Don't go there
cause you'll never return
I know you think of me
when you think of her
But then it don't make sense
when you're trying hard
To do the right thing
but without recompense
Another Tuesday... another Taste! This week I did not have to travel very far at all to sample the offerings of this particular restaurant, which was a very good thing considering all the snow in the entire world seemed to have fallen on Ontario in the span of one weekend.
Bad Egg! Oh man... get ready for the puns. You've all been warned. Bad Egg is a restaurant chain that does a Korean fusion kind of thing, with Korean egg drop sandwiches as their sort of flagship item. Believe it or not, the origins of this Korean food concept started out... in Karachi, Pakistan, which their primary Instagram account is based out of. The chain is still very much in its infancy... going back to that main IG account it looks like they first opened up in Karachi sometime early in 2023.
Clearly a big success, they've made enough of an impression to expand internationally to here in Canada (supposedly thanks to a pair of Toronto tourists who discovered the place) and in Ireland! That's right, the only three countries with Bad Egg locations are Ireland, Canada and Pakistan. If you can find another thing all three of those nations share in common...
Oh no... the restaurant itself beat me to the punch on the corny 'egg' puns! I take eggception to this behaviour...
Bad Egg have two locations in Toronto now: the first one is somewhere downtown and the newest one, a few months old, now on Queen Street East here in the Beaches... like two blocks from my house! Sweet... but, are they any good? Lets find out. I went twice just to be sure.
Did I mention the snow? (and this was before the second storm)
Considering Bad Egg offer a lot of different types of items, from egg drop sandwiches to smash burgers to Bao buns to kimchi bowls... well on my first visit it was tricky to decide on something but I went for their Korean poutine (with the chicken option instead of the beef). Basically what we've got here are fries, cheese curds, green onions and a drizzle of sauce (no gravy in here).
While I hesitate calling this a poutine (again no gravy) whatever kind of french fry dish you wanna call it (K-tine?), this was extremely tasty. Lots of flavour: there's an earthy bbq-like spice to the breaded bits of fried chicken, which themselves are tender and crunchy. Stringy on the inside, rather than a minced texture you find in regular chicken nuggets. Green onions always make almost everything better, while the fries definitely have a real potato taste and no hint of any hollow pre-frozen flavour.... they stay fluffy and crisp even underneath all the sauce and hot fried chicken.
The curds are nice to have in the mix... not the squeakiest cheese curds you'll find but considering how many places like this get lazy and just use shredded cheese, seeing actual curds is nice and those partially melted globs do indeed elevate the experience. Finally, the drizzle of sauce. A bit like a light creamy cilantro aioli that compliments rather than trying to out-flavour the more intense smokey flavour the chicken strips are dressed in.
Also have to mention the portion size. Quite a lot of food! On it's own this is like a small meal for one. Split between two people, a very satisfying appetizer... and they are indeed quite generous with the chicken as well. Thumbs up from me, this was a neat twist on a Canadian classic and those Korean-style spices really shine through. Nicely done.
After that initial positive experience, I had rather high eggpectations going back (hey, I resisted the urge this long, plus I didn't say 'eggperience' which would've been much cornier). This here is their "Mince Me Beefy" egg drop sandwich.
First off, what exactly makes an egg drop sandwich? I didn't actually know beyond how pretty they look on the interwebs. Well! After having now sampled one myself and reading this online recipe, I think the key elements are the type of bread, how the eggs are scrambled and the sauce you use. And cheese of course. I'm sure there are variations but the thick slices of bread, brioche ideally, seem to be consistently crucial.
This particular egg drop sandwich from Bad Egg (how many times am I gonna say "egg" in this review? It's getting eggcessive...) does things a bit differently, most notably adding a sliced hard boiled egg to the top of the sandwich when posed vertically like this. I'm actually not a fan of hard boiled eggs normally, but I must say this one may have converted me. So damn tasty with the toasted bread, lots of pure eggy taste, fantastic squishy texture that mixed in with the creamier scrambled eggs in the sandwich beautifully.
It's good to know that Bad Egg absolutely nails one half of their namesake, but what about the rest of the sandwich? The 'drop' as it were? I admit to being initially worried this bread might've been over toasted, a worry that vanished upon the first bite. Incredibly soft and buttery almost to the point of decadence, like a croissant, with the slight toastyness helping keep it firm and not falling apart (this was a surprisingly non-messy sandwich to eat).
There isn't any possible photo I could've taken to show the beef portion (at least without dissecting the sandwich before eating it, which is totally fun and totally not deranged behaviour)... but it is in there I swear and certainly a steady flavour presence. Definitely gives a greasy smash burger taste, those distinct grilled beef edges and juicy bits pair really well with, frankly, the extremely overpowering amount of egg in this sandwich (not a bad thing). Plus, there are some raw bits of red onion thrown in, which normally I'd protest about but it's such a minor thing and frankly adds another layer to the heaviness of the bread, egg, grilled beef and American cheese.
As for the egg drop sauce on here... bit of a sweeter kick to it among the spectrum of mayo-like sauces. Quite nice, although it's completely gone by the time you're halfway through the sandwich but it is pleasant while it lasts.
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Overall! I must say that the name of this place is an absolute lie... there is nothing "bad" about this egg! Frankly, it is eggtremely misleading...
But seriously, Bad Egg is really damn good. The Korean poutine was certainly tasty but most likely not something I would seek out often. Their egg drop sandwiches however... hook that stuff to my veins. Like I said, the sandwich is packed full of egg (so you better really f**king like eggs to enjoy this thing) and the textures within are just heavenly. The different types of egg, the toasted yet pillowy and buttery bread, the grilled beef... I absolutely loved it and would highly recommend checking them out if you can.
I'll certainly go back (helps when there is one a three minute walk away). One of their egg drop sandwiches has shrimp in it and I'm very curious how they pull that one off. To be continued indeed...
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Burnt Ends
If you missed it, I recently finished my longtime in-the-works project on looking at the Radiohead discography. Seriously, I agonized over this thing for well over a year... unsure of the general tone I was looking for when discussing such a band that has been... well discussed so much. If like me you're a fan of the band, give it a read!
http://westcollierstreet.blogspot.com/2025/02/ranking-radiohead-albums.html
Calvinism
While Facebook has indeed been a wasteland of ads, horrifying opinions and unfunny memes the past little while... I've noticed that by liking certain things a lot, the algorithm adjusts and sends a lot of those types of things into your feed. The result for me has been... well I really only go on FB anymore to see if anybody has messaged me/commented on one of my articles, and then read lots and lots of comic strips, with the legendary Calvin and Hobbes now being the most common among them that pops up.
So here's an article I found pretty interesting about the backstory of the strip. For instance, I never knew Bill Watterson was so opposed to merchandising his characters despite their significant cultural popularity (unlike say Garfield).
Extra Cheese On Your Trade War
Rant warning! So I'm watching the Four Nations final (woot Canada) at a bar nearby my house, and since it's a televised broadcast of course there are commercial breaks and whatnot. I legit have not had cable since I moved out from home fourteen years ago, so I've been generally unfamiliar with whatever commercials are filling those airwaves (I'm sure I've been missing out).
During such a commercial break, I saw an ad that started with big orange and white BOLD LETTERING about the danger of potential incoming tariffs. Seeing the colours, I immediately assumed this would be a political ad from the NDP (which would've been a semi-pleasant reprieve from all the fucking Pollievre or Doug Ford ads Sportsnet were jamming into our eyeballs).
Nope! There's another brand that is known for their orange and white colour scheme... and it's Pizza Pizza. Yes, that's right... Pizza Pizza have a television ad mentioning the tariff threat, something that could ignite mutual economic destruction between Canada and the USA... as a vehicle to sell their objectively terrible pizza. Pizza... fucking... Pizza. What... what universe is this? Is this like one of those Star Trek episodes where they end up in an alternate dimension where nothing makes any microbe of sense? Where's that transporter jiggery to get me out of this absurd place! Scotty! Hurry up!
Seriously though... have you no shame whatsoever, Pizza Pizza? Actually, having sampled your products an unfortunate amount of times over the years, I don't need an answer to that question. Whenever I get around to updating my Top Toronto Pizzas list (probably a top 200 at this point) I'm including bigger chains for the sake of context, and now it will be extra satisfying to place Pizza Pizza in the cellar they richly deserve.
Tuesday Tune
Wow... the song of the week is actually something from this current decade? Not from over a decade before the authour of this article was even born? Who's in charge here? Well... this band has actually been around since the late 1990s so...
I'd kind of written off The Strokes after their very uneven third album, First Impressions of Earth, which is too bad considering how ridiculously great their first two records are. They actually were the first ever concert I worked at Bud Stage back in 2019! And they were genuinely excellent.
So when I discovered they released a new album the next year, and it was highly regarded... well I had to give it a shot. And yeah... it's a pretty good record. An interesting return to their classic sound with some more mature touches and keyboards. Here's the opening track from that very record, The New Abnormal.
Plus, the video has baseball in it. As a jersey collector, I'd totally rock one of those Strokes unis.
That's it that's all for this week! Just a reminder, if you live in Ontario please do get out and vote on Thursday if you haven't already. Seriously! Go do it. My thoughts on this have been pretty clear over the years (our current premier... really not a fan whatsoever. Nope nope nope) and no matter the outcome it is crucial we exercise our democratic rights and voice our opinions through the ballot box. The future of Western democracy is... well a discussion for another day in a much different forum, but lemme just say, more than ever, that if you don't use it you might just lose it.
Anyhow, stay safe, stay warm, go vote(!) and most of all don't spill that mustard.
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