An egg movement has long-progressed in Los Angeles. Of course, we eat eggs for breakfast (atop wilted greens and chickpeas at Farmshop), and now, we top our pizzas with eggs (Little Dom's), our burgers (25 Degrees), and we expect a beautiful hard-boiled egg to appear in our ramen (Daikokuya). While we are busily tracking the whereabouts of the EggSlut Truck, whose eggs are integral to their entrée offerings (scrambled and tossed with macaroni and cheese, for example), we like that the following 10 dishes add an egg -- typically a fried one -- as a mischievous, attractive addendum.
Rustic Canyon: Adding a fried egg to the Rustic Canyon burger ain't no thing, but it's neglectful to ignore the Crispy White Polenta starter -- what looks like a diagonal half of French toast, a crisp vessel filled with gooey polenta; it's topped with wild mushrooms (and its sauce!), shavings of parmigiano-reggiano and, of course, a sunny-side farm egg.Rustic Canyon, 1119 Wilshire Boulevard, at 12th Street (310-393-7050 or rusticcanyonwinebar.com)
The Tasting Kitchen: A fried egg is a moonlighting ingredient on The Tasting Kitchen menu night after night. One time, it covered sushi-grade tuna and shavings of seasonal truffles (in a word: incredible). Another night, it covered creamy corn. Creamy. Corn.The Tasting Kitchen, 1633 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, at Venice Boulevard (310-392-6644 or thetastingkitchen.com)
Hatfield's: The "Croque Madame" at Hatfield's is one of LA's modern quintessential dishes -- not to mention one of the most adorable: sandwiched between two medallions of grilled housemade brioche is hamachi and "croque sauce," and sitting at the top, like a crown, is a meticulously fried quail egg.Hatfield's, 6703 Melrose Avenue, at North Citrus Avenue (323-935-2977 or hatfieldsrestaurant.com)
Animal: At Animal, the fried egg is an integral topping to two dishes: the Loco Moco, of course, which might not seem all too original since Hawaii's been doing it to their national dish forever, but here, a runny yolk mingles with foie gras. Chefs Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook also cover crisp strips of pig's ear, doused in chili and lime with a fried egg. This is reminiscent to our habit of covering hash browns with a sunny egg; but instead of potatoes, we're eating some animal's ear.Animal, 435 North Fairfax Avenue, at Oakwood Avenue (323-782-9225 or animalrestaurant.com)
Singapore's Banana Leaf: Malaysian/Singaporean/Indonesian food isn't quite as prevalent in LA as, say, farm-to-table gastropubs, but there's a stall in the Third Street Farmers' Market serving killer noodles. At Singapore's Banana Leaf, you want to order the mee goreng, a plate of pan-fried noodles, which arrives with the accompaniment of two satay sticks and a helluva lot of peanut sauce. If you get it Indonesian-style, voila: it'll arrive with a fried egg on top.Singapore's Banana Leaf, 6333 West Third Street #122, at Fairfax Avenue (323-933-4627)
Black Market Liquor Bar: When she appeared on "Top Chef," we felt a kinship with chef Antonia LoFaso -- she cooked what we liked to eat for comfort. It often included a fried egg somewhere, and now that she's leading the menu at Black Market Liquor Bar, you'll find an egg smothering grits and collards. Suddenly, Studio City conjures nostalgia for some city in The South.Black Market Liquor Bar, 11915 Ventura Boulevard, at Carpenter Avenue (818-446-2533 or blackmarketliquorbar.com)
The Bazaar: Of the four little jicama-wrapped salad bundles of an Organized Caesar Salad at The Bazaar, two are topped with anchovy and a raw quail egg yolk. (Also, not your typical egg salad either.) We suggest sticking the companion bundle in your mouth, too, because, raw yolk tastes good with shredded parmesan, too.The Bazaar by Jose Andres, 465 South La Cienega Boulevard, at Clifton Way (310-246-5555 or thebazaar.com)
Waterloo & City: There's an egg yolk-topped Caesar salad at Waterloo & City, too (it's four times bigger than Jose Andres'), but a fried egg snuck its way onto a terrine of smoked salmon terrine and sauce gribiche, and now we don't want cream cheese with our lox; we want the runny yellow stuff.Waterloo & City, 12517 Washington Boulevard, at Wasatch Avenue (310-391-4222 or waterlooandcity.com)
Chego: A rice bowl topped with a fried egg is not an abnormal thing in an Asian household, but we wager that your Asian mama never packed as many ingredients between the rice and the egg as chef Roy Choi does at Chego. There are at least four bowls at Chego you can get your yolk to run all over (we've had 'em all), and our heart breaks for the Sour Cream Hen House -- grilled chicken that mingles with Chinese broccoli, sour cream sambal, Thai basil, sesame and red jalapeno. The challenge is always to spread your fried egg out evenly, bite for bite.Chego, 3300 Overland Avenue, at Rose Avenue (310-287-0337 or eatchego.com)
Public Kitchen & Bar: The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel's classy restaurant act is spreading the good word -- see the center of its menu where the motto (of life) is inked: "Everything tastes better with an egg on it." For $2, you can add a fried one to your entrée of choice, but if you get the sweetbreads, the egg is included. It's the yummiest bundle of glands we've bitten into in awhile (we like a little crispy edge), and we didn't mind the asparagus on the plate either (egg and asparagus have flirted for some time now).Public Kitchen & Bar, 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, at North Orange Avenue (323-466-7000 or thompsonhotels.com)