A really great breakfast sandwich will turn any sadness left over in
your stomach from last night into a fairy erupting from a puddle of
silvery spring dew. It seems like a simple formula—double the
protein, halve the fiber, triple the grease, and enclose it between two
yeast-based flaps. However, if it goes wrong, you are left with a pile
of Hanford-style toxic sludge.
Take the sausage croissant sandwich ($2.99) at Jack in the
Box (various locations, 4749 University Way NE, 525-5599), for
instance. Containing, among other things, a sausage patty, grilled egg,
and “butter flavored vegetable” (actual quote!), the sandwich stuck to
my ribs, my esophagus, my teeth, and my colon. Also, the croissant was
as salty as a sea wench, which was disorienting. I have committed many
shameful acts in my life (like farting in the produce aisle) but none
matched the shame I felt upon entering a Jack in the Box at 9:00
a.m.
There is no shame in eating at the charming Columbia City diner
Geraldine’s Counter (4872 Rainier Ave S, 723-2080), which gets
fancy on the breakfast sandwich’s ass. Geraldine’s bacon, egg, and
arugula sandwich ($8.75) doesn’t come on bread; it comes on a
batard. The eggs aren’t scrambled, they are aioli scrambled, and the sandwich doesn’t come in a paper wrapper, it comes
on a plate. Even better, the eggs were cooked just right
(jiggly but not runny) and the arugula was fresh and crisp, if a bit of
a strong green for breakfast. But the bacon was too thick and chewy for
my taste, and the overcrispy batard cut the roof of my mouth.
An open-faced sandwich called the East Coast ($9.25) was more suitable.
It had less batard, but more flavor—the (again, perfect) eggs
were generously combined with fresh dill, and the smoked salmon
sprinkled on top was the browner, natural kind, as opposed to the
bright-red, preservative-tasting stuff.
Let’s talk bagel for a bit. The bagel is the best breakfast-sandwich
yeast flap known to humankind—dense, chewy, and never so crunchy
that it cuts the roof of your mouth. And that’s why I love me some
Cafe Pettirosso (1101 E Pike St, 323-4830). Conveniently located
in my hangover stumble path, “The Pet” offers greasy, delicious
breakfast sammies with all the fixings for a bargain. My favorite is
the egg with spinach, artichoke, and Parmesan ($3.85), in which the
cheese and veggies are cooked right into the egg for maximum ease of
delivery.
But if you want to go deluxe on the bagel, and you also happen to be
a godzillionaire, please, get the bagel breakfast sandwich ($10.50) at
Earth & Ocean (1112 Fourth Ave, 264-6060). The bagel tastes
like it has been boiled in the fresh sweat of authentic Jewish
grandmas. The eggs are from heaven. And don’t even ask about the ham.
Even though all of the parts were delicious, I still found myself
yearning for a Pettirosso bagel sammie, because all of the delicious
bits of the Earth & Ocean bagel kept dropping off—the dreaded
“sandwich slide.” Note to the otherwise exemplary Earth & Ocean: A
breakfast sandwich can’t just be yummy—it also has to be easy to
shove down your gullet.