Yolk's Restaurant Commissary

In early December of 2013, Yolk’s Restaurant and Commissary opened at Clark and Hastings in the old Brave Bull House of Steaks location.

I’ve been wanting to try Yolk’s food cart for at least a year but the few times we’ve crossed paths, I’ve been stymied by uber long line ups and wait times because this cart is soooo popular.

I heard about the Yolk’s restaurant opening…and I also heard that the cart’s existing popularity meant that their fans had followed them to the new restaurant- resulting in long line ups and wait times over an hour on weekends. Yikes. After the holidays, I had first week of January off so some girlfriends and I thought we’d try to avoid the line ups and hit Yolk’s on a weekday. Success! On a Thursday, we met at 10am and although the place was fairly full, we were seated right away.

The space is clean and quite sunny but it feels like they are still in transition or reno mode because rather than fresh and new… it feels a bit dingy and dated with some unused space on a second level. 

Yolk’s has stuck to their same food truck menu model revolved around their egg sandwiches and a few sides  and daily special- with a few additions like baked breakfast muffins, beignets, pancakes, waffles, granola, and oatmeal.

Our server was absolutely lovely. Friendly, enthusiastic, and clearly she loves the food here. She was great at explaining the menu and offering up recommendations. I’ve been drooling over photos of their egg sandwiches for far too long…so obviously I was going to order and egg sandwich. But their menu does create many options for twists on this creation and allows for some creativity and “choose your own adventure” type of fun. 

I would say we waited about 20-30 minutes for our food to arrive.

I ordered a Poached Free-Range Egg Sandwich with Portobello Mushroom with aioli and fresh arugula (I nixed the aioli), one egg, on an English muffin, with real hollandaise (on the side so I could drizzle as I wanted) for $7.50 with an side of Truffle Lemon Hashbrowns for an additional $3.50. Right of the bat, this sandwich is gorgeous and smells fantastic. The egg is perfectly poached and soft with a round shape that held its structure until I broke into it and let the rich, bright yellow yolk ooze out. I think I’m a pretty good home cook, but I still have not even come close to mastering the perfect poached egg, so when I see one, I’m always so thrilled and a little dazzled. Their hollandaise was delicious too- with bright flavours that tasted like hints of lemon and Dijon mustard…a bright and light sauce compared to most hollandaise sauces that I’ve tasted. The English muffin is tasty vessel but nothing amazing, the Portobello added a nice earthy flavour and meaty bite, and the arugula added a nice bit of freshness to this sandwich. Overall, this sandwich is just heavenly….a messy wonderful creation that I savoured with a fork and knife and ate more eggs benny style.

 I’m frugal and quite practical so I was hesitant about ordering a side of hashbrowns for $3.50. But these are no ordinary hashbrowns and I definitely feel they are a worth addition to any Yolk’s breakfast. They are bursting with big, bold flavour and a wonderful crispy texture on the exterior skin and soft buttery insides. The hits of lemon provide some freshness against the richness of the truffle oil and I just loved the sea salt and hits of green onion. The spicy ketchup that comes with it is nice too.

Side note: Bravo to Yolk’s for its wonderful assortment of hot sauces available for garnish and dipping! 

The other gals each ordered the daily special, the Avocado Fritter but instead of having it in an egg sandwich they opted for the menu option of a de-constructed egg sandwich with no english muffin, served on a bed of truffle lemon hashbrowns for $1 more ($8.50 total). They both echoed my adoration for these delicious spuds and the artfully poached egg. I think they liked the avocado fritter but weren't overly excited about it. 

Thumbs up for Yolks! I'm so glad I finally got to taste the egg sammy deliciousness.