Eggs Benedict

The first time I ever had eggs Benedict was on Valentine's Day my freshman year at college. My boyfriend and I went to the Valentine's Day buffet brunch at The Stein, the more stylish of the dining choices on campus. Bacon, Canadian or otherwise, was thankfully not an issue, despite going to Brandeis, the first Jewish sponsored, non-sectarian university in the country. The whole event seemed very grown up at the time. For one thing, I'd not been to many meals with silver chaffing dishes, but my boyfriend and I had a love at first sight romance and celebrating it in such fashion played into our love story.

Then, to discover something as delicious as eggs Benedict made the whole thing unforgettable.

I'd not been much of an egg eater before college. My mother would make me her version of egg nog--skim milk, a raw egg, sugar, and vanilla mixed up in a glass--I believe in an attempt to make me eat eggs, likely believing them to be good for me. It was the regular weekend brunches at Brandeis where scrambled eggs featured prominently that got me eating them. There really wasn't much of a choice. During the week, my breakfast consisted of a muffin (2 if they were the chocolate chip ones) and 3 juice glasses of skim milk. On the weekend, there was only cereal for breakfast and only brunch for lunch. And thus my quickly learning to eat eggs. Probably the cheesy ones.

That would have started in September, or possibly even August, so by February, I was willing to try another variety of egg. Instantly, they became my favorite kind of eggs. They still are, at least when done right (I make a mean over easy egg thanks to another former boyfriend, that would be my second choice). And thus I've been collecting them over the years.

Benedicts seem to be something that go in and out of fashion. And while places like to do their own twist on them, they are often relegated to the weekend menu. Right now, they can be found fairly easily, in a variety of types, and with the option of doing a half-order, which really tends to be a sufficient amount for me.

My Benedict collection includes a shrimp, a Dungeness crab cake, a portobello mushroom, a smoked salmon, and a filet mignon. Earlier this month, I spent a few days in Whistler, BC. Being a resort village, Benedicts abounded and I got to add a few more to my collection.

Conveniently, Wild Wood offers a sampler platter where you can choose three of its wide selection of Benedicts. I chose the classic, the crispy bacon, and the crab (not a crab cake, just crab meat). While I was underwhelmed by the crab and the crispy bacon, I didn't realize this was due to a deficiency in the Benedict basics until I tried the classic one.

Full disclosure, I'm not a big fan of English muffins, and I often don't eat all of it (I'd actually like to see the base go to a hashbrown round). But the problem with Wild Wood's was a lackluster Hollandaise sauce.

I'd heard Elements Urban Tapas Parlour (which is better than that name might suggest) had the best Benedict in Whistler. I'd had dinner there my first night in town and I liked their food and its presentation. They like to reimagine/deconstruct things, like the hashbrowns that came in a muffin shape with an oniony cream on them. Here the Hollandaise worked but the English muffin lacked either toasting (it did have grill marks) or some other element that meant they actually detracted from the dish. I avoided them as much as possible and instead used the hashbrowns as a sop for the yoke and Hollandaise.

Last year, Dish opened at Latona and 65th and they have a very nice Benedict with a few choices in type and the half-order option. Despite all the varieties of Benedict, the classic remains my favorite. It seems perfect, but then it holds a very special place in my heart.