BEC Report: Rigor Hill Market

My son and I are working our way through the neighborhood, one bacon, egg and cheese — or some close variation on that — at a time. He’s a Morgan’s devotee, which I applaud, but he’s willing to make the rounds with me on this nonetheless.

So: Rigor Hill Market. I first visited the next-door-cafe for One White Street for this express purpose last fall, when chef Austin Johnson told us how he cranks out 400 to 500 breakfast sandwiches a day.

“They are built for speed,” he notes.

The chefs use an immersion blender for the eggs, adding crème fraîche and herbs, pouring them in a 9×12 pan wrapped with Saran. Then they switch the combination oven to steam, to keep the eggs moist and fluffy — or I would say springy. “It’s a similar texture to Japanese tamagoyaki [folded omelets],” Austin said. The sheet of eggs is then cut into squares and assembled with a sweet tomato jam and cheddar on thick slices of lightly toasted pain de mie, which is your typical French sandwich loaf.

I ate mine open faced, since it’s a super thick. And nice and cheesy. Of course we added bacon. And of course I ate the rest of the bread eventually.

Without the bacon, the breakfast sandwich is $15, $18 with the bacon. “It’s fitting with the French custom of making small things cost a lot of money,” my son said. I could have easily eaten it in two sittings. And the final assessment, keeping in mind these are the words of a 21-year-old boy without a job (yet): “It’s not worth three Morgan sandwiches ($6.75 with two eggs), but it’s for sure worth two and a half.”

 

1 Comment

  1. 500 breakfast sandwiches A DAY? Or could it be a week?? Either way, gotta try this…

Comment: