Remember the old saying: "Beer, it's not just for breakfast"? I always imagined a slice of leftover pizza in the morning beer drinker's free hand. But, honestly, that isn't a fair representation of the role pizza has played in my own morning eating routine. There is rarely beer involved. While I would like to pretend that I am refined enough to only eat the pizza someone bakes for the express purpose of breakfast eating, the truth more often than not, is that I wake up ravenous and am still thinking of last night's pie waiting in the fridge. It takes real restraint on my part for those leftover slices to make it to noon. Whether it gets eaten cold or hot, is another story.
There is something alluring about a golden egg yolk running all over your pizza. At Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Greenmarket-inspired ABC Kitchen in New York, Chef Dan Kluger takes breakfast pizza to new heights by placing an oh-so-runny farm egg atop his earthy wild mushroom, Parmesan, and oregano pie. Did we mention that he throws a little homemade ricotta and tangy Tomme-style cheese in there for good measure? It's a pizza I'm definitely going to want to make at home.
Hear the word pizza and breakfast is rarely the first meal that comes to mind. The combination of tomato sauce, salty cheese, and cured meats just seems to lend itself to a lunch- or dinnertime item, but slap an egg on it, and suddenly it's completely acceptable breakfast material. Since Mioposto Caffe e Pizzeria seems to focus just as heavily on its coffee as its Italian eats, it was smart decision for them to offer something the locals could devour while sipping their lattes on rainy Seattle mornings, and their spicy breakfast pizza fits the bill admirably.
Almost every pizzeria in South Philly offers a breakfast pizza. At first, I assumed that these pies would be regular pizzas with eggs and maybe bacon or sausage thrown on top. So one hungover Sunday morning I ordered a small plain breakfast pizza ($4.95) at J&J South Philly Pizza.
Cheesesteak pizza and bacon buffalo fries are great for a thrill, but the Old Italian is something I'll come back for. Pizza like this gives me hope for Philadelphia holding its own in the pizza world.
Walk up to the counter at Campo de'Fiori in Brooklyn's Park Slope and it's hard not to feel hungry, with squares of mozzarella and prosciutto-topped pizza spread before you. But my favorite order on the weekend is called simply the Brunch Special ($6.50)—a sizeable square of potato, onion, and bacon-topped pizza with a poached egg and salad. It's simple but prepared with attention to detail: I thought I'd need a shake of salt on the poached egg, but found the underside already salted; the yolk broke open in a perfect, slow ooze. With the egg spilling over what's essentially hash browns, bacon, and bread all at once, it's everything good about brunch in a slice of pizza, and of a size that left me satisfied rather than comatose.
The wife (aka "Girl Slice") and I go to Vesta for dinner maybe every 3 weeks to a month—it's just a bit north of our general price range; individual dishes there are affordable but end up adding up when you start adding in sides and apps and drinks. But I digress. Tired of the breakfast and brunch options immediately near our home, we decided to try Vesta on a recent Sunday. I ordered the Hangover Pizza, topped with potato, pancetta, sausage, fried eggs, and a spicy tomato sauce.
After watching Nate Appleman make "breakfast pizzas" for last week's Pieman's Craft video snippet, we all got to talking here at SE/Slice HQ. How many people are into eggs on their pizza? I won't reveal what the breakdown was here in the office until later — after all you have had your say. So what say you? Eggs on pizza: Way or no way? »
For this installment of the Pieman's Craft, we talked to Nate Appleman of Pulino's Bar & Pizzeria in New York City to see how he makes the Salsiccia, one of the signature breakfast pizzas there. An indulgent pie perfect for sharing in the morning or at brunch, it's topped with mozzarella and grana padano cheeses, bacon, sausage uncannily reminiscent of the Jimmy Dean variety, and a couple of eggs.
