So, I love food. This is not new information to anyone that knows me. However, I’m not really a big breakfast person, with the exception of a few family recipes, it just doesn’t do a lot for me. And I rarely like breakfast foods for breakfast…most are just so sweet. Not that I can’t eat sweet in the morning (enter cupcakes left over from the night before), but it just seems wrong that you drizzle sugar all over food that early in the morning and it’s okay. I know eating cake for breakfast is not a good thing, so that’s different. (Yes, I have issues with logic.)

Anyway, as I said, there are some exceptions, like my grandma’s Swedish pancakes, or my sister-in-law’s ebelskivers, or my mom’s popovers. And then there’s eggs benedict. This is a treat so rich (not sweet) that I pretty much only eat once a year…Christmas morning. A tradition that was born the year after my mom died (I think). We didn’t have my mom to make Christmas dinner and we didn’t have any little kids around to force us out of bed super early, so we made Christmas brunch and then proceeded to open presents.

Well, this morning my flight left JFK at a time that made lunch impossible and neither Kelly nor I wanted to get up any earlier than necessary, so after some searching online last night, Kelly discovered that Locanda Verde is open early and serves breakfast until 11:00 am. We had been there before for dinner and it was delicious, so we assumed breakfast would be good. We were not mistaken.

I debated between a zucchini frittata and this dish I couldn’t pronounce, uova modenese. I asked the waiter which he’d recommend and he said the latter, stating that it was their take on eggs benedict. Well, with that, I was sold, and I was not disappointed.

This is by far and away the best restaurant breakfast I have had in my entire life to date–and despite the fact that I don’t always love breakfast, most people do, so I’ve had a lot of them. The toast (even though it looks a little charred) was crunchy and chewy and everything that Italian bread should be. The eggs were poached to perfection. The tomato hollandaise was something totally unexpected. And the hash with spinach…it sounded questionable; it was anything but.

If you are ever so lucky as to need to be in TriBeCa in the morning, you must go to Locanda Verde.

Feb. 22 – I love eggs benedict…in all of its varieties.

P.S. Don’t judge my crooked pictures. I’m lucky that I am catching up on my blogging and including pictures…I can’t be expected to find time to edit them! Gosh!