SEAGuide
Where To Get Brunch When You Don’t Want Eggs
There are plenty of life paths that might have led you to read this guide. Maybe you’re vegan, allergic to eggs, or just sick of the way they taste. Maybe you found the movie Chicken Little particularly sentimental. Whatever the reason, being anti-egg doesn’t have to mean choosing between a sad granola bowl and a $12 avocado toast at brunch. All of the spots on this guide have a range of interesting options that could never be mistaken for a benedict. So when the chickens turn against us, you can feel free to say, “I told you so.” (If you are allergic, of course, be sure to check with your server—these aren’t egg-free restaurants.)
The Spots
Who needs eggs when you have Fruity Pebble-crusted French toast topped with orange-rosemary whipped cream? Not you. Get a stack of them at Watson’s Counter, a cozy Korean cafe in Ballard. You can also order things like DIY lettuce wraps with braised pork belly, gochujang wings and waffles, poutine with redeye gravy, and cold soba noodle salads.
There are more options on Bounty Kitchen’s menu without eggs than there are options with them. Even though it’ll take you around 10 minutes to get a table since there are always crowds at this Queen Anne spot, it’s worth the wait to order some griddle cakes, tacos, grain bowls, or salads. Bounty Kitchen works especially well if you’re looking for a brunch that’s kind of healthy.
The brunch menu at Plum Bistro, a plant-based restaurant on Capitol Hill, is so diverse that even though there are no eggs on the menu, it’s also easy to avoid tofu scrambles. Stick with dishes like pancakes with lemon-poppy butter, chicken-fried seitan and waffles, and the spicy cajun mac and “yease” that has nutritional yeast and smoky tofu instead of cheese. Just be sure to show up at 10am when they open, unless you’re prepared to wait a bit.
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Bite Box is a coffee shop, but instead of smelling like espresso and breakfast sandwiches, it smells like braised meat. This is because they serve a delicious cheeseburger that’s topped with oxtail ragu, and it’s the best thing here. If you’re not in the mood for so much meat in the morning, there are also pecan waffles, a cobb salad, or a cauliflower fritter sandwich.
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If the meat and potatoes part of brunch excites you, Dacha Diner is the place to be. It’s a small lace-curtain-covered Eastern European diner that serves things like latkes, slow-cooked brisket, and pork pelmeni dumplings. They have khachapuri (Georgian boat pizzas) too, and while those usually come topped with an egg, there are a bunch here without them. Come here if you need some comfort food after a long, stressful week.
Joule is one of our favorite Korean restaurants in town - primarily because their steak is delicious. And during brunch, they serve it chicken-fried alongside a savory sesame waffle. There’s a bunch of other stuff on the menu worth getting, like the honey miso bao with chorizo and apple kimchi, and the shrimp and grits with Chinese sausage and apple butter. We’d really advise getting some kind of steak here, though. Even if you get the steak and eggs with chimichurri and ignore those eggs just like your cat ignores you.
You’ll probably forget eggs are even a thing when your table is full of soup dumplings, dan dan noodles, spicy cucumbers, pork buns, potstickers, and wontons in chili oil. Dough Zone opens at 11am, so it’s a perfectly acceptable brunch route to take for your eggless adventure.
The brunch at Mamnoon is so good that it’ll probably top anything else you do that day - no offense to your neighbor’s tarot card party. Mop up some mezze with housemade pita bread and get the Lebanese pancakes or some falafel. The ceiling is also covered in fake hanging chickens—don’t worry, they don’t lay any replica eggs.
