Saturday Brunch at Green Eggs Cafe

Brunch is undoubtedly my favorite meal. I’ve always loved egg dishes, especially omelets, but I also have  a bit of a sweet tooth, so stuffed French toast and pancakes are other favorites of mine. At home, I regularly make myself omelets for a hearty breakfast or an early lunch, but here at school I rarely have the time for anything more than a cup of yogurt. So, I savor any opportunity on the weekends to get brunch with my friends.

This past weekend, my friends and I decided to try out Green Eggs Café, a well-known Philadelphia brunch spot. Green Eggs has three locations in Philly, but since we planned to go shopping afterward, we went to the café at 13th and Locust. We got to the café at 11:15 Saturday morning and encountered a huge crowd of people standing on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. I knew that Green Eggs was a very popular brunch spot, so I was expecting a wait, but I wasn’t anticipating the 80 minute wait time given to my party of four. Determined to have a nice brunch together, my friends and I took the 80 minutes to wander around center city and do some light shopping before we ate.

An hour and 15 minutes later, at 12:30, we were finally seated inside. Although the long wait time was a bit of a deterrent, things started to look up once we got inside. The interior was nice and bright, bustling with diners and waiters but not excessively noisy. My three friends and I got a table right next to the window, with all of the people waiting to be seated jealously looking on as we perused the menu. Green Eggs has a nice balance between sweet and savory brunch dishes, including omelets, six different kinds of eggs benedict, French toast, and their famous square red velvet pancakes. Being a big egg-lover, I ordered for myself the smoked lox benedict. My friend Lyn ordered the pork belly benedict, while my other two friends, Jo and Antoni, both ordered the “kitchen sink,” essentially a mountain of savory breakfast foods.

The service was polite and quick, as our dishes came out no more than 10 minutes after we had placed our order. My smoked lox benedict came as two poached eggs on top of small pieces of brioche, with large rolls of lox on the side. The eggs were beautifully poached, the egg white firm and fluffy and the yoke runny, perfect for soaking up with the brioche. The two rolls of smoked lox were a touch over-salted, but combined well with the garnish of capers and the eggs. I opted to substitute the traditional side of home fries with a fresh fruit salad, and I definitely made a good choice. The fruit was nice and refreshing in between bites of the rich and salty benedict.

My friend Lyn’s pork belly benedict was served similarly to mine, except with two large pieces of roasted pork belly in place of the rolls of smoked lox. The pork belly was satisfyingly fatty, but could have benefited from a crispier skin. With the soft texture of the eggs and brioche, the crispy pork skin would have provided a nice textural contrast. Lyn chose to stick with the traditional rosemary-spiced home fries as a side for her eggs benedict. Although the potatoes had a nice rosemary flavor, they were slightly undercooked, making them hard and difficult to eat.

The “kitchen sink” which my other two friends ordered came out in cast iron skillets, a mountain of food in each skillet. The dish included home fries, scrambled eggs with vegetables, and a large biscuit, all topped with a thick gravy sauce. Although they were both starving, neither Jo nor Antoni managed to get even halfway through their “kitchen sink.” The potatoes and scrambled eggs were incredibly filling and satisfied an appetite for a nice, hearty meal. However, the addition of the gravy pushed the richness of the dish over the top, making it difficult to eat a lot of it. The biscuit also suffered, becoming soggy under the smothering of gravy. One of my friends noted that although all of the components were cooked well, the dish as a whole fell flat because the flavors and textures seemed “one note.” The heavy coating of gravy might have contributed to this problem, so I suggest ordering the gravy on the side, so then you yourself can decide how much you want to pour on. If you want to order the “kitchen sink,” pick a friend to split it with, because there will be more than enough food for both you to share.

Although the components of our dishes differed slightly in the quality of preparation, as a whole, our experience at Green Eggs Café was very positive. Next time I go back, I will be certain to try some of their sweet dishes, including the famous red velvet pancakes. As much as my friends and I love brunch, I know it won’t be too long before I’m back there again, savoring a lazy Saturday or Sunday morning.

Vera Kirillov