Egg

This week's brunch adventure was just one stop across the East River on the L in hipsterville central - Williamsburg, Brooklyn. While waiting for the subway there were strange musical notes coming from an accordion player. The sounds seemed more appropriate for the streets and canals of Venice, Italy. I commented that the music seemed out of place in the underground of NYC. Gwen replied, "Nothing is out of place in the subway." So true.

We arrived at Egg on 5th and Bedford to find a rather large crowd. I quickly added my name and "2" to the list on page two; they were still on page 1. While waiting, I grew increasingly impatient since they were seating at least two groups of larger numbers - 4 and 5 - who arrived after us! Gwen was keeping me calm until the server jumped to "Corleen - party of two" when Corleen was in fact after us on the list and after the several groups of 4 and 5 already seated. The hostess apologized, went to seat us, and then crossed out Corleen and not Mel?! I think she was overworked. Wonder if Corleen ever got her seat? We'd been waiting for 45 minutes! Yikes.

On a good note, there were abosolutely no kids, babies, toddlers of any kind. Yeah! No stroller to dodge, no shrieking, but strangely there were crayons at the table. I went to work on the butcher paper on the table. If all of Williamsburg is like this, I give it thumbs up over postnatal enclaves of Carroll Gardens and Fort Greene and toddlerville Park Slope any day.

So the picture above from the NYMag shows their egg sandwich with ham and a poached egg. Well the egg sandwich isn't even on the brunch menu but is on their take-out menu so we ordered it from there. We had some hiccups as it is scrambled eggs but Gwen convinced them to present hers with a poached egg. I ordered mine 'normal' meaning scrambled, with ham and cheese. We also ordered sides of carmelized grapefruit with mint, roasted tomatoes, hashbrowns, and bacon. Hey, we were hungry!

While we waited they served cinnamon sugar donut holes which were good, fried well with no doughy center but a light, airy texture with no hint at greasiness or dryness. My only criticism is they'd taste better warm or hot.

We waited a very long time for our order. The couple next to us ordered at about the same time and were served at least ten minutes before us. My egg sandwich was cold on one side and just warm on the other. I think it was waiting for Gwen's poached version which was served hot and oozing with yolky goodness. Hers was the better choice.

The ham was the standout - salty goodness like the best hams from Spain or the South. Cheese was good and tangy, not hidden. The biscuit was a little too dense for my tastes; I like a fluffy and flakey version with a crisper edgy outer crust, preferably a nice golden brown. The biscuit at Prime Meats still wins in that category. The tomatoes were a smart acidic balance to the salty, buttery, fatty sandwich. Hashbrowns were absolute heaven, crispy outer crunchy brown shredded potato patty way better than anything I've ever tasted north of Virginia. Gwen used a chunk to sop up the egg yolk remains on her plate - smart move! Grapefruit was just a warmed grapefruit with a sprig of mint in the center - nothing special. Bacon was chewy meat goodness with a slim edge of fat fabulousness.

They had our check in hand, ready to shove us out the door, but we ordered coffee and tea. The waitress really had no other pastry or sweet offerings to tempt us, sadly. Good brunch places really should have a pastry basket selection or at least a scone/biscuit/muffin option! And they're known for their fig jam and she never mentioned this?! Weird. I think they just wanted to turn the table. The coffee Gwen had was good but my tea (ordered mint but got English Breakfast) was crappy tea-leaf-dust in a crappier tea bag. I'm a whole leaf gal and this just won't do. They'd be better off serving Lipton with milk and sugar if they're going for the Southern Cafe thing.

Overall, long wait but enjoyable, especially the poached egg sandwich, stewed tomatoes, hashbrowns and bacon. Just expect to wait. Luckily the crowd is nice even if they wear oversized sunglasses with homemade knit caps and secondhand vintage sneakers; think Flight of The Concords without the cool Kiwi accents but with better eyewear. Some very nice young guy eye-candy; too bad they all had girl company. Food appetite satisfied but the lust appetite goes on unquenched. Where's Bret McKenzie when I need him? Damn, he got married :(