Eggs Make It Breakfast, BBQ Edition

I first stumbled across the phenomenon in airports, where I frequently found myself roaming around during an early morning layover looking for something to eat at all the food court-style restaurants that dominate such places. Many were chain brands that aren’t normally open for breakfast but had to cobble something together for their airport concessions.

That’s when I realized that apparently all one had to do to transform a crummy fast food lunch item into a crummy fast food breakfast item is add scrambled eggs to it. Take a regular burrito (shredded beef, cheese, and salsa wrapped in a tortilla) and fold some scrambled eggs into it. Voilá: Breakfast burrito! Take an ordinary sausage and onion pizza and strew some clumps of scrambled egg over the top: breakfast pizza!

Well, it seems the same rule now applies to barbecue. Two days ago, Matthew Martinez reported for the Dallas Observer on the breakfast menu at the two Meat U Anywhere BBQ locations in Grapevine and Trophy Club, Texas. (Yes, Grapevine and Trophy Club are the names of towns in Texas. I’m sure there’s a good explanation.) Both open at 6:00 am, and both offer a full slate of breakfast tacos, including the following:

brisket, egg, and cheese
turkey, egg, and cheese
bacon, egg, and cheese
ham, egg, and cheese
J/C (that is, jalapeno cheddar) sausage, egg, and cheese
chorizo, egg, and cheese

I will note, however, that there are two breakfast tacos on the menu that break the mold: the pork guiso y papas taco and the carne guisada y papas taco. No, “guiso” does not mean egg in Spanish (I looked it up.) It means stew. Essentially, we’re talking tacos made with pork or beef slow simmered in a thick gravy and paired with chunks of potato (papas).

That’s right: breakfast tacos that are completely devoid of eggs! Please don’t let the Texas Health and Human Services Department know about this. It’s got to be a violation of some sort.

Martinez, for his part, thinks the papas “give these simple breakfast treats a warm and welcome crunch.” I’m inclined to believe him, especially since I’ve generally been underwhelmed by all the various incarnations of breakfast burrito, taco, or pizza I’ve been subjected to in the past, most of which would have tasted just fine if they had left off the soft, gooey eggs.

Perhaps in the future we’ll change that rule to “potatoes make it breakfast.”