Chef’s challenge: brunch with no eggs

Steinbeck’s Ale House chef is up to the challenge.

A chef who describes himself as “egg-centric” tests no-egg recipes; he shares those recipes, along with some tips.

The challenge: brunch without eggs. The challenged: Chef Andy Gonzales of Steinbeck’s Ale House in Oakhurst.

I really like eggs. And as it turns out, so does Gonzales. In fact, one of the things he’s best known and loved for at Steinbeck’s is a dish called Chinese Breakfast. It’s a beautiful bowl, layered with jasmine rice, wilted leeks, roasted pork belly and, you guessed it, a perfect sunny-side-up egg.

“It was a huge challenge — even French toast was off the board,” Gonzales complained on the day we met to test out his final no-egg recipes, after a round of back and forth emails and phone calls that eliminated several dishes.

“Not only is it tough, because we’re so egg-centric at brunch, but I’m also egg-centric,” he said. “People give me a hard time, saying, ‘It’s not really one of your dishes unless it has an egg on top.’ But I just love eggs.”

Loving eggs, but living without them, Gonzales came up with three dishes that reflect different aspects of his cooking, including his Texas and Mexican roots, his obsession with Asian food, and his more recent appreciation of Southern staples such as grits.

Jasmine Rice Congee with the signature roasted pork belly that makes his Chinese Breakfast so crave-worthy is the most difficult and time-consuming.

But Gonzales shares some chef secrets that are worth the price of admission. “The pork belly is a lot of tech,” Gonzales concedes. “But everything else is pretty easy.”

A bit less complicated, and delicious in another way, a version of what the Steinbeck’s brunch menu calls the “Brefas Bowl” combines Parmesan cheese grits and seasonal vegetables. And there’s a really easy recipe for breakfast tacos made with earthy Mexican greens and chorizo sausage.

Quelites Street Tacos (clockwise from left), Jasmine Rice Congee and a Parmesan Grits Breakfast Bowl show there’s more to brunch than eggs.

PHOTOS BY MIA YAKEL / STYLING BY ANDY GONZALES Chef Andy Gonzales: “Not only is (the no-egg challenge) tough, because we’re so egg-centric at brunch, but I’m also eggcentric.”