Skirt Steak & Eggs Brunch Battle: The Breslin vs Yuca Bar

Date February 26, 2010

Skirt Steak and eggs: the Clint Eastwood of breakfast.  Its been around forever and it’s still badass.  And while The Breslin tries to cement its badass status with a no reservations policy and a meat-centric menu, Yuca Bar draws diners and imbibers to its Latin American oasis as coolly as Clint draws movie viewers.  So which skirt steak and eggs is the genuine article: The $17 Breslin version or the $13.95 Yuca Bar prix fixe?

BRESLIN VS YUCA BAR SKIRT STEAK AND EGGS - NYCFoodGuy.com

I had steak and eggs for the first time just two years ago at Yuca Bar.  And after a 24-year wait, my initial reaction to chimichurri covered skirt steak and a mini-mountain of fluffy scrambled eggs was: “I need more of this!”   So it was with great excitement that I chose The Breslin, created by The Spotted Pig’s chef-restaurateur team of April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman, as the site of my second steak and eggs experience.  And fortunately, our basis for comparison is equal because like Yuca Bar, Ms. Bloomfield’s dish features skirt steak topped with a Latin-inspired sauce.

STEAK: The Breslin

The Breslin’s skirt steak is tender, cooked to a perfect medium rare and wears a nice outer char.  Yuca’s skirt steak could use a little more outer char but it pleasing fattiness makes it a shortcoming that’s easy to overlook.

STEAK TOPPING: Yuca Bar

When it comes to flavor, The Breslin’s “green sauce” is more grasshopper to Yuca Bar’s Incredible Hulk chimichurri.  The Breslin’s version may look nice but like a grasshopper, it’s off in the bushes, heard but not seen, on the plate but without any strong flavor presence save some mild acidity.

The Breslin Steak & Eggs - NYCFoodGuy.com

Yuca Bar’s concoction of onion, red pepper, garlic, and cilantro awakens your taste buds like a Hulk-A-Smash, so delicious that you should make sure to ration some for each bite.

EGGS: Yuca Bar

Comparing scrambled eggs to sunny side up is unfair but execution is unbiased and while The Breslin’s eggs look great, they were greasier than you’d expect from a kitchen of Ms. Bloomfield’s caliber.  Yuca’s plentiful scrambled eggs are always fluffy and satisfyingly moist, an airy contrast to the skirt steak’s sinewy texture.

POTATOES: Yuca Bar

No contest here.  $17 doesn’t even afford you potatoes at The Breslin.  For $13.95 Yuca Bar offers the choice of rice and beans or potatoes!  I advise the potatoes, a flavorful, albeit under-crisped (even when I ask for it well done), conglomeration of white potato, sweet potato, pepper, and onion.  And it’s all included in the prix fix.  Beat that Breslin.

EXPERIENCE ENHANCERS: Yuca Bar

NYC Food Guy always tries to enhance a meal by adding elements such as condiments or side dishes that might not be considered.  At The Breslin, this was as simple as asking for hot sauce.  And to my pleasant surprise, it was Tapatio, a popular West Coast hot sauce made of a secret blend of Chile peppers.  It’s spicy without overpowering and it was a mandatory enhancement to the Breslin’s bland accouterments.

Tapatio - NYCFoodGuy.com

At Yuca, I implore you to order a side of sweet plantains.  If they’re freshly sauteed and brought to your table immediately, then you’re in for a treat. Caramelized pockets of piping hot, chewy goodness.  They’re equally as delicious plain as they are combined with a bite of steak, eggs,  potato, and chimichuri.

WINNER: Yuca Bar

It’s a landslide.  Yuca Bar takes 4 of 5 categories.  And I know what you must be thinking:  If Yuca Bar loses the steak category, how can I even consider it? Well it’s the sum of the parts that equal the whole and on value alone, Yuca Bar is the winner.  But it certainly helps that Yuca Bar dominates every other category.  Looks like the new Clint Eastwood drinks caprihina.

4 Responses to “Skirt Steak & Eggs Brunch Battle: The Breslin vs Yuca Bar”

  1. MOE said:

    Great

    Thank you,

    Moe

  2. RWordplay said:

    Eggs up at Breslin looks like the breakfast they might serve the morning after you die and awake in heaven. As a long time steak and egg man, the photography set my mouthing. (I think I have Uova Al Pomodoro. I congratulate you on your photography, you are becoming the Helmut Newton of dining.

    I’ve eaten at neither place but as a diner I prefer a space set between the food on my plate. (unless I’m eating chili.) I find the packed plate at Yuca rather unappetizing and I suspect the scrambled eggs would, on a busy day, be not as soft and buttery as I like and hash browns, are as annoying at breakfast as sweet red and yellow peppers and white onions are in a bad Chinese dish. But I realize this is purely subjective and that hash browns have a long an glorious history, probably due to the fierce hunger of working men, the cheap price of ingredient and the habits of not particularly interesting people.

    Again, thank you for the introduction, I will be trying breakfast at Breslin sooner rather than later.

  3. Something to read over lunch « Saffron and Honey said:

    […] Brunch vs Brunch. Why bother – have both. […]

  4. hashbrownfan said:

    RWordPlay, way to degrade an entire nation of potato-eating men and women. Not only are you correct about your analysis being subjective, you’re also an effete snob. I’m sure you have far more interesting things to do with your time than, say, comment on someone’s steak/egg review. As we’re all painfully aware, you’re a particularly interesting person.

    Enjoy your eggs in hell. I’m sure they prepare them just as you like down there.

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