Dai Due is a place I’ve been coming to for a while now. Truth be told, I first heard of it on Bizarre Foods. Yes, I had to have Andrew Zimmern tell me about a place in my own city. That’s just the way it works sometimes. They make their encampment at the Farmers Market Downtown every Saturday (and at Mueller on Sunday.) While most people go to such a market for fresh fruit and vegetables, I just go to eat.
Every week the menu is full of tasty, thoughtful choices. Everything Jesse Griffiths and crew put out has that extra notch of care and intention that we love in good food these days. It’s the give-a-crap factor. I could go on and on (and will another day), but let’s get to this dish.We all know what’s in a breakfast sandwich: ham, cheese, egg and bread. I’ve had my fair share of Egg McMuffins and Croissan’wiches over the years, but this one was better. A lot better. I’m not even saying it tasted better (though it certainly did): multinational corporations know how to concoct “flavor experiences” that our mouths enjoy. I was simply eating better food.
Dai Due’s version is advertised thus: “Smoked ham, cheddar & a scrambled egg on a gougère roll. $8.” I strolled around to the side of their cooking tent to watch the proceedings. It’s all propane and cast iron, and I love it. I chatted up the cook, and when I commented on how orange (and awesome) those eggs looked, he said they got them from his dad’s farm in Taylor. They were turned and flipped a couple of times and really puffed up in the cooking.
Meanwhile the ham was being heated up on the griddle, waiting to be topped with cheese. The gougère roll (choux dough mixed with cheese–I had to look it up) was toasted then filled with the ingredients. It was essentially hollow after rising during baking, so it made for a perfect receptacle for all these ingredients. The total package tasted as good as it looks.Beverage side note: I ordered a “Pear Shrub,” a fruity soda. I was told this was a by-product of Dai Due’s intensive mincemeat-making process, and leftover pears were mixed with those spices to create the syrup. Pie and soda end up being part of a year-long process of creation. A lot of work for a soda, but I was happy to be the recipient.
I will go to Dai Due as often as I can, and honestly, I’d order anything off the menu. Never had a bad meal and don’t expect to. Too much goes into this food, and it is much appreciated.