Editor’s note: This article has been updated to remove the boudin benedict from Duvic’s, which is no longer on the menu.
I had brunch recently with a friend who ordered the poached eggs in her Eggs Benedict cooked over hard.
Wait. Over hard?
She apologized, and then sheepishly confessed to the six of us around the table that she had serious texture issues with eggs. The thought of an egg’s golden innards weeping onto her plate was about the nastiest thing she could think of. “I don’t think I could stand it,” she told us.
Not me. I adore eggs cooked soft. I think a fried egg must be cooked over easy, or sunny-side up, and I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve tossed a fried egg when cooking at home if it has a broken yolk.
As for scrambled eggs or omelets, I love them best when they still have that creamy, luscious sheen—a look you only get when they’re cooked low and slow.
Talking poached eggs—especially those served in composed brunch dishes—they’re only acceptable when they’re jiggly, and a quick jab of your knife releases the warm yolk, an elegant sauce itself, onto the rest of the plate’s ingredients. I mean, isn’t that the whole point?
I know I’m not alone. In fact, the great challenge for all the brave Baton Rouge restaurants now serving brunch is turning out hundreds of properly cooked eggs within a really short period of time. It takes an intensely organized kitchen to achieve something like that, especially since the variety of egg dishes out there continues to reach new heights of creativity.
So here’s to a perfectly cooked egg in all its simple glory. The next time you sit down to brunch, raise a glass to the cooks who get it right.
THE MANY FACES OF EGGS
Croque Van Damme at The Overpass Merchant This is the Merchant’s play on the French classic croque madame: a buttery grilled ham and Swiss cheese sandwich with bechamel sauce topped with a sunny side up egg. A special thing happens when runny yolk meets bechamel. theoverpassmerchant.com
Ultimate Omelette at Mansurs on the Boulevard A classic French dish meets the south Louisiana palate in Mansurs’ Ultimate Omelette, stuffed with lump crabmeat, shrimp and crawfish and draped with pepper-jack mornay sauce. It’s served with a side of hash browns. mansursontheboulevard.com
Boudin Stuffed Quail at Juban’s This dish offers an extra layer of woodsy, earthy decadence: boudin-stuffed quail deep-fried and doused with andouille buttermilk gravy. It’s served with manchego stone-ground white grits, asparagus and a fried quail egg. jubans.com
Southern Fried Pork Chops and Eggs at Sammy’s Grill on Highland A standout on Sammy’s cozy brunch menu is this quintessentially Southern dish: two fried chops over hash browns topped with sausage gravy, two fried eggs and green onions. Toast (or a biscuit) is there for sopping up all the
goodness. sammysgrill.com
Big Joe Breakfast Sandwich at Simple Joe Cafe This breakfast sandwich is loaded with two eggs, cheese and either four slices of bacon or two sausage patties between Texas toast. You don’t have to wait until the weekend for this throwback goody—it’s available all week. simplejoecafe.us
Breakfast Tacos at Superior Grill on Highland In this sumptuous take on the breakfast taco, Superior Grill stuffs flour tortillas with egg frittata, pico de gallo, queso fresco, and your choice of chicken, chorizo, brisket, ham or bacon. The plate is rounded off with refried beans and breakfast potatoes. batonrouge.superiorgrill.com
This article was originally published in the March 2019 issue of 225 Magazine.
Click here to dig into the rest of our brunch cover story.
