Eggactly What I Wanted

When Easter nears, I always start craving egg salad. I get nostalgic for Mom’s post-holiday salad would have a pinkish hue thanks to my fantastic creations with PAAS tablets and white crayons. Over the years, however, I’ve realized egg salad is stigmatized thanks to its reliance on mayonnaise (an ingredient many chefs turn their noses up at) and the cholesterol-ridden yolks. While working in a deli one summer, I realized that this lowly concoction’s only saving grace is that it wasn’t olive loaf, another much-pitied and under-appreciated delicacy. Given my hankering for the salad of the egg, I decided to see what Houston offers.

While Katz’ Deli and Empire Café both have honorable mentions, the best egg salad I have found is at Brazil. They have taken the Easter leftover and given it a place of honor on their menu.

First, they don’t use a ton of mayo, which allows you to really taste the egg. There’s no covering up of the yolky flavor. The consistency is chunky, not pureed or over-processed, as many tend to be.

The salad is filled with carrots and a little bit of red onion. Neither of which is over powering, yet the carrot adds a certain sweetness and crunchy texture, while the onion adds just a hint of zip. Neither is plentiful, which ensures that the focus stays on the egg. Many chefs rely on celery to bulk up the mixture, however, at Brazil, they don’t fall back on false fillers. (Besides, celery is disgusting and total throw back to 1950’s cooking.) There’s not a lot of bulk to Brazil’s salad, but I don’t eat egg salad for volume. I eat it because it’s good.

At Brazil, you’re offered the choice of either focaccia or ciabatta bread. Go for the ciabatta. I promise the selection elevates the sandwich to a whole new level. While there is nothing wrong with the focaccia, in fact it’s very good at Brazil, the right pairing for such a salad is an un-herbed, crusty bread. The warm, hard-to-chew bread compliments the cold, soft egg salad perfectly.

I grinded just a bit of sea salt and black pepper on the top and voila, I had a delectable egg salad sandwich. Since my days of egg dyeing are over, hence leaving my mom with no pink eggs, it’s a good thing Brazil is there to pick up the slack when I get a craving.