To Brack DeFries and Chris Morgan eggs are the name of the game, and have been for over four years. Since first starting their popular Bay Area breakfast sandwich pop up Egg Pals, they’ve been serving massive, double fried-egg sandwiches at farmers markets, cafes, wine bars and even ramen shops. What started as a small venture, where they only sold around 60 sandwiches a day, quickly grew to 200, with extensive lines trailing down sidewalks. Now the pair are preparing to open up their first brick-and-mortar restaurant, Egg Palace.
With the opening of the restaurant, the menu will expand beyond egg sandwiches. Credit: Courtesy of Brack DeFries
Egg Palace will open up in the former TrueBurger space at 4101 Broadway, with a soft opening planned for November. It’ll be open five days a week, with the restaurant name being a fun accident, stemming from customers mishearing “Egg Pals” as “Egg Palace.” After hunting for the right spot, DeFries and Morgan settled on the Temescal area, finding it ideal due to EggPals’ existing audience base in that neighborhood.
“It’s like right next to Mother Tongue, where we do pop ups twice a month right now. In that neighborhood is where we’ve done probably like 70% of our pop ups. So we have a kind of built-in regular crowd already there, so it made total sense when it happened,” DeFries said.
Some offerings will be familiar as DeFries and Morgan plan to feature their regular lineup of breakfast sandwiches, including the popular Egg Pal ($13), a bacon and egg sandwich with cheese, pickled onions and herby mayo, the Vegg Pal ($12), a vegetarian option with seasonal vegetables and the Pickle Pal ($12), which features housemade mixed pickles. They also plan on offering a couple of seasonal options, and adding a more budget-friendly sandwich to the lineup.
While the owners are still working on nailing down the final menu, they plan on expanding their breakfast offerings to include grain bowls and weekend brunch specials with biscuits and gravy, a shrimp and grits dish, a mushroom and grits dish, and more. Drip coffee and cold brew from Mother Tongue cafe will be served, and teas from Molly’s Refresher.
But the fun doesn’t stop there, after closing in the afternoon, EggPalace will reopen in the evening where they’ll serve their signature Pal Burger, a medium-rare thick beef patty served on potato roll, and other menu offerings, including fried chicken sandwiches and salads. A selection of bar snacks will be in rotation, including tater tots, vegetable dishes, a pimento cheese plate, and marinated cucumbers.
Both DeFries and Morgan have experience bartending, and met while working at various restaurants and bars, such as Kronnerburger and Fish & Bird. They plan to include cocktails on both their breakfast and dinner menus. Drink selections will include a frozen pina colada, dirty martini, carbonated margarita and a Pimm’s cup, a gin-based low-ABV cocktail.
Egg Palace will open in the former home of TrueBurger on Broadway, on the outer border of Temescal. Credit: Tovin Lapan/East Bay Nosh
“Chris and I were actually both bartenders for most of our restaurant career, for the last 15 years, and so we’re gonna fold that aspect into everything too,”DeFries explained. “And so we’re just going to have casual breakfast in the morning, and then more like a bar with food in the evening time.”
The pair have started a Kickstarter campaign to aid in remodeling the TrueBurger space, including the dining room, and kitchen. They’ve currently raised over half of their $50,000 goal, with a deadline set for August 27.
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