The Silo on 7th – Austin, TX

Austin
June 5, 2015

The Vitals:
the burger: The Eggs Benedict Burger(Angus beef and pork breakfast sausage patty blend, topped with a poached egg, hollandaise sauce, lettuce, tomato and onion)
the bucks: $8.50
the coordinates: Austin, Texas

Two foods that we all know, love, and trust have been conducting a covert takeover of menus across the country.

Yes, I’m talking about Bacon and Eggs.

When spoken in the same sentence one quickly dismisses them as two pals who take morning strolls in the neighborhood together. Much like Peanut Butter and Jelly do around lunch time, or what Meat and Potatoes often do after dark. But unlike PB&J or Meat and Potatoes, Bacon and Eggs are splitting up, and showing up in all manners of food, at all hours too. Beyond the over the top and lets face it, the outright obnoxious trend that is the meat straw in a Bloody Mary, Bacon can show up pretty much anywhere at anytime, and it’s welcomed. Bacon on burger? But of course! Bacon on fowl? They call that a Turkey Club and even the most paranoid Tea Party toter will say that’s as American as Apple Pie. Bacon on Pork? If I could count the times Ina Garten wrapped a pork tenderloin in bacon in anticipation of Jeffrey coming home from a hard day of yachting then I could, well I could count a whole lot, like Rain Man did when the box of toothpicks hit the ground. But back to bacon and eggs and really, back to eggs, because despite their long history of showing up in a plethora of dishes and cuisines around the world, their appearance in the food world of today qualifies it as a bonafide food trend. Eggs show up for lunch and dinner. Pizzas, Pastas, Vegetable side dishes – here they pretty much take the role of Foie Gras for the vegetarian. So, if it’s no longer a big deal for eggs to show up for lunch and dinner, why not have a burger show up for breakfast? The peeps at Silo on 7th seemed to think so and with that I present to you the Eggs Benedict Burger and a Bang for your Burger Buck taste of East Austin.

IMG_4132East Austin, well maybe just Austin in general, represents a recognition of emerging food scenes in 21st century America. Much like Portland, a new generation of, wait for it – Foodies have taken hold of a whole city. Whether it be new school BBQ joints like Franklin’s, cutting edge sushi joints like Uchi or a Veggie delicatessen food truck that can pull off a true blue reuben to an audience of even the staunchest of granola munchers, Austin has got some serious eats. They also say Austin is an oasis in Texas – the whole South for that matter; especially if your voter persuasion takes on a hue from Smurf Village, but you’re still in Cattle Country which means that getting a good steak or burger is a given. In a city that supports creativity in the kitchen and being in an overall more affordable part of the country when compared to the Coasts, it surprised me to find that Bang for your Burger Buck doesn’t exactly come out of the faucet. One must do some digging, but options there certainly are. Nestled in a funky urbanization experiment known as East Austin, Silo on 7th is in a part of town that will make you feel right at home if fancy coffee and craft beer are as critical to your day as window shopping for a new loft. That patio has major appeal as well, it’s Austin after all and the best way to fight the heat is seated with a cold beer and a good view.

IMG_4141Short of dumping a bowl of chili con carne on top, the Eggs Benedict burger on paper is about as rich sounding as they come: poached egg, hollandaise, and an Angus patty mixed with pork breakfast sausage resting comfortably on a brioche bun. Add to the fact that you could be downing this thing before noon and you might expect your sodium levels to approach that of a deer on a salt lick bender. Surprisingly it’s not that salty at all. Just the idea of a pork burger is an intense affair for me – something about as sensible as participating in a Bratwurst eating contest with a guy named Hans. But Silo on 7th knows how to put together bold burger combinations that work and truthfully for me, the Eggs Benedict Burger was my perfect gateway to the breakfast burger experience. And the pork sausage mix was the key. The seasoning that goes into the sausage mixes so well with the poached egg – for a moment your brain thinks you may have regressed to a sausage McMuffin binge from high school but no, you are actually a grown up having a burger for breakfast. And two bites in you are reaching for a sip of beer. Yeah who ever yearns for the high school years clearly has never brunched at Silo on 7th. Then there is that egg, and I have to say that if you can pull off a poached like these guys can:IMG_4143. . . you just may can the whole idea of fried egg all together. What brought the whole breakfast burger experience home was the cascade of egg yolk that can only come from a soft and gentle poach mixing with Hollandaise. One of the best parts of a savory breakfast is dragging that bite of bacon or sausage across a pool of yolk, and the Eggs Benedict Burger recreated that experience from first till last bite.IMG_4144To gaze again at that just firmed egg white still gives me goosebumps. A visual reminder that the texture of a well poached egg can be as luscious as the freshest of ricottas. This could be the first Bang for your Burger Buck burger where the beef just wasn’t the star of the show – it was the egg. Ever trendy move that it is, the egg on a burger at Silo on 7th for $8.50, translates to Bang for your Brunch Burger Buck and is certainly an East Austin eating experience I can heartily endorse.IMG_4140Beyond this Brunch special offering, the rest of the burger menu at Silo on 7th is all about pulling off interesting combinations. Daring moves best reserved for professional kitchens than backyard BBQ’s with your friend’s picky significant others. The Eggs Benedict Burger is indeed a legit breakfast in burger form. A burger you can turn to the AM hours without drawing dietary comparisons to those High School glory days of yours. And unlike those old glory days, you keep up with the latest food trends: like having an egg on everything while eating in one of the hippest food cities in America.

Now staying Hipster skinny in East Austin with burgers like these – yeah, you’re on your own on that one.

Silo on 7th
1300 E. 7th Street
Austin, TX 78702

 

 

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