Restaurant Review: Wake Up with Egg Break 

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I thought waking up at 6 a.m. every day during my seven-year stint as a high school English teacher would eventually make me into a morning person, but it never quite took. It's a habit I fear I've passed on to my daughter, who is often baffled by the necessity of waking up and going to school—school—of all places. When she starts questioning this logic, I'm at a total loss for words, because I too find myself wondering why the cost of living includes such a barbaric stipulation.

In moments like these, I tend to rely on breakfast as a motivating factor, which brought me and my daughter to Egg Break. For me, a good breakfast sandwich transcends its role as the first meal of the day, and becomes more like a psychological defibrillator. There's nothing quite as invigorating as a piping-hot stack of juicy sausage, crispy bacon, melty American cheese and some variation of egg where the yolk still has a bit of drip to it. Once this combo smacks you in the mouth and puts a fire in your fuel tank, the bleak reality of another day filled with workplace responsibility becomes a little easier to handle. It also helps if the space in which you're enjoying this catharsis is cute as hell.

Egg Break is a fairly new establishment in South Salt Lake, right near the 2100 South UTA TRAX Sation and in front of the Commonwealth Room concert venue. Its unassuming exterior boasts a good-sized patio, but it's the interior that whisks you away to some breakfast-themed wonderland. It's awash in clean whites and bright yellows, and liberally decorated with custom work—the sculptured egg sliding down the white tile wall in the entry is lovely, as are the hanging neon lights that depict geometric interpretations of cheese, bacon and an egg over easy. Its second level evokes more of a coffee shop vibe, and carries the egg theme with a few egg-shaped pod chairs, which were a big hit with the kiddo.

The menu at Egg Break prioritizes breakfast sandos in all their variety and glory, but it includes a few smaller bites as well. Their sandwiches range from the straightforward Scram with Cheese ($7.00), a gooey blend of scrambled eggs and American cheese on an English muffin, to the spectacular Pastrami Nom Nom ($12.50) that brings our favorite cured deli meat to the party. There is something for everybody within this spectrum; buttermilk biscuit sandos sit right alongside those on toasted ciabatta.

Multiple factors led me to select The Hoff ($12.50) for my inaugural visit. For starters, any item that sounds like it's been given a nickname by other members of the menu usually captures my attention. Then I read past the name to learn about the meaty slab of house-smoked pork belly topped with a gooey fried egg. When the menu also mentioned that a dollar of every Hoff sandwich sold goes to the Huntsman Cancer Institute, I decided that a pork belly breakfast sandwich that also benefited cancer research was the way to go.

Obviously, if you include the words "pork belly" and "breakfast sandwich" in the same dish, you'll be getting something special. However, Egg Break knows enough about the balancing act behind a perfect sandwich to not simply rest on this combo. The Bravas breakfast sauce, for example, brings a sharp, acidic tang to the whole affair that does a nice job of cutting through the richness of that luscious American cheese and runny egg yolk. A bit of freshly chopped chives adds a surprising amount of herbaceous freshness, and the toasted ciabatta bun manages to keep everything in order as you eat. This, my friends, is a masterclass in breakfast sandwich craft.

If you're a fan of biscuit-based breakfast sandwiches, you'll want to check out the Big Pig in a Honey Biscuit ($9.50). Egg Break is baking their own buttermilk biscuits on site, so they're warm and fluffy when they slap on a considerable portion of fennel-and-sage sausage topped with a fried egg. The sausage and egg combo is dynamite, but the secret weapon here comes from the ample supply of honey butter brushed over those tasty biscuits. I think the only real way to improve this would be to serve it on a plate topped with sausage gravy, but maybe that's going a bit too far.

Though Egg Break is a full-service breakfast sando destination, those after the quiet coffee shop vibes can find plenty of small bites and caffeinated bevvies to choose from. My daughter really liked the Berries and Cream Brioche Toast ($7), which is a lighter take on French toast; the Brioche is simply buttered and pan-toasted rather than dunked in egg wash. The fresh whipped cream and berries make this a lovely little breakfast snack.

With an adorable interior, some excellent interpretations on breakfast sandwiches, a long list of house-made juice blends and plenty of coffee, Egg Break is prepped to obliterate the morning doldrums.