Eggs Benedict @ Eva Jean's
Eva Jean's is a cozy little spot off the main road. There is a bar area up from and a small room in the back, complete with a fireplace in the corner. The feel of the menu and space is sort of a country, homestyle, rustic kind of style, evidenced in their giant cinnamon rolls and buttermilk biscuits available as sides. Which, if you have read this blog before, you know that I'm a sucker for a benedict with a biscuit base, and that is exactly what happened. Here is how the whole thing stacked up.
Yeah, that cinnamon bun was like half as tall as the water glasses, which were also very tall.
Base: Buttermilk biscuit. Just as good as I always hope biscuit bases will be. It was nice and thick and was able to absorb runny yolk while still holding up perfectly fine. If anything, it might have been a little hard, so the edges were a little tricky to cut through and the inside was crumbly, not like the soft middle you would expect from a fresh biscuit. Overall though, still pretty great.
Score: 4
Non-Egg Protein: Applewood smoked slab bacon. The first thing you notice is that they are a little stingy with the meat portion. I'm pretty sure there was only one strip of bacon between both eggs, and it felt too crispy. I usually love applewood smoked bacon, but I feel like I got more char/crispy than anything else, and I would have liked a bigger portion, especially given the large biscuit base.
Score: 3
Eggs: Surprisingly, almost perfect. For what I've said so far, this seems unexpected, but I guess if you're going to get one thing right on a benedict, it should be the eggs. I would only criticize the egg white being a little runny so it was a tad undercooked, but overall impressive in getting both consistently cooked and not overcooking them.
Score: 9
It's always fun to know exactly where to break the yolk
Not quite as dramatic as the other, but still nice and flowy
Sauce: Hollandaise. Wow was this sauce thick. It was very buttery so overall it felt heavy and was actually hard to eat too much of it. I'm still feeling it a couple hours later and my tummy is a little bit unhappy about it. There was what would have been a normal amount of sauce for the dish, but it was too much for the consistency as served.
Score: 2
Sides: Roasted potatoes. I was a little concerned because the Yelp reviews I saw mostly complained that the potatoes were underseasoned. I think they got the message though because that was definitely not the case, and I think they went a little too far in the other direction. The potatoes were too salty, and that's saying something as I usually enjoy salty foods. It may have just been the combination with the heavy, buttery hollandaise, but all of it together was just too much. The potatoes themselves were fine, but they actually really needed that small cup of ketchup just to brighten them up away from the saltiness.
Score: 3
Bonus: I can't resist a good cinnamon bun, and this homemade one was a delight. It was giant, so definitely split it with someone unless you want to make a meal out of it.
Score: 1
Total Score: 22/30
