glorious edible package?
Even bad breakfast sandwiches are pretty good. A McDonald's egg, cheese and bacon biscuit is pretty damned satisfying, though I invariably end up removing the loaf-like eggs after a bite or two.
One of the best things about breakfast sandwiches is how ubiquitous they are in most parts of the country. Every deli and coffee shop in New York makes fresh egg sandwiches to order on a flat-top grill. That means you can get a freshly made breakfast sandwich just about anywhere. It can be difficult to find breakfast sandwiches with softly scrambled eggs because eggs made on a griddle are invariably overcooked, but in the larger scheme of things that seems to be a small price to pay.
The ingredients may not be top-quality in a generic breakfast sandwich, but egg sandwiches are good enough to withstand any Alice Waters-like scrutiny.
As long as they are made to order.
Starbucks recently introduced breakfast sandwiches, but when you order one it's a real turn-off to watch them take a pre-made breakfast sandwich out of the pastry case and pop it into their combination convection-microwave oven. The results are not pretty. In fact, I would say that Starbucks breakfast sandwiches are an unmitigated culinary disaster. At "wichcraft, what would be a stupendous breakfast sandwich of bacon, eggs, gorgonzola, and unnecessary frisee, is done in by the fact that the eggs are pre-made. You can't assemble breakfast sandwiches, Tom Colicchio.
But even though generic, freshly made breakfast sandwiches are pretty damn good, there are a few places in New York that have elevated the breakfast sandwich:
They are:
Egg (at Sparky's 135A N. 5th St. (at Bedford), 718-302-5151: The breakfast sandwiches at Egg are unquestionably the breakfast sandwiches of champions. Eggs Rothko features a soft-cooked egg in a slice of Amy's brioche topped by extraordinary Grafton Village cheddar. Imagine eggs-in-a-hole made by Alice Waters.
The country ham biscuit is stunningly good. On a flaky, just moist enough buttermilk biscuit George Weld puts homemade fig jam, Col. Bill Newsom's hall of fame country ham, homemade fig jam, and some of that Grafton cheddar. It probably doesn't need the cheddar, but what the hell. Just to complete this heart attack on a biscuit, this sandwich comes with insanely buttery Anson Mills grits. This one's Colonel Sanders meets Mario Batali.
Fairway Cafe, 2127 Broadway (bet. 74th and 75th Sts., 2nd fl.) 212-595-1888: At the Fairway Cafe you can actually get softly scrambled eggs in your breakfast sandwich, because they make the eggs in a pan. Sometimes the service is so slow that the breakfast sandwich doesn't arrive at your table until lunch, but you can't have everything.
'ino: 21 Bedford St. (bet. Downing St. and 6th Ave.) 212-989-5769. I know it's a fancy-pants breakfast sandwich, but the truffled egg toast at 'ino is one of the greatest things you can pop into your mouth in the morning. It's one of the only uses of truffle oil that I can condone.
Prune, 54 E. 1st St. (between First and Second Aves.), 212-677-6221: There's only one problem with the breakfast sandwich served at Prune. It's served at lunch. Otherwise the egg, cheese and bacon sandwich served on a Kaiser roll is perfect.
Are there other stellar breakfast sandwiches out there?
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11 Comments:
Penny egg sandwich at Penelope's on Lexington and 30th. They give you a nice portion of fluffy scrambled eggs with mild, silky pesto on top as well as on the side for dipping. American cheese never tasted better. I prefer mine on the crusty english muffin (rather than the croissant) along with their crunchy bacon.
Margherita at 10:44AM on 11/03/06
i'm won over on starbucks for 2 reasons - the meat and cheese are all way better than the deli/bodega/cart guy equivilants (country ham & fontina), and they're fairly cheap: $3 (at least compared to the places in chelsea market where i work)
stinkoman at 11:04AM on 11/03/06
God, that is one handsome biscuit. I'm salivating.
dbdtron
dbdtron at 11:27AM on 11/03/06
Dunkin' Donuts: ham, egg, and cheese on a toasted plain bagel. I'm a food snob (I would never consider eating at most fast food places), but when I lived in the Boston area (Newton, actually), and was on my way to work at 5AM, this was the only choice. And I learned to love it. Those beautiful Portuguese women knew me after a week, and their early-morning greetings were as important to me as the food and the large coffee. Cost? Under $4. I knew these were nuked eggs and nuked ham, but I didn't care.
Living now in Puerto Rico, I dream of such a feast.
What ever happened to "house coffee"? I'd go into a Starbucks and ask for a "large black coffee", and they'd look at me like I was nuts.
jibaro at 4:16PM on 11/03/06
Bleh, the Starbucks sandwiches are gross. I had high hopes for them, as there's a Starbucks in my building (and 2 on my way to work), but I've tried every single breakfast sandwich they offer with meat, and I don't like any of them. I don't remember which one, but one of them actually leaked oil through the paper bag they gave it to me in. Blech.
I'd rather have an Egg McMuffin than any of the starbucks sandwiches any day.
infomofo at 4:42PM on 11/03/06
Clinton Street Baking Company sandwiches are second to none. Fluffy fresh biscuit, egg, cheese, bacon, and tomato jam.
kathryn at 2:13PM on 11/04/06
Not a sandwich, per se, but I'm a huge fan of Kitchen Market's breakfast burrito. Fluffy eggs, cheese, roasted peppers, spicy salsa and your choice of breakfast meat, all wrapped in a fresh tortilla.
HomsckTex at 3:52PM on 11/04/06
The Clinton St. Baking Company is one I surely missed. I'm going to go there this week.
A breakfast burrito really isn't a sandwich, but its intent is the same, so I'm going to try to get over there this week as well.
Ed
Ed Levine at 6:33AM on 11/05/06
Puff and Pao stuffs their traditional paos with eggs, cheese, and whatever goodies you want. it's really tasty, and the eggs are always made freshly when you order
suezhou at 12:57AM on 11/06/06
One of the best egg sandwiches I have found is from a truck at the Elephant's Trunk Country Flea Market. Route 7, New Milford CT. They are perfectly made on a Portugese roll. If you are ever in the area on a Sunday it is well worth a try!
jessieNYC at 4:05PM on 11/07/06
Egg and George is one of the reasons we moved to North Carolina (George is from NC) of course we thought we'd be getting his take on southern - organic, super fresh, and yummy. Biscuits and grits aplenty, but alas, we don't find George's impeccable taste, not in breakfast dining.
We're not thinking of moving back to WB just yet, Hich Elbetri makes magic at SandwHich (Chapel Hill, NC) taking fresh, local, organic ingredients and transforming them into a meal that's beyond what you'd normally find between two pieces of bread. Hich (formerly of Park Slope, Brooklyn) has an amazing take on sandwiches and soups, and they are like you've never had before, in NC or NYC. He's a couple blocks from Mama Dips, go here for real southern food, Fried Green Tomatoes top my list.
link: http://www.sandwhich.biz/
article: http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A42827
kulolo at 1:00AM on 12/18/07