The three Tallahassee, Florida-based Po’ Boys Creole Café restaurants follow a New Orleans theme, and on Sunday, the brunch menu hosts a version of eggs Benedict. When the restaurant owners decided to start serving brunch on Sundays, vice president Charlie Youngs called his mom to ask for recipes. She quickly suggested Swiss baked eggs, which are poached eggs on a toasted English muffin with a sour cream, chives, and bacon mixture and a large slab of Swiss cheese on top. It’s baked in the oven until crispy on top.

A New Orleans menu also wouldn’t be complete without shrimp, and a popular omelet at Po’ Boys is Al’s Shrimp Omelet, which is a combination of shrimp, spinach, cream cheese, shallots, and onions smothered in a béarnaise sauce. That omelet, Youngs says, started as a pizza that morphed into a breakfast item. The ingredients originally were spread on pizza dough and baked, “But we thought it would make a great omelet. It’s a hit. Everyone loves it,” he says.

Huddle House also looks to play with the Southern theme for its 430-unit national chain. “We already sell biscuits. Why not take a biscuit, open it up and put a fried egg on each side with either cheddar or American cheese and Canadian bacon and top it with white gravy?” asks Damon Paolozzi, director of product development. “That’s in the infancy stage. We’re playing with it. It’s not on the calendar yet.”

Beyond Borders

As popular as regional cuisine is, trends toward ethnic, bolder flavors work well with eggs for breakfast.

Asian is the hottest ethnic-flavor trend with no sign of letting up, says menu trends researcher Nancy Kruse, president of The Kruse Co. Though Mexican food is popular and is almost a menu staple, Asian cuisine is the fastest-growing ethnic category, perhaps because it is broader in regional types, such as Chinese, Japanese, and Thai.

To tap into the Asian menu trend, operators must first understand what Asian flavors are and what consumers are looking for, Goldberg says. It might be as simple as adding a touch of sesame oil with the butter to infuse a little Asian flavor into an omelet. Include such Asian vegetable favorites as bean sprouts, Chinese black mushrooms, napa cabbage, and cilantro. A drizzle of oyster or hoisin sauce over the top might also work well. Eggs over rice are also appropriate.

Since Mexican flavors have made greater inroads onto the American plate, it’s easy to take the ingredients used for other Mexican dishes and make them into breakfast egg entrées.

Pinkney deconstructs the classic Mexican huevos rancheros on the plate to create a unique menu offering. “My issue with those kinds of breakfasts is that once the black beans are in something, and you cut through the item, it becomes very muddy,” she says. “After the second mouthful, it stops looking appetizing.” Instead, she places two warm tortillas on a plate with two shiny fried eggs on top and around the plate places fresh avocado slices, black bean purée with pepper jack cheese melted on top, a dish of pico de gallo, sour cream, and fresh jalapeños. “It’s very thoughtful and very pretty,” she says.

Operators can also build a skillet dish with Southwestern seasoned potatoes topped with eggs blended with chorizo and salsa. Goldberg suggests sprinkling tortilla chips on top for crunch. For a Southwest version of eggs Benedict, use chorizo, poached egg, cilantro, a cumin-based hollandaise sauce, and crumbled tortillas on top.

The First Watch Restaurants Inc. chain based in Bradenton, Florida, has featured the Acapulco Express omelet on the menu since the mid-1980s, says Kevin Hall, vice president of the brand. That includes chorizo, avocado, green chilies, and onions smothered with melted cheeses and topped with sour cream. It comes with a side of freshly made salsa.

“We do our best to have items you can’t find anywhere else. You would be hard-pressed to see something like our Chickichanga anywhere else,” he says. The Chickichanga combines whipped eggs with spicy chicken, homemade chorizo, green chilies, Monterey jack and cheddar cheeses, onion, and avocado rolled in a crispy flour tortilla and topped with Vera Cruz sauce and sour cream.