When talking about food, ‘medium rare’ refers to cooking meat so the outside is browned with just a hint of red in the middle, striving to provide the perfect combination of tenderness and flavor. This column, much like its namesake, strives to provide the perfect combination of epicurean insight and Atlanta-area atmosphere.
West Egg Café
Travel along 14th Street in Atlanta until it dead ends in the West Side of town and you might miss West Egg Café, a cozy and modern restaurant that is home to Atlanta’s weekend savior: brunch.
Much like its Great Gatsby counterpart, West Egg the restaurant creates the aura of a modern, self-made city dweller. With a subtle orange and brown theme permeating the food, the décor and the menu itself, West Egg feels more like eating in a friend’s kitchen than a trip into the city. Speaking of the kitchen, what’s more southern-brunch than a pimento cheese and bacon omelet or Coca-Cola glazed ham? (As a southerner myself, I’ll give you a hint: there’s not much). Additionally, menu items pay homage to the neighborhood around it: the Peachtree Plate and the Georgia Benedict are both tasty favorites, and the Westside Pileup (skillet potatoes topped with onions, peppers, cheddar cheese, bacon and two eggs) is so good I was almost in a good mood in traffic on the way home.
West Egg’s actual brunch menu branches out into more flavorful tangents: Chicken Chilaquiles, Challah French Toast and Salmon Cakes Benedict are all available for the foodie’s fancy alongside more typical burgers and sandwiches.
One of the secrets to West Egg’s success is the ability to serve more than food — they also serve a sense of community. Eating at West Egg isn’t merely a means to an end, but a process to be enjoyed. I recommend sitting at one of their larger rectangular tables where you can enjoy the presence of your brunchmate and those around you.
The other secret? The biscuits. If you aren’t from the South, ask a southerner about biscuits. Flaky, buttery and usually accompanied by some sort of gravy, West Egg’s treatment of the biscuit will leave even the staunchest biscuit-hater wanting more.
Voted best breakfast in Atlanta by numerous publications for a number of years, West Egg serves as the culinary anchor for the recently-expanding Westside Provisions District and for the food scene across the city.
Happening upon West Egg on a Sunday morning will have you wait anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, but it is the best damn hour I’ve spent in a while.
Very rarely have I had an experience at a restaurant where I was wowed from beginning to end, but this was it. In the dozen or so times I’ve had the delight of eating at West Egg, not once have I had bad service or left happier (and fuller) than I entered.
