Nick Korbee - Egg Shop: The Cookbook

NICK KORBEE opened Egg Shop in 2014 with Sarah Schneider, Demetri Makoulis, and Florian Schutz. He holds a BFA from New York University and began cooking professionally at Caf Stella in Los Angeles while attending the California School of Culinary Arts Le Cordon Bleu program. Returning to New York, he became the executive chef of Smith and Mills and has worked for the Five Leaves group in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as the head chef of sister restaurant Nights and Weekends. He lives in New York City.

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Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa

Cover illustration by LMNOP Creative

Photography by David Malosh

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EGG SHOP. Copyright 2017 by Egg Shop Book Club, LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-247661-6

EPub Edition March 2017 ISBN 9780062476630

FOR AMANDA,

THE WATER FLOWING UNDERGROUND

by founders Sarah Schneider and Demetri Makoulis

New York City has a way of making all things feel possible...

In the beginning, we would talk about our Egg Shop idea constantly to friends. It was part of our small talka party trick, really. But it was secretly becoming a big part of our lives. It began as a simple question, with a not so simple answer: How can two people obsessed with egg sandwiches, but with no background in the kitchen or the food industry, create a restaurant dedicated entirely to them? We needed help, and our longtime friend and now fellow Egg Shop managing partner, Florian Schutz, was the person to ask. Flo was a hotel general manager with loads of experience. Famously, Flo said, Sarah, Demetri, you know I love you guys, but Im so sick of hearing about the egg place. Can you find a chef and work out a business plan already?! Ding ding ding.

When a friend introduced us to Nick Korbee, the executive chef at Smith & Mills in Tribeca, we got more than a little anxious. Smith & Mills was not only one of our favorite restaurants, but it was universally beloved by critics and New Yorkers alike. Nick was the guy who created the meatball dish for Smith & Mills that BlackBook had referred to as a rich mouthful of velvety succulence. This is getting real, Flo!

Also, Nick was pairing his food with cocktails crafted by partners from Employees Only, which had been named Worlds Best Bar at Tales of the Cocktail. I mean, he was the guy who was on the cover of the Daily News and quoted saying, [Diners] dont need to know what we went through for that dish, and thats what makes it a labor of love. As outsiders to this business, we were hyperaware that we could be viewed as posers with just another idea for an eatery, so to actually be sitting with a proper chef from one of the most beloved restaurants in New York City... well, lets just say we thought about canceling our meeting more than once.

We met Nick for lunch in Brooklyn. It may have been the ros, but there was an immediate kinship between us. We laid out our vague ideaEgg Shop would be a casual eatery with a full bar that served the very best egg sandwiches and Bloody Marys all day and late into the night. That was it. Our menu concept was to be simple and concise. But, as the conversation developed, we realized it could be so much moreall eggs, all the time.

Nick has a strong poker face by nature. He listened and asked a few questions that didnt give us any sense of whether he thought it could work, whether he liked it, whether he wanted to help... basically, anything. We left it at thanks so much for your time and lets stay in touch, expecting never to hear from him again. One week later Nick called back to say, in his now familiar, measured tone, I think this can be great. I have a ton of ideas I want to talk to you about, and I want to be a part of this with you. And Flo said he was in too!

So, with a meticulously anal-retentive, conservative-on-the-verge-of-paranoia business model in the works, we began our two-year journey to see how far our ovo-centric vision quest could go!

Our first tasting of potential dishes for the restaurant was life-changing. Nick was nailing it on both a micro and macro level, approaching each dish with the mind-set of a chef at any Michelin-starred restaurant. Integrity of ingredients, importance of technique, and true flavor development were the foundation for creating each item. The bacon, egg, and cheese was insane, with a sweet/savory tomato jam, fresh rice vinegarpickled jalapeos, and an array of local sharp cheddar cheeses, bacon, and jamn served in rotation. Nick brought an arsenal we never could have imagined: unforgettable dishes like a French toast made with premium chocolate milk from local dairy Ronnybrook Farm, garnished with white nectarines, perfectly ripe golden Italian sugar plums, and crispy Serrano ham, or the tamagoyaki musubi, with its folded-to-perfection Japanese omelet, pickled heirloom carrots, and sweet ponzu reduction, wrapped in warm sushi rice and toasted nori. It was the moment we knew our restaurant could truly be a temple to the egg.

As we developed our menu, there were two camps emerging. One preferred dishes with what we called lurp: buttery rolls with melty, gooey fromage; fatty cured, smoked, or roasted meats; and the perfect sauceitems that you just cant resist but probably shouldnt eat, at least not on the daily. The other camp preferred dishes that were carbless, gluten-free, veg-heavy, and left you with a sense of having done something right by your body. Finding balance was the key. If the essence of a dish was lurptastic lurpiness, like a traditional Eggs Benedict or a Mexican breakfast platter, we would find a way to offer the flavor and decadence without the unnecessary calories, preservatives, fats, or sugars. Our eggs Benedict became gluten-free, and instead of hollandaise we developed a lemony yogurt-based citronette that has since developed quite the following. The Mexican breakfast became our , allowing beautifully slow-cooked pork and a perfectly poached egg to take center stage over any kind of refried beans, melted cheese, or large-looming tortilla.