CRACKED—A New Trend in Dining

Restaurants are having a moment with eggs – not for breakfast or brunch, but for dinner. Egg yolks are currently the “it ingredient” for bringing both decadence and comfort to an evening dish. We talk to seven of Vancouver’s top restaurants currently showcasing eggs for dinner.

Mamie’s Taylors

Devilled eggs, white anchovies, romesco, almonds, celery

White cheddar grits, grilled mushrooms, breadcrumbs, scallions, and yolk

Schnitzel Salad: winter greens, pork belly, fried egg, curried pears, Cambozola

Co-owner & chef Tobias Grignon: “Our white cheddar grits is one of our most popular dishes. The creamy richness of the grits is taken over the edge with the added decadence of the egg yolk and the combination of mushrooms. The Schnitzel Salad, which is my twist on the classic Frisée Salad with Lardons, sees the soft egg yolk act as a warm creamy dressing for the salad as well as embracing the other ingredients.”

Hawksworth Restaurant

Poached hen egg, soft polenta, wild mushroom, pancetta, Madeira

Chef de cuisine Kristian Eligh: “Eggs are delicious. This is the first time that Hawksworth Restaurant has showcased eggs on our menu for dinner. This is a very comforting dish that we felt was ideal for our new fall menu. Thanks to modern cooking techniques, our kitchen is able to precisely cook our soft poached eggs to perfection using the sous vide. Also, the fall season brings us some amazing truffles, which pair beautifully with this dish.”

Pidgin Restaurant

Pork belly rice bowl, Asian pear kimchi, bamboo, quail egg

Vitello tonnato, veal, albacore tuna, fried egg emulsion, togarashi

Onsen Eggs

Executive chef Makoto Ono: “Eggs are a good choice for dinner because they’re versatile and easy quick to prepare. Eggs add richness to any dish while still being healthy and are a protein that people enjoy. Depending on the dish, we sometimes use the sous vide for cooking eggs. For example, when I prepare Onsen eggs, a traditional Japanese boiled egg, we use the immersion circulator to control the exact temperature for even cooking.”

Wilderbeest

Slow-poached farm egg, toasted barley, sunchoke cream, Comté caerphilly cheese

Co-owner James Iranzad:  “We love eggs, and ours are from North Thompson Heritage Ranch, cooked sous vide method at precisely 62 degrees. We find this to be the ideal temperature to achieve the silkiness we’re looking for, which is perfect on the palate and with the texture of the sunchokes. As for why we love eggs at dinner… well, decadence doesn’t really get any more elegant than that, does it?”

Espana

Spanish Style Scotch Egg

House-made Morcilla with golden chanterelles, fried egg and sherry warm spiced chickpea puree, mojo rojo, fried egg, crispy sage

Owner & chef Neil Taylor: “For our Scotch Egg, we soft boil an egg, wrap it in chorizo sausage, roll it in bread crumbs, deep fry it and then serve it. The success of the dish is having a centre with a perfect runny yolk. For our housemade morcilla, the egg yolks add a decadent richness to an already rich dish.”

Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie

Omelet with salted turnip and butter

Sunny-side up free-range egg

Restaurant manager Daniel Burke: “We have an omelet in the snack section of our dinner menu, as well as a side option of a fried egg that can be added to any dish. As we are a brasserie, we cook our omelets in the French tradition with lots of butter and we don’t let it brown. Our omelets are served “wet” and with a drizzle of our chili oil. We always recommend adding our fried egg option to our sticky rice cake dish. A beautiful sunny-side up egg on top of our sticky rice cake is visually stunning and delicious.”

Chicha

Tacu Tacu de Locra de Zapallo

Co-owner & chef Shelome Bouvette: “This is our vegetarian version of a traditional dish from Peru, which is usually made with a steak and a fried egg on top.  Our dish is made up of crispy lima beans cakes, butternut squash stew, Parmesan, and topped with a fried quail’s egg. We chose a quail’s egg as this is a small dish and this egg is the perfect size.”