Deviled eggs are magic. Not the top hat and tailcoat kind of magic, but real magic. Something in their construction allows an otherwise average person to consume a truly otherworldly number of eggs.
The hard-boiled mayo and mustard delivery vessels are most often found dotting the spread at family gatherings or Super Bowl parties, but a handful of Twin Cities restaurants have found ways to dress them up and plop them on the menu.
Chef Brian Ingram, owner and founder of Purpose Restaurants, says it’s not so much the perception of deviled eggs as a potluck dish that keeps it off most menus as it is the surprising amount of labor involved.
“It’s a lot of work for a little food,” says Ingram, whose restaurant group includes Hope Breakfast Bar and The Gnome Craft Pub. “The egg is not what’s expensive; it’s the labor to make them. When you’re making them at home, probably a third of them, you’re breaking the white. That just goes in the trash.” (I’m not sure who would toss a broken deviled egg in the garbage instead of their mouth, but his point stands.)
Those restaurants that forge onward despite the eggy obstacles often take the appetizer to another level. Ingram says crunch and acid are key ways to elevate homemade deviled eggs.
“I’m a fresh jalapeño guy, typically. I’ll have a little bit of pickle, but normally it’s more jalapeño. I like the heat of that,” he says. “I like to have some of that vinegar, too. You’ve got to have some acid to cut the creaminess.”
That insight helps elevate many of the Twin Cities’ most alluring deviled eggs, which we've pulled together for this list of the zhuzh-iest little devils from restaurants around Minneapolis and St. Paul. Use them as the inspiration for your next picnic spread.
Hope Breakfast Bar's Deviled Egg Sandwich ($14)
Ingram’s Hope Breakfast Bar has one of the most unique takes on deviled eggs; here, it isn’t even an appetizer, but a sandwich. It’s not too far of a leap from an egg salad sandwich to here. “The key is it’s got to have more yolk in it than white,” Ingram says of getting the feel of a deviled egg between bread. “When you make deviled eggs, you’re creaming up that yolk, so that ratio needs to be changed.”
Hope’s deviled egg mix is placed on thick toast with pickled veggies, tomatoes, and pickles. It’s a unique approach that might simultaneously be the most tempting to order on the list and the least tempting to try at home. Leave it to the professionals.
Hell's Kitchen Minneapolis' Deviled Eggs ($7.95/$6 during happy hour)
The employee-owned Hell's Kitchen brings six deviled eggs to the table on a bed of Arcadian greens. They get elevated with a little chopped candied bacon sitting on top of a tangy filling. Bacon can add more salt to an already salty dish, but the candied bacon brings texture and a little sweetness.
Parlour Minneapolis and Borough's Deviled Egg ($4)
Again, a little crunch goes a long way. Parlour and Borough serve their deviled egg with anchovy and a crouton with parmesan. The crouton adds texture, and the anchovy gives the eggs a briny essence which, as you’ll see below, more than a couple local restaurants add. It's like a chicken laid a Caesar salad.
St. Paul's Burger Dive offers something similar, splitting the difference between Parlour and Hell’s Kitchen with deviled eggs ($8) topped with bacon, croutons, and chives.
Instead of bringing in some pronounced crunch, The Dakota jazzes things up (no apologies) with dill and trout roe, which sits atop the eggs with a paprika-like hue. They’re served beautifully with a little dill and yolk piped into a star-like crown. They also go well with a concert.
A spiritually similar egg is dished up at Nightingale, where the deviled eggs ($8) are served with dill and Lake Superior herring roe. The yolk mixture gets piled high with a dollop of bright orange roe sitting at the apex of the yolk mountain.
The Lowry and The Freehouse’s Deviled Eggs ($16.50)
The pair of Blue Plate restaurants serve up the same deviled egg dish. Five egg vessels come topped with bacon, pickle relish, garlic aioli, and arugula. It’s a bit of a maximalist take compared to others on this list, a step up from the deviled eggs your uncle two-fists at Thanksgiving, and that is reflected in the somewhat eye-popping price. It’s a balanced approach, with crunch from the bacon, freshness from the arugula, and acid from the relish.
Brunson’s Pub in St. Paul does something similar, adding relish and bacon to its deviled eggs ($11).
Bull’s Horn’s Deviled Eggs ($6)
Things tend not to get too fancy at Bull’s Horn, and that’s not shade. This Standish-Ericsson bar home to delicious Dill Pickle Fried Chicken Buckets and a damn near perfect burger, so don’t expect these babies to come topped with caviar or anything placed on top with tweezers. That’s not to say there’s no creativity taking place, of course. These eggs use giardiniera to provide some acid against the inherent saltiness of the eggs. For texture, they get a little saltine cracker. It might be the perfect dive-bar deviled egg.
Icehouse’s Smoky Deviled Eggs ($10)
You didn’t think there was just one place to catch a show with your hands full of deviled eggs, did you? Icehouse adds spice to its eggs to give them a distinctive stamp. They arrive dusted with smoked paprika and topped with ancho chile oil, pickled Fresno pepper, and pepper-crusted candied bacon. The venue shows off all the ways to take an egg to the next level: crunch, acid, and spice.
