only the Kitchen Sink

Thank our lucky stars - we have been brunching more regularly again. There really are few things better than a relaxing Saturday afternoon that begins with a leisurely brunch of egg-y and meaty things with generous helpings of carby things like potatoes and bread!

Though the reliable standby has always been Sabrina's Cafe in South Philly, we have been making an effort to venture to other places since there are so many talked about Brunch offerings all over the city and we want to try them all. Sometimes, these adventures help us find true gems, like Day by Day (omg, I still need to write that review up) in Center City, but sometimes, we are left feeling somewhat unsatisfied - which is exactly what happened this past Saturday at Green Eggs Cafe. 

I had been wanting to go back to Green Eggs for brunch since I had stopped by a few months ago. Based on the croissant I had tried that day, I was concerned the food would just be MEH, and after our brunch visit, I'm not convinced it wasn't. Was that too many double negatives? Heh, I guess you could say, I'm undecided about this place, and I most definitely wasn't blown away.  

:: Green Eggs Cafe :: 

address: 1306 Dickinson St, Philly

what we ate: cheddar grits, breakfast burritos, "the kitchen sink" 

Trifecta made a big mistake on Saturday. Two of us ordered the same dish. Disast. Why would we do this?! I blame hunger, the unbearable heat/weather, and just plain short sightedness. Honestly, the lunch menu here has always sounded much more interesting to me, but for some reason, I felt like since we were brunching, I must have eggs. As a result, Soopah and I both ended up getting the breakfast burrito. 

Breakfast Burrito: flour tortilla + eggs + olives + corn + chorizo sausage + signature potato + tex mex cheese + topped with Pico de Gallo + sour cream + avocado slice + fire roasted red pepper black bean sauce

Looks like a long description, right? On the menu, they actually list all of these ingredients that are in the burrito and I was very excited about this. The burrito sounded hearty and I thought the olives and corn would be nice additions. What they don't tell you is that the "signature potato" includes huge pieces of red and green bell peppers. Which, in my hatred of that wretched vegetable, immediately makes me go EWWWWWW. 

Okay okay okay, I know that not many people agree with the EWWW assessment of bell peppers, but whatever your take on it is, it's undeniably a strong and very distinctive flavor. So, I'm sure for those folks that LIKE them, they add great flavor dimensions to dishes, but for those of us that really have a strong aversion to them, it taints the entire dish. ESPECIALLY, when they sneak up on you, like they did in the breakfast burritos. And, btw, the signature potatoes are in other dishes as well (like the kitchen sink, but I'll get to that later), so diner beware. 

I ordered mine without the black bean sauce and I think that is preferable. Otherwise, with the way it's poured onto the dish, you can't really avoid it if you find that you don't care for the flavors of the sauce.     

I want to say that if it hadn't been for the bell pepper sneak attack, I would have enjoyed this more. But then again, Soopah didn't really love it either and he digs bell peppers. 

I really wish I had stuck to my guns and ordered the Kobe Slider Trio off of the lunch menu, which sounded very tasty and interesting since it comes with 3 different styles of sliders. OR, the crunchy peanut butter stuffed french toast, which I'll be honest, I have been thinking about since my first glance at the menu. What stopped me from ordering them, you ask? Well, it's my goshdarn pickiness rearing its ugly (anti-Foodie) head. The description says that the stuffed french toast comes with a layer of cream cheese and I kept getting stuck on the idea that I'd hate it. It's ridiculous really. I have tried veal tongue and frog legs, but gave up on this dish before I even tried it because of cream cheese. I MAKE ME SAD. 

The kitchen sink: two eggs + cheese + our signature potato (!!!) + sausage + topped + homemade jumbo biscuits + sausage gravy 

If I had to break this down, I'd say the presentation definitely rocks, but the food itself was okay. The eggs and cheese part were pretty yummy - well cooked, but once again, the bell pepper factor in the potato mixture came into play here. J. Giggles hates bell peppers as much as I do, so again, too much sneak attack pepper taste. The sausage pieces were great. If anything, I wished there were a bit more of them throughout - but hey, isn't that always true? More meat, please! 

The biscuits (pretty sure there were 2 of them in there) were decent. They weren't buttery at all, so my guess is they bake these on-site just for this particular dish. I couldn't tell definitively, but I suspect if we had eaten them plain, they would have been on the dry side (like the croissant I had before!). As part of this particular dish, they were really really good. 

The REASON they were really good, however, is because of the decadent, creamy, savory sausage gravy..... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. The three of us were scooping this gravy up like it was soup. Wow, I realize that sounds gross, but it was really so good. Super rich, but not overly salty or overwhelmingly heavy. Without a doubt, this gravy makes/saves this dish. Again, mmmmmmMMMmmmm. 

Stone Ground Grits: Southern style + aged cheddar + scrapple chips

I had high hopes for this - especially after we had delicious grits at Tap House last week. I was crushed to find that the Green Eggs version were nowhere close to the tastebud jackpot we discovered in U-city. The scrapple was forgettable, at best. Even now, hard as I try, I can't conjure up enough of the flavor experience to make something up about how I felt about it. The grits were cooked well enough, but was too cheese heavy. It is surprising that I say that, but I would guess they used shredded cheddar mixed into the grits, and the result was that it thickened the grits too much. The grits, while they tasted okay, were too dense and thick and piece-y - almost lumpy - and that's not what you want. At least, that's not what I want. 

Sigh. So sad. Cheddar Grits... you could have been so good. Ah well. 

Maybe it was the choice of items, maybe not, but Green Eggs Cafe is not a place I'll be rushing to return to - especially while there is the rest of the South Philly Brunch Belt to try. Or, in Soopah's case, Sabrina's to return to. Or in my case, Day by Day.