• Egg

  35A N. 5th St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 718-302-5151

  Like traffic laws and sleep, breakfast is one of those things New Yorkers have always approached with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. But Egg, the ad hoc southern-style kitchen that operates mornings out of the depotlike premises of Sparky’s hot-dog shack has a way of turning one’s breakfast apathy into giddy enthusiasm. Normally late-rising Williamsburgers set their alarms so as not to miss out on fluffy organic pancakes and homemade sorghum granola. And slavering Manhattan foodies gleefully cross the river, their eyes protruding like startled lemurs at the sight of freshly baked biscuits stuffed with melted Grafton Cheddar and Kentucky ham. There’s an emphasis on top-notch, artisanally produced ingredients, so you can rest assured that the bacon and sausage are made from happy-go-lucky pigs, the eggs laid by contented, free-roaming hens. And if you like your grits stone-ground, fresh-milled, and hand-mixed from organic heirloom corn, you’re in the right place.

From the 2006 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine