Sunnyside Diner

[Urbanized]

Had breakfast there this morning about 6:45. Space is great. Service was friendly and attentive, and about what I expected for a first official day of operations. I went with a very basic breakfast of ham and eggs, so not a lot to be screwed up, but also not a great place from which to assess their culinary prowess. The high point was the ham steak, and really liked the sourdough toast. They also have the type of hashbrowns I like; grated potatoes slammed on the grill. They actually could have been a little more greasy for my tastes, though I'm sure many people would be happy to find them not as greasy as most places.

If I have any bone to pick it is that we couldn't get on the same page on over easy vs over medium. I run into this at a lot of breakfast places, so I always say up front that it doesn't matter to me whether they call it over easy or over medium, I want my yolk fully runny and my whites fully cooked. I mentioned this pretty explicitly this AM and the whites still came out runny. Not enough to complain about, and like I say it is a pretty common problem for me at many breakfast places. Everything else I saw going out looked pretty excellent. Glad to have the place downtown.

[Canoe]

Did you feel like you received a good value?

[ctchandler]

Urbanized,
Glad you mentioned that about the over easy/over medium. When/if I get to the Sunnyside Diner I will make it very clear. I won't eat runny whites and would send them back if they were served to me. Fortunately, I haven't had that problem. For years I ordered eggs with yolk runny and white done and one day a server told me it was over medium. Since then, I always order over medium and it seems to work.
C. T.

[MagzOK]

Urbanized,
Glad you mentioned that about the over easy/over medium. When/if I get to the Sunnyside Diner I will make it very clear. I won't eat runny whites and would send them back if they were served to me. Fortunately, I haven't had that problem. For years I ordered eggs with yolk runny and white done and one day a server told me it was over medium. Since then, I always order over medium and it seems to work.
C. T.

This is good stuff, C.T. I never knew the difference. I'll have to order them this way next time I get breakfast out.

[Roger S]

This is good stuff, C.T. I never knew the difference. I'll have to order them this way next time I get breakfast out.

It's always amazed me how something as simple as an egg can be so complicated to order and how few people know the terms.... here are the 4 ways to order a fried egg... I won't go into poached and scrambled.

Sunny Side Up - The egg is not flipped and the yolk is runny, and depending on how long you fry it, the albumen is completely or partially set.

Over Easy - The egg is flipped and cooked just long enough to make a film on the top of the yolk. When served, the yolk – and some of the whites – are still runny.

Over Medium - The egg is flipped, and fried a little longer, enough to cook the whites through. You’ll develop a thicker film on your yolk, but the inside is still runny.

Over Hard - The egg is fried, flipped, and fried again – usually with the yolk broken – until both the white and the yolk are completely cooked.

If anyone ever went to Jonnie's (NW 4th and Western) before they closed. The breakfasts were just cheap, working mans, diner breakfasts, but Jonnie cooked the absolutely most perfect fried eggs I've ever been served anywhere..... Perfectly round and never rubbery/chewy around the edges from being cooked to hot.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^^^^^^
I agree with all of that, but often when you order over medium they come out with yokes cooked partially through, which makes me almost as unhappy as runny whites. I've also had servers argue against those definitions. So these days I de-emphasize the term(s), and specifically say "whites fully cooked, yokes runny." But of course, some places even get THAT wrong. Funny, I get it right whenever I make eggs, and I am far from a good cook.

[Roger S]

^^^^^^^^^^^^
I agree with all of that, but often when you order over medium they come out with yokes cooked partially through, which makes me almost as unhappy as runny whites. I've also had servers argue against those definitions. So these days I de-emphasize the term(s), and specifically say "whites fully cooked, yokes runny." But of course, some places even get THAT wrong. Funny, I get it right whenever I make eggs, and I am far from a good cook.

Much like the terms for ordering an egg escapes the diner... The cooking of an egg seems to escape a lot of cooks.

My personal pet peeve is that crispy/chewy/rubbery brown edge that comes from cooking it on too hot of a surface.....Well that and as you mention ordering an over medium egg that comes out almost over hard..... Because there is little on this planet that makes me happier than a perfectly, runny, rich, egg yolk that I can sop up with a piece of sourdough toast.

[Uptowner]

I agree and disagree with all that. Over easy is ordered so the rest of the "boogery" white can cook and should never have runny white, unless it's the cheapest of the cheapest eggs.

When dealing with farm eggs (unpasteurized) I rarely worry about ordering sunny side because something about leaving that process out lets the albumen completely set. You can easily spot the difference because farm eggs have vibrant orange yolks compared to pale yellow ones. I'm sure this runny issue has to do with the fact that pasteurization partially cooks the eggs...also farm eggs don't need to be refrigerated.

It's a matter of seconds between runny(gross)-perfect-and hard.

So when I go to the diner or the Mexican restaurant and order over easy I'm usually disappointed that they come out somewhere between medium and hard yolks.

My guess though is give it time. It took me hundreds of failures to get the perfect over easy. Or if I'm lucky, get to urban agrarian and buy real eggs. I don't kUnderstand why this country insists on pasteurized eggs. Gross.

[OKCbyTRANSFER]

And then there are some of us (ME! ) that like our eggs very well done. My issue is getting a diner to cook them until they are dry.. yes, brown them. Yeah, they look bad but I'll be happy.

[ctchandler]

Because there is little on this planet that makes me happier than a perfectly, runny, rich, egg yolk that I can sop up with a piece of sourdough toast.

Sorry, it has to be rye! Actually, I like sourdough as well but I don't know many places that offer it. I'm sure there are many, just none that I frequent.

[ctchandler]

also farm eggs don't need to be refrigerated.

Actually, only if the eggs aren't washed. When they are washed (farm eggs or others) they lose the protection that allows them to be stored without refrigeration.
C. T.

[Ginkasa]

This is why I just get scrambled.

[Urbanized]

Holy heck...how in the world do you eat toast without egg yolk sopped up in it?

[David]

Stopped in early this morning and tried it out. The Hangry Man (spelling as per the menu) spread was probably a bit much, but I wanted to try a full spread of the breakfast type selections and figured that was a good choice for that. Overall it was pretty tasty.



Incidentally, those are over medium eggs, an order which was entirely based on the discussion in this thread over the last day or so. I hate runny egg whites, so I would normally get scrambled to avoid any chance of them.

I was a little disappointed at the number of people there (just myself, a couple of OKC police officers, and maybe another party), but 6:15 in the morning might not be the best time to judge that.

[Roger S]

Sorry, it has to be rye! Actually, I like sourdough as well but I don't know many places that offer it. I'm sure there are many, just none that I frequent.

Finding sourdough toast in OKC is hard enough... Finding rye, good rye even, is like getting struck by lightning holding a winning billion dollar lottery ticket while riding a unicorn. ;+)

[warreng88]

From reading this page, I just learned waaaaaay too much about eggs. Thanks everybody!

[no1cub17]

Can't wait to try this place out - especially as much as we're addicted to S&B as it is! From their menu though it does not appear that they have a veggie burger available here - any plans to have it here? Would only make sense given the popularity (at least to us) of S&B's veggie burgers.

[Paseofreak]

I went for a late breakfast yesterday. There were a few opening glitches; confusion with the computer system, someone turned off the burners on the coffee station and I kept getting refills of cold coffee, unbalanced staff utilization. However, the server that greeted and seated me was formerly the top Server at Jeff's Country Cafe and knows exactly what she's doing and will get those bugs worked out in no time. Pricing was a touch high, but quality and serving size are commensurate based on my order and those nearby. Overall, I'm pretty sure this place will be in my regular rotation unless it's overwhelmed and suffers from Waffle Champion scale waits.

[kevinpate]

Best egg method, crack onto a properly heated griddle.
Leave them suckers alone until whites are solid through and through.

Yeah, the underside will be a bit tan. But the yolk will still be runny enough for both the toast and the taters to have a share, even the sausage links for that matter.

Yum.

[HangryHippo]

Best egg method, crack onto a properly heated griddle.
Leave them suckers alone until whites are solid through and through.

Yeah, the underside will be a bit tan. But the yolk will still be runny enough for both the toast and the taters to have a share, even the sausage links for that matter.

Yum.

You nailed it, my friend.

[ctchandler]

Finding sourdough toast in OKC is hard enough... Finding rye, good rye even, is like getting struck by lightning holding a winning billion dollar lottery ticket while riding a unicorn. ;+)

Actually, I have found pumpernickel rye at The Grill on the Hill, rye at Cracker Barrel, and other places that I don't remember. I believe the Classen Grill has rye. Jimmy's Egg does not. Most places only have white and wheat bread though.
C. T.

[ctchandler]

Best egg method, crack onto a properly heated griddle.
Leave them suckers alone until whites are solid through and through.

Yeah, the underside will be a bit tan. But the yolk will still be runny enough for both the toast and the taters to have a share, even the sausage links for that matter.

Yum.

Kevin,
I need vitamin G in my diet (that's "grease" for the uninformed), so I do something similar except I use the spatula to splash bacon grease over the egg while it is cooking underneath and my eggs are always correct. I'm not a good cook, it's just really easy to slop hot oil over the top of the egg. You would think the yolk would cook too much, but it doesn't. I think the film holding the yolk together protects it some. I never flip them over. That works too, I'm just not very good at it and I break the yolk.
C. T.

[Paseofreak]

C.T., your technique is known in cooking circles as basting, and experienced diner staff will know what you want when you ask for basted eggs.

[David]

One additional observation from this morning I forgot to mention, I rather liked the ordering/payment tablet system in use. My server took my order with it and it went right into their system, and at the end she swiped my card right at the table and I was on my way. On the front side of that, it's nice to know that when you order your order is in the system instantly with no need for your server to interact with a kiosk some number of minutes later, and being able to pay at the table without your debit or credit card leaving your sight is a significant improvement from a payment card security standpoint. It was a bit more efficient from a process standpoint too since there wasn't the usual "drop check off -> hand over card -> wait for credit card slip" process that might require three different trips out to your table by your server.

[Roger S]

...I rather liked the ordering/payment tablet system in use. My server took my order with it and it went right into their system,

This seems to be catching on... I think I was at Fat Dog where they used the same procedure.