Egg Shop

Located: 151 Elizabeth St., Call: 646-666-0810, NoLIta, Manhattan
This eggshell-hued luncheonette, where egg dishes are cooked up day and night, is more than a gimmick. No eggy avenue has gone unexplored: there's eggs benedict, grass-fed steak and eggs on a hero—even egg-shaped salt and pepper shakers. It may seem counterintuitive to categorize fried chicken, crunchy and drizzled with honey, as a side dish, but it makes perfect sense next to an egg salad sandwich. Owners Sarah Schneider and Demetri Makoulis and chef Nick Korbee (ex-Smith and Mills) have a thing about eggs—local, organic eggs, to be exact. So does the young crowd pushing in, especially at breakfast and brunch. It's easier to get a table at night, when you can match an egg-topped bacon cheeseburger with a baby kale salad, golden hash browns and a bloody mary with a bacon-salt rim. Egg Shop has caught on because of innovative, tasty and well-prepared food as well as compatibility with the Paleo diet wave (note how many diners separate the bun from the burger).