A hair-raising ‘egg’sperience

ED

Headline: A HAIR RAISING “EGG”SPERIENCE

Jim and Nancy do not disclose the fact that they will review a restaurant before they attend, ensuring their reviews are unbiased and uninfluenced by their position with the Sun Day.

There are several skills that all seniors must master in their “Golden” years. The first one is arriving at a restaurant five minutes before the senior’s early bird special ends. The second is collecting and managing coupons and gift cards, so along with your senior discount, the restaurant ends up owing you money when the bill arrives. The third is scheduling all of your doctor appointments on a single day. If you are truly proficient in your skill, you can even time the appointments and locations to follow a smooth route, without backtracking. If you are trained professionals like Jim and I, you can schedule in a meal like we did on a fun-filled Friday.

The appointments were made, the GPS was loaded, and off we went in the Mini-Mobile. The first stop was a restaurant that was recommended to us by an actual restaurant manager. We were “egg”cited to check it out. He recommended Eggology Café in South Barrington.

As we aimlessly drove around the South Barrington Arboretum, navigating one-way aisles and randomly placed roundabouts, we finally arrived at our destination.

Walking in you immediately notice how upscale and modern the décor is. There is a coffee bar staring you in the face, along with couches and chairs for relaxing. To the right is the restaurant with 14 tables, eight booths, and a private dining area.

Jim was reminded of our trips to Paris when he decided on the Croque Madame Benedict ($14). This was (2) flakey croissant rounds, Black Forest ham, creamy hollandaise sauce, and gruyere cheese topped with a fried egg and chive. This was served with a Spring Mix salad with lemon basil vinaigrette. He said it was good, but it didn’t live up to the hype on the menu.

Nancy was in the mood for line dancing since one of our doctor appointments was to get her knee injected with “chicken fat”. She decided on the Wakey Wakey Eggs and Bakey (Billy Ray Cyrus’ song, get it?) for $12. This consisted of scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, thick cut bacon, caramelized onions, sriracha aioli on a toasted everything brioche bun served with crispy potato rounds. What arrived was a brioche bun with a few sesame seeds on top, bacon that may have hit the grill for about a minute, and onions that were barely caramelized. She had to send back her raw bacon to get it crisped up. Another “treat” were the crispy potato rounds. These had an uncanny resemblance to hash browns served by the “King” at a fast food restaurant. In spite of all of these shortcomings, she had to admit the sandwich was tasty. Then, on her last bite, she proceeded to pull a two-inch hair (not her hair color) out of her mouth that was in her scrambled eggs.

I suppressed the queasiness in my stomach. I wasn’t sure what to do. Should I repress my gag reflex? Complain to the waitress? Just ignore it? Jim said to ignore the hair, they probably won’t believe us after you ate the whole thing and then found it on my last bite. I agreed and nervously gulped down more of my iced tea, hoping to settle my tummy. Unfortunately, a gastroenterologist was not one of the appointments today.

FYI: This restaurant is handicap accessible.

The bill for breakfast on our “doctor appointment’s” day was $35.69. Having a “hair raising egg-sperience”, not good for Nancy’s digestive tract.

Jim’s take: The hollandaise sauce was homemade and delicious, but needed more seasoning.

Nancy’s take: This restaurant is really pricey for what you get, but at least there was no extra charge for the hair…

Have comments or restaurant suggestions for the Dining Duo? Send them an email at: thediningduo@gmail.com

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