Breakfast at my house really didn’t extend beyond bowls of cereal or, occasionally, toast and scrambled eggs. Sandwiches never made an appearance until lunch time. When I ate my first breakfast sandwich, it was a gray and soggy affair under the golden arches. An uninspiring meal that left me entirely disinterested in any other iterations of a breakfast sandwich, including that brunch stalwart the saucy Benedict.
When a new wave of bagel shops started to open, their versions of an eggy snack were an evolutionary step forward. Good bread made a world of difference. The microwaved hockey pucks of pre-cooked eggs they used did not advance the project. The first breakfast sandwich that changed my mind was Tartine’s. After placing the order, I watched the chef roll the eggs around in a hot, oiled sauté pan. As they solidified, he folded them into the shape of a square omelet. After melting cheese on top, he added fresh arugula and placed everything on a brioche bun. It redefined the dish, not because it was elevated, but because it was so comforting.
Brack DeFries and Chris Morgan’s Egg Pals pop-up takes an even heartier approach to the breakfast sandwich. The two make an Egg Pal ($13) with two fried eggs, bacon, American cheese, pickled red onion and an herby mayo. The Vegg Pal ($12), minus the meat, adds spinach and charred ramps. There’s also a Pickle Pal ($12) with housemade mixed pickles. The brioche buns are supplied by Starter Baker. In photographs, they look like a good fit for the mouths of lumberjacks.
DeFries and Morgan started Egg Pals together after Morgan helped a friend open a breakfast cafe in New York. After Covid, he was looking for a change of scenery. His temporary move to the Hudson Valley later sparked a conversation with DeFries. “At the end of our shifts, we’d grab a drink together,” Morgan recalled. “We were talking about what might be next for us, and we took inspiration from my friend’s restaurant. We were like, ‘Yeah, this would be something that would be cool to do in Oakland.’”
Both of them have a long history of working at Oakland restaurants. Morgan at Starline Social Club; DeFries at KronnerBurger and Fish & Bird Izakaya. Egg Pals is a shared business endeavor. DeFries came up with the name Egg Pals while Morgan was in New York. When he got back to the Bay Area, they scheduled one of their first pop-ups at Ramen Shop in 2022. “It was way busier than we thought,” Morgan said. “We sold like 60 sandwiches and sold out. We were very excited about it.”
From there, Egg Pals continued to pick up steam. The two have been popping-up on weekends for the last four years and every weekend for the last two and a half. “We sell between 200 and 250 sandwiches every pop-up,” he said. “It’s been a very steady progression, and we’ve just received a lot of support.”
The Egg Pal is the team’s classic. The Vegg Pal changes from week to week depending on what vegetables are in season. A Spam Pal is an occasional special in which the Spam is marinated with a Huli Huli sauce. Egg Pals also started to make a classic burger. “It’s the same setup as the egg sandwich,” Morgan said. “When tomatoes are in season, we’ll put tomatoes on it.”
By mid-November or early December, Egg Pals will become Egg Palace. DeFries and Morgan are in the process of opening a brick-and-mortar in TrueBurger’s old location on Broadway. “The menu will look pretty similar to what our pop-ups have been, especially starting out,” Morgan said. “We’re going to keep it simple and just dial in our systems and get everything going good, but we definitely will have a larger menu in the evening.”
The larger menu will include bar snacks, salads, burgers, a fried-chicken sandwich and a full bar with cocktails, beer and wine. “On the weekends, once we get our staff set up—it might be in the new year—we’ll feature a brunch special on the menu more often,” he said. “Something like shrimp and grits, biscuits and gravy.”
Egg Palace, 4101 Broadway, Oakland. IG @eggpalaceoakland
