Food review: Andouille sausage eggs benedict

Restaurant: Maverick (San Francisco)
Food description: Two poached eggs atop grilled andouille sausage, crawfish and jalapeno hollandaise, English muffin, side of home fries
Food rating: 9 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

Wow--what can I say--yet another superb brunch dish from Maverick. Not only did it taste amazing, it was inventive and I'd say the best seafood eggs benedict I've had in San Francisco. I loved the creole flair of this dish, and the meticulously-balanced ingredients. To allow the crawfish to really shine, the chef knew exactly how much to tone down the smokiness and spiciness of the andouille and jalapeno. The creamy hollandaise and egg yolk brought out the flavor of the crawfish and tasted like fresh crab drenched in butter. Add a little kick to that plus some smoked meat, and life is good. I've been looking for a loooooong time for an eggs benedict that's worthy of a 9.0. I wouldn't change a thing about this dish aside from maybe the home fries. They were just slightly crispy and not greasy, but just a tad dry here and there. That's just filler anyway and I'm not really rating those. But as far as eggs benedict is concerned, this is the reigning champ. Anyone up for a challenge?

Food review: Eggs benedict

Restaurant: Squat and Gobble (Fillmore St., San Francisco)
Food description: Poached eggs atop Canadian bacon and English muffin topped with Hollandaise sauce, side of rosemary home fries
Food rating: 7.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 10+

I like the eggs benedict at Squat and Gobble. The sauce is not to sweet, the canadian bacon is cooked correctly and the english muffin is not too hard or too soft - perfectly toasted. The eggs themselves are usually done just right, but sometimes they have that slightly runny white issue in the middle, which is a sign of an imperfect poaching. Also the rosemeary potatoes have come a long way since I first started going here, they used to SUCK. Now they are pretty good, somewhere along the way they changed the recipe and made the slices thinner and cooked them crispier. Oh they also got a fresh OJ machine, which has made OJ something I order every breakfast I eat there -- very tasty.