I recovered from my St. Patrick’s Day shenanigans with a surprisingly delicious eggy benny at Mary’s Market in Rockford.
Mary’s Eggs Benedict includes “two poached eggs, grilled ham & asparagus on grilled black pepper parmesan bread, and finished with our savory hollandaise sauce.”
I was sold at black pepper parmesan bread. It was the perfect amount of classic eggs benny, with some subtle (and delicious twists thrown in).
Here’s what I thought of it.
Hollandaise: 5/5
I believe this was the first ever eggs benedict to receive a perfect score in hollandaise. It was well deserved. It was a creamy rich sauce, seasoned perfectly with cayenne pepper and had the right amount of lemon zest to it. It’s the type of sauce that has you licking your plate clean in a public restaurant. Which I did.
Eggs: 4/5
The large eggs were poached just right, and the yolk blended deliciously with the rich, buttery hollandaise. I could feel my arteries beg me to stop this search for the best eggs benedict as I took another bite of egg covered in creamy egg sauce.
Meat: 3/5
The meat wasn’t bad by any means, but just a bit of a letdown compared to how good the bites of hollandaise smothered eggs have been. It was your basic breakfast ham, just too thinly sliced for my taste. Somewhat like the ham used at Oliver’s Public House, and reminding me too much of deli lunch meat than a hearty cut of savory pan-fried breakfast ham.
Muffin: 4/5
No muffin here. But I can’t say I’m upset about it. This black pepper parmesan toast was appetizing and full of flavor. It had an earthy, spicy kick from the black pepper, and the tangy, bitter, pungent parmesan bite. Hell, it was inspiring. Why should eggs benny be served on a boring old English muffin? I’m all for jazzing up the flavor on this part of the dish.
Side: 2/5
The side fell victim to looking better than it actually tasted. And the sad part is, it could have easily been remedied. These American fries were hearty chunks of well-cooked potatoes. But they also tasted, well, just like bland, boiled potatoes. They were seriously lacking in any interesting flavor, and would have benefited from some simple seasoning to spice it up, and take away the boring taste of plain potato.
Overall: 18
Mary’s Eggs Benedict was damn near perfect. The hollandaise and black pepper parmesan toast were as genius as they were delicious. With some small twists on the dish, such as seasoning their sides more or being a bit more generous with the breakfast ham slices, this eggs benny could have sat in the upper echelon of brunches.